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The Effect Of Fructose On The Aging Process

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indefinitely on long lived molecules such as collagen and DNA. Evidence suggests that these AGE molecules play a role in the aging process. The Maillard process is dependent on the reactivity of the sugar involved. Fructose is much more reactive than glucose. In vivo, the rate of non-enzymatic glycosylation of haemoglobin was 7.5 greater, and the rate of protein cross-linking (a marker of aging) was 10 times greater, in the presence of fructose than in the presence of glucose. Therefore, it is safe to conclude that fructose has a much greater implication in the aging process than glucose, taking the glycosylation of haemoglobin as an assay for this. [1]
As a reducing sugar, fructose reacts with protein molecules to form toxic advanced glycation end-products (AGEs) to a much greater extent than other sugars, which appears to contribute not only to the aging process but also play a role in the pathogenesis of diabetic complications in diabetic patients such as nephropathy, retinopathy, neuropathy and others. Supplementing the diet of healthy male volunteers with 3g of fructose per kg of body weight per day resulted in insulin resistance developing in as little as six days. A study carried out in non-diabetic rats fed a diet containing 68% carbohydrate, provided as fructose, shows that almost all retinas from the rats showed pathologic changes that were histologically indistinguishable from diabetic retinopathy. [1]

Absorption and Metabolism
Fructose is

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