Quit sugar and look younger!

If any of my anti-sugar rants haven't gotten the message home that SUGAR IS BAD FOR YOUR HEALTH... then maybe I should be attacking your vanity!

SUGAR CAUSES AGEING!!!!!

Yes, that's what I said.  Quitting sugar will make you look YOUNGER!  Now, have I got your attention?

Here's the science:

There is a process in the body called glycation.  When you have sugar molecules in your system, they attack the other cells in the body bombarding them.  They attach themselves onto fats and proteins in the process known as glycation.  This process produces advanced glycation end products (AGEs for short), which cause protein fibers to become stiff and malformed.  However, a lot of what is known about the effects of glycation comes from research on diabetes:  The connective-tissue damage and chronic inflammation resulting from diabetics' sustained high blood sugar can lead to debilitating conditions such as; cataracts, Alzheimer's Disease, vascular tightening, and diseases of the pancreas and liver.

The proteins in the skin most susceptible to glycation are the same ones that make a youthful complexion so plump; these are collagen and elastin.  When these two proteins join forces with renegade sugars, they weaken, become less supple and discolored and all this produces WRINKLES, loss of firmness and radiance on the surface of the skin.  The presence of AGEs also makes the complexion more vulnerable to other dangers such as UV light or cigarette smoke.  Cheryl Karcher, MD a Dermatologist from New York says:

"Number one, the glucose makes the cells abnormal; and number two, it creates free radicals.  So you get a double whammy when it comes to aging."

To an extent, gycation is a fact of life.  It happens to everyone and it's happening right now.  It can be measured, the cross-links formed between sugars and proteins emit a fluorescence, which scientists can capture using Visia complexion analysis cameras.

"If you take a fluorescent image of children, their faces will come out very dark," says Greg Hillebrand, PhD, a biochemist at Procter & Gamble, "but with each decade, the AGEs, and therefore the brightness, will accumulate more and more."

This means that by the time we reach retirement age and beyond, we can expect our Visia images to be incandescent.  The external signs of glycation begin to show around the age of 30 or 35, produced by the build-up of sun damage, environmental oxidative stress, changes in hormones, and the development of AGEs begins to result in... aging.

"When you're younger, your body has more resources to ward off damage, and you're producing more collagen," says Fredric Brandt, MD, dermatologist based in New York and Miami, who in 2007 was one of the first to launch an anti-aging skincare line specifically for glycation.  "When you reach a certain age, these sugar by-products begin to build-up at the same time that your threshold for damage is getting lower."

However, sugar isn't the only guilty party here.  Even healthy foods such as whole grains, fruits and vegetables turn to glucose when digested, but in a less damaging fashion.  Removing all forms of sugar from our diet isn't healthy either, it still is an essential fuel for cells and energy metabolism, critical for survival.

"For most people with normal levels of glucose, the glycation process is something that happens gradually over the course of a lifetime, and it's really not that big of a deal," says Hillebrand, "but diet and lifestyle choices can affect how quickly the effects can be seen on the skin."  For example the premature yellowing of skin in smokers, Hillebrand explains, "Smoke reduces antioxidants in skin, and smokers' vitamin C and E are being used up trying to take care of all this oxidation that's caused by smoking, so they don't have a lot of antioxidant potential to take care of normal processes like glycation," he says.  "And if you add a high-glycemic index diet, you're just asking for trouble."

For me the real problem is refined sugar and the amount of sugar "hidden" in processed foods.  Many people that have eliminated all refined sugar and hidden sugar from their diets have noticed many health benefits, the most noticeable of which is better skin.  So, if you take into account that sugar is as dangerous to your health has cocaine, and it ages you quicker... those are two pretty powerful reasons to erase it from your life.  Believe me, it really is possible!

Social Nutrition:  You can make an appointment to improve your health with Social Nutrition either in person (Madrid) or online (Skype).  Just send an email to lucycarr@socialnutrition.com