Looking old for your age? Time for a check-up

IF you look older than your age, it might be a reason to worry about more than just frownlines.

For researchers have warned that it could be a sign you’re more at risk of age-related illness such as osteoporosis, hearing loss and cataracts.

Academics guessed the age of around 2,700 people aged 50 to 90, based only on pictures of their face, and grilled them on their medical ailments.

Results revealed that participants who looked five years younger than their actual age had better thinking skills.

They were also 16 per cent less likely to need cataracts and 24 per cent less at risk of having age-related hearing loss.

Professor Tamar Nijsten, a dermatologist at Erasmus University Medical Centre in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, said: ‘If you look younger than you are, then the health of your organ systems, body and mind are likely to reflect this.

‘The study shows that something is going on beyond the usual lifestyle factors such as UV exposure or smoking.’

The team noted that those who had the highest age score were mainly men (61 per cent), less likely to smoke and had the highest BMI.