We all know sweet treats add inches to the waistline, but did you know that chocolate could also give you wrinkles? In his new book 10 Minutes/10 Years: Your Definitive Guide To A Beautiful And Youthful Appearance, dermatologist Dr Fredric Brandt explains why sugar is enemy Number One.
He believes that by simply reducing your sugar intake, you can turn back the clock by ten years and improve the texture, tone and radiance of your skin.
“In a nutshell, sugar hastens the degradation of elastin and collagen, both key skin proteins. In other words, it actively ages you,” says Dr Brandt, who counts Madonna, Rupert Everett, Cher and Ellen Barkin among his clients.
He saw a remarkable change in his own skin when he eliminated sugar from his diet. Not only did he drop 20lb, but, he says, within ten days he saw an increased glow, radiance and elasticity in his face. And within a year, his body had changed completely as well.
“I?ˉm really lean and have the body of a teenager, although I?ˉm in my 40s,” he says. “My clients don?ˉt believe it?ˉs just yoga and a sugar-free diet; they think I must have had everything lifted. But believe me, it?ˉs cheaper than a face-lift - with much longer lasting results.”
This may sound like unlikely advice from the man who is known as The Baron of Botox in the U.S., but he has a real reason to fear sugar. His father, who owned a sweet shop, died at the age of 47 from kidney failure, related to diabetes.
“When I was little, there was nothing I loved more than stuffing myself with sweets,” says Dr Brandt.
“I managed to keep my sweet tooth in check as I slimmed down as an adolescent, knowing I had to take better care of myself. As an adult, I considered myself to be a healthy eater, but I was consuming a lot of sugar.
“I would drink Orangina every day and eat a tub of ice cream at one sitting. But I wasn?ˉt prepared for the huge improvement in my skin when I came off sugar.”
The trouble starts, he says, as soon as the sugar you?ˉve eaten - whether it be in a slice of cake or natural sugars in a piece of fruit - hits your bloodstream.
“The sugar triggers a process in the body called glycation. This is where the sugar molecules bind to your protein fibres - those wonderfully springy and resilient collagen and elastin fibres - which are the building blocks of skin.
“Imagine that your collagen is your skin?ˉs mattress and the elastin fibres are the coils holding it together. The sugar attacks these fibres, making them less elastic and more brittle so they break.
“The result is that your once-youthful skin starts to sag and look old.”
But it gets worse.
The glycation process causes these proteins to mutate, creating harmful new molecules called Advanced Glycation End products (AGEs), which accumulate and cause further inflammation and damage to your collagen and elastin.
If you have normal, healthy collagen and elastin, your skin will snap back to its original position after you smile.
But if your collagen and elastin has been made brittle by glycation and so is prone to breaking, your skin can?ˉt snap back. That?ˉs when fine lines and wrinkles appear - and they don?ˉt go away.
To compound this assault on your skin, glycation also degrades type II and type III collagen (the strongest, plumpest and most stable forms), leaving only pathetic type I, which is fragile and easily destroyed. When that happens, your skin looks and feels less supple and is prone to wrinkling.
It?ˉs not just the sugar we eat, but the way we eat it that harms our skin.
Cooking and caramelising our food at the high temperatures that occur during barbecuing or cooking on a griddle is a real no-no, according to Dr Brandt.
Cooking food this way creates AGEs which, once consumed, bind to the collagen and elastin fibres. “AGEs form when any food that?ˉs made up of sugar, protein and/or fat is cooked to a high heat,” says Dr Brandt.
“The higher the temperature and the longer the cooking, the more AGEs form. All food that you brown, whether you?ˉre roasting a chicken, baking a potato or barbecuing a steak, is high in AGEs.
“Conventional wisdom used to hold that when you ate something containing AGEs, they would simply pass through the digestive tract.
“But that turned out to be wishful thinking. The cake baking in the oven may have a gorgeous golden crust, but inside each delicious crumb is a time bomb of ageing in the form of AGEs.
