Have you had your sugar fix?
Copious amounts of sugar may give you a ‘buzz’ for a short period of time, but scientists in the Netherlands find long-term high levels of glucose can also cause people to look older than they really are. The study, conducted by Leiden University Medical Centre in the Netherlands, showed a relationship between a person’s blood sugar levels and their perceived facial age.
Copious amounts of sugar may give you a ‘buzz’ for a short period of time, but scientists in the Netherlands find long-term high levels of glucose can also cause people to look older than they really are.
The study, conducted by Leiden University Medical Centre in the Netherlands, showed a relationship between a person’s blood sugar levels and their perceived facial age.
Run as part of the Netherlands Consortium for Healthy Ageing initiative, which aimed to understand how health could be preserved as people grow older, the study found people aged 50 to 70 years with high non-fasted blood sugar levels consistently looked older than those with lower blood sugar levels.
The study tested non-fasted blood sugar levels of more than 600 people, looking at their perceived facial age and found those who were diabetics looked older than non-diabetics.
Associate Professor at the Leiden University Medical Centre, Diana van Heemst, said the study’s results highlighted the importance of regulating blood glucose levels in advanced middle-age, adding the benefit of looking younger might provide an extra motivation to bring about healthy lifestyle changes in those aged 50 to 70 years.
