Nicholas Perricone, in the opening chapters of The Wrinkle Cure, explains why skin wrinkles and sags--a combination of factors including the passage of time, stress, poor nutrition, excess alcohol consumption, sleep deprivation and exposure to cigarette smoke, sunlight and pollution. Ultimately, however, it all boils down to damage caused by those renegade free radicals.

The bulk of his book is then devoted to a clearly presented skin care regimen that involves oral and topical antioxidant therapy. On the oral front, he emphasises eating antioxidant foods, such as cantaloupe and dark green leafy vegetables, and avoiding "bad carbohydrates" (high in the glycemic index) such as pasta, sugar and pancakes. And if you want to look good for a big event within a few days he suggests eating "fish, fish and more fish".

On the topical level, he recommends nutritional skin products such as his DMAE (dimethylaminoethanol) cream ("an instant anti-aging face-lift"), a product that can only be purchased at specific places and online. Perricone's tie-in with his personal line of "cosmeceuticals" makes the book feel a little self-serving but most of his advice is based on solid research and common sense, which gives this celebrity doctor much credibility. --Gail Hudson

2004-03-04 Highly Recommended - It Works!

An easy to read, in simple terms, about the cause of poor skin condition and what to eat to improve it. Not only did my skin look and feel brtter within two weeks, I lost weight fairly quickly, about 5 kg in a month - I had gained weight with unhealthy eating! Now I have returned to my "normal" weight, I feel better, have more energy and skin feels smoother. The diet is fairly straight forward and sensible. I don't know if related to the authors diet, but, I suffer less headaches and flushes - Is there a connection? Well recommended.