AGEs and Food Preparation

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I thought that this article would interest some of you.

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/68865.php

Food Preparation May Play A Bigger Role In Chronic Disease Than Was

Previously Thought

How your food is cooked may be as important to your health as the

food itself. Researchers now know more about a new class of toxins

that might soon become as important a risk factor for heart disease

and metabolic disorders as trans fats.

This class of toxins, called advanced glycation end products (AGEs),

are absorbed into the body through the consumption of grilled, fried,

or broiled animal products, such as meats and cheeses. AGEs, which

are also produced when food products are sterilized and pasteurized,

have been linked to inflammation, insulin resistance, diabetes,

vascular and kidney disease, and Alzheimer's disease.

A new study at Mount Sinai School of Medicine reveals that AGE levels

are elevated in the blood of healthy people, and even more so in

older individuals than in younger people. Of particular interest was

the finding that a major determinant of the blood levels of AGEs is

the amount of AGEs in the diet, not dietary calories, sugar, or fat.

The study, which was done in collaboration with, and supported by,

the National Institute on Aging (NIA), is published in the April

issue of the Journal of Gerontology: Medical Sciences.

" AGEs are quite deceptive, since they also give our food desirable

tastes and smells, " says Helen Vlassara, MD, senior study author,

Director of the Division of Experimental Diabetes and Aging, and

Professor of Medicine and Geriatrics at Mount Sinai School of

Medicine. " So, consuming high amounts of grilled, broiled, or fried

food means consuming significant amounts of AGEs, and AGEs in excess

are toxic. People should be given information about their AGE intake

and be advised to consider their intake in the same way they would

think about their trans fats and salt intake. They should be warned

about their AGE levels the way they are about their cholesterol

levels or cigarette smoking. "

Inflammation and oxidative stress are more common in older age, so

the goal of the study was to assess whether AGEs played a significant

role in age-related inflammation and oxidative stress by measuring

AGE levels in both young and older individuals. The study involved

172 healthy men and women who were divided into two age groups those

between the ages of 18 and 45 and those between the ages of 60 and

80. Dr. Vlassara and her team also wanted to assess whether AGE

levels correlated with dietary intake. To do this, her team recorded

the patient's body weight, body fat, three-day dietary information,

and collected blood samples to measure biomarkers of inflammation,

such as C-reactive protein (CRP). Blood samples were used to test for

two common AGEs, called carboxymethyllysine (CML) and methylglyoxal

(MG), which latch on to proteins and fats.

The blood tests showed that AGE levels were 35 percent higher in

individuals age 65 and older compared with those younger than age 45.

The study also showed that in all of the participants, the higher the

consumption of foods rich in AGEs, the higher the blood levels of

AGEs, and higher the levels of CRP and other markers of inflammation.

Much to the researchers' surprise, the study also showed that AGE

levels could be very high in young healthy people. In fact, high AGE

levels found in some healthy adults in this study were on par with

AGE levels observed in diabetic patients in their earlier studies.

The fact that healthy adults had levels similar to those seen in

diabetic patients may suggest that early and prolonged exposure to

these substances in the diet could accelerate the onset of diseases.

Dr. Vlassara notes that the availability and consumption of AGE-rich

foods is high and correlates with rising rates of diabetes and heart

disease.

" Excessive intake of fried, broiled, and grilled foods can overload

the body's natural capacity to remove AGEs, " Dr. Vlassara notes, " so

they accumulate in our tissues, and take over the body's own built-in

defenses, pushing them toward a state of inflammation. Over time,

this can precipitate disease or early aging. " Once AGEs enter the

body, it becomes more difficult to get them out, especially as people

age. Older people have a reduced capacity for removing AGEs from the

body, the researchers explain, most likely because kidney function

slows down as the body ages.

As Dr. Vlassara cautions, " although the accumulation of AGEs pose an

immediate and significant health threat to the older adult

population, they are also an invisible, lingering danger especially

for younger people and this needs to be addressed. AGE levels should

be shown on nutrition labels so everyone is aware of them when buying

or preparing meals and our studies explain why. "

A Simple Solution: Steam, Boil, Stew

Despite the ubiquity of AGEs, Dr. Vlassara and her team offer simple,

safe, and economic solutions that echo the recommendations given

concerning trans fats watch what you eat. New methods of cooking to

reduce AGE intake, particularly steaming, boiling or making stews,

can make a difference. " Keeping the heat down and maintaining the

water content in food reduces AGE levels, " Dr. Vlassara says. A 50

percent reduction in AGE intake could have a significant and positive

impact on overall health and may even help extend one's lifespan,

according to Dr. Vlassara. In other studies, the team has found that

cutting AGE intake in half, but maintaining a diet comprised of the

same calories and fat, increased the lifespan of animals when

compared with animals fed their usual diet.

At the moment, changing one's approaches to cooking is the only

defense against excessive AGE consumption. There is no routine

clinical test to inform individuals of their blood or dietary AGE

levels nor established treatment to reduce high AGE blood levels.

" The concept that food-related AGE intake is harmful is new to the

general public, " says Dr. Vlassara, " and scientists are now seeing

how AGE intake fits with the current trends of disease epidemics.

Hopefully, these wake-up signals, together with other gathering

evidence at the cellular and molecular level, will accelerate our

efforts to develop effective measures against excessive dietary AGEs.

This issue, however, should be dealt with as an important health

hazard now, rather than later. "

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A list of AGEs in common foods:

Fats

Almonds, roasted 66.5 kU/g

Oil, olive 120 kU/mL

Butter 265 kU/g

Mayonnaise 94 kU/g

Proteins

Chicken breast, broiled15 min 58 kU/g

Chicken breast, fried15 min 61 kU/g

Beef, boiled1 h 22 kU/g

Beef, broiled15 min 60 kU/g

Tuna, roasted40 min 6 kU/g

Tuna, broiled10 min 51 kU/g

Cheese, American 87 kU/g

Cheese, Brie 56 kU/g

Egg, fried 27 kU/g

Egg yolk, boiled 12 kU/g

Tofu, raw 8 kU/g

Tofu, broiled 41 kU/g

Carbohydrates

Bread, whole-wheat center 0.54 kU/g

Pancake, homemade 10 kU/g

Milk, cow, whole 0.05 kU/mL

Milk, human, whole 0.05 kU/mL

Enfamil (infant formula) 4.86 kU/mL

Apple 0.13 kU/g

Banana 0.01 kU/g

Carrots 0.1 kU/g

Green beans 0.18 kU/g

(Goldberg T, Cai W, Peppa M, Dardaine V, Baliga BS, Uribarri J,

Vlassara H: Advanced glycoxidation end products in commonly consumed

foods. J Am Diet Assoc 104: 1287–1291, 2004)

NOTE:a skinless chicken breast contains 692 AGE kilounits raw, 1011

AGE kilounits boiled, 5245 AGE kilounits broiled, and 6651 AGE

kilounits fried

Any comments on the topic, would be appreciated.

Chrisostomos Georiou

Ioannina, Greece