Aesthetic Health News

To look and feel our best aesthetically entails more than having various aesthetic procedures and judicious make-up.  It requires a positive state of mind, a good lifestyle, good nutrition, and suitable exercise that benefits us and fits our busy lifestyles. Simply, we need holistic, balanced lives to look and feel our best and be our healthiest.  To help our clients achieve their aesthetic goals and healthy lifestyle goals, we will occasionally include evidence-based health and lifestyle information in our blog to help our clients achieve what they want to achieve and help optimize their looks and health. 

Exercise has long been held to be an important part of achieving and maintaining good health physically and mentally.  Exercise includes aerobic activity and resistance activity to get the most benefits. Each is important for different reasons. Both forms of exercise have been touted to be better for metabolic health, but which one is?  The question was asked in a study reported in the JAMA Network Open.  Their conclusion was that people’s aerobic endurance -or the lack of it- can influence their metabolism potentially more than muscular strength or weakness.  The results and conclusions have significant implications for anyone deciding which type of exercise could be most beneficial for their health.

The study used data gleaned from the performance testing records of 580 young Finnish military recruits. They rode stationary bicycles and performed weight lifting exercises to measure their maximum aerobic capacity and muscular strength.  They also had extensive blood work and general health testing and completed questionnaires about their lifestyles. From analysis of the different data, researchers grouped the men and assessed their metabolomes (number and types of metabolites in your body) of the aerobically fittest men against the men who were out of aerobic shape, and separately, the strongest against weakest.  The conclusion?  The results suggest that aerobic capacity affects metabolism substantially more than muscular strength does, in beneficial ways. (Health Tap Saturday Digest)

Demographic trends and societal changes often affect health trends, in both beneficial and detrimental ways that are slow to be recognized.  Changes in the workplace, gender make-up of many professions and other trends have had a significant effect on the equality of the genders.  A research group in North Carolina did a study in 1985 where they recruited primarily college and university setting individuals from 20-34 years of age.  They analyzed grip strength and pinch strength (the force generated to squeeze two fingers together) for 237 men and women in the right hand.  Men averaged 117 pounds of force and women 79 pounds of force in grip strength. What is the implication of grip strength for our health?   It is accepted that a person’s grip strength generally correlates to body strength and health outcomes such as cardiac health.

The format of the study was repeated in 2016, with researchers recruiting a similar demographic of 20-34-year-old college and university-based men and women in North Carolina again and repeated the grip and pinch strength study.  The average grip strength of millennial men had fallen to 98 pounds, 19 pounds less than their parents’ generation. The 25-29 

Year-olds averaged only 92 pounds of grip strength.  The 30-34-year-old age group had lesser decrease in strength, averaging 106 pounds of grip strength. The pinch strength also decreased but not so dramatically for all the men’s groups.  

What about the women’s results?  The women averaged 79 pounds of grip strength, the same as they did 30 years earlier. Interestingly, the 30-34-year-old group of women averaged 98 pounds of grip strength, the same as the average older millennial male in the study, compared to a 31-pound disparity 30 years ago.  The average grip strength overall for women was lower because of weaker readings in the 25-29-year-old group.

Is this a result of mass effeminization of the millennial male or a crisis of masculinity? Simply, no. It is more of a reflection of the demographic changes in the workplace, with loss of manual labor jobs and expansion of the information economy for men.  It is less so for women, hence the similar grip strength result.  Less physical activity generally is associated with less strength and weight gain.  The decrease in grip strength for men also has long-term health implications and longevity, which is already being reflected in plateauing and decreasing longevity for males.

The newer study appeared in the Journal of Hand Therapy and in the Washington Post. The study reflects the results for college and university associated people and may not reflect similar results in the general population.

A new, first in class medicine for acne mentioned in the Purely Skin 4 Me Blog last month is coming soon. Clascoterone 1% cream is the first topical medicine that blocks male hormone receptors in the sebaceous (oil) glands, reducing the effect of dihydrotestosterone stimulation that is an important driver of acne.  It is also the first new class of topical acne treatment in forty years.  A New Drug Application was submitted by Cassiopea SpA based on two phase three studies that compared 1% cream applied twice daily or the cream’s vehicle and the results in improvement were statistically significant when measured at twelve weeks.  An open-label study was continued for an additional 9 months and showed no evidence of hormonal effect internally, despite an enlarged application area. Adverse events (minor) in skin were primarily some redness and dry scaly skin. It will be nice to have new, effective topical therapy available for acne, especially hormone-related adult acne.