Skin glycation: what it is and how to slow it down

Sometimes we go through a period when we don’t feel comfortable in our own skin. Or we return from vacation and find our skin thicker and tougher, with a dull complexion and deep under-eye circles. Skin that seems to have lost its energy, looking dull and lifeless.

Behind this condition is often a specific and little-known biological mechanism: glycation. Let’s look at what it is, why it affects the appearance of the face, and how it can be slowed down, both from within and with targeted treatments.

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Glycation: what it is and why it matters

How we care for our skin topically affects its appearance, but the cause of many major signs of aging often lies elsewhere: in an unbalanced lifestyle and a diet rich in sugar, simple carbohydrates, and fried food.

Glycation occurs when sugars such as glucose and fructose form non-enzymatic bonds with proteins and lipids, creating altered molecules called AGEs (Advanced Glycation End Products), or glycotoxins.

Aside from the food itself, how it’s prepared matters too: browning and frying promote the formation of AGEs. Smoking and UV rays are also risk factors.

How glycation affects the skin

During this process, glucose and fructose bind to the amino acids in the skin’s two key proteins: collagen and elastin. These proteins are found in the extracellular matrix, which holds cells and tissues together.

Collagen keeps skin firm and elastic, while elastin allows it to return to its original shape after being stretched or contracted.

The damage glycation causes to collagen and elastin fibers cannot be reversed or repaired. However, its progression can be slowed, which is why it’s worth understanding how it works.

Proteins saturated with AGEs lose their ability to function properly with surrounding cells and proteins, resulting in sagging skin and wrinkles. Glycation also induces oxidative stress, an imbalance between free radicals and antioxidants that causes further cellular damage.

In practice, the proteins most susceptible to glycation are the same ones that make youthful skin elastic and firm. When they bind to sugars, they become weaker and less flexible, and the results show on the surface as wrinkles, sagging and loss of radiance.

The anti-glycation diet: what really matters

When it comes to food, you don’t need a special diet, but it helps to know where AGEs are concentrated. Two things matter: how much sugar is circulating and how food is cooked.

The cooking method matters as much as the ingredient

This is the least well-known aspect, and perhaps the most useful. High-temperature, dry cooking methods—frying, grilling, roasting until deeply browned, searing—multiply AGE formation in food, even when the food itself is healthy. Moist cooking methods at lower temperatures—steaming, boiling, stewing, braising—produce far fewer.

A practical tip for reducing AGE formation in meat is to marinate it with an acidic ingredient, such as lemon juice or vinegar, before cooking.

The foods that have the greatest impact

An honest caveat: research on dietary AGEs is evolving, and AGEs produced internally through metabolism matter just as much as those consumed in food. This doesn’t make paying attention to what you eat pointless, but it does put the idea that an “anti-glycation diet” alone can stop the process into perspective: overall blood sugar stability over time matters more.

How to slow down the glycation process

Eliminating sugar from the diet is not the solution: sugars are essential for the cells’ energy metabolism. Glycation occurs naturally throughout life, even when eating a healthy diet.

It can’t be stopped, but it can be slowed. A multi-pronged approach is needed:

• reduce simple sugars, choosing complex carbohydrates such as brown rice and whole-grain bread, which are converted into glucose more slowly;
• consider discussing carnosine supplements with your doctor; this dipeptide has been shown to protect against AGE accumulation;
• support the skin with topical active ingredients that stimulate collagen and elastin and counter oxidative stress.

Active ingredients that help counter glycation damage

For cosmetic care, ingredients are needed that act on two levels: stimulating new collagen synthesis and protecting existing collagen from degradation.

Collagenetic Serum works toward this goal: it combines plant-based biotechnological collagen, gardenia stem cells that reduce collagenase activity, and kudzu extract. It’s worth being precise about the latter: puerarin, its main isoflavone, reduced the proportion of cells that had stopped producing matrix in a study on senescent human fibroblasts—and this is a different mechanism from antioxidant action, because free radicals did not decrease in the same study. A blend of hyaluronic acid in different molecular weights completes the formula.

For antioxidant protection, a serum with Vitamin C and Ferulic Acid helps counter free radicals generated by the process, protecting the remaining fibers.

