Does eating sweets make you age faster?
Eating sweets brings a sense of pleasure to the taste buds, but is closely related to the skin aging process.
1. Why does eating sugar speed up the skin aging process?
Although skin aging is a normal physiological process, the rate at which it occurs varies from person to person. People who age slowly will look much younger than their peers. There are many factors, both external and internal, that affect the skin aging process at any given time.
External factors such as ultraviolet rays, dry skin, use of unsuitable cosmetics and improper cleansing will accelerate the skin aging process. Internal factors refer to some biochemical reactions that occur inside our body such as "oxidation", "free radicals" and "glycolysis".
Youthful skin comes from the youthfulness of cells, while aging is mainly due to the destruction of cell structure and function. Studies show that long-term high blood sugar levels increase vascular damage and generate a large number of free radicals. When free radicals appear, they will quickly affect the lipids of cell membranes. If there are not enough antioxidants to protect the lipids, the cell membrane will be damaged by oxidation.
Rapid aging and death of skin cells manifests itself in dry skin, wrinkles, redness and acne. It should be noted that free radicals generated by eating too much sugar can often directly activate the lipid metabolism of the skin, which accelerates the aging process of the skin due to oxidative damage, so applying skin care products is ineffective.
Additionally, glycation occurs when sugars bind to proteins in the skin, such as collagen and elastin, and denature these proteins. This results in loss of elasticity, increased stiffness, and wrinkles, and a compromised skin barrier function.
2. How much sugar should you eat a day?
In addition to premature skin aging, eating too much sweets also poses many health risks. Eating too much sugar not only affects your appearance, but more importantly, it will bring many health risks such as damaging your teeth, causing tooth decay, aggravating the symptoms of diabetes, liver disease, etc. Therefore, reducing sugar intake brings great benefits to your health and beauty.
The World Health Organization recommends that adults' daily sugar intake should be controlled at about 5% of total energy, about 25 grams.
Candy, chocolate, desserts, ice cream, cookies, drinks... are the most common sugary foods, if you can control it, try to limit your intake, especially at night.
In addition to candies and desserts, there are actually many healthy "sweets" for you to choose from. For example, fruits with low glycemic index such as bananas, pomegranates, apples, plums, grapefruit, pears... Although you should not eat too much, fruits can also be used as a substitute. When you want to drink carbonated drinks or other soft drinks, you can mix a glass of lemonade, orange juice... which tastes just as good and is also good in terms of nutrition and health.
3. Solutions to slow down skin aging
To slow down the aging process of the skin, in addition to controlling the amount of sugar consumed, you also have to form good living habits, it is best to form the habit of staying away from cigarettes, alcohol, and not staying up late. Harmful ingredients in cigarettes and alcohol can cause melasma, staying up late can cause hormonal disorders, leading to a series of skin problems such as acne. And it is necessary to form good skin care habits, including:
-Good sun protection for skin: Whether the sun is strong or not, you should protect yourself from the sun and apply appropriate sunscreen when going outdoors. In addition, you should use physical sunscreen methods to minimize the exposure of ultraviolet rays to the skin, for example, wearing a sun hat or sun umbrella is a good way.
-Pay attention to providing enough water for the body: If the skin is dehydrated for a long time, it will age faster, so it is necessary to add enough moisture to the skin. You can apply a moisturizing mask to hydrate or use other moisturizing skin care products.
-Eat foods rich in vitamins: Eat more foods containing vitamins such as vitamin A and vitamin C. Vitamin A can significantly reduce the breakdown of collagen and can also promote the growth of collagen and hyaluronic acid. Vitamin C can promote the synthesis of a large amount of collagen in the skin, thereby slowing down the aging process of the skin.
