Dietary AGEs age you.

Thanks for sharing this info, Karen! My dad suffers from Type II diabetes. I'll definitely be passing this along to him. He has to watch his diet so carefully, its hard to keep up with what he can and cannot eat!

i'm glad this got your attention. we certainly can't avoid all AGEs in our diets, but by choosing to cook meats and high fat foods by steaming, stewing, poaching, we lower our ingested AGE intake significantly. there is now a monitor (called the Scout Monitor) just coming available that non-invasively measures the levels of AGEs in our skin. they are finding this is a rapid and more accurate way for doctors to determine who has diabetes than checking a fasting BG or glucose tolerance test. the take home message: BG control remains extremely important, but controlling the level of AGEs in our bodies by dietary modification is also very important. (for a bit more info about the scout monitor, do an internet search with these terms: "scout monitor" AGEs diabetes).

Karen, How does any of this apply to vegetables and fruits - raw or cooked?

Good question. Because vegetables and fruits contain limited amounts of protein and fat, their potential to form AGEs is very low. For example: 100gms (not quite 3.5 oz) of raw apple contains 13kU AGEs. 100 gms of baked apple contains 45 kU AGEs. 100 gms of canned carrots contains 10 kU AGEs, grilled carrots contain 226. The only veggie that has a significant amount is avocado: 30 gms contains 473 kU AGEs. 30 gms of roasted cashews contains 2,942 kU AGEs. You see, foods containing significant amounts of fat, contain significant amounts of AGEs, especially when subjected to high temp cooking methods. 30 gms (about 1 oz) of american processed cheese contains 2,603 kU AGEs. 30 gms of part skim mozzarella contains 503. (The lower the fat content, the lower the AGE levels tend to be.) 90 gms of sauteed tofu contains 3,447 kU AGEs, if raw it contains 709. (i am assuming this is regular tofu and that lower fat tofu will have substantially lower levels of AGEs.) The numbers really jump up for foods high in fat and protein: the highest amount of AGEs/serving from the published tables i refer to was 90 gms of frankfurter broiled for 5 minutes: 10,143 kU AGEs. 90 grams of frankfurter boiled for 7 minutes was 6, 736 kU AGEs. So you see, veggies and fruits are "small potatoes" compared to high fat and/or high protein foods! Bottom line? Eat lots of veggies and limit intake of high fat foods.

Thanks! So I can still have my fried bananas!?!

Is that list you refer to available online?

The tofu is a surprize! Much of the tofu I get here (Tinian) is homemade so I wonder if it is higher or lower than the commercial ones. I'm currently mostly using it with fruit in shakes.

How does flax fare? and chia seeds? if they are listed.

thanks, Jude in Tinian

Hi Jude:
re: fried bananas: i'd recommend go easy on your serving sizes, try to limit the amount of oil you use and it's not a big deal. i'd hazard a guess that the amount of fat in the tofu is more important than if it is homemade or commercially made. however, even full fat tofu is still lower than a lot of meats cooked @ high temperature, so i wouldn't be too concerned. AGEs cannot be totally avoided. What is important is to avoid large and/or frequent servings of foods that are high in AGEs, and make sure you eat plenty of foods every day that are low in AGEs and high in antioxidants, like veggies and some servings of low glycemic index grains. there is no mention of flax and chia seeds, but they are very valuable nutritionally and this i think would easily compensate for any AGEs in them. (if you are interested in the tables listing AGE content of selected foods, send an email to david mendosa. i'll make sure he has my pdfs of these tables.)

Thanks heaps.

I can also do those bananas slowly on low heat with very limited oil - but I don't bother doing them too often anyway.

Jude