Watch What You Eat Or You Will Get Old

By J.E. Block M.D., PhD FACP

Dangerous Cooking

Depending on how and what the food is cooked, a person could age much faster than they should. There is now a simple test (A1cHgb) that predicts how fast a person ages. It measures a process called GLYCATION, which is an index of aging. This is a non-enzymatic process which results in the bonding of a carbohydrate, protein or lipid molecule with living tissue. This can occur within (endogenous) or without (exogenous). This reaction produces Advanced Glycation End-products (AGEs) when sugar is hooked up with our tissue molecules, APEs with Protein, and ALEs with Lipids. Exogenously it happens with cooking without much water and heating over 300 degrees with sugars, proteins or fats. These compounds are absorbed by the body during digestion with about 30% efficiency. Glycation may also contribute to the formation of acrylamide, a potential carcinogen, during cooking. AGEs, APEs,and ALEs are contributors to inflammation and disease states such as retinal dysfunction, cardiovascular diseases, type II diabetes, and arthritis. Food manufacturers have added AGEs to foods, especially in the last 50 years, as flavor enhancers and colorants to improve appearance. 

Foods with very high exogenous AGEs includes donuts, barbecued meats, cake, and dark colored soda pop. Knowing how fast or slow you are glycating the proteins of your body helps you know whether biological aging is proceeding faster or slower than chronological age. Thankfully, a simple blood test can be used to gauge the ongoing rate of AGE (APE and ALE too) formation. This is hemoglobin A1c, or HbA1c. HbA1c is a common blood test that, while usually used for the purpose of diabetes control, can also serve as a simple index of glycation. This study is automatic on some panels such as the VAP. Also it is paid for by insurances every 60-90 days without question. Even if one had to pay, it costs less than $20.

Red blood cells have an expected life span of sixty to ninety days. Measuring the percentage of hemoglobin molecules in the blood that are glycated provides an index of how high blood glucose has ventured over the preceding sixty to ninety days, a useful tool for assessing the adequacy of blood sugar control in diabetics. It is also used to diagnose diabetes if greater than 6.4 and a component of the Metabolic Syndrome if it is over 5.6 HbA1c—i.e., glycated hemoglobin—therefore provides a running index of glucose control. It also reflects to what degree you are glycating body proteins from inside production and prepared foods . The higher your HbA1c, the more you are also glycating the proteins in the lenses of your eyes, in kidney tissue, arteries, skin, etc. In effect, HbA1c provides an ongoing index of aging rate: The higher your HbA1c, the faster you are aging.

So HbA1c is much more than just a feedback tool for blood glucose control in diabetics. It also reflects the rate at which you are glycating other proteins of the body, the rate at which you are aging. Stay at 5 percent or less, and you are aging at the normal rate; over 5 percent, and time for you is moving faster than it should, taking you closer to the great nursing home in the sky.

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