Why does eating sugar exacerbate skin aging? Do anti-sugar pills really work?

Sugar is different from refined white staple food. These are all refined sugars. Refined sugars have many harmful effects and have attracted great attention from WHO. When it comes to diabetes and gout, you may think they are still a bit far away. In fact, for people who love beauty, the biggest worry is probably that too much refined sugar will accelerate skin aging.

Why is this? It turns out that too many refined sugar molecules are restless and will react with proteins (and lipids) in the body in a series of reactions, eventually producing a substance called advanced glycation end products (AGEs) (this process is called glycation reaction). Excessive AGEs will react with collagen, causing the latter to lose its support for the skin, thus leading to decreased skin elasticity and aging. A very popular name nowadays, "anti-glycation", is actually against these glycation end products AGEs.

So are anti-glycation products (such as “anti-sugar pills” and “anti-sugar liquids”) effective?

In fact, it is difficult to have a true anti-glycation effect, that is, once the glycation reaction occurs, it is difficult to reverse it. In addition, there is too much refined sugar, and it is difficult to prevent these reactions from happening in the body.

Some conscientious businesses may mainly use antioxidants such as vitamin C and vitamin E. Although there is no effective evidence that they can prevent the occurrence of glycation reactions, they are not harmful to the body. Some businesses are not so thorough. They may illegally add hormones to the products, making consumers mistakenly believe that these products really "work", which is actually worse.

How to "anti-glycation" is the fundamental way? That is to say, to prevent excessive glycation reactions from the source.

A Reduce the intake of refined sugar (many celebrities have personal nutritionists. For example, the ageless goddess Angela Chang shared on Weibo that her diet to maintain good skin is to "quit the refined sugar in sweet drinks, desserts and other foods.")

B. Do not eat overcooked grilled or fried foods (many foods contain a large amount of AGEs, such as foods cooked at high temperatures (fried, grilled, or fried), red meat, etc. After ingestion, some of the AGEs can enter the blood.)

In fact, to prevent aging, sun protection is the first priority. Photoaging accounts for three quarters of the factors that contribute to aging. In addition, not smoking, not drinking, not staying up late, maintaining a happy mood, moderate exercise, and a balanced diet are the most important.