Does Sugar Age You? The Link Between Sweets and Wrinkles

Let’s be honest: we all have a love-hate relationship with sugar. Who among us hasn’t tried to resist the siren song of pastries and desserts with a 30-day sugar fast or low-carb program? We already know that sugar can be a health problem, impacting everything from our weight to the clarity of our skin.

But did you know that it can also lead to premature aging?

That’s right, each sweet treat may be pushing the quality of your complexion away from its naturally vibrant bounciness and straight into the arms of tired, older-looking skin.

As if you needed one more reason to have sugar anxiety!

Friend, we feel your sugar-craving pain. But unfortunately, aimless worry and candy guilt aren’t going to help you solve this problem. If you think your sweet tooth may be leading you down the path to early aging, it’s time to take control and protect yourself with the real knowledge you need to keep your skin radiant.

How Sugar Ages Your Skin

Eventually, we all get older. That’s unavoidable. But we’re all looking for ways to age more gracefully. Is avoiding sugar the answer? What about other variables, like genetics, lifestyle, and sun exposure?

Are sweets really to blame for premature aging?

Maybe not single-handedly, but here’s a telling 2013 study. Independent assessors looked at 602 photographs of people with different blood sugar levels and attempted to guess their ages. Across the board, they found that the higher the sugar, the older that person appeared.

Is that how you’d want your photos to come across?

This study shows the overall trend of sugar aging, but let’s get into the details. Sugar isn’t just some vague, prematurely aging boogeyman — it has very specific effects on your skin. High-sugar diets have been linked to:

• The appearance of fine lines and wrinkles
• Sagging skin around the neck and chin
• The development of dark spots
• Slower healing and skin cell turnover

Sugar contributes to all the signs of aging that you’re probably trying to avoid. But why does it cause such incredibly drastic consequences?

Turns out, sugar wreaks all this havoc through a process called glycation.

What is Glycation?

Put simply, glycation converts the sugars you eat into hazardous free radicals. So that donut you snagged in the breakroom this morning gets repurposed and ends up damaging cells and proteins throughout your body.

The more sugar you consume, the more free radicals form, and the more harm is done. A slice of cake? Damage. A bowl of ice cream? Damage. That glass of juice? Sorry, more damage.

And these are just the obvious sugar threats. More sugar is hiding in your groceries under secret aliases, just waiting to thrust you into a downward spiral of cell-wrecking glycation.

 

Eventually, this damaging cycle makes its way to your skin, where it kicks off premature aging in multiple ways.

• Degrades and Weakens Your Collagen: Collagen and elastin are proteins that usually keep your skin plump, bouncy, and youthful. But a consistent influx of sugar can turn them stiff and brittle — the opposite of bouncy. Net result: Your skin begins losing its spring, resulting in fine lines, wrinkles, and overall sagging.
• Undermines Your Resistance to Environmental Damage: High sugar levels can weaken your body’s defenses, leaving your skin vulnerable to harmful pollution, UV rays, and even the blue light from device screens. Left unchecked, this can cause serious environmental damage and, you guessed it, premature aging.
• Dehydrates Your Skin: When you have a high sugar intake, your body wants to get rid of the excess. Find yourself visiting the restroom more on high-sugar days. That’s your body flushing extra sugar from your system. But in the process, you’re losing precious water content that usually keeps your skin bouncy and fresh. This lack of hydration steals your skin’s natural luster and leaves behind a muted greyish appearance.

Dehydration leads to low energy and makes your body crave a sugar boost. But too much sugar can dehydrate you even more! When you’re feeling sluggish, try reaching for water before a sweet snack.

• Feeds Dark Spots and Hyperpigmentation: The color and tone of your skin are determined by its levels of melanin, aka skin pigment. When excess sugar consumption causes glycation, your melanin-creating cells increase production — essentially upping the pigment levels in your skin. This can lead to dark spots, hyperpigmentation, and an overall darkening of your complexion.
• Slows Healing and Cell Turnover: As the final insult, sugar, and glycation interfere with your body’s attempts to repair itself from all these harmful effects. With this disruption to your recovery, short-term damage turns into long-term wrinkles and dullness that smother the luminosity of your skin.

How to Protect Your Skin from Sugar and Aging

Sugar is the first domino in a long chain of skin-aging reactions that negatively impact your complexion’s health, appearance, and longevity. So what should you do to protect your precious, irreplaceable skin? Cut all sugar out of your diet, avoiding it like the plague.

That’s certainly one option. But how feasible is it? Life happens, and our eating habits sometimes get away from us. Not to mention how difficult it can be to monitor the sugar hidden in your groceries — it can sneak into your food under dozens of different names.

And even if you did manage to catch all of these sneaky sugar sources, sugar isn’t the only threat to the lasting health of your skin. Making dietary changes may not be enough to protect your skin.

For a multi-faceted problem like skin aging, you need an equally versatile solution, which addresses the issue on all fronts. It’s not just about a low-sugar lifestyle. To truly protect your skin, you need to support it with comprehensive nourishment and focus on building skin health from the ground up.

 

It sounds like a lot, but what if we told you that there’s one simple answer that can help you accomplish your skin goals?

For gorgeous, thriving skin that lasts, you don’t have to turn your whole life upside-down. Instead, treat yourself and your skin with preventative aging skincare.

Defend Your Glow With Preventative Aging Skincare

Preventative aging skincare is a new approach built on empowering your complexion from within. By promoting fundamental good health, it reinvigorates your skin and gives it the tools to defend itself.

And when it comes to countering the destructive effects of sugar, our Forever Radiant Kit is more than prepared. Crafted with meticulous standards, this easy, four-step system helps renew and defend your skin for unceasing natural beauty.

 

This unique kit is infused with over 50 nutrient-rich botanical extracts and rare earth oils. It replenishes your skin with restorative antioxidants, helping fortify your sugar-weakened defenses and stop the barrage of environmental damage.

Meanwhile, potent ingredients like Kakadu plum bathe your skin with revitalizing vitamins C and E. These vitamins breathe new life into your skin, cultivating collagen and elastin to help keep your skin springy and supple despite sugar’s advances.

In the span of just four easy steps, you can help revive your complexion with deep cleansing, overnight restoration, and indulgent hydration. It’s a relaxing, skin-enhancing routine that answers all your sugar-induced concerns and then some.

Healing? Check. Hydration? Check. Youthful, luminous, well-defended skin? Check, check, and check.

Whether you’re a recovering sugar-holic or still can’t live without your daily dessert break, you don’t have to let the fear of aging completely overshadow your life (or your diet). At Averr Aglow, we’ve created skincare that meets you where you are.

Are you ready to finally nourish and protect your skin from the ravages of sugar without having to rewrite your entire lifestyle? Add the Forever Radiant Kit to your routine today, and discover how preventative aging skincare can unveil your timeless glow!