Age Spots

Written by Thomas Cowan, MD

January 21 2007

Question: What causes age spots, should I be concerned about them, and is there any way to get rid of them?

Answer: Age spots or liver spots refer to those brown areas on our skin, especially on the back of the hands, that seem to occur as we age. While I don't know of any clear research on these spots it seems to me that these spots represent a phenomenon that is actually common in nature. We all have had the experience of cutting an apple and leaving it on the counter. In a short period of time the pulp of the apple begins to brown. The rate at which the apple browns is related to the way the apple has been grown--organic apples brown less quickly than conventionally grown apples and more quickly than many biodynamically grown apples. Browning of biological tissue is due to oxidation, and this relates to the level of anti-oxidants in those tissues. The same apparently happens in our own tissues. When we are low in anti-oxidants, including vitamin A, vitamin E, vitamin C, selenium and many others, the tissues begin to suffer from oxidative damage. Since brown spots on the skin indicate possible oxidative damage occurring in the internal organs, they are a cause for concern. This is where the liver connection probably comes in, as the liver has always been thought in folk-medicine to relate to our overall nutritional status, or in scientific terms our nutrient/anti-oxidative levels. So, if you are suffering from excessive or early onset of many "liver" spots, you may want to increase your consumption of good fats, colored vegetables and other foods with high anti-oxidant levels. This may not get rid of them, but it will help prevent new ones.

This article appeared in Wise Traditions in Food, Farming and the Healing Arts, the quarterly magazine of the Weston A. Price Foundation, Winter 2006.

About the Author

Thomas Cowan, MD, discovered the work of the two men who would have the most influence on his career while teaching gardening as a Peace Corps volunteer in Swaziland, South Africa. He read Nutrition and Physical Degeneration by Weston Price and a fellow volunteer explained the arcane principles of Rudolf Steiner's biodynamic agriculture. These events inspired him to pursue a medical degree. Cowan graduated from Michigan State University College of Human Medicine in 1984. After his residency in Family Practice at Johnson City Hospital in Johnson City, New York, he set up an anthroposophical medical practice in Peterborough, New Hampshire. Dr. Cowan has served as vice president of the Physicians Association for Anthroposophical Medicine and is a founding board member of the Weston A. Price Foundation.

Dr. Cowan is the author of The Fourfold Path to Healing (New Trends Publishing), a companion book to Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon. He a board member of the Weston A. Price Foundation, a regular contributor to our "Ask the Doctor" column and the Foundation's quarterly journal, and has lectured throughout the US and Canada. He has three grown children and currently practices medicine in San Francisco where he resides with his wife Lynda Smith Cowan.

His book The Fourfold Path to Healing is now available from Amazon.com and NewTrends Publishing. Visit Dr. Cowan's website at fourfoldhealing.com.

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Age spots
written by Jayne, Oct 14 2011

Regarding the comments on age spots, I have never cooked in animal oil and eat very little meat. I also cook occasionally with coconut oil and take a good amount of fermented cod liver oil....and I have age spots. So, the question again is, what is their etiology and what can prevent their occurrence? Personally, in terms of prevention, I have found that removing as many toxins from the body (mercury, xenoestrogens, etc.) as possible and nourishing the liver (the hepatocytes) with milk thistle is the best way of preventing their occurrence. In terms of removal, I use (carefully) dry ice that I get with frozen fish deliveries. This method has been used for many years with huge success and really cost very little.

Managing Director
written by Mukund Bhave, Jul 29 2010

Fats in our skin deteriorate by free radical activity and brown spots appear on skin which is called lipofuscin pigment.Similar damage occurs in the inside of our body.Eating coconut or virgin coconut oil in food preparations as also using coconut oil on skin can prevent oxidation and brown age spots

Age Spots
written by Suvetar, Jun 14 2010

Age spots from what I know are when vegetable oil fats are being deposited in and under the skin.
When this individual goes into the rays of the sun these fat deposits oxidise and go rancid and create brown spots.

So the more you cook with vegetable oils instead of animal fats the more likely you will get 'age spots'.
Coconut oil is a good alternative.

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Last Updated on Tuesday, June 09 2009 14:35