Hormone Takes Years Away

Estrogen has long been prescribed to cut heart attack risks among women and now researchers say the female hormone helps those women appear younger -- by up to eight years.

From the British medical journal The Lancet: scientists at Germany's University of Erlangen guessed at women's ages without considering whether the women were taking estrogen. Their findings: "women with high estrogen concentrations looked younger," while women with low estrogen concentrations looked "older than they really were" with the discrepancy "between estimated and real age as high as eight years in either direction."

The hormone, which some scientists believe increases some cancer risks, may help women look younger through increased skin thickness which is related "to menopausal (rather) than chronological age. It is conceivable that these changes may influence the estimation of age of a woman by independent observers," researchers say.

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