The Skinny On Sugar Face: How Sugar Could Be Harming Your Skin

Written by Saumya Gaur  • 

We all know that sugar has replaced the former silent killer in our diets, yes I am talking about the most ubiquitous ingredient used in cuisines across the world — salt. Sugar is bad for our waistlines, our heart, and now it turns out it is equally dangerous for our skin. Surprised to read that, aren’t you?

But it’s true, the sugar that is present in every second food item that we consume today has an effect on almost every part of our body and that includes our skin. Its effects range from assailing your teeth with cavities to making your liver resistant to insulin to making your skin more susceptible to the effects of aging (1). Now you must be wondering how can consuming sugar lead to aging skin.

Well, this conundrum had confounded us as well till we decided to do a deep dive into the way sugar works inside our bodies and came up with a pretty detailed explanation as to how consumption of sugar harms our skin. If you want to protect your precious skin from ravages of time, read on!

Sugar Can Make Your Skin Age Before Its Time

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First things first, do you know what happens when you consume sugar, whether it’s in the form of a delicious but deadly doughnut or the more healthy alternative, such as an apple?
Well, as soon as we consume foods that contain sugar or score high on the glycemic index (glycemic index measures how quickly our food gets broken down into glucose), our body immediately starts to break down these carbohydrates into glucose (2). This leads to an increase in the insulin levels in our body.

When we consume simple carbohydrates such as bread or say a sweetmeat, it leads to a spike in the insulin level of our body, causing a burst of inflammation throughout our body.
This inflammation results in the production of enzymes that are responsible for the breakdown of collagen and elastin (3).

Collagen is the protein which is found in the dermis (the thick layer of tissue found below epidermis also called as true skin) and it’s this protein which is responsible for keeping those fine lines and wrinkles at bay. Along with collagen, elastin is also present in the dermis. Elastin is another protein which is responsible for maintaining the elasticity of the skin and keeping it from sagging (4).

Breakdown of these proteins results in visible aging of skin in the form of wrinkles and sagging. And the now digested sugar attaches itself to the collagen through a process known as glycation (5). This change is permanent in nature. Glycation not only exacerbates the effects of aging, but it also worsens skin conditions such as rosacea and acne.

Other Side-Effects Of Sugar Consumption On Your Skin

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Apart from letting time wreak havoc on your skin, sugar can also affect the overall health of your skin in a disastrous manner. It has been found that consuming too much sugar in the form of processed foods, etc. can make your body develop insulin resistance. Insulin resistance can manifest itself physically in the form of dark patches on the skin, especially in the areas such as neck, armpits, back of the knees etc. It can also lead to hirsutism (6).

Hirsutism is a condition where females start exhibiting male-pattern hair growth on their body. Women suffering from this condition start developing dark, coarse hair on those areas of the body where the men usually have hair (7).

What Kind Of Sugars Are Safe For Consumption?

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You can still save your skin from the disastrous side-effects of sugar if you are more careful as to what kind of sugars you include in your diet. Remember, simple carbohydrates that can be broken down into glucose easily, are your skin’s enemy number one. Avoid eating foods which have a high glycemic index or have high saturated fats such as white bread, candy, ketchup, processed snacks, etc (in short, everything that tastes good is bad for your skin).

In place of these, you can opt for complex carbs, like brown rice and vegetables. It takes our body a long time to break down these food items into glucose which in turn does not cause a spike in the insulin levels. Therefore, if you want healthier, glowing, younger-looking skin, you should opt for food items such as whole grains, nuts, which have a low glycemic index. Or foods which have healthy fats, like avocados and olive oil or the ones which are a rich source of antioxidants (like green tea).

Now that we have given you a complete lowdown of how sugar affects or rather damages your skin, we hope you would make better choices the next time you get a craving for pizza at midnight. Remember, you’re what you eat, and you are definitely not a day-old pizza!

Do you know any other healthy options that we can consume to keep our skin in the pink of its health? Let us know in the comments section.

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