Sugar is one of the biggest causes of ageing.

It is the problems that the consumption of sugar causes that are shortening the life expectancy of a vast number of people in the Western world.

Excessive sugar consumption causes insulin resistance which in turn causes diabetes.

Diabetes, apart from having a restricting affect on a person's lifestyle can also reduce life expectancy and bring with it many other health problems such as loss of eyesight, heart disease and arterial problems amongst other things.

Obviously these problems are going to reduce life expectancy so the need to reduce the consumption of refined sugars that are found in low value foods such as breads, cakes, biscuits, sweets and other such products is necessary.

When you consume excessive amounts of sugar the body stores the extra as fat and the weight gain that this causes places more demands on the organs of the body.

Many products are labeled as sugar free but they contain sweeteners such as aspartame, saccharin and sucralose and these ingredients when included in any of the products you buy will still cause problems with the burden they will place on the liver thereby accelerating the aging process.

Another problem that sugar causes due to the process whereby the glucose binds to other proteins rendering them less flexible is with the wrinkling of the skin. Yes, most people don't realize that sugar consumption will make their skin wrinkle faster as the process of glycosylation affects the collagen. Not only will it affect the collagen in the skin, it will also affect anywhere else in the body where there is collagen and that includes the arteries, lungs and tendons.

The affect that it has by making the arteries less flexible is increased hypertension and all of the problems that are associated with that health problem.

Surgical procedures have advanced considerably in recent years and the results that can be gained from anti aging surgery are very effective and becoming a lot more common with each passing year.

From fat removal with liposuction to brow lifts and chin lifts there is a lot that can be done to make a person look many years younger than their age.

With the latest in equipment, scarring is kept to a minimum and surgery has been simplified with the associated reduction in recovery time.

There are many more areas where surgery is being offered to ensure that the signs of aging are kept at bay even to the extent that many people are even getting knee lifts so the skin surrounding the knees doesn't look baggy as it can with age.

All these surgical procedures, while being affected by the condition of the patient and factors such as skin sensitivities, are only as good as the surgeon performing the surgery.

A good operation can produce quite stunning results for anti aging however mediocre surgery can give a result that is worse than not having had surgery at all so it is well worth spending as much time as possible talking to the surgeon and his/her patients to determine whether they will deliver the desired results that you are after.

There are many surgeons to choose from and those with the good reputations will be known to all so even where you will probably need to spend more money for their services the investment over the long-term for your looks and self esteem will be well worthwhile.

It is one area that you just can't afford to take any risks as the horror stories for botched surgery are widespread.

You can never do too much research when it comes to something as important as cosmetic surgery.