On glycation (high sugar diets age your skin really bad)

[paranakee]

Posting this since I feel like it isnt discussed much. I think this will be important for looksmaxxers looking to ascend in a later, more wealthy stage of life (jfl i know) or people in general who want to age well.

What is glycation?
This refers to the reactions of free sugars (glucose) bonding to proteins, lipids, or nucleic acids.

Why is that bad (in the context of skin)?
When free sugars bond to collagen in the skin, it reduces the functionality of collagen, making your skin less elastic and more prone to wrinkes.
Sugar-bonded collagen molecules also cannot be repaired by the usual collagen repair processes that the human body has.
This sugar-bonded collagen molecule is a type of molecule known as an advanced end glycation product, or AGE. the accumulation of AGEs is a hallmark of aging.

How do I reduce it?
Eat less sugar - eating lots of sugar increases sugar concentration in your body, increasing the chances of AGE formation.

Eat less browned foods - There are AGEs that originate from your diet, and they also contributes to skin aging. Any food that has undergone the Mallard reaction (the golden crust of bread, the brown skin of roast chicken, etc.) has AGEs. Anecdotally, the skin of geriatric asians are a lot nicer than those of westerners since their methods of cooking food are usually water based (boiling, steaming, etc.) which prevent the Mallard reaction from happening. Compare this to baking, roasting, frying etc.

Exercise - Regular exercise increases antioxidant activity. Antioxidants inhibit AGE formation. This is because AGE formation is driven by reactive oxygen species which are inactivated by antioxidants.

AGE Inhibitors - Synthetic AGE inhibitor research has slowed down for a while since a lot of them were ineffective or had dangerous side effects. However, some herbal compounds have been found to have AGE inhibiting activity. These are:
Epicatechin - found in green tea
Quercetin - red wine, green tea, apples, onions
Genistein - fava beans and soybeans
Sesamin- sesame
its interesting to note that most of these compounds are found in Asian cuisines, which kind of gives another reason for why old Asians look better.

All information here comes from two sources:
Sugar Sag: Glycation and the Role of Diet in Aging Skin
The role of glycation in the pathogenesis of aging and its prevention through herbal products and physical exercise

The "how to reduce" portion is based on studies cited by these articles. Note that most of them are based on tests in mice

 

[Deleted member 5786]

@subhuman incel

 

[Deleted member 6403]

good post, OP

 

[chasing aesthetics]

Some argue one shouldn't even cook meat at all... and eat it raw.

 

[Hero of the Imperium]

Sesame is bad for DHT, the most powerful natural androgen

 

[Baldingman1998]

@kjsbdfiusdf

 

[Deleted member 6403]

@kjsbdfiusdf

Glycation also happens during lipid peroxidation but to a higher degree

 

[Laikyn]

@xefo
Thoughts?

 

[Renaissance.Chad]

I read that PUFAS are much worse than sugar in this respect.

The so-called "advanced glycation end products," that have been blamed on glucose excess, are mostly derived from the peroxidation of the "essential fatty acids." The name, “glycation,” indicates the addition of sugar groups to proteins, such as occurs in diabetes and old age, but when tested in a controlled experiment, lipid peroxidation of polyunsaturated fatty acids produces the protein damage about 23 times faster than the simple sugars do (Fu, et al., 1996)

 

[Deleted member 14139]

this is unlikely to be caused by carbohydrates for the majority of people unless you have a disease like diabetes which allows glucose concentrations to remain elevated for longer than natural in body tissue


considering that saturated fats and cholesterol are very insullinogenic and reduce insulin sensitivity, it's unfair to misrepresent this as an issue intrinsic to carbohydrates, and not the body's inability to process glucose properly. The fastest way to introduce exogenous AGEs in your body is grilled meat, although the molecular weight may make it less absorbable


it's important to note that this process of glycation is universal and constantly happening in everyone, and it's not unique to collagen, what's important is keeping it at a low turnover rate and neutralizing the free radicals with high antioxidant intake + excercise

 

[antiantifa]

If you don't have bone why bother with skin.

 

[antiantifa]

this is unlikely to be caused by carbohydrates for the majority of people unless you have a disease like diabetes which allows glucose concentrations to remain elevated for longer than natural in body tissue


considering that saturated fats and cholesterol are very insullinogenic and reduce insulin sensitivity, it's unfair to misrepresent this as an issue intrinsic to carbohydrates, and not the body's inability to process glucose properly. The fastest way to introduce exogenous AGEs in your body is grilled meat, although the molecular weight may make it less absorbable


it's important to note that this process of glycation is universal and constantly happening in everyone, and it's not unique to collagen, what's important is keeping it at a low turnover rate and neutralizing the free radicals with high antioxidant intake + excercise

Doesn't make sense, if you eat glucose your skin and other organs will start absorbing it from your skin to prevent hyperglycemia, thus increasing local concentration of glucose in the organs.

It's a fact that fasting reduces local concentrations of glucose in all your organs.

 

[Deleted member 14139]

Doesn't make sense, if you eat glucose your skin and other organs will start absorbing it from your skin to prevent hyperglycemia, thus increasing local concentration of glucose in the organs.

And?