Mother Nature disapproves of excess sugar and AGEs SugarCubesWe already know that advanced glycation end-products (AGEs) are bad news, but now it’s even been confirmed by Mother Nature. Actually, make that the Mother Nature Network, a website that covers “the broadest scope of environmental news and social responsibility issues on the Internet.” The website recently featured an article titled “Fighting fine lines? Glycation may be the culprit.” Columnist Starre Vartan wrote: “Sweets connect us to so many positive life memories, from our first birthday cake (and every one thereafter) to the fun of Halloween and Easter, to hot chocolate after ice skating. But sugar has a dark side — and it’s not just that over time it becomes fat (as if that isn’t bad enough). Sugar has other negative effects too, including accelerating how fast our skin ages, and it’s bad enough to rank up there with the kind of damage cigarette smoking can cause to skin, research shows.” Vartan explained that sugar molecules bind onto protein to form AGEs in a process called glycation. She added: “In diabetics, blood sugar levels are continually elevated, and it’s this glycation that’s been linked to connective-tissue damage and chronic inflammation. When it goes on for too long untreated, it can result in tightening of blood vessels (never a good thing), pancreas and liver diseases, cataracts, Alzheimer’s and other health issues. For those of us without diabetes, sugar still has some very real and negative effects; what keeps our skin looking young are the proteins collagen and elastin — and remember that it’s proteins getting attached to sugars that makes them lumpy and slow-moving. What this means in the dermis is that those AGEs end up discoloring skin and making it less soft and weaker overall. That leads to wrinkles, sagginess (like jowls and drooping eyebrows) as well as a general loss of brightness.” But that’s not all, as Vartan stated that AGEs also weaken the skin so that other skin-attackers such as cigarette smoke, environmental toxins and too much sun are even more damaging than normal. However, as the article notes, we can reduce glycation by eating a healthy diet.
Posted on: Mon, 05 Jan 2015 04:49:53 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015