Unhealthy Food Might Cause Wrinkles

• Anti wrinkle skin care has a great deal to do with diet, specifically watching sugar intake
• Promoting the function and formation of healthy elastin and collagen fibers, both essential to anti aging skin care, can only be done through adding healthy, lean sources of protein to your diet, like fish and chicken
• Natural anti aging skin care can be obtained directly from a diet that is full of foods that are low on the glycemic index, such as fruits, vegetables and nuts

For decades, people have been looking for ways to fight back against wrinkles: those visually unappealing lines that are a dead giveaway to everyone that you are getting older. Until recently, however, most people had ignored one of the chief culprits that cause wrinkles: unhealthy food. While you might be surprised to find a connection between aging skin and a poor diet, the science seems to support these findings and also offers some advice on how to add some foods to your diet to fight back against those wrinkles.

Wrinkles Caused by Poor Nutrition

The main bad guy in the store seems to be sugar. While sugar is definitely tasty, it’s also part of a process known as glycation. What happens during this process is that sugar that is in your blood actually latches onto passing protein and forms something known as an AGE (advanced glycation end products). AGEs start damaging the proteins in the body, including the fibers known as collagen and elastin which are critical to healthy and young looking skin. As these become damaged and even destroyed by the AGEs, your skin begins to sag more and to become wrinkled.

Plus, research has shown that AGEs will also stop your body’s antioxidant enzymes from functioning properly. Those enzymes are your first line of defense against sun damage so they leave your skin vulnerable not only to the perils of sun exposure but also to a greater risk of skin cancer. And remember the sun is the main enemy of your skin – sugar seems to be an efficient co-conspirator.

If you’re wondering when you need to start worrying about the sugar in your diet and its impact on your skin, most dermatologists say this process kicks into high gear after about 35 but it couldn’t hurt to start cutting back on high sugar foods ahead of time.

Reducing the Damage

While a bad diet can increase your chances of developing wrinkles, some foods can be added to your diet to reduce the risks associated with them. Remember that elastin and collagen are made from protein fibers that means your body needs a good source of protein if it’s going to continue making these necessary ingredients to beautiful skin. That means you should have plenty of lean meats, low-fat dairy products, and eggs in your diet.

Avoiding excess sugar in your bloodstream, especially if you are diabetic, can help reduce the development of AGEs so add plenty of foods that are low on the glycemic index. These foods would include whole grains, most fruits, vegetables, and many types of nuts.

You might also want to chew some sugar-free gum. Xylitol is a sugar alcohol used to artificially sweeten many products, including gum and some diet sodas. Research using rats found that when xylitol is added to their diets their collagen production also increased. While that’s not definite proof for people, it could be a good reason to start switching to more sugar-free products. Just remember that for people with sensitive digestive systems too much xylitol can cause diarrhea.

The information supplied in this article is not to be considered as medical advice and is for educational purposes only.