Tar-Like Waste Products from Glucose Metabolism Linked to Worst Degenerative Health Conditions
Dozens of studies in recent years link many debilitating health conditions associated with aging and complications of diabetes to a class of sticky, tar-like molecules created from the byproducts of blood sugar (glucose) metabolism. A few examples of this include:
- Nerve Damage, Kidney Failure, Blindness (Bucala 1992, Vlassara 1994, Brownlee 1995, Vlassara 1997)
- Alzheimer's Disease (Yan 1994, Vitek 1994, Smith 1994, and Sasaki 1998)
- ALS - Lou Gehrig's Disease (Chou 1998 and Shibata 1999)
- Atherosclerosis Coronary Heart Disease (Nakamura 1993, Kume 1995, Kanauchi 2001, and Cipollone 2003)
- Osteoporosis (Yamagishi 2005)
How Sugar Metabolism Chemistry Causes Premature Aging
The chain-reactions that occur during and after the body converts glucose (blood sugar) to energy are called "glycation" reactions. Glycation reactions are taking place in your body every day. The rate of waste product formation is dependent on age, health, blood sugar levels, and other factors. In any case, the accumulation of waste products from these reactions, in tissues and organs throughout the body, pose a real threat to life and health. Even as you read this, glycation waste products may be setting you up for serious health problems by:
- making normally supple body structures stiff and brittle
- impairing nerve function and sensitivity
- depositing sticky, debilitating waste throughout the cells and organs in your body
- interrupting essential intercellular communication
- contributing to plaque buildup in your arteries
- clogging neural pathways in the brain
- causing inflammation and tissue damage in your joints
- destroying capillaries in the kidneys and the eyes
Scientists have identified three distinct stages of glycation reactions.
In the Early Stage, the reactions are rapid and the molecular products created are unstable but relatively harmless. Often these "Early Glycation Products" or "Schiff's Bases" break down into the same molecules that created them to start with.
In the Intermediate Stage, the Early Glycation Products go through a molecular rearrangement to form more stable "Intermediate Glycation Products" called "Amadori Products." These reactions can also reverse themselves and recreate Early Glycation Products.
The third stage "Advanced Glycation" happens as intermediate Glycation Products degrade due to a host of factors. The Advanced Glycation reactions are virtually irreversable and form a tar-like residue called "Advanced Glycation End-products" (AGE).