Recognizing a stressed skin barrier

Glycation isn’t the only cause of dull skin. It often occurs alongside a compromised skin barrier, which can be identified by a few signs:

• redness;
• inflamed skin;
• pronounced dryness;
• dehydrated skin;
• irritation and itching;
• dull complexion;
• burning when applying products.

The skin barrier is both resilient and delicate. If too many treatments are used, the skin doesn’t have time to repair itself. To help it regain balance, it can sometimes be better to take away rather than add: reduce active ingredients, avoid irritating products, and don’t overload the skin with makeup.

When the face looks tired, there’s a tendency to cover everything with makeup, but the result is often the opposite: the skin looks drier and thicker, and pores and lines become more noticeable. It’s better to add moisturizing products that respect the skin’s balance.

Glycation-related or stress-related fatigue?

It’s worth distinguishing between them, because the strategy changes. Glycation is a process linked to sugars and lifestyle that affects the skin’s structure over the long term. Stress and high cortisol, on the other hand, act more quickly, causing puffiness, redness and loss of radiance that can appear and subside in a short time.

The two conditions often occur together, and in that case the most effective approach is neurocosmetic: working on both skin structure and the stress response.

Frequently asked questions about glycation

What causes glycation?

It is caused by the spontaneous binding of circulating sugars—glucose and especially fructose—to the body’s proteins, without the involvement of enzymes. The main targets in the skin are collagen and elastin. This process is physiological and occurs in everyone, but it accelerates with a diet rich in simple sugars and heavily cooked foods, smoking and unprotected sun exposure.

Which foods make skin age the fastest?

Those that combine sugars and high temperatures: fried foods, very browned industrial baked goods, processed meats, packaged snacks and sugary drinks. Cooking methods also matter a great deal: the same meat produces far more AGEs when grilled than when steamed. On the other hand, vegetables, legumes, fish and whole grains cooked by simmering remain the most favorable choices.

Which vitamin keeps skin from aging?

No vitamin can stop aging, but two have strong evidence for slowing its visible signs. Vitamin C is the most extensively documented: it is an antioxidant and directly contributes to collagen synthesis, so it works on both fronts involved in glycation. Vitamin E complements it by protecting membrane lipids, and the two boost each other in a formula, often alongside ferulic acid.

What are the effects of glycation on collagen?

Sugars create abnormal cross-links between collagen fibers, making them stiff and fragile instead of elastic and flexible. Glycated collagen is also resistant to normal enzymatic breakdown, so it stays in place longer than it should, hindering its replacement with new fibers. The visible result is less firm skin, more pronounced wrinkles, and a loss of tone that worsens over time.

Is kudzu an active ingredient that fights glycation?

No, and it’s important not to confuse the two. Kudzu does not dissolve AGE compounds that have already formed or prevent new ones from forming: no cosmetic can do that. It works on a parallel front: fibroblast senescence—the cells that produce collagen and, over time, remain alive but stop working. In aging tissue, the two processes coexist, which is why it makes sense to find kudzu in a formula designed to improve firmness.

How is glycation measured?

There is no routine test for skin glycation. The most commonly used clinical indicator is L'glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c), a blood test that reflects average blood glucose over the past two to three months and is therefore a good indirect indication of how much glycation is occurring in the body. It is a test prescribed and interpreted by a doctor, not a cosmetic test.

Do anti-glycation creams work?

A cosmetic product can't dissolve bonds that have already formed: that damage is irreversible. What well-designed formulas can really do — and this is a tangible result — is address the remaining factors: stimulate new collagen production, curb the activity of enzymes that break down existing collagen, and reduce the oxidative stress that accompanies the process. With consistent use, the difference in firmness and radiance is visible, but this should be paired with sugar management: cream alone addresses only half the problem.

In conclusion

Skincare is essential, but it should be paired with a balanced lifestyle — without giving up life's pleasures. For skin to function at its best, it needs nourishment, hydration, and controlled sugar intake.

You can also find LeLang products at partner pharmacies throughout Italy.

Sources for this article

01 Study on senescent human dermal fibroblasts treated with puerarin, showing a reduction in the proportion of senescent cells without a decrease in free radicals — PLOS ONE, 2021.
02 Regulation (EC) No 1223/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council on cosmetic products.
03 Commission Regulation (EU) No 655/2013, common criteria for the justification of claims relating to cosmetic products.

On the website: kudzu · the skin barrier · elastin · tired skin and cortisol.