Night Listening | Anti-sugar ≠ quitting sugar! The wildly popular anti-sugar is actually to reduce the intake of "free sugar"!

For a long time, a new diet theory has been circulating online: if you want good skin, you must fight sugar. Even some entertainment stars who are known for their "frozen age" have posted their "frozen sugar" menus. For a while, many people also shared their sugar-free experiences on the Internet, and attached comparison pictures. In the eyes of beauty lovers, sugar is the "number one enemy" of aging.

From the pictures, we can see that before they quit sugar, they not only had acne on their faces, but their skin also looked rough. After they quit sugar, not only did their skin get better, but their skin tone became whiter. Is quitting sugar really as magical as people say online?

First of all, sugar is an essential nutrient for human health, so there is no need to be afraid of it.

According to the World Health Organization's recommendation, the sugar intake of adults and children should be controlled below 10% of total energy, which is equivalent to no more than 50 grams of sugar per day. What does this mean? Everyday, we drink a 500 ml bottle of cola and consume 52.5 grams of sugar. If you are not careful, you will consume too much sugar. Therefore, it is more important to control sugar intake, especially to reduce the intake of free sugars such as white sugar, honey and syrup. This is because free sugars are more easily absorbed by the human body, which is more likely to cause high blood sugar and cause vascular diseases.

In addition, controlling sugar intake can really make your skin better. When a lot of sugar enters the body, if there is not enough enzyme to carry out enzymatic saccharification reaction, the excess sugar will generate a product that is very harmful to health. This product will not only damage the collagen in the skin, but also accelerate skin aging. The specific manifestations are: wrinkles on the skin, loss of luster, dark yellow spots, etc. However, excessive sugar is only one factor of skin aging. In addition to controlling sugar intake, it is equally important to ensure good sleep, clean and sun protection.

Finally, there is a small suggestion that may help everyone control their sugar intake. A survey shows that the primary sources of sugar intake for Chinese residents are white sugar, brown sugar and rock sugar used in cooking. So if you want to control your sugar intake, you can start from here. Try to reduce the amount of sugar when cooking, and choose a lighter diet when eating out, so that you can better control your sugar intake.

Review | Wei Aihua, Chief Physician of Dermatology, Beijing Tongren Hospital, Capital Medical University