High Blood Sugar Levels Can Accelerate Aging

Healthy individuals with low sugar levels typically appeared one year younger than those with elevated numbers.

Scientists measured blood sugar levels in 602 people, while a group of 60 evaluators analyzed two facial photographs of the participants to estimate their ages. Healthy individuals with low sugar levels typically appeared one year younger than those with high numbers, and one and a half years younger than those with diabetes.

It was found that each additional millimole per liter of blood sugar, which in healthy patients ranges between 5 and 6 mmol/l, adds five months of aging to their facial features.

The aesthetic concern may be caused by an accumulation of sugar that binds to collagen (the protein in the skin that keeps it flexible) and is difficult for the body to eliminate. Another possibility is that glucose impairs insulin production, which is believed to play a central role in aging.

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