Holistic Nourishment

Does Sugar Decrease Your Health?
Yes! Because of Advanced Glycation End-Products

 The more sugar you eat, the more it coats the surface of cell membranes, causing life-changing damage.  One of the main issues with sugar consumption is a process called glycation.  The sugar creates cross links between cellular parts (usually proteins) that are normally mobile.  Unfortunately, all cellular activity is impaired when this occurs.  Moreover, cross-linking prevents white blood cells and other cells from getting to the location they are trying to go, thus disrupting chemical messages from being transmitted.  As you can imagine, this creates impaired function throughout the body.

Glycation is the process by which sugar “sticks” to other molecules, mostly proteins on cell membranes.  These reactions are reversible for a while, but over time, the bonds become permanent due to oxidation reactions.  These deleterious reactions produce toxic substances called advanced glycation end products, also known as AGEs.  Appropriately named, these products make you age faster.

What does this glycation reaction look like?

Think of toasting bread. As the bread is heated, it starts to harden and brown.  The AGEs are responsible for the hardening and darkening of the bread.  Similar reactions occur when you cook ground beef on the stove.  The proteins and sugars are sticking together, linking up to create a harder, darker layer.

Fortunately, our bodies have a natural defense against glycation and a way of reversing AGE damage. White blood cells come and break the bonds and the kidneys filter out the AGEs from the blood and excrete them from body.

However, if you have high blood sugar levels, especially for a prolonged amount of time, the AGE reactions occur too frequently for the white blood cells to keep up with the damage control.  Moreover, sugar, especially refined sugar, is known to decrease white blood cell activity for up to 4 hours after consumption.  Consequently, having high blood sugar levels hinders the body’s natural ability to counteract glycation.

Why is glycation bad?

Cross-linking turns our cells’ semi-permeable membranes into more impervious structures.  Consequently, the interior surface of our arteries clogs up and nutrients cannot exit the blood stream and enter into cells.  These nutrients that are stuck in our bloodstream end up getting stuck to the lining of our arteries.  This is the very reason why heart disease and dementia are common amongst individuals with diabetes.

Additionally, the more cross-links on a cell membrane, the less able the cell is to respond to the environment, and the more resistant it becomes to insulin.  With no way of exiting the bloodstream and entering the cells, sugar levels continue to rise higher.  This is a vicious cycle that only perpetuates these detrimental effects.

Lipoproteins are an example of a nutrient that is negatively affected by high blood sugar levels.  Lipoproteins carry cholesterol around the body.  When lipoproteins get caught in our bloodstream, they attract white blood cells and other molecules floating around in our bloodstream.

AGEs in the body lead to high cholesterol levels, blood clots and/or atherosclerosis.  The good news is that you can lower your cholesterol levels and reduce your risk of heart disease, by eating a low-sugar and low vegetable oil (oxidation reactions solidify AGEs) diet.

AGEs are one of the main reasons that diabetics often develop circulatory problems.  The red blood cells, over their 3-4 month lifetime, soak up sugar like a sponge.  When they are full of sugar, they expand and grow stiff.  The spleen, when working under healthy conditions, removes blood cells that are too large.  But under constantly high sugar levels, the spleen cannot remove all of the offending cells, so these bloated blood cells end up clogging the capillaries in the body.  Blindness and numbness and infection in the feet are direct consequences of sugar-loaded red blood cells.  AGEs can also cluster in our joint tissue, making them stiff and painful to move.

Sugar is highly addictive because it dulls your senses, triggers release of endogenous opiates that make you “feel good” and ease pain.  But sugar intake causes a temporary decrease in mental function and prolonged high levels will eventually lead to serious health conditions like dementia and Alzheimer’s.

 What can you do reduce your risk of all chronic diseases?

Eat less sugar! How much depends on your personal needs and goals, but generally 30% or less of your calories should be from carbohydrates.  Carb sources should be mostly non-starchy vegetables, heavy on leafy greens and cruciferous, with some fruits and little if any whole grains.  Replace carbs with healthy fats (flax, walnuts, avocado, coconut, organic pasture fed butter, etc…) and high quality, organic proteins of both animal and plant origin.  Absolutely no processed foods!

Exercise!  Even if it’s just 5 minutes a day, exercise has an immediate positive influence on our blood sugar levels and body composition (build muscle, lose fat).

Eat antioxidants!  Avoiding pro-oxidant foods like vegetable oils (GMO’s and usually rancid; cooking destroys the vegetable fatty acids, resulting in damaged fats wreaking havoc on other fats within our bloodstream.  Eating organic fruits and drinking herbal and green tea will support your body with supportive nutrients to combat collateral AGE damage.

Increase Omega-3 fatty acids!  Salmon and other fish, flax seed meal, and walnuts are excellent sources of omega-3 fatty acids.  However, if you have any blood sugar imbalances, heart disease, or any other form of inflammation in the body, it is better to consume omega-3’s in more therapeutic doses.  Krill oil is a wonderful supplement because it contains high omega-3’s plus a potent antioxidant, astaxanthin.  Even better, it does not leave that fishy breath that you get from fish oil supplements.

Eating an organic, whole foods diet is the foundation of lasting health and wellness.  Unhealthy food choices like processed foods, refined carbs, GMO white sugar and vegetable oils, trans or hydrogenated fats, etc., have no place in a health-supporting diet, especially if you are trying to restore balance and nourish your body back to health.

Tags: AGEs, blood sugar regulation, fructose, healthy aging, sugar