http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/s...-age-faster-2/ The quick summary: Dr. Michael Eades cites a study showing that vegetarians have significantly higher levels of advanced glycation end products (AGE) than omnivores. AGE is considered to play a significant role in the aging process.
The cliff notes:
1. When proteins are bathed in sugars, these sugars irreversibly attach themselves to the proteins. This is known as glycation.
2. If the protein performs a specific function in the body, and it finds itself with a sugar attached to it that it can’t get rid of, then this protein suddenly doesn’t function so well and becomes a junk protein. The body has to dispose of it.
3. Most of our bodily structures are made of protein which just happen to be bathed in blood. Blood contains glucose. The normal course of events is for the bodily proteins to undergo glycation and produces AGEs.
4. The higher the blood glucose, the more AGEs produced.
5. Fructose (like high-fructose corn syrup) is more effective at causing glycation than glucose.
6. Glycated proteins end up in the lysosomes, the refuse boxes of the cells, and are thought to be one of the driving forces behind the aging process. Cells with too much junk don’t function properly.
7. Researchers looked at a group of 19 vegetarians (lacto-ovovegetarians) and used as a comparison a group of 19 omnivorous subjects recruited from the same region. What the vegetarians ate more of in significant amounts were fruits and vegetables, giving them a significantly increased intake of fructose.
8. When researchers measured levels of carboxymethyllysine, an glycation product that represents a general marker of oxidative stress and long-term damage of proteins in aging, atherosclerosis and diabetes, it was found to be significantly elevated in vegetarians as compared to omnivores.
9. Dr. Eades closes his post with this,...
"I’m sure I’ll get a slew of comments from surly vegetarians after this post telling me how healthy they are and how healthful the vegetarian diet is. But in this case the data show otherwise."
To be fair, the study doesn't hit vegetarianism per se, just the effects of fructose which we all know is sugar. A lot of health foods out there claim that they are healthier because they contain all natural fructose as opposed to sucrose (white sugar). This just goes to show you that natural isn't always better.
April 10th, 2008, 08:26 AM
Vegetarians AGE faster 
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