“After seeing more than 4000 women with cellulite over the last two decades and after discussing their eating habits and possible causes of cellulite, I have to say that sugar is the number one cause of cellulite today. And that should not be a surprise: sugar upsets our hormones and metabolism more than any other food ingredient. In today’s stressful world we consume too many sweet treats throughout the day to keep us going and the results are visible on our stomachs (for men) and hips, buttocks and thighs (for women).”
Sugar and cellulite
Sugar vs cellulite | In summary
Sugar, cellulite and loose skin: all you need to know
Foods that cause cellulite: sugar is number one
Sugar addiction
Sucrose, glucose, fructose, triglycerides and insulin
Once in the lips forever in the… inflamed-swollen-hypodermal-adipose-tissue-people-tend-to-call-cellulite
Sugar, inflammation, glycation, skin ageing, skin laxity and cellulite
How about artificial sweeteners?
Agave syrup and honey are fine though, right?
Moral of the story: for health and for beauty, lose the sugar in all its guises
Check our professional consultancy for a masterclass in radiofrequency, ultrasound cavitation, cellulite and skin tightening
Have a skin tightening/cellulite treatment with London’s cellulite experts
The Cellulite School™: Get advanced training in cellulite reduction and skin tightening
Sugar vs cellulite | In summary
Sugar is identified as the leading cause of cellulite, contributing more than other common factors such as hormonal contraception, inactivity, smoking/vaping, drinking, and calorie imbalance.
Found in sweets, fizzy drinks, and processed foods, sugar harms overall health, skin appearance, and particularly encourages fat storage in areas prone to cellulite, such as the thighs and buttocks. Its effects are intensified by the metabolic processes it triggers. Glucose spikes cause insulin surges, while fructose is directly converted into fat by the liver. This combination floods the body with fat and energy, leading to fat accumulation, insulin resistance, and metabolic disruption.
Once stored, this fat is difficult to burn, especially in the female hip and thigh areas, due to genetic fat storage patterns. Sugar also promotes inflammation and glycation, processes that damage collagen and elastin, resulting in loose, ageing skin and weakened blood vessels. These issues reduce circulation and encourage water retention—hallmarks of cellulite.
Artificial sweeteners are not a safe alternative, often stimulating increased appetite and calorie intake. Similarly, so-called natural alternatives like honey, agave syrup, and fruit-based sweeteners are rich in fructose and offer no real health advantage.
To reduce cellulite and improve overall health, eliminating sugar entirely is recommended. A “cold turkey” approach is advised, replacing sugar with wholesome foods to overcome addiction and achieve long-term benefits.
Sugar, cellulite and loose skin: all you need to know
The most common question we are asked at the clinic is “What is the number one cause of cellulite”. And our unhesitating, one-word answer to tis questions is: sugar.
Sugar causes cellulite in a multitude of ways, which we will present on this article below, and it is the most important of the six main causes of cellulite.
The other five main causes of cellulite are:
Hormonal contraception
Inactivity (irrespective of calorie balance)
Smoking/vaping
Drinking
Overall calorie imbalance
Foods that cause cellulite: sugar is number one
What foods cause cellulite? Does sugar give you cellulite?
These are two of the most common questions we hear at the clinic and the answer couldn’t be clearer.
Consumption of sugar, found in sweet foods such as pastry, desserts, cakes, chocolate, muffins, cocktails, juice drinks, jam, honey, fizzy drinks etc, is one of the worst things you can do to your eyes, teeth, blood vessels, pancreas, skin health, skin appearance and, for the purposes of this article, cellulite on your thighs and bum.
Indeed, sugar is the number one cause of cellulite today and the increase of the appearance of cellulite in women in the mid-twentieth century has coincided with the increase in the consumption of various types of sugars, including sucrose (plain sugar), fructose, high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) etc.
It is said that "sugar is the new smoking" - and for good reason.
Sugar addiction
Sugar is highly addictive, as it quickly raises your glucose levels making you feel "hyper".
This sudden increase in blood glucose levels inadvertently eventually leads to an insulin spike and then to low blood glucose levels, leaving you feeling "low".
These highs and lows leave you drained, needy and addicted and perpetuates your consumption of sugar. In fact some scientists have compared the addictive nature of sugar to that of hard drugs or nicotine.
Sucrose, glucose, fructose, triglycerides, insulin and your cellulite
So, via the insulin spikes, sugar doesn't just provide the body with excessive calories but also with the means of depositing itself (plus all the fat contained in the cake / chocolate / croissant that comes with the sugar) straight into your fat cells, where sugar is also converted into fat.
Sugar is one part glucose (causing the glucose spikes and insulin spikes) and one part fructose, which is converted directly into fat (triglycerides) by the liver, before even hitting your circulation.
So sugar floods your bloodstream with both fat and glucose and facilitates its own absorption by your fat cells to create “flab” and cellulite. What’s not to like, right?
Furthermore, fructose causes insulin resistance, meaning that your body needs higher ever amounts of glucose in order to make use of glucose in fat, muscles and other tissues. This leads to even more consumption of sugar and more damage to overall metabolism.
High fructose corn syrup (HFCS), being mainly fructose, is converted straight into fat. So you think you consume sugar, but you practically fill your body with pure fat.
Not cool.
Once in the lips forever in the inflamed, swollen-hypodermal adipose tissue people tend to call cellulite
Once fat accumulates in your subcutaneous thigh, hip or buttock fat cells (what people call ‘fat’) and your hypodermal fat cells in these areas (what people call ‘cellulite’), it is very difficult to release it back into the general circulation and "burn" it with exercise.
