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Sugar and Age-Inducing Glycation
In the last 20 years, science has discovered that elevated blood-sugar
levels appear to play a significant role in the aging process itself.
When people have diabetes, their organs and tissues mimic those of much
older individuals, meaning the disease appears to cause the body to age at
an accelerated pace. Why should high blood sugar damage skin, nerves,
eyes, joints and arteries?
Part of the answer appears to lie in glucose's propensity, as it floats
around in your bloodstream, to attach itself to proteins. That attachment
is called glycation (or glycosylation). Scientists at Rockefeller
University and other research centers have demonstrated that the process
leads to irreversible cross-links between adjacent protein molecules.
Cross-linking significantly contributes to the stiffening and loss of
elasticity found in aging tissues.
If you want to know whether your blood sugar is generally elevated, ask
your doctor to order a Hemoglobin A1c (glycosylated hemoglobin) laboratory
blood test for you. It measures your blood glucose control over the last
two to three months.
Anthony Cerami, M.D., the pioneer in this field, gave the new protein
structures formed from this chemical collision an appropriate name:
advanced glycosylation end-products, or AGEs1. Collagen, the flexible
connective tissue that holds your skeleton together, is one of the first
proteins to be affected. As collagen's flexibility is destroyed, your skin
sags and your organs stiffen. Your arteries also take a major hit, which
explains in part the connection between diabetes and heart disease. AGEs
attach themselves to LDL, or ”bad" cholesterol, and these LDL molecules
then become more oxidated, causing severe damage to any arterial surface
to which they become attached2.
AGEs are truly a main contributor to aging, so keep your blood sugar
within the normal range so those glycating sugar molecules don't gain a
foothold on your body. High levels of blood sugar can also be present in
pre-diabetes and in the metabolic syndrome.
Selected References
Cerami, A., Vlassara, H., Brownlee, M., "Hypothesis: Glucose as a Mediator
of Aging," Journal of the American Geriatric Society, 33(9), 1985, pages
626-634.
Lyons, T.J., "Glycation and Oxidation: A Role in the Pathogenesis of
Atherosclerosis," American Journal of Cardiology, 71(6), 1993, pages 26B-
31B.
The information on this Website is not intended to diagnose or treat any
medical condition.
You can find this article at:
http://atkins.com/Archive/2001/11/28-741117.html
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