Smart Cooks Age Better - The Food Cure: Your Healthy Eating ...
Smart Cooks Age Better - The Food Cure: Your Healthy Eating ...
Smart Cooks Age Better - The Food Cure: Your Healthy Eating ...
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Advanced Glycation End Products (AGEs)<br />
What’s in a name In this case…everything.<br />
Advanced glycation end products (AGEs)<br />
will in fact speed up the aging process. But<br />
that’s not all they’ll do.<br />
AGEs have been directly linked to the<br />
cornerstones of chronic disease— inflammation<br />
and insulin resistance—and are also implicated<br />
in the development and progression of<br />
diabetes, vascular and kidney disease, and<br />
Alzheimer's disease.<br />
AGEs are the end-products of glycation<br />
reactions—the scientific term for a sugar<br />
molecule binding to a protein or a lipid.<br />
AGEs can come into the body through the foods we eat (called exogenous AGEs) or<br />
can be produced by our metabolism of foods (called endogenous AGEs). Either way,<br />
we have the power to avoid them.<br />
Here’s why.<br />
Exogenous AGEs come pre-packaged. <strong>The</strong>y are in the brown sauce of a microwaved<br />
meat meal, the caramel hue of a cola and the crisp shell of a crème brulee. <strong>The</strong>y are<br />
preformed and all have something in common—they’re brown.<br />
This ―browning‖ reaction (properly called the Maillard reaction in chemistry) is what<br />
causes carmelization. And carmelization is the visible effect of a sugar molecule<br />
attaching itself to a protein and creating an AGE.<br />
Endogenous AGEs, on the other hand, are manufactured by the body’s metabolic<br />
processes. But to create these aging compounds, the body requires one specific<br />
ingredient. Sugar.<br />
And when it comes to the type of sugar, the rule is this: A sugar molecule is a sugar<br />
molecule. So whether it be from a delicious, nutrient-packed grape or an artificiallyflavored<br />
jelly bean, eating sugar flips the switch to the ―on‖ position of the body’s<br />
AGE process (you’ll learn more about the other reasons to avoid sugar in <strong>Your</strong><br />
Guide to Living a Low Glycemic Lifestyle).<br />
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www.healinggourmet.com<br />
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