New Study Shows Link Between Added Sugar and Premature Aging

High consumption of added sugar in foods and beverages has become a problem in recent years, and sugar consumption is now linked to skin aging and disease risk.

According to an article published by Dr. Marilyn Glenville in BBC’s Good Food, sugar reacts with protein, causing the skin to wrinkle and cell structures to harden.

“If you think about the way arteries harden to cause coronary heart disease, a similar process occurs in skin cells,” Glenville points out.

On the other hand, dermatologist Neha Dubey explained to Zee News that the effects of sugar accelerate the aging process.

Dubey explained that sugars such as glucose or fructose bind amino acids that are present in collagen and elastin, which causes collagen fibers to become unable to repair.

As a result, the skin will have weaker brittle tissue and more wrinkles, and inflammation will occur in the body.

Collagen has an important function in bones, muscles, heart, and joints, as well as helping to strengthen and provide elasticity to the skin, so the damage caused by sugar is serious.

Therefore, refined sugars cause aging, so Dr. Glenville recommends the consumption of natural fruits with their fiber, which “slows down the digestion of sugar and has a lower impact on sugar in the blood“.

Low-sugar diets are a solution

Eating large amounts of sugar is a major cause of cardiovascular disease, obesity, inflammation, diabetes, and cancer.

Therefore, it is advisable to start a low-sugar diet; a good start is to increase the consumption of carrots that provide beta-carotene or tomatoes, which contain an antioxidant called lycopene.

According to the WHO Nutrition Department, it is recommended that sugar consumption be below 10%, and it is reduced to at least 5% to be more beneficial.

The American Heart Association (AHA) recommends limiting sugar consumption to less than 6 teaspoons (25 g) per day and 9 teaspoons (36 g) for men.