Glycation

A few years ago I visited the American Heart Association’s website and was appalled to find, written in plain text, their stance on sugar. It said the only ill effect sugar has on the body is it can be converted into fat if not burnt for energy. Thankfully, evidence to the contrary became so blatant that mainstream medicine, and as a result the AHA and other organizations, have needed to shift their stance on sugar slightly, being forced to admit – despite the Washington, D.C, sugar lobbyists’ and Big Pharm’s most valiant efforts to suppress it – that too much sugar intake leads to chronic high blood sugar, which leads to insulin resistance and eventually diabetes, cognitive decline, heart disease and a host of other ailments — along with obesity. But the lobbyists and Big Pharm still have deep pockets and hold a lot of sway, keeping sugar’s most deadly effect on the human body well under wraps. And unfortunately, Americans are so addicted, many don’t really want to know the truth.

Most of us know the human body is composed mostly of water — roughly 60 percent. Did you know, however, that tying for second are protein and fat, both at 16 percent (using a healthy, lean male as the prototype — in healthy women, fat likely edges out protein for second place)? Coming in third are the various minerals at 6 percent, and the remaining 2 percent are carbohydrates, vitamins and miscellaneous other substances. We’ll discuss water and fat in the future. Today we’re going to focus on protein, one of the most abundant and crucial nutrients in the body. But wait, we were just talking about sugar. What does protein have to do with sugar intake? In a word, everything. Sugar just happens to be protein’s arch nemesis.

“Proteins are among the most important structures in the body – they practically form and shape the entire body itself, carrying out functions and acting like master switches to our operating manual,” David Perlmutter, M.D., writes in his book, “Grain Brain.” “They need to achieve a three-dimensional shape to carry out their tasks, such as regulating the body’s processes and guarding against infection. Proteins gain their shape through a special folding technique; in the end, each protein achieves a distinctive shape that helps determine its unique function.”

Research has helped scientists to understand that many disease processes, including the most common degenerative diseases of today – type 2 diabetes, cataracts, atherosclerosis (hardening of arteries), emphysema and dementia – are a direct result of these proteins miss-folding and becoming deformed, not allowing them to function as they’re supposed to. Diseases resulting from deviant proteins are called prion diseases. According to Perlmutter, The University of California’s Institute for Neurological Diseases Director Stanley Prusiner, the scientist who first discovered prions, also was part of a team of researchers who discovered the amyloid-beta protein, which is rampant in the brains of those suffering Alzheimer’s, shares prion-like characteristics.

“What makes prion diseases so unique is the ability of those abnormal proteins to confiscate the health of other cells into misfits that lead to brain damage and dementia,” Perlmutter writes.

So the next logical question is what causes these proteins to miss-fold and go rogue? Sugar. Sugar molecules in the body latch onto proteins, fats and amino acids in a biochemical process called glycation.

“Sugars in particular are rapid stimulators of glycation, as they easily attach themselves to proteins in the body (and here’s a good bit of trivia: The number one source of dietary calories in America comes from high-fructose corn syrup, which increases the rate of glycation by a factor of ten),” Perlmutter says.

“The New Primal Blueprint” author Mark Sisson writes that blood-borne glucose (sugar) molecules are toxic in the bloodstream creating free radicals when they bind with protein during the glycation process.

“Generally, glycation triggers an inflammatory process that eventually causes tissue to become stiff and inelastic,” he writes. “Glycation also suppresses the internal production of antioxidants, leaving you more susceptible to free radical damage from exercise, stress, breathing polluted air, or simply living a busy life.”

Sisson also stresses that excessive sugar in the bloodstream is not just the result of eating sugary foods.

“[S]ince all forms of carbs are quickly converted into glucose upon ingestion, a grain-based diet – even a whole grain-based diet – might as well be called a sugar-based diet,” He writes.

Perlmutter says glycation causes AGEs – glycation end products. These AGEs are what cause the proteins to miss-fold and malfunction.

“To get a glimpse of AGEs in action, simply look at someone who is prematurely aging – someone with a lot of wrinkles, sagginess, discolored skin, and a loss of radiance for their age. What you’re seeing is the physical effect of proteins hooking up with renegade sugars,” he writes.

Glycation, in short, accelerates the aging process through oxidative stress and inflammation, wearing down the body far more quickly than it should, promoting nearly every disease and ailment that plagues our modern society. “And it all boils down to deformed proteins,” Perlmutter writes.

“The link between oxidative stress and sugar cannot be over stated. When proteins become glycated, the amount of free radicals formed is increased fiftyfold; this leads to loss of cellular function and eventually cell death,” he continues. “This calls our attention to the powerful relationship between free radical production, oxidative stress, and cognitive decline. We know that oxidative stress is directly related to brain degeneration. … The bottom line is that if you want to reduce oxidative stress and the action of free radicals harming your brain, you have to reduce the glycation of proteins. Which is to say, you have to diminish the availability of sugar. Pure and simple.”

There’s just no other way around it. Regular consumption of sugar is toxic to the body. Sugar is poison. And in case I haven’t stressed this point enough, ALL carbs, including the not-so-healthy whole-grains, are converted into sugar once they’re metabolized. As far as the body goes, all carbs are sugars. So that whole-grain bread with your sandwich, that oatmeal you eat for breakfast or that mound of brown rice that accompanies your protein and vegetable at supper will all be converted to sugar and if not quickly burned for energy, will bind to the proteins in your body and damage them beyond repair – not to mention contribute to insulin resistance and fat production.

With this knowledge of sugar – and all carbs, I suddenly saw the makeup of the human body in a new light: 60 percent water, 16 percent fat and protein, 6 percent minerals and 2 percent carbs and other miscellaneous items. It seems only logical that people should structure their diet according to this makeup and keep carbs at a very bare minimum and only in the form of vegetables – mostly non-starchy – and low glycemic index fruit (except of course for your occasional splurge days as discussed last week), while eating plenty of protein and fat. Yes, fat, and lots of it!

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