Advanced Glycation Endproducts

The 'Gunk' Between Your Cells That Makes You Feel Older

Advanced Glycation Endproducts, also known as AGEs, happen when your body cannot process the sugar in your diet. The easiest way to visualize this to imagine thick, gooey caramel in between all your cells. Yecch!

This is part of what's called Metabolic Syndrome, which is a precursor to Type 2 Diabetes. If you've ever known anyone with diabetes, you know that you don't want to go there if you don't have to.

The results? Here are some of the most obvious ones:

• You feel more tired because it takes more energy just to do the basic things in life. It's the kind of tired you might feel if everywhere you went you were walking through a swamp.
• You have more pain because those connective tissues that are normally supple and resilient are now more stiff and brittle.
• You don't think as clearly because this 'caramel' gums up your brain function. The effect is similar to what you would expect if you poured syrup on your computer. By the way, the technical name for this gunk lipofuscin.
• Your circulation isn't as good because your heart and blood vessels get clogged up and worn down fighting to get nutrients to cells that are sticky.
• Your digestion and elimination is also 'sticky' and therefore much less efficient. You feel bloated more often and you have lots of intestinal gas.

Sounds lovely, doesn't it?

As you can see, practically every part of your body can be affected by this insidious invader. But what can you do about it?

First, Know What Causes It

Advanced glycation endproducts form when your body has resistance to taking in and processing high amounts of sugar over time. This is very similar to what happens when you simmer milk for a long time – over time the protein in your body and the sugar are 'cooked' down to take up less space.

Keeping with the milk analogy, if you simmer milk over many hours, when you come back to look in the pan, you'll find that there is a whole lot less substance in the pan. In addition, it will no longer be milk, but more like a sticky caramel.

In fact, the formation of AGEs takes place in your body in a process called (drum roll please)... caramelization.

As you might expect, this stickiness in your cells isn't very easy to clean out.

What You Can Do...

First of all, it is crucial that you stop creating more of this sticky stuff in your system. The easiest way to accomplish this is to eliminate all refined and concentrated sugars from your diet. Here are some examples of what to avoid:

• White Sugar
• Brown Sugar
• Turbinado Sugar
• Fructose
• Honey
• Maple Syrup
• Any food ingredient ending in 'ose' (glucose, lactose, dextrose, etc.)

Eliminating these removes the crucial building block for AGEs.

Only after you've eliminated these from your diet will you stop creating additional Advanced Glycation Endproducts. Only then does it make sense to take specific supplements to help your body process out the stickiness. It's not easy, but it can be done if you are tired of pain, fatigue and poor digestion. Go here learn more about what nutrients help eliminate Advanced Glycation Endproducts.

See more about the connection between Advanced Glycation Endproducts and Diabetes.