This probably comes as no surprise, but sugar in all its forms (corn syrup, cane sugar, high-fructose corn syrup, etc.) is extremely damaging to the skin. In fact, it can be damaging to all organ systems.
Sugar is Collagen’s Natural Enemy
Wrinkles, deep lines and sagging skin are a partial byproduct of the process known as glycation, in which excess sugar molecules attach themselves to collagen fibers and ultimately cause them to lose their strength and flexibility (we call these bondings AGEs, or advanced glycosylation end products).
The result? Skin becomes less elastic and more vulnerable to sun damage, fine lines and sagging.
Sugar and other high-glycemic carbohydrates such as maida rotis, breads, starches, potatoes, baked goods, pastas, desserts and soda, are rapidly converted to glucose in your bloodstream.
Whether it’s sugar or another form of sweetener, it can all contribute to the health of your skin. When our blood sugar and insulin levels rise—whether it’s caused by a poor diet filled with sugary, starchy foods, or by stress—we experience a serious increase in inflammatory chemicals at a cellular level. This increase can cause inflammatory diseases such as acne to worsen dramatically.
Because it’s still technically infeasible to reverse glycated proteins to their original state, currently the primary strategy still stays on the prevention of proteins from glycation. But the problem is that diet provides not only sugars such as glucose and fructose but also preformed AGEs, and the latter have a large amount in grilled, fried, or roasted food but very low content in foods prepared by water-based cooking such as boiling and steaming. Therefore, low-sugar food cooked with water would decrease the intake of preformed exogenous AGEs and endogenous production of physiologically glycated proteins.
In the future, finding medicines of deglycation capability would be an expected breakthrough discovery.
Some scientists believe that some culinary herbs and spices, such as cinnamon, cloves, oregano, and all spices, can inhibit fructose-induced glycation, and some compounds, including ginger, garlic, α-lipoic acid, carnitine, taurine, carnosine, flavonoids (e.g., green tea catechins), selenium yeast, riboflavin, zinc, and manganese, are also involved in the inhibition of AGE formation.
What it all boils down to is this—if you’re concerned about your health and not accelerating the aging process, it’s best to avoid all forms of refined sugar and chemical artificial sweeteners. Instead, your only source of sugar should be fresh fruits and vegetables; these are high in anti-inflammatory antioxidants and contain nutrients that help promote beautiful skin and a healthy body.
While nixing sugar from your diet isn’t exactly an easy change to make, it’s one that can result in serious benefits for both you and your skin.
