A clinical trial has identified foods like cakes, chips, cookies, fried items, mayonnaise and ultra-processed products, which are high in advanced glycation end products (AGEs), as major contributors to India’s status as the world’s diabetes capital.
What is AGEs?
Advanced glycation end products (AGEs) are reactive and potentially harmful compounds that form when proteins or lipids undergo glycation. This process occurs when they are modified by aldose sugars, which are carbohydrates containing an aldehyde group (CHO).
What did the study reveal?
Researchers from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the Madras Diabetes Research Foundation (MDRF) in Chennai led the government-funded trial, which revealed that eating foods high in anti-inflammatory compounds (AGEs) causes inflammation in the body, which is a root cause of diabetes.
According to the study, this occurs due to the possibility of negative physiological effects from glycation, a non-enzymatic chemical process in which a sugar molecule attaches itself to a protein or lipid molecule.
The International Journal of Food Sciences and Nutrition released the study's results on Thursday. The study was funded by the Department of Biology.
Overweight and obese people may lower oxidative stress in their bodies by eating a low-AGE diet. This diet consists of foods low in AGEs like fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and low-fat milk. Oxidative stress is the imbalance between free radicals and antioxidants that causes inflammation and cell damage.
The researchers stated in the report, "This dietary intervention has the potential to mitigate the burden of obesity-linked type 2 diabetes."
Dr V. Mohan, chairman of MDRF and one of the paper's authors, told The Print that India's diabetes prevention plan may depend heavily on its understanding of AGE-rich foods and the mechanisms that result in their high AGE content.