The adage "once in the lips, forever in the hips" rings very true for sugar.
This is due to the genetic nature of fat cells in most women’s hips and thighs, that are happy to accumulate fat but less than happy to release fat, acting like an one way trap for fat.
So the best thing to do is not to put fat there in the first place.
And this is especially true if you consume sweet foods while sitting down at home or in the office, as this maximises fat and sugar absorption by fat cells.
Sugar, inflammation, glycation, skin ageing, skin laxity and cellulite
Furthermore, sugar causes skin ageing and blood vessel damage throughout the body, by boosting inflammation and glycation.
Glycation is a little known process which damages collagen and elastin and makes skin aged, fragile, loose, dull and grey. It also directly causes inflammation and oxidative damage, according to multiple research papers.
In the same way glycation undermines skin, it also damages blood vessels (whose walls are made of collagen and other proteins), leading to poor microcirculation and water retention.
Fat accumulation, water retention, glycation, inflammation and oxidative damage are all hallmarks of cellulite and loose skin.
Simply put, there is no bigger enemy to thighs than sugar.
How about artificial sweeteners?
Artificial sweeteners are not much better either, as they only temporarily trick the brain to believe that you consumed sugar. According to studies, by the end of the day your brain compensates with appetite increase which leads to the consumption of more calories.
Multiple studies have shown that artificial sweeteners are no better than sugar for different aspects of health and disease.
Agave syrup and honey are fine though, right?
Wrong.
The sugars in agave syrup are made of 80% fructose, which, as we mentioned above, is actually worse that sucrose (plain sugar) itself.
Honey comprises one part sucrose (sugar) and one part fructose, on average, and the sugars in honey are made of 50% fructose and 42% glucose, on average.
“Coconut nectar", high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), maple syrup, sucrose, fructose, dextrose (glucose), maltose, "concentrated apple juice" (basically fructose with some glucose), corn syrup, dates (67% sugars, 30% of which evil fructose), raw cane sugar (basically 95% white sugar with some trace nutrients), pomegranate molasses, rice syrup, as well as the honey and agave syrup that we mentioned, are roughly as bad as sugar.
Some a bit worse, some a bit better, but none is “healthy”.
Moral of the story: for health and for beauty, lose the sugar in all its guises
If you want to have hot thighs (AND a nice, tooth decay-free smile AND youthful skin AND a healthy heart AND a slim body), you must get rid of sugar.
Getting rid of sugar is not as difficult as it seems and the best way to this is to go cold turkey. Just replace sugar with more-but-healthier food for the first week and don't worry about calories, until you break free of the addiction.
A week or two later you will feel free of your addiction, sugar will taste too sweet and you will be on the road to a healthier you, with less skin ageing and cellulite, as an added bonus.
Have a treatment in London with the cellulite experts
At LipoTherapeia we have specialised 100% in skin tightening and cellulite reduction for more than two decades and 20,000+ sessions.
This is all we study and practise every day and have researched and tried hands-on all the important skin tightening equipment and their manufacturers.
As strong, deep acting radiofrequency and deep-acting, high-power ultrasound cavitation are the technologies of choice for skin tightening and cellulite reduction, we have invested in the best RF/ultrasound technologies in the world.
(Of course, we keep looking for new technologies every day and if/when a better technology materialises we will be the first to provide it. However, we will never follow the latest ineffective gimmick, just because it’s good marketing to offer the latest hyped up - yet ineffective and/or unsafe treatment.)
Furthermore, over the last two decades we have developed advanced RF and cavitation treatment protocols in order to make the most of our technologies, for maximum results, naturally and safely.
And for even better, faster results, we now combine our RF/ultrasound treatments with high-power red/infrared light LED treatment.
Our radiofrequency/ultrasound/LED treatments are comfortable, pain-free, downtime-free, injection-free, 99.5%+ safe and always non-invasive.
(No unsafe and ineffective RF microneedling or HIFU and no safe but ineffective acoustic wave therapy, superficial RF (bipolar/tripolar/multipolar etc), low power RF/cavitation, electrical muscle stimulation, lymphatic massage, cupping, dry brushing and no ridiculous bum bum creams.)
Our focus is on honest, realistic, science-based treatment, combined with caring, professional service, with a smile.
We will be pleased to see you, assess your cellulite, skin laxity or fibrosis, listen to your story, discuss your case and offer you the best possible treatment.
The Cellulite School™: Get advanced training in cellulite reduction and skin tightening
Why train with The Cellulite School™?
We all know that training in cellulite reduction and skin tightening is as basic as it gets. It is typically a 4-6 hour training, involving only basic instruction from the manufacturer on how operators can use the machine; lots of myths, erroneous information and misconceptions; and some basic health and safety on how to use the machine.
There is no proper, real training in the science or cellulite, skin tightening, radiofrequency, ultrasound and all related technologies is non-existent - worldwide.
Do you want to deeply understand radiofrequency, ultrasound cavitation, LED phototherapy, cellulite and skin tightening?
Get proper training based on 25-year theory and practical application of cellulite reduction and valuable insights from 24,000+ sessions and 4,200+ clients.
Now you can get instant access to our expertise and save yourself literally thousands of pounds, dollars or euros of expensive mistakes and thousands of hours of study, research and practical application by attending one of our half-day, 1-day, 2-day or 3-day professional consultancy / training courses.
Deeply understand and get properly trained in the science of radiofrequency, ultrasound cavitation, LED phototherapy, cellulite and skin tightening and confidently offer your clients the safest, strongest and most effective treatment possible.
Service available via Zoom or at our central London practice.
Learn more or check prices and book training at our London clinic or via Zoom.