The Link Between Sugar and Aging

Woman looking at wrinkles in mirror.jpg

We all want to look good, don’t we? Unfortunately, the juice you had with breakfast or dessert before bed might do the opposite. Andrew Nish, MD, UnityPoint Health, explains the link between sugar and aging, including steps to start slowly removing sugar from your diet. 

Sugar and Aging

When asked does sugar age you, Dr. Nish says the short answer is, "yes." Sugar ages us in many ways, both internally and externally, including our skin. Dr. Nish breaks down the science with a simple analogy.

“If you put a banana on the counter and unpeel it, what happens in 24-48 hours? It gets brown,” Dr. Nish says. “The sugars in that banana are reacting with proteins, causing cross-linking and the brown color (browning reaction). The same reaction happens in our bodies. We’re browning from the inside out.”

Table sugar is made of a glucose and fructose molecule, and it’s the fructose in sugar that accelerates the “browning” reaction by seven times. Skin is composed of collagen and elastin, which make our skin supple and soft. Sugar causes cross-linking of collagen, resulting in stiffening and loss of elasticity. The more sugar we have, the more our skin suffers.

Dr. Nish lists the following ways sugar takes its toll on the skin:

  • Increased acne
  • Appearance of wrinkles
  • Sagging in neck and chin
  • Development of dark spots
  • Slower healing of cuts, scraps, etc.

“Aging is part of growing older, but it’s accelerated by sugar. Without getting too technical, at the end of each strand of our DNA is a little cap, called a telomere. It protects our DNA from damage. Every time our DNA is read and duplicated, those telomeres shorten. While our bodies normally replace telomeres, sugar quickens that shortening and advances the aging process,” Dr. Nish says.

Research on telomeres and aging is just beginning to come out. Though it’s unclear how much sugar causes this reaction, what is known is the more sugar in the body, the worse it is. 

“Men and women continue to process sugar the same as they age. What changes is how many calories our bodies use in a certain amount of time. Kids have a higher metabolic rate than someone older, but as far as how sugar is processed, it’s the same whether you’re four years old, 40 or 80,” Dr. Nish says.

To reverse the effects of sugar, Dr. Nish says we can reduce the metabolic consequences of sugar (diabetes, obesity, metabolic syndrome) and possibly some of the aging aspects. But, unfortunately, we're stuck with the skin changes from ingested sugar.

“We really want to encourage people to start getting rid of sugar early in life. This is particularly important in pregnant mothers. Remember, what’s going on in your skin is going on everywhere in your body. Our skin is just an external display of everything happening in our bodies,” Dr. Nish says.

How to Eat Less Sugar

It’s never too late to start removing sugar from your diet, as it contributes to your risk for developing chronic diseases, like diabetes, heart disease, stroke, dementia, cancer and more. Dr. Nish offers the following advice: 

1. Look for Sneaky Ways Sugar Shows Up in Beverages

“The average person gets about 30-40 percent of sugar from drinks. Stick to water, tea or coffee. If you need to sweeten it, don’t. If you need to flavor your water, try adding fresh fruit, like lime or lemon. That’s it. No fruit juice, no sports drinks, no energy drinks or pop,” Dr. Nish says.

2. Carefully Read Food Labels

His second tip is to look at food labels and packaging on processed foods. Roughly 80 percent of processed foods have sugar.

“Sugar comes with about 50 different names. You can look for processed sugar, raw sugar, brown sugar, maldextrose. My favorite is concentrated fruit juice – it’s nothing but sugar. You really have to educate yourself on how sugar is labeled in different ingredients,” Dr. Nish says.

Fruits and vegetables contain sugar in its natural form, and Dr. Nish says you shouldn’t worry about those.

3. Try Fruits, Cheese and Nuts to Satisfy Your Sweet Tooth

Lastly, try combating your sweet tooth.

“There’s no such thing as a good dessert in the American culture. If you must have dessert, do what the Europeans do: have fruit, cheese and nuts. Or, have a little fruit with some yogurt on it for dessert. Natural foods are always best,” Dr. Nish says. 

If you're worried about your sugar intake and the long-term impact on your health, talk to your doctor.