Sep 4, 2006
Apparently sugar causes facial wrinkles and lines. Eating sugar that is not applying it topically in a face mask or body scrub that is. Foods such as fruit juice, candy, and cookies that cause your blood sugar to spike can cause wrinkles. Just another reason to watch what you eat and stick to a healthy diet.
When blood sugar suddenly rises it triggers something called glycation an inflammation at the cellular level that causes free radicals to form. It is these free radicals that damage collagen and elastin in the skin leading to wrinkle formation and aging skin.
Nicholas Perricone, M.D. believes that 50% of skin aging is due to the glycation process, which refers to sugar attaching or cross linking to collagen cells. The damage to skin occurs when sugar levels go up drastically and frequently say, when you binge on sugar several times a day.
The remedy? try face creams that are high in antioxidants that fight free radicals. Trouble is, some of these face creams are fairly expensive. Or eat foods like pinto, white, kidney, and black beans, salmon, colorful vegetables including beets, carrots, squash, kale, and tomatoes, and olive oil, which are all high in antioxidants.
Of course you could always try both of these. That way you could look younger, lose weight, and be in better health. That’s my choice!
Return to Beauty in Seattle
9/13/06
Dr. Perricon throws out a lot of interesting ideas---who knows, some might even be true? But he writes books about them as though they're proven facts, instead of trying to actually come up with proof (the hard part :) ).
A hypothesis without proof is not-ready-for-prime-time in the world of science and medicine. He's viewed by real dermatologists and plastic surgeons as a salesman and a joke.
12/11/07
Eating too much sugar causes wrinkles. I use honey on my DIY face masks..will the sugar in my face masks cause wrinkles on face directly as well?
12/18/07
I am wondering the same thing. I have been using plain sugar as a body and face scrub (almost daily!) for about 10 years. Does anyone know if this would cause glycation? I'm 30 and people usually think I'm about 23.
1/19/08
I quit smoking to improve my skin -- which has improved dramatically thank goodness, but I have substituted more sweets when stressed, instead of a cigarette, so now I have to give up sweets too? Oh god, what we do for beauty. Am wondering about the sugar scrubs too, I use them and ppl say that I look much more youthful too (despite former bad habit).
1/20/08
Reading Flare magazine and saw that naturopathic doctor Alan Logan stated: "In recent years, we've learned that certain dietary factors can influence both the hormones and inflammatory chemicals that can drive acne". He recommends a diet low in sugar, milk, cheese and ice cream and high in fibre and omega-3 fatty acids.