Your face is not your only fortune. Here’s how to keep your assets as young and healthy as the rest of you. Women have long complained about sagging frames and crinkly cleavages, but it is far from a storm in a D-cup. According to Steve Horvath, a geneticist at UCLA’s medical school in the US, different parts of the body age at different rates. “Healthy breast tissue,” he says, “is about two to three years older than the rest of a woman’s body.” Which makes it even more important to prevent your torso from ageing. Here’s a list of factors to keep in mind.

The wrong bra size
With around 80 per cent of women believed to be wearing illfitting lingerie, we could be inadvertently contributing to sagging breasts, bad posture, back pain or even abrasions and rashes. Several factors including weight loss or gain, medication, contraceptive pills, the menstrual cycle, pregnancy and menopause can affect breast size. It’s important to buy new bras every year to make sure you have the correct size. Get an in-store fitter to measure you. And don’t forget to wear a sports bra when you exercise.

Lack of nutritious food
Our bodies are made from the nutrients we consume, meaning a diet lacking in essential vitamins and minerals may show in the condition and look of our skin. Sweet potato, spinach, kale and butternut squash are rich in vitamin A, and can help nourish the delicate skin in the breast area and other parts of the body. Vitamin C is good for collagen production and vitamin E is great for skin production.

Alcohol overdose
It’s not just food you should be thinking about — that wine habit could also affect your breast health. Alcohol can triple the oestrogen levels in a woman’s body. A lot of breast cancers are hormone-sensitive and having higher oestrogen levels could cause cancer cells to multiply. By minding oestrogen levels, you reduce your potential risk of oestrogen-related cancers. Cut down your alcohol intake and eat broccoli, cabbage, brussels sprouts and greens since they contain indoles that are believed to aid the body in reducing oestrogen levels and helping fight cancer.

Neglect moisturising
A wrinkly decolletage can really age you. The bust is an area we often neglect as we focus on our face. But breast are exposed to friction from clothes and underwear which can end up chaffing the delicate skin. It is worth investing in products to help combat that. Any cream that has almond oil, cocoa butter or evening primrose oil will help keep the bust area soft. Skin on the neck and chest gets almost as much sun as the face and, being much thinner than skin elsewhere, it is more prone to showing the tell-tale signs of ageing. So, use a sunscreen that’s suitable to your skin.