So how do sweets lead to bad skin? It all starts with glycation, a process your body goes through when it processes your sweet treats. Glycation can lead to aging because it causes sugar to attach itself to proteins in your body and it interferes with proper cell function, causing damage. In short, the collagen and elastin molecules that keep your skin looking young and fresh are no longer able to serve their purpose, leaving your skin open to environmental damage such as UV rays. Skin will eventually start to lose it’s elasticity and sun damage will accelerate in the form of dark spots. 

So how can you lessen the signs of aging? Simply limiting your sugar intake in the forms of carbohydrates and high-glycemic foods. Refined sugars can wreak havoc on your skin, but it is important to keep certain foods such as fruits that have high doses of sugar included in your diet for nutritional purposes. Avoid cakes, cookies, dried fruits, white pasta, white bread, and high carb snacks and replace them with fruits, vegetables, multigrain break, quinoa, and lean proteins.

As in anything that involves the skin, prevention is best, but what do you do once the damage has been done? Dr. Eberting suggested: “It is important to use anti-aging products that maintain a healthy skin pH, have free-radical-scavenging capabilities, have anti-inflammatory properties to prevent the formation of AGEs and can assist with skin-barrier repair.”

So don’t despair if your sweet tooth has already given you a head start on aging. With positive action, you, too, can begin to see some positive results.