Credit Crunch Can Damage Your Waistline

Instead of tightening belts, credit crunch victims are loosening them because debt can make you seriously overweight, a study finds.

A study of more than 9,000 people in two German towns found that 25% of those seriously in debt were clinically obese.

Those without financial problems had only an 11% chance of being obesely overweight, the study found.

"While income, education and occupational status are frequently used in definitions of socio-economic status, levels of debt are not usually considered," said study leader Dr Eva Munster, from the University of Mainz.

"We've shown that debt can be associated with the probability of being overweight or obese, independent of these factors."

Someone who is obese has a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or above.

The researchers blame the trend on the high cost of healthy options at the supermarket and comfort eating to reduce the stress of money worries.

The study also found that high debt levels meant people sacrificed leisure and exercise time.

The study is published today in the medical journal, BMC Public Health.

Sunbeds are as dangerous as smoking

Sunbeds are as dangerous as smoking, the World Health Organisation has said.

The group placed use of the beds into the highest risk level for cancer, moving their rating from "probably carcinogenic" to "carcinogenic to humans" - putting them alongside cigarettes, alcohol and asbestos.

Ministers are now considering introducing changing the law to protect people, particularly the young, who use them.

The shift in the WHO's stance was prompted by the results of a review of recent studies of ultraviolet radiation (UV) tanning by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) in Lyon.

The deadliest form of skin cancer, malignant melanoma, is the most commonly diagnosed cancer among British women in their 20s.

Two years ago experts warned the risk of developing skin cancer from using sunbeds has trebled in just a decade because the demand for an instant tan - 'binge tanning' - has led to the marketing of increasingly powerful sunbeds.

Dr Fatiha El Ghissassi, writing in the journal The Lancet Oncology, said: "Several case control studies provide consistent evidence of a positive association between the use of UV-emitting tanning devices and ocular melanoma (skin cancer of the eyelid)."

A spokesman for the Department for Health said: "Sunbeds can be dangerous. If necessary, we will look at new laws to protect young people."

Kathy Banks, chief executive of the Sunbed Association, the industry body, said: "The relationship between UV exposure and an increased risk of developing skin cancer is only likely to arise where over-exposure, in other words burning, has taken place."

Novelle Maqui Superberry

Your expensive face cream may be endowed with the latest anti-ageing assets - cell-regenerating antioxidant DMAE say, or peptides and alpha-lipoic acids - but if you are serious about age prevention, it seems these radicaltopicals are no longer enough.

These days, regular skincare is buffered by "extras" - drinks, tablets and food - that allow us to ramp up a face cream's benefits. We are already awash with beauty drinks. Latest to hit the shelves are Sipping Tea MultiBeautimin, a vitamin C-rich fruit tea that tastes roundly better than antioxidant-rich green tea, and Delo, a widget that fixes to the top of a water bottle and dispenses antioxidants into the water as you guzzle.

There are sweets, too. Choose from Bloomsberry & Co Bochox, a chocolate beauty bar full of antioxidants by Australian chef Vanessa Kettlewell; EIWA's collagen-rebuilding Beauty Collagen Marshmallows; and Noreva NoreLiftanti-wrinkle jam.

Meanwhile, more serious skincare ranges offer oral supplements to enhance the performance of their topicals. Dermatologist Nicholas Perricone sells capsules and powders as extra "pep food" for skin and hair. This integratedapproach is also evident in Caudalie Complete Anti-Ageing Nutritional Supplements and Nude Age Defence Supplements.

The magic bullet in most of these "beautricious" extras is antioxidants from vitamins A, C and E. But antioxidants also occur naturally in food, so why not just drink a strong cup of tea or some red wine, and eat more super-foods such as dark fruit and green leafy vegetables?

"Antioxidants aren't the only age-fighters," explains nutritionist Kate Cook, who devises Eat Yourself Young plans. "And there are still unknown factors in whole foods that give beauty benefits besides the major vitamin antioxidants that we know of."

She doesn't rule out good quality supplements taken with a diet that includes all the components (antioxidants, fibre, EFAs and water) to benefit digestion, absorption and skin. But she points out that "it's difficult to replicate in supplement form the complexity and balance of nutrients in food created in nature".

While diet is pivotal, other wellbeing experts also make the case for beauty supplements. Dr Perricone has never felt that creams are the sole solution to ageing; and pharmacist Shabir Daya believes supplementing is of paramount importance", but not necessarily in beauty food and drinks.

"While creams support a concern, inside-out beauty gives optimal support,"he says. "Food and drink may help but they should be considered a support,rather than primary products to treat a concern." So, while there is achance that supplements will benefit skin, it seems beauty foods and drinks should be enjoyed for their taste rather than taken seriously as de-ageing treats
But there is no escape for those who view all oral beauty supplements with healthy scepticism, as they are about to be targeted by other "extras". The FDA has just greenlighted Latisse, a prescription-only eyelash growth-booster by Allergan (creators of Botox). Hotly awaited here because it claims more potent effects than any oral solution, Latisse marks a new direction for anti-ageing beauty.

Foods for thought - Which beauty supplements are the most powerful?Berries The new "supers" are Novelle Maqui SuperBerry (£57.99/60 capsulesfrom merlinliving.co.uk).