Is there a link between sweets and wrinkles?

Sugar and Skin
Is there a link between sweets and wrinkles?

By Michele Bender, a contributing editor for Health.

It’s no secret that your 3 o’clock Peanut M&M’s habit can affect your waistline. And now some experts are suggesting it could also make your skin age faster—which, in turn, is spawning a new crop of antiaging beauty products. Are they worth it? Some dermatologists believe eating more sugar than you need will speed up your body’s natural process of glycation—that’s when sugar and protein molecules gang up and get hostile toward collagen. And collagen damage can make your skin less elastic, more easily wrinkled, and more vulnerable to sun damage, according to Paul J. Beisswenger, MD, a diabetes researcher and Dartmouth Medical School professor of medicine.

Not all experts are convinced, though. “There’s probably some connection between too much sugar and your skin; we just don’t have enough data to show us what that is,” says Ranella Hirsch, MD, vice president of the American Society of Cosmetic Dermatology and Aesthetic Surgery. “Most research has been small, commercially sponsored, or done on cells in a lab.” So it’s hard to know if results translate to your skin.

That said, a few cosmetics companies are confident enough about the sugar-wrinkle connection to create products designed to combat it. These are among the first on the market:

• Estée Lauder Resilience Lift Extreme ($70; esteelauder.com). The line includes firming creams and a lotion, all with SPF 15, as well as a night cream and an eye cream.

• Dr. Brandt Lineless Cream ($100; sephora.com) works for normal to dry skin and can be used in the morning or at night after cleansing.

• Prescriptives Anti-AGE Advanced Protection Lotion ($60; prescriptives.com) is a lightweight daily moisturizer with SPF 25 that helps guard against the effects of sun, pollution, and stress.

How beneficial these topical sugar-busters are may still be in question, but one thing’s for certain: They’re all good moisturizers, and two fight skin aging with sunscreen.