What Is Glycation, and How Can It Affect Skin?

Key Takeaways

• Glycation is a slow, natural process in which, as Cleveland Clinic puts it, sugar “attaches to proteins,” forming compounds called advanced glycation end products, or AGEs.

• Collagen in skin turns over slowly, so AGEs tend to build up on it over the years, according to a 2022 review in Frontiers in Medicine.

• Studies in that review link higher AGE levels in skin with visible yellowing, less visible elasticity, and deeper-looking wrinkles.

• Smoking, ultraviolet light, and air pollution are named as outside sources of AGEs.

What Glycation Is

In the body, sugar and protein can react in a slow chemical process called glycation. Cleveland Clinic explains that sugar “attaches to proteins to form advanced glycation end products,” usually shortened to AGEs.

A 2022 review in Frontiers in Medicine goes into more detail. It describes AGEs as “brown substances formed in the late stage of glycation reaction” between sugars and proteins, nucleic acids, or lipids. In the body, the authors write, the reaction is “slow due to the absence of enzymes,” and the levels of several AGEs in skin collagen rise with age.

How Glycation Can Affect Collagen and Elastin

Collagen gets particular attention in the research. The review calls it “one of the structures most easily attacked by AGEs,” and explains that because collagen turns over slowly, AGEs gradually accumulate on it. As they do, the authors write, collagen can brown and skin can take on a yellowish look. Cleveland Clinic puts it more simply: AGEs can leave collagen “weak, dry and brittle.”

Elastin is affected as well. The review cites a study of healthy women in which facial elasticity measurements were lower where a skin glycation index was higher. Across the studies it summarizes, higher AGE levels in skin go along with visible yellowing, less visible elasticity, and deeper-looking wrinkles. If visible dullness is what you notice, our guide to glowing-looking skin may help, and our piece on softening the look of wrinkles covers visible lines.

What Can Add to Glycation in Skin

Some AGEs form inside the body as part of normal metabolism, and some come from outside. The review lists cigarette smoke, ultraviolet light, and air pollution as outside sources, along with AGEs from foods cooked at high temperatures, such as grilled, fried, or baked foods. It cites one finding that sun-exposed skin had more than 10% higher levels of one AGE than sun-protected skin.

Cleveland Clinic names eating too much sugar and refined carbohydrates among the habits that can lower collagen levels. Its broader advice for looking after the collagen in your skin is to wear sunscreen every day and not to smoke.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does glycation only happen in people with diabetes?

No. The review says AGEs are “produced and accumulate in the skin during normal physiological metabolism with ageing.” It also names long-term high blood sugar in diabetes as “a key factor promoting the formation of AGEs.”

How do researchers measure glycation in skin?

Several noninvasive tools exist. The review describes readers that measure skin autofluorescence, the light some AGEs give off, though it notes these can’t detect AGEs that don’t fluoresce.