glycation – Adamant About Beauty

Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day so a post on sweets (aka sugar) seems timely (it was that or a red roses rant).

Summary: Sugar is a (skin) aging accelerator. Stop adding sugar to your diet to look younger longer.

Sugar is hidden in almost everything we eat – including fruits and vegetables, yogurt (except plain), processed meats, salad dressings, sauces (yes, the best tomato sauce has added sugar), bread, pasta, crackers, wine, and more. Knowing this, we are all getting our “recommended sugar dosage” by eating and drinking “normal” substances – so no need to add juice, soda, sports or energy drinks, cereal, desert, cookies, muffins, smoothies, or other sugar-forward foods in our diet.

I am not speaking about the correlation between sugar and tooth decay, excess weight, diabetes, heart disease (and those connections are real). I am speaking pure skin here – excess sugar makes you look older sooner. Here is a summary of the pesky process called Glycation.

Excess sugar molecules attach themselves to proteins including collagen
Said collagen loses its strength and flexibility
Skin thus looks slacker, more wrinkled, less plump

Ironically, the culprits in this process are called AGEs – advanced glycation end products (compounds that result from a combination of sugars and proteins). And yes, they age you. For a more in-depth understanding of the impact of glycation on aging, read this article.

Here are easy tips to incorporate in your daily lifestyle today:

Stop drinking sugar – fruit juice, sodas, energy drinks, sports drinks
Forego pre-made or store-bought salad dressing, at home and at the restaurant; instead, have oil and vinegar on the side
If you must have desert, do it the European way and eat fruit and nuts (and cheese!)
Put down that piece of chocolate – unless it is dark chocolate (packed with antioxidants), small, and the only one you will enjoy this month.

Conclusion: Sugar is a (skin) aging accelerator. Stop adding sugar to your diet to look younger longer.

I know sugar is bad for me. I know it is bad for my waistline, and most likely for other reasons also. I am sure you know that too. Yet sometimes, I need a reminder. In particular on days such as today, Mardi Gras, a day that will be filled with sweet, sugary foods such as King Cake. I thought it would be good to remind myself of how sugar not only expands waistlines, but also accelerates aging. Today, I hope to resist the temptation of the King Cake.

When sugar enters the body, it has many both short and long-term effects on the cells. One of the effects of sugar exposure involves a process called glycation, in which over time sugars become irreversibly cross-linked with proteins or lipids forming Advanced Glycation End Products, aptly called AGEs (they even sound bad even before you really understand what AGEs do!).

Glycation and their resulting AGEs:

Change protein structure making it rigid and abnormal (think of broken down collagen, and those pesky wrinkles).
Induce Free Radical production (more free radicals = older-looking skin more quickly).
Interfere with a cell’s metabolic activity.
Deactivate our natural antioxidant defenses (less antioxidants – older-looking skin more quickly).

Glycation changes a protein’s structure resulting in AGEs, tissue damage, and inflammation, and also induces the creation of free radicals which are associated with many diseases and aging. Collagen and Elastin, key proteins in skin tissue quality, strength, and flexibility are particularly vulnerable to glycation. Free radicals take a toll on the skin’s structure and elasticity. We can physically observe AGE accumulation in the form of aging signs such as wrinkles and change in skin elasticity and quality.

To add to this issue, excess sugars and UV exposure work hand in hand to create havoc for our skin. UV light induces the cross linking process between sugars and lipids or proteins. Glycation induces sun damage: glycated skin cells exposed to UV exhibit significantly more UV damage than normal. As UV light is the main source of premature aging, exposing skin suffering from the effects of glycation ages the skin at an even faster rate. Conclusion: eating ice cream on the beach is the worst possible plan…

So – what can (should…) I do?

Avoid excess sugar; even better, avoid sugar in general…
Glycation also occurs by cooking sugar and lipids or proteins together, so avoiding foods that are both high in fat and sugar (therefore high in preformed AGEs) is important.
As glycation interferes with the body’s natural antioxidant defenses, antioxidant levels play a key role in counteracting damaging free radicals formed by glycation. Ensuring the intake of highly antioxidant foods and the application of antioxidant-rich topical products will ensure that antioxidant levels are replenished and subsequently prevent the negative effects of glycation on the skin.

A final note about glycation: quercetin, an antioxidant molecule naturally present in blueberries, and a key ingredient in Alchimie Forever products, has been found to be instrumental in preventing free radical creation by the glycation process and preventing structural changes in the properties of glycated components.

So today, if I am craving sweets, instead of eating King Cake, I will eat blueberries…

(Thank you to my fabulous Geneva intern Rachel for your help researching this blog post; references available upon request.)