Advanced glycoxidation end products (AGE)

Advanced glycoxidation end products (AGEs), the derivatives of glucose-protein or glucose-lipid interactions, are implicated in the complications of diabetes and aging.

Unfortunately, the AGE content of some foods rises when they're cooked in certain ways. Researchers at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City recently conducted a study to determine the variations of AGE content of 250 common foods when cooked by different methods.

• Fats tended to have a higher AGE content than carbohydrates.

• The amount of AGE in all types of foods was related to cooking temperature, length of cooking time and moisture content.

• Broiling and frying created the highest levels of AGE (with the least amount of moisture).

• Roasting and boiling created the least AGE (with greater moisture).

• In general, lower cooking temps for longer periods of time resulted in lower levels of AGE.

• Cooked fruits and vegetables have very low AGE levels - but those levels rise when they're heavily processed.

The Mount Sinai research, as reported in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, makes it clear that a few alterations in the ways that foods are prepared can make a big difference when it comes to AGE content.

For instance, the daily AGE average in a typical U.S. diet is about 16,000 kilounits (KU), according to the Mount Sinai team.

About half of that average daily AGE intake is contained in a single slice of pizza. So eating two or three slices of pizza is not the best meal choice in terms of AGE. Chicken broiled for 15 minutes contains five times the AGE of chicken boiled for an hour (about 1,000 KU).

A typical fast food hamburger contains more than twice the AGE as a burger pan-fried at home for at least six minutes (about 2,400 KU). And 3.5 ounces of potato chips (which is barely enough to get most people started) has a whopping 13 times more AGE than 3.5 ounces of baked potato (just 218 KU).

People with diabetes may risk damage to the kidneys and the heart when AGE intake is high. But you don't have to have diabetes to benefit from a low AGE intake.

For instance, one AGE study found that subjects with low-AGE diets also had low levels of C-reactive protein; the inflammation marker that's associated with an increased risk of heart disease. And a high intake of AGE is also believed to play a role in the development of Alzheimer's disease.