Can Eating Too Much Sugar Harm Your Skin?

From everydayhealth.com

Some research suggests that the sweet stuff may speed aging and play a role in certain skin conditions, like psoriasis. Here’s what you need to know

At certain times of the year, candy is seemingly inescapable. If you’re after clear, healthy skin, what can you expect if you indulge?

Believe it or not, eating too much sugar may wreak havoc on your skin health, playing a role in the development or worsening of skin conditions such as psoriasis and acne. Going overboard on sugar could even cause signs of premature aging like fine lines and sagging. You may have heard it dubbed as having a “sugar face.” That’s on top of potentially increasing your risk for diseases like type 2 diabetes and heart disease, as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) notes.

The CDC recommends limiting added sugar (which you can find on Nutrition Facts labels) to about 12 teaspoons per day. (The average adult consumes 17 teaspoons per day.)

This doesn’t apply to natural sources of sugar like fruit. Although fruit has been called nature’s candy, it also has fibre and other key nutrients that are associated with positive health outcomes. And there’s some evidence that eating fruit may help boost skin hydration, which can contribute to a complexion that glows.

So when it comes to added sugar, read on to learn more about how a sugar rush affects your skin — and what you can do about it. And don’t worry: You can still enjoy yourself a bit!

Your Skin Reflects What You Eat

Your skin is the largest organ in your body, according to MedlinePlus, so it’s no surprise that what you eat can be reflected outward. “Diet definitely plays a role in the health of the skin,” says S. Tyler Hollmig, MD, director of laser and cosmetic dermatology in the department of internal medicine at the University of Texas at Austin Dell Medical School. Other factors, including smoking, sun exposure, and sleep, also affect skin health and signs of aging, says the American Academy of Dermatology.

Here are three ways that sugar impacts your skin health.

1. May Accelerate Signs of Aging

When it comes to aging, sugar has a distinct effect on skin through a process called glycation. “Glycation is a process by which sugar molecules bond to proteins, lipids, or nucleic acids. The result is what are called advanced glycation end products, which can harm collagen and elastin fibres in the skin,” Dr. Hollmig says. Glycation interferes with collagen repair, a process that’s vital to maintaining springy collagen fibres, explains research in Clinics in Dermatology. The result is potential accelerated skin aging. In addition, glycation may increase the formation of free radicals that damage skin. For someone with a high-sugar diet, this could promote fine lines and crepiness, says Hollmig. It may also lead to drooping — a research letter calls this “sugar sag.”

2. May Promote Acne

If you’ve noticed more breakouts during the holiday season (which kicks off with Halloween), check the sugar in your diet. “A high-sugar diet has been definitively linked to acne,” says Hollmig. A JAMA Dermatology study that looked at nearly 25,000 adults found that consumption of fatty and sugary foods was associated with a 54 percent increased risk of acne, while sugary drinks increased that risk by 18 percent. The authors point out that the high-fat and -sugar pattern falls in line with the modern Western diet. It may be that sugar triggers a rise in insulin, which increases inflammation, one factor that promotes the development of acne. Sugar may also increase certain growth factors that raise androgen levels, which are hormones that are associated with a greater amount of pore-clogging oil production.

3. May Worsen Psoriasis

Psoriasis is an autoimmune disease in which skin cells grow especially fast, leading to plaques and scaling. It affects more than 7.5 million adults in the United States, according to the National Psoriasis Foundation.

Animal research is beginning to illuminate the role that diet, including sugar, may play in the development of psoriasis. When mice were fed a diet high in sugar and fat, which is similar to a Western diet, they developed psoriasis-like inflammation in only four weeks, explains study co-author Samuel Hwang, MD, PhD, professor and chair of dermatology at UC Davis Health in Sacramento, California. Yes, this research is on mice, but Dr. Hwang believes that the results likely apply to humans, too. More studies are needed to prove that’s the case.

The mice study suggests that increased inflammation may boost one’s susceptibility to psoriasis and, in some, trigger visible changes in the skin in line with psoriasis symptoms, such as redness and plaque, Hwang says. People may also develop what’s called subclinical inflammation, for which there’s no visible skin redness or scaling but there is itching.

Hwang points out that we rarely eat a high-sugar diet in isolation — it’s often accompanied by fat. (Sugar and fat are a mighty delicious duo.) Together, sugar and fat may negatively affect the gut microbiome by altering the population of healthy bacteria to cause the inflammation seen in psoriasis. But again, additional research is needed.

What is clear is what you can do about it. “When I see patients with psoriasis, I not only tell them about medications available but the lifestyle changes they can make, too,” says Hwang. Moving away from a Western diet toward more of a Mediterranean diet (rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and legumes) may help reduce inflammation to improve your symptoms.

How to Reduce Sugar for Your Skin Health

As it stands now, there’s a lot more to understand about the connection between diet and skin health, notes a review. And changing your diet doesn’t exactly bring immediate results today. “Improvement in skin aging through diet should not be rushed,” the authors write. Poor diet takes a long time to contribute to skin aging — and dietary changes will take a long time to make a difference. You’re playing the long game here.

Still, “it’s hard to go wrong recommending a healthy, relatively low-sugar diet,” Hollmig says. That doesn’t mean eliminating sugar entirely. You can enjoy yourself by having sweet treats in moderation.

Also, some perspective is good. “A reasonably healthy diet is necessary but not totally sufficient for healthy skin,” he adds. In other words, along with curtailing your sugar consumption a bit (if you’re overdoing it now), don’t forget to sleep well, apply sunscreen every day, and develop a skin-care plan attuned to the needs of your complexion.

https://www.everydayhealth.com/healthy-skin/can-eating-too-much-sugar-harm-your-skin/