The Role of Advanced Glycation End Products in Diabetes and Heart Disease

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Recommended: Effects of sugar on the human body

Glycation is a natural chemical reaction in the body that involves combining sugar molecules to protein molecules without the help of enzymes. In contrast to similar a chemical reaction that involves enzyme-directed processes called glycosylation, glycation disrupts normal metabolic pathways. This results in the production of advanced glycation end products (AGEs), which are assocated with oxidative damage that leads to pathological changes in various organ systems.

AGEs and Chronic Disease

The 'normal' American diet usually contains a lot of high-sugar, high-fat foods that have been associated with the development of chronic diseases such as diabetes and heart disease. Just how these processes come about can be explained in the molecular and cellular level by the formation of AGEs.

Simple sugars such as glucose and fructose that are usually derived from a sugar-rich diet become attached to nucleic acids and protein molecules to form unstable compounds that eventually accumulate to become destructive, more stable compounds called AGEs. Although AGEs are known to be produced by the body at slow, but constant rates from birth, the process can accelerate with increased consumption of sugars as well as decreased metabolism of these substances.

AGEs alter the mechanical properties of cells and tissues by crosslinking intracellular and extracellular proteins. They also bind to cell surface receptors called receptor for AGEs (RAGE), thus interrupting various cellular processes. Through laboratory experiments, scientists have shown that glycation of mitochondrial proteins, lipids and DNA may induce mitochondrial dysfunction due to a decrease in ATP production and increased free radical formation. The mitochondria are specialized...

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Hegab Z, Gibbons S, Mamas M, et al. Role of advanced glycation end products in cardiovascular disease. World J Cardiol. 2012 Apr; 4 (4): 20-102.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3342583/

A Mini-Review - Glycation and Protein Cross-linking

http://faculty.smu.edu/svik/5310/projects2001/Glycation.html

Why Sugar Is Slow Suicide for Your Body

http://www.drdavidwilliams.com/sugar-is-slow-suicide#axzz2tvWJRDli

Peppa M, Uribarri J, and Vlassara H. Glucose, Advanced Glycation End Products, and Diabetes Complications: What Is New and What Works. Clinical Diabetes October 2003 vol. 21 no. 4 186-187.

http://clinical.diabetesjournals.org/content/21/4/186.full

Role of fructose in glycation and cross-linking of proteins.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3132203

Advanced Glycation End Products

http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/114/6/597.long

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