Yummy lips can help you look younger

Women gain wrinkles, lose luster of their hair as they age, but those who possess fuller and firmer lips can still look younger than they really are, according to a new study.

Women gain wrinkles, lose luster of their hair as they age, but those who possess fuller and firmer lips can still look younger, according to a new study.

The international study carried out at seven universities found that women with yummy lips look younger than they really are.

"When we identified people who looked young for their age, we were struck by the difference in their lips," said David Gunn, a scientist at Unilever who coordinated the study.

"It is a feature that is strongly genetically determined and relatively easy to measure," Gunn was quoted as saying by The Sunday Times.

The study confirms and quantifies the traditional wisdom that a pout is one of the strongest signals of sexual allure, typified by Hollywood stars such as Scarlett Johansson and models such as Helena Christensen.

The study, which analysed the faces of 102 pairs of Dutch female twins aged 59-81 and 162 British women aged 45-75, found that wrinkles, sun damage and age spots were equally influenced by both genetic and environmental factors. But the development of a receding hairline, greying hair and most markedly lip height was determined by genes, the researchers said.