Many people have heard the old adage that chocolate ruins your skin. Though chocolate itself is not inherently bad for your skin, there may be some truth in that phrase because of the typical high sugar content of chocolate. Sugar may actually advance the aging of your skin, making your face appear more wrinkled and less youthful.
Sugar Intake
Foods high in sugar include candy, cakes, pies, pastries, muffins and chocolates. These foods spike the blood sugar levels in the body quickly. Beverages such as soda, lemonade and juice are full of sugar as well, though it is sometimes hard for people to realize how much sugar they contain because they are in liquid form. According to CNN Health, drinking even one can of soda can spike your blood sugar levels.
Simple and Complex Carbohydrates
Dr. Nicholas Perricone, a dermatologist and author of "The Wrinkle Cure," explains that foods that spike your blood sugar aren't always what you would expect. Complex carbohydrates such as potatoes, white rice and white pasta also spike your blood sugar and convert into simple sugars quickly in the body, Perricone adds. Even complex carbohydrates such as whole grains and corn tortillas make your blood sugar rise. Complex carbohydrates don't cause your blood sugar to spike as quickly as simple carbohydrates such as straight sugar.
Fructose
According to Science Daily, fructose is a naturally occurring sugar found most often in honey and fruit. Though most people think of fructose as being healthy because it comes from fruit, it may actually cause premature aging of the skin as well. Science Daily explains that when researchers gave fructose to rats over the course of a year, the rats lost a significant amount of collagen and showed many signs of early aging. Someone who wants to prevent wrinkles may not want to overdo her intake of foods with fructose.
Glycation
Perricone explained to Discovery Health that when a person eats a food high in sugar, or a complex carbohydrate that converts to sugar quickly in the body, blood sugar spikes, and a process called "glycation" begins. Glycation is the process in which sugar attaches to collagen, making the skin tough and inflexible. When glycation occurs, the skin on a person's face becomes more susceptible to signs of aging, such as wrinkles, because it cannot bounce back easily when stretched.
Elasticity
Elasticity is an important aspect of youthful skin. Skin is flexible and elastic because it is rich in collagen and elastin. Skin that has elasticity doesn't wrinkle very easily. Perricone says that over time, when someone eats a lot of sugar, her skin loses elasticity and resilience, which leads to deep wrinkles and an older-looking face.
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