According to a new study, baldness, folds on the earlobes and fat deposits on the eyelids are just these changes in our appearance that are not only one of the first signs of the aging process, but also very reliable harbingers of possible health problems, the risk of which is especially great for humans.
Such conclusions were made at a scientific conference in the USA by Danish researchers from the University of Copenhagen, where for many years work was carried out to identify the dependence of people's appearance on those ailments to which their body is more susceptible. In particular, the main emphasis was placed on the study of factors predicting the risk of cardiovascular disease, as well as heart attacks.
Participants in the study were employees of the Copenhagen Laboratory, whose total number was 10,885 people over the age of 40 years. About half of them were women. So, each participant underwent a special examination at once for several signs of aging - the types of baldness and bald patches, the form of folds and thickenings on the earlobes, the amount of gray hair, and also yellow fat deposits around the eyelids. Over the next 35 years since the examination, 3491 participants in the experiment developed heart disease of varying severity, and 1708 people had heart attacks.
When all these results were analyzed by scientists, it turned out that in people who had all of the above signs of aging at the same time, the risk of myocardial infarction was higher by 57%, and cardiovascular disease by 39%, compared with those with only 1- 2 such signs. With all this, every time a person has a new aging factor, the threat of problems of this kind has increased significantly.
According to the head of the study and professor of biochemistry Anna Hansen, yellow fat deposits in the eyelids became the most accurate harbinger of heart ailments, but other signs also carry significant information about the physiological state of a person. As representatives of the University of Copenhagen said, their next scientific work in this area will begin in the near future and will be aimed at finding out exactly how the external features of a person are connected with the biological mechanisms that flow in his body.
