Twin Study Shows Moisturizing, Breast Feeding Stall Breast Aging


A study of identical twins published today in the Aesthetic Surgery Journal, "Determinants of Breast Appearance and Aging in Twins," shows environmental factors play a key role in how a woman's breasts age.






Soltanian collected data from consenting women between the ages of 25 and 74 at the annual Twins Days Festival in Twinsberg, Ohio. The average of the study participants was 45.5 years old.


The study had two parts. First, each set of twins was given a questionnaire on lifestyle habits, such as smoking, drinking, number of pregnancies, use of a bra, stress at work, sports, hormone replacement therapy moisturizing and exposure to the sun. Each twin answered independently.



With the data, researchers ran a regression model. "One by one, we check for different factors and try to weed out what is making a significant difference and what factors don't," he said.

Moisturizing seemed an "obvious" advantage on a breast's appearance, showing fewer wrinkles, according to Soltanian. "We know from facial analysis that if you take care of the skin, it slows the aging process down."






But according to Judy Kuriansky, a sex therapist from Columbia University, there is no discounting the psychological importance of breast appearance to women.

Breasts carry such anthropological importance, she said. "Like the hip size, it's about being fertile."

"Women are obsessed with their breasts at all ages, because men are obsessed with their breasts," she said. "No matter how liberated women feel about their bodies, their breast size is so tied up in their sexuality and self-image."