Here's another article (from the Picower Resaerch Institute) on how cooked foods cause aging in the body. It talks about diabetes, but note (where I have placed asterisks) that the aging implications apply to everyone. The Picower Institute on ABC News Research at The Picower Institute was featured in the Solutions segment on World News Tonight with Peter Jennings; on Tuesday, February 4, 1997, at 6:30 pm EST. The piece was filmed on location at The Picower Institute with ABC News correspondent John McKenzie and director Nicholas Regush. More information on the segment is provided below. Send a e-mail to: [log in to unmask] if you would like additional information about this topic or about The Picower Institute. Here is expanded information on the topics presented in the segment: COOKING METHOD MAY POSE NEW RISK FOR DIABETIC COMPLICATIONS Browning Foods Increases Levels of AGEs (Press Release) CENTER Research presented at the American Diabetes Association annual meeting in June 1996, revealed for the first time that dietary AGEs (Advanced Glycation Endproducts), previously thought to be harmless in foods, are potentially toxic and may pose a new risk for diabetic complications, especially in patients with kidney dysfunction. Foods containing sugars, when cooked, form far greater quantities of AGEs and, as a result, may carry the greatest health threat. This study is significant because it shows that certain dietary AGEs or glycotoxins are reactive agents, that, when absorbed by the body, remain chemically active and may bind with proteins to form a molecular glue that adheres to the lining of tissues and organs, stiffening them. A large body of evidence implicates AGEs as a primary contributor to damaging complications in diabetics, such as kidney and heart disease. Because food-derived AGEs are just as reactive as those AGEs that form internally in diabetics, there is reason to think that they are at least equally damaging," said Helen Vlassara, M.D., study investigator and Head of the Laboratory of Diabetes and Aging at The Picower Institute for Medical Research. *****What Are AGEs? *****AGEs are products that form spontaneously in all natural environments where proteins and lipids come in contact with glucose or other sugars. AGEs are known by food chemists to exist in cooked foods, such as baked goods, glazed meats, and roasted coffee but were not believed to be toxic or absorbed into the bloodstream or to have any biological effect other than imparting flavor and color. AGE formation, also known as the Maillard or browning reaction, occurs independently and slowly inside the human body. In a sense, human beings are perpetually cooking internally over many years. *****AGEs accumulate in everyone, but at a faster rate when blood glucose is elevated, as in patients with diabetes. In fact, people with diabetes typically have 2 to 3 times higher levels of AGEs than nondiabetics. In diabetic patients with kidney dysfunction, the risk of complications is more pronounced because the AGEs are retained in the body longer due to impaired urinary clearance. The food AGE findings described here were discovered by the same researchers who, together with others, first showed that in diabetic patients elevated levels of blood sugars accelerate this process and contribute to the development of diabetic complications. The combination of accelerated AGE formation due to diabetes, plus the daily ingestion of AGEs from cooked foods over the years, may pose an increased risk to the vascular system and kidneys. The Study's Findings In the study, normal and diabetic subjects with and without kidney disease received a single meal consisting of egg heated for two hours with sugar or without sugar. Urine and blood samples were monitored for three days for AGE levels. Less than one-third (30 percent) of the AGEs consumed were excreted in the urine in the first day, suggesting that the remaining 70 percent of food-derived toxic AGEs linger in the body for a longer period. Diabetics with existing kidney impairment retained over 95 percent of their dietary-AGEs (glycotoxins), putting these patients at an even greater risk for diabetic complications. Our study showed that patients on the diet that contained high levels of AGEs had significantly higher levels of AGEs in both their blood and urine samples compared to those on the non-sugar diet. These levels, though elevated in all the patients studied -- normal and diabetic patients -- remained higher for much longer in diabetic patients with kidney dysfunction, said Dr. Vlassara. *****The formation of AGEs occurs slowly at normal temperatures but heating causes the process to accelerate vastly. Broiling, roasting and baking amplifies browning, producing great amounts of AGEs. Our research suggests that limited intake of dietary-AGEs may be of benefit to diabetic patients with kidney dysfunction. Analysis of AGE levels in food cooked in a variety of ways is imperative if we are to assist first, and most importantly, patients with diabetes. Avoiding foods rich in glycotoxins may, in the future, prove beneficial for people with vascular disease, renal disease or hypertension, as well as for the elderly; noted Dr. Vlassara. Diabetes is the fourth-leading cause of death by disease in the United States. This year alone, more than 160,000 people will die from diabetes and its related complications. 