In a scientific statement issued Monday, the organization says most women should limit their sugar intake to 100 calories, or about six teaspoons, a day; for men, the recommendation is 150 calories, or nine teaspoons. The recommendations are likely to prove challenging for many consumers to meet. Just one 12-ounce can of cola has about 130 calories, or eight teaspoons of sugar.

Data gathered during a national nutrition survey between 2001 and 2004 suggest that Americans consume on average 355 calories, or more than 22 teaspoons, of sugar a day. "We're trying to make reasonable recommendations around the amount of sugar in a diet that enables people to achieve or maintain a healthy weight," said Rachel Johnson, associate provost and professor of nutrition at the University of Vermont in Burlington and lead author of the statement.

As the heart association's statement acknowledges, the science directly linking added sugar consumption to obesity is inconsistent. This in part reflects, the impact of such things as genetics, physical activity and diet have on weight. The heart association has encouraged consumers to moderate sugar consumption, but the new statement is the first time it has suggested specific limits. The recommendations apply only to what are known as added sugars—those that are added to foods during manufacturing, or by consumers. They don't include sugar that occurs naturally in fruits, vegetables, dairy products and other foods.

Twiggy, who turns 60 in September, last fronted a TV ad campaign for the Procter & Gamble-owned beauty brand in 1985. At the time the range was known as Oil of Ulay. P&G has signed Twiggy, who most recently appeared in a TV campaign celebrating Marks & Spencer's 125th anniversary, in a one-year deal to promote the Olay Definity range that "goes beyond fighting the appearance of wrinkles".

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"Some of our consumers will remember Twiggy's first campaign," said Carla Berry, P&G beauty and grooming spokeswoman. "But what is most important is that she is a relevant role model for mature modern women today."

Cellulite is a telltale sign that life is a crapshoot. Most women get cellulite after puberty. But men usually don't, not even if they've got the girth to qualify for "The Biggest Loser." That's because the connective tissue bands under men's skin are crisscrossed like a net, keeping their fat more evenly restrained. By contrast, women's tissue bands are organized in vertical columns, so fat may bulge irregularly.

"At a normal weight your fat cells fall nicely into valleys of connective tissue," said Dr. Michael D. Jensen, a clinical professor of medicine at the Mayo Clinic, who has studied fat for 25 years. "When you get too many fat cells or too big of fat cells now they push up on the roof." Or, your skin. What's more, women don't have as thick a roof as men, all the better to show dimples. And thanks to estrogen, women have more fatty reserves.

It doesn't stop there. As we age, the connective tissue strands between our skin and muscle, which used to stretch to accommodate weight fluctuations, become inflexible. "Some of the bands tighten down and you get pockmarks with bulges next to them," said Dr. Brian M. Kinney, an assistant professor of plastic surgery at the Keck School of Medicine at University of Southern California. Voila, cottage cheese.

Nor do all women start with the same give in their connective tissue. One explanation for a slender woman with cellulite is thin skin and unusually tight connective tissue. By contrast, the neighbor we love to hate can gain 15 pounds but is blessed with stretchable bands that accommodate a fat uptick. No orange-peel bottom for her. Grrr.

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An anti-cellulite cream can offer a "temporary benefit simply because of swelling, but you have to keep using it," said Dr. Michael F. McGuire, a clinical associate professor at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles. (Most creams mildly irritate skin, causing a little swelling which camouflages dimpling for a bit.) That reapplication is a "benefit" for the makers of creams, he added, especially given that "realistically there is no cure for cellulite."

Sun exposure can cause sunburn, wrinkles, age spots and contribute to skin cancer. But despite that, 31% of Americans say they never wear sunscreen, even if they are outside for more than four hours, according to a poll of 1,000 adults, age 18 and older, conducted by Consumer Reports' National Research Center.

Only 27% of men and 48% of women usually put on sunscreen if they are planning to spend two to four hours in the sun. And 27% of parents with kids under 12 say they never or only sometimes apply sunscreen to their children when they are outside two to four hours. Fourteen percent don't apply sunscreen to their kids when they are outside for more than four hours.

Plus, Buettner says, "they have about 20 percent lower rates of cancer, 50 percent lower rates of heart disease and almost no dementia."

Our life spans are about 20 percent dictated by our genes, Buettner says. The rest is lifestyle. People in Icaria live in mountain villages that necessitate activity every day. "They have gardens," he says, for example. "If they go to church, if they go to their friends' house — it always occasions a small walk. But that ends up burning much more calories than going to a gym for 20 minutes a day."

"They also have a diet that's very interesting," Buettner continues. "It's very high in olive oil; it's very high in fruits and vegetables." It's also very high in greens; about 150 kinds of veggies grow wild on the island. "These greens have somewhere around 10 times the level of antioxidants in red wine."