In any good Anti-Aging System, one has to consider many facets. In my last article on Diabetic Symptoms-Reversing Diabetes I mentioned how having a high blood sugar can increase the rate of how one ages.

Advanced Glycation Endproducts, or "AGEs" as they're appropriately called, are the end result of the complex chemical process through which the structure of proteins is warped by exposure to sugars or by other, much more reactive molecules.

AGE chemistry is the cause of the "browning" you see when you roast a chicken or make toast, but the same "browning" chemistry is at work in your body every day of your life. In your arteries. In your kidneys. In your heart, your eyes, your skin, your nerves. In every cell, the sugar that your body uses for fuel is busily at work at this very moment, caramelizing your body through exactly the same chemical processes that caramelize onions or peanut brittle. Its this chemistry which changes nerve tissue and facilitates the change in senses in aging.

Glycation math is simple: more sugar equals more AGE'd proteins. As a result, people with diabetes begin to feel the effects of glycation at much younger ages than do people with more normal blood sugar levels. Watching people with diabetes age is like watching "normal" aging played on fast-forward.

Slowly, imperceptibly, AGE reactions create chemical handcuffs, which gum up your proteins, deactivate your enzymes, trigger unhealthy biochemical signaling in your cells, and damage your DNA. Aging you. This is also partially why low carbohydrate diets work well for some people and those with neurological problems such as autism, Alzheimer's, and even heavy metal toxicity.

When blood sugar levels rise, some key kinds of cell - including nerve cells (neurons) and the cells that make up the fine blood cells of the retina of the eye and the filtering units (glomeruli) of the kidney - are also flooded with glucose. The resulting high sugar levels within these cells cause a logjam in the normal cellular metabolism of glucose
This backlog results in a buildup within the cell of super-reactive glucose-metabolic intermediates known as triosephosphates. And once that happens, the excess triosephosphates attack the surrounding proteins, lipids, and DNA, causing AGE damage from within the heart of the cell. It's these cells are thus the most vulnerable to the complications of diabetes and other functional disorders.

How AGE’s Affect Your Body:

There are two main areas which seem to suffer the most from AGE’s.  Your brain and nervous system and the heart and blood vessels.

The brain and nervous system are affected by the formation of plaques on the nerve fibers and the entangling of those fibers so normal nerve transmission no longer can occur.

In the heart/blood vessel system, AGE’s increase the amount of plaquing on the artery walls and in the heart itself.
Remedy? Lower your blood sugar by eating on the GI diet and avoid sodas, or anything with added sugars, especially high fructose corn syrup.

Excellent Anti Aging Supplements To Reduce AGE’s:

GSH Complex

L-Carnitine

Advaclear

GSH Complex supplies glutathione, your body's TOP antioxidant to stop the ravaging of your cells by oxidation. This is essentially the main reason our cells age is that basic elements like proteins are changed by oxidative (free radical producing) processes. The formation of AGE's are part of this negative biochemistry in your cells.

L-Carnitine in many studies has been shown to reduce the production of AGE's.

Advaclear, as I've mentioned before in other pages works very closely with GSH Complex to form the proper enzymes needed to detox and prevent oxidation of your cells.

Studies have shown that this is particularly in the absence of water. Using water in cooking decreases the amount of sugar molecules which can bind to the proteins (or fats). So that brings us back to the old recommendation of boiling and steaming food. Roasting with water or broth in the pan and a lid on, also decreases the formation of AGE's.

Of course, water brings another problem into the mix with water 'quality'. Bottled water is killing the planet and I believe finding the right filtration method is very difficult. Essentially, I personally use reverse osmosis water which I then put into a re-usable container for when I'm away from home. I'd love to hear from any of you who has a great suggestion for a good, clean filter.

Basis of An Anti-Aging System:

Aging, cancer, heart disease, arthritis and many other detrimental processes within our bodies have one very large factor in common. Oxidation ..or the mass production of free radicals.

Essentially in nature, electrons need to have their "balance". They live in harmony when they live in pairs..and they constantly seek this existence. Therefore when they are solitary....they zip around..looking for and stealing electrons indiscriminatly from any other molecule or structure it can find, to bring itself back to balance.

Just visualize these free radicals careening off your cells' components and walls..literally "burning" them..changing the structures' chemistry..and creating even MORE free radicals!

Picture this...if you had a line-up of people, each with an apple in their hand..the only food they had and someone came to the top of the line and stole the first person's (let's call him Jones') apple, he'd then turn and steal from Smith, who'd then turn and steal from Brown, who'd then turn and steal from Green, etc, etc, all the way down the line. What we need is a farmer ( an antioxidant) who comes and places an apple in the one empty hand to stop the cascade of events and bring everything back to harmony.

That is essentially what is going on in free radical propagation and damage..a process called "Oxidation" and why we need "Antioxidants" or those substances which stop the madness.

When this type of damage occurs in your DNA for example, the end result is often mutations or serious changes in the DNA which replicate themselves to become cancer, possibly. Again this emphasizes the need for antioxidants.

Free radicals even damage cellular proteins..many of which are enzymes which control your body's functions..to allow it to perform at its best..and now these enzymes become either weakened or destroyed altogether...and because of this...if this process is allowed to carry on for a long time...chronic diseases of aging set in....That's what's going on.

This is also the process of AGE's in that the sugar's, through an oxidation reaction, link to the proteins or fats changing their base biochemistry, making them unable to perform their normal functions, and in face create new abnormal functions in your body resulting in ill health.

I'll be posting more and more on this subject over the next few months...stay tuned!

Dr. Deb

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