Sugar makes you look older

Sugar makes you look older

A SWEET tooth doesn’t just add pounds to your belly, it also causes your skin to age prematurely, and making you look older than you really are.

Diana van Heemst at Leiden University in the Netherlands, who led a research team, divided 569 healthy volunteers into three groups according to whether they had low, medium or high concentrations of blood glucose after a meal. Also included in the study were 33 diabetics who had even higher blood glucose levels.

Sixty independent evaluators were then asked to view pictures of the study participants and rate how old each looked. The results revealed that the study participants who had high blood sugar levels looked older far more than their age. Taking into consideration other factors affecting appearance such as actual age, smoking and a history of sunbathing.

The largest gap in perceived age was one year seven months, between the lowest glucose group and the diabetics, from an average of 59.6 years old to 61.2 years. But even among those without diabetes, there was a one-year gap between the lowest and highest glucose groups.

The research concluded that overall, there was a five-month hike in perceived age for every 0.18 gram increase in glucose per litre of blood.

"What's happening in the body is written in the face." says David Gunn of Unilever Research in Sharnbrook, UK, who co-led the project.

Posted by George Daniels on Thursday December 29 2011, 11:56 AM EDT. Ref: Diana van Heemst, et al. Link. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Featured News, Health. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0