Top 5 Worst Anti-Aging Substances: Eliminate These From Your Diet for Better Wellness

BY GREENMEDINFO

July 1, 2020

Properly nourishing your body with the right nutrients and lowering your exposure to the substances listed above are solid steps to decreasing your risk of age-related diseases like cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer, and obesity while also improving your quality of life, skin health, and gut microbiome.

The health of your gut, brain, eyes, muscles, and even skin can be improved or worsened through your diet and lifestyle choices. Here's a list of the worst substances for anti-aging. Removing these items to your diet can dramatically mediate the effects of time on your body and decrease your risk of age-related illnesses.

Five Worst Anti-Aging Substances

1. Artificial Sweeteners

Researchers have found that intake of artificial sweeteners such as aspartame or sucralose is associated with a higher risk of weight gain and may contribute to the risk of developing diabetes.

Additional risks of artificial sweeteners include their adverse effects on the gut microbiome, increasing the risk of tissue inflammation and diseases associated with improper gut microbiota balance, including cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and obesity.

2. Sugar

Research has demonstrated that glucose (sucrose, or table sugar, is made up of glucose and fructose) impairs skin repair. Diets high in sugar are also linked with a higher perceived age among diabetic and non-diabetic subjects.

By reducing glycation load (a damaging covalent attachment of a sugar to a protein or lipid) it’s possible to effectively lower premature cellular senescence in skin fibroblasts and increase collagen repair while also lowering the risk of cardiovascular disease and diabetes, two age-related diseases linked with excess sugar consumption.

3. Aluminum

While aluminum has long been considered an innocuous metal and therefore safe to include in cookware and food preparation processes, researchers have now discovered that prolonged exposure to aluminum may increase and hasten the risk of neurodegeneration and brain-aging disorders, including diseases like Alzheimer’s.

4. Trans-Fatty Acids

There is some research to suggest that a diet low in trans-fatty acids may reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia. Avoiding these types of synthetic fats may also lower the risk of obesity and Type 2 diabetes, which are also risk factors for age-related dementia. Although more research is needed, diets low in these fats (such as the Mediterranean diet) seem to lower dementia risk.

5. Tobacco and Alcohol

The use of tobacco products and alcohol have both been linked to premature skin aging. Other dangerous effects of tobacco use include increased oxidative damage and decreased absorption of antioxidant vitamins, like vitamin C, increasing the risk of age-related diseases.

Similarly, long-term use of alcohol disrupts cellular aging and damages telomere length. Telomeres are often compared to the bindings at the end of shoelaces. They effectively keep DNA from unravelling. Some researchers believe that even moderate consumption of alcohol may severely affect biological health as these shortened telomeres are a predictor of increased mortality.

Additionally, the effects of alcohol seem to worsen with age, since liver enzymes are less able to effectively metabolize alcohol over time. Finally, heavy alcohol consumption is linked with changes in brain plasticity and cognitive decline, although further research is needed to assess these correlations.

Properly nourishing your body with the right nutrients and lowering your exposure to the substances listed above are solid steps to decreasing your risk of age-related diseases like cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer, and obesity while also improving your quality of life, skin health, and gut microbiome.

Now that you know the Top 5 Worst Substances, Take a Look at the Top 5 Best Substance for Anti-Aging.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: GMI Research Group

To view a complete list of the substances that have been researched for their effects on aging, please visit the GreenMedInfo.com research database on aging.

The GMI Research Group is dedicated to investigating the most important health and environmental issues of the day. Special emphasis will be placed on environmental health. Our focused and deep research will explore the many ways in which the present condition of the human body directly reflects the true state of the ambient environment. This work is reproduced and distributed with the permission of GreenMedInfo LLC. Sign up for the newsletter.