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¡¯m really lean and have the body of a teenager, although I¡¯m in my 40s," he says. "My clients don¡¯t believe it¡¯s just yoga and a sugar-free diet; they think I must have had everything lifted. But believe me, it¡¯s 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¡¯t prepared for the huge improvement in my skin when I came off sugar."

The trouble starts, he says, as soon as the sugar you¡¯ve 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¡¯s 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¡¯t snap back. That¡¯s when fine lines and wrinkles appear - and they don¡¯t go away.

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