We all know that sugar isn’t good for us, but there’s little we can do about life’s guilty pleasures—a little chocolate post dinner, the last piece of mithai, the latest cupcake place in town and so on. But realistically speaking, is sugar bad for your skin? If yes, how much good or harm can sugar do to your skin? We did a little research of our own and came up with some findings. Warning: It isn’t good news.
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Inflammation

When you eat sugar rich foods, your body directs all of its efforts to break them down causing inflammation on your skin. Scientifically speaking, here’s what happens - The sugar in your body releases glucose which immediately attaches itself to collagen, the protein responsible for the elasticity (and age) of your skin. Over time, this sugar makes your collagen rigid, affecting its ability to keep your skin healthy, the effects of which show up on your skin as lines and wrinkles.

Damage

This is one of the top reason why sugar is bad for your skin. Your body has three different kinds collagen—Type 1 which is the most fragile and Type 3 which is the most strong. Glucose not only weights down the collagen but it also weakens it by breaking Type 3 into Type 1, making your skin age faster and become more vulnerable to damage from external factors such as sun damage and pollution.

Dehydration

The more sugar you have, the more your intake of liquids should be. Sugar dehydrates your skin by sucking out all the water from skin cells causing your skin to feel undernourished and thirsty resulting in sagging.

Fighting it

We know that cutting out sugar from your diet can pose quite a challenge (for most of us), we can reduce the damage caused by loading up on anti-oxidants which prevent sugar from attaching itself to the collagen. Look at it this way, for every bar of chocolate that you eat, have an orange to supplement it. The better your intake of Vitamin C and E (found in fresh fruits, nuts and veggies) the better your chances of protecting your skin from the detrimental effects of sugar.