London: Men with a healthier skin colour are more attractive to women than those with a masculine face, a new study has claimed.
For the study, researchers used photographs of 34 Caucasian and 41 black African men’s faces in controlled conditions to measure the skin colour of their faces.
It revealed that women found men more attractive if they had a more “golden” colour skin.
Ian Stephen, the study leader from the University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus, used a new computer technique to measure mathematically how masculine faces are.
“The attractive colour in our face is affected by our health - especially by the amount of colourful antioxidant carotenoid pigments we get from fruit and vegetables in our diet,” the Daily Mail quoted Stephen as saying.
“They are thought to be good for our immune and reproductive systems, making us healthy and increasing fertility.
“The masculinity of the face had no effect on the attractiveness of the face,” he said.
According to Stephen, when humans find a member of the opposite sex attractive their brains are telling them they are an appropriate mate.
In evolutionary terms, people who are recognised as healthy fertile mates will be more successful at having offspring.
Stephen also believes eating your five a day will make you look better than a tan would.
“Most people think the best way to improve skin colour is to get a suntan, but our research shows that eating lots of fruit and vegetables is actually more effective.
“Our study shows that being healthy may be the best way for men to look attractive.
“We know that you can achieve a more healthy looking skin colour by eating more fruit and vegetables, so that would be a good start,” he added.
ANI
First Published: Sunday, February 12, 2012, 12:05