“The bottom line is that a diet high in sugar, especially foods with the sugarprotein-heat combination, can cause premature ageing, or worse.”
So now we know how much damage sugar is doing to our skin, what can we do about it?
There are a few immediate solutions - you can use topical products that target AGEs and work from the outside in, such as Dr Brandt?ˉs Lineless Anti-Glycation Gel (?ê73, www.spacenk.co.uk).
When you apply it to the skin, the active ingredient, Alistin, prevents AGEs from binding to the collagen and elastin. Used daily, it helps to repair old damage, while strengthening new collagen and elastin.
You can also take antioxidants such as green tea and white tea, which help to neutralise AGEs.
But the most drastic and effective way to permanently de-age your skin is to ditch sugar. And that involves following the 30-day Brandt Cleanse.
“Not only is it easy to follow, but you?ˉll start seeing the results after ten days,” he says. “I can?ˉt tell you how many patients sit in my office and say: Dr Brandt, I know I?ˉm in a rut, but I?ˉm just too old and tired to change.,
“That?ˉs the kind of resignation I refuse to accept - and you shouldn?ˉt either.”
THE BRANDT CLEANSE
For 30 days you should cut out all sugars, including honey, maple syrup, fructose and artificial sweeteners because they?ˉll keep your cravings going.
You also need to eliminate wheat, which releases sugar during digestion, all dairy, most fruit, grains with gluten, yeast and any foods high on the glycemic index - that indicates they?ˉre full of sugar or that it is a by-product of breaking them down in the stomach.
Really, you just have to cut out any food or drinks that contain sugar, including hidden ones, such as those in alcohol.
You can eat almost all types of protein, such as chicken, fish and shellfish; non-roasted nuts and seeds; non-gluten grains such as millet and spelt; nonstarchy vegetables, such as broccoli; and gluten-free bread and cereals.
Brown rice, rice milk, blueberries and green apples have low glycemic indexes, so they?ˉre fine.
“This cleanse works to rid your body of the Candida albicans yeast bacteria that thrives in our intestine,” says Dr Brandt.
“Candida feeds on sugar. In a healthy gut, there is a balance of the candida and acidophilus bacteria, which plays a necessary role in digestion.
“But because the average person eats a diet laden in sugar, the candida flourishes and overwhelms the delicate bacterial balance necessary for optimal health and you end up with bloating, gas and an upset stomach.
“Worse, candida can invade the rest of our bodies. A candida overrun is one reason why those who eat a lot of sugar usually feel slow or sluggish. There can be memory loss or forgetfulness. A cleanse will jump-start your sugar-free life.”
Dr Brandt admits that he found the first few days of the cleanse tough. “I was sorely tempted to cheat, but I stuck it out. I was sceptical when I started the cleanse, but was astonished when I felt so much better, with an energy and clear-headedness I hadn?ˉt felt in a long time,” he says.
“I simply couldn?ˉt return to my old ways of eating or my Orangina fixes. I refused to put processed sugar back into my diet so I could become addicted again.
“Now, years later, I?ˉm still on the cleanse and it?ˉs become my daily diet. Once in a while I?ˉll have cheese or dessert, but anything sugary tastes unbearably, cloyingly sweet.”
Post-cleanse, you can start reintegrating other foods into your diet, such as fruit, fruit juice, potatoes, beetroot, wheat and low-fat dairy products such as yogurt.
But if you can, persevere and continue to cut out refined sugar (such as highly processed foods full of sugar, such as doughnuts), except for the odd treat of a slice of cake or chocolate bar.
And try to continue not to add sugar (whether it be refined, honey or any other neat form) to your tea, coffee, cereal or cooking.
“I promise, as soon as you cut down on sugar, you?ˉll see an improvement in your skin,” says Dr Brandt.
“Instead of rewarding yourself with chocolate, think about rewarding yourself with improved skin and a longer, healthier life.”
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