Is sugar ageing your body?

The human body is designed to work efficiently on complex carbohydrates such as whole grains, vegetables, pulses and simpler carbohydrates such as fruit. These foods are designed to gradually release their energy and contain all the nutrients the body needs for digestion and metabolism and keeping the digestive system running.

However, we humans enjoy the sweetness of carbohydrates and all forms of sugar whether it is white, brown, syrup or glucose are fast-releasing causing a rapid increase in blood sugar levels. When this sugar is not required by the body it is eventually stored as fat.

Sugar is also very toxic. As an oxidant it damages certain substances such as proteins. The toxic by-product of glucose is known as AGE (advanced glycosylation end products) and damages cells causing them to age faster, and impairs the ability of the body to remove unwanted cholesterol. It also damages collagen and elastin, the protein fibres that keep the skin firm and elastic. This damage results in dull, brittle dry skin leading to wrinkles and sagging. These ageing effects can start from the age of 35, after which they will increase rapidly. 

A high sugar diet can even influence the type of collagen a skin has, a factor in how resistant skin is to ageing. The most common types of collagen in the skin are types I, II and III, with III being the most important and type I being the most fragile. Glycation turns type III into type I causing the skin to lose its suppleness. AGEs also leave your skin more vulnerable to sun damage. 

Diabetics are very susceptible to the damaging effects of sugar as they can suffer from high blood sugar levels for many years before diagnosis and often show signs of premature skin ageing. 

However, all is not lost and with a little work, you can minimise future damage and regain some of your skin's youth if you follow these simple steps:

• Sorry, but you must cut down on sugar and high sugar products. Whilst it is difficult to completely eliminate sugar, eating a nutritional, fresh diet will help keep intake minimal. It is easy to add sugar rich foods to the diet without thinking about it. For example, there are about 10 teaspoons of sugar in a can of coke, which amounts to 160 empty calories.
• Get to know your labels. Sugar can be hidden under aliases such as barley malt, corn syrup, dextrose, fructose or molasses.
• Protect your skin with antioxidant rich moisturisers which include vitamins C and E and green or white tea. Do not expose your skin to strong sunlight.  AGEs occur more significantly in sun exposed skin than in protected skin. 
• Keep your blood sugar levels balanced. This is important if you want to maintain energy levels and weight. When the level of glucose in your blood drops you feel hungry, leading to feelings of tiredness, depression,   headaches and migraines, poor concentration and digestive problems. When the levels are too high the body converts the excess to glycogen or fat, our long term energy reserve. It is becoming more and more common for people to have an impaired ability to keep blood sugar levels even. This will eventually result in fat and lethargy and even diabetes. 
• Eating a wholesome balanced diet helps health and skin as the antioxidants keep sugar from attaching to proteins. Include foods which are high in complex carbohydrates and which release their sugar content gradually.
• Keep alcohol and stimulants such tea, coffee and fizzy drinks to a minimum. These substances stimulate the release of adrenalin that initiates the ’fight or flight’ response. This prepares our body for action by releasing sugar stores and raises blood sugar levels to give muscles and brain a boost of energy. However, we do not have the same physical stresses as our ancestors and our stresses are more likely to be of the emotional or mental variety. The body has to somehow cope with the excess of blood sugar by releasing hormones to take the glucose out of circulation. This vicious circle results in an inability to control blood sugar levels, which can lead to diabetes.