20,000 new cases of kidney disease occur in people with diabetes each year. Diabetes is also the leading cause of end-stage kidney disease, accounting for 36 percent of new cases annually. The Picower Institute for Medical Research, located in Manhasset, New York on the campus of North Shore University Hospital, is dedicated to facilitating basic and clinical research focused on human disease. Founded in July 1991 with an endowment from The Jeffry M. and Barbara Picower Foundation, The Picower Institute for Medical Research applies the insights gained from basic laboratory and clinical research to the cure of disease. AGING AND ASSOCIATED DISEASES Backgrounder Aging is inevitable, and is often accompanied by ailments that reduce both the quality and quantity of life. The elderly are most susceptible to the nation's top killers -- heart disease, cancer, and diabetes -- and their treatment and prevention represents major challenges to biomedical science. The Picower Institute scientists are studying how the body ages and what causes aging. To do so they are studying diabetes because its long-term complications and propensity to shorten lifespan are similar to the coronary, renal and visual problems that plague the aged. The key difference is that they occur quicker and earlier in the diabetic. Aging research at The Picower Institute began with work examing the role of the blood sugar glucose in damaging the body's proteins, lipids, and nucleic acids. Glucose, the body's principal sugar, is central to metabolism and is essential for life. Unfortunately glucose also participates in spontaneous chemical reactions which can produce toxic, damaging compounds which result in cellular and organ dysfunction later in life. Because of their elevated blood glucose levels, diabetics more rapidly accumulate these compounds, called advanced glycation endproducts, or *******A.G.E.s. They are familiar to everyone as the golden-brown colors which form during the cooking of foods, and are enhanced with the application of a sugar glaze. These products of the caramelization process also cause toughening by cross-linking, or gluing together at the molecular level, of protein molecules in food. In the body, such cross-links damage proteins and activate various cellular processes which ultimately derange their associated cells, tissues and organs. ****Researchers at The Picower Institute identified the role of A.G.E.s in the complications of diabetes *****and aging and developed the compound aminoguanidine, which blocks the formation of A.G.E.s., and prevents the development of diabetic complications in animal models. In addition, they have identified a new class of compounds to break pre-existing A.G.E.s, in order to eliminate them from the body. Current research is directed at identifying A.G.E. receptors on various cell types which are believed responsible for initiating the deleterious effects of A.G.E.s on blood vessel walls, kidney, and other susceptible organs. Exploring of the link between A.G.E. formation and Alzheimer+s disease is another active research area in this group. Recently, Picower Institute scientists have begun to explore why certain risk factors other than diabetes influence the development of complications of aging, especially vascular disease. Smoking is a known risk factor for coronary disease; low-level alcohol consumption seems to reduce the risk. Early studies point to an association of AGE with these factors. Cigarette smoke contains large quantities of AGEs which enter the body through the respiratory system and may induce cellular and organ damage in much the same way that AGEs arising internally from elevated blood glucose occur in diabetic individuals. Alcohol metabolism may chemically subvert the formation of AGEs to less damaging compounds. From studies to elucidate the mechanism of a disease e process will undoubtedly come new means to intervene. THE PICOWER INSTITUTE FOR MEDICAL RESEARCH The Picower Institute for Medical Research, founded in 1991, is a diversified human health research institution dedicated to discovering treatments and preventions to problems associated with aging, infectious diseases and inflammatory diseases. The primary goal of this unique Institute is to move discoveries gained from basic laboratory research into clinical use as quickly as possible. Scientists at The Picower Institute have established a highly creative and interactive team approach to the study of many long-standing and perplexing human health problems. Key research areas under investigation at The Picower Institute include: Aging and; associated diseases.... The Picower Institute for Medical Research is currently headed by interim chief executive officer, Charles L. Massey, former chief executive officer of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. Massey, an experienced administrator, was instrumental in the Salk Institute's founding and was the first President Emeritus of the March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation. The staff at The Picower Institute includes more than 80 scientists, postdoctoral investigators and technical research assistants as well as administrative and support staff....