Glycation may not have the ominous sound to it that Death,

War, Pestilence, or Famine does, but it causes just as much damage as it rides through your body. So what is "glycation?"

From Wikipedia - "Glycation is the result of typically covalent bonding of a protein or lipid molecule with a sugar molecule, such as fructose or glucose, without the controlling action of an enzyme."

Sounds pretty harmless. However, it's the, "...without the controlling action of an enzyme" part that allows the horseman to ride. When the process IS controlled by an enzyme, it is known as "glycosylation" and is vital for numerous body and cell functions. Glycation, however, is a rather random process that results in compounds known as Advanced Glycation Endproducts . AGEs for short.

Death has his scythe, and Glycation has its AGEs. These molecules build over time and have the ability to bind to a variety of cell-surfaces. The cells then degrade or become susceptible to pro-oxidant (First Horseman of Aging), or pro-inflammation (Second Horseman of Aging) events. If you look over at Figure 1, you can see the Glycation process explained. If you're like me, that chart probably isn't very helpful. It is largely describing what we in the culinary world call the "Maillard Reaction."

If you've ever "browned" meat in a skillet, congratulations, you now know what the Maillard Reaction is. Consequently, you also now know what Glycation is doing to your cells. It is chemically "browning" them, just like a piece of meat in a frying pan.

Fructose, the sweet part of "sugar (sucrose)" has 10 times the glycation action of glucose, the body's main energy source. Fructose is the name of the Third Horseman's mount, and is the largest engine for creation of AGEs. The more of it that is available in your blood, the more AGEs will be produced.

http://circres.ahajournals.org/content/95/3/233.figures-only

AGEs are very highly associated with almost every health complication in diabetics. They also can modify LDL cholesterol in a particular way that allows it to become oxidized, and thus deposit itself in blood vessel walls, causing Atherosclerosis. AGEs are closely tied to Alzheimers, and heart disease.

The good news is that the more you reduce your sugar intake (you actually do not need ANY sucrose at all) the lower the production of AGEs will go.

The video (below) does a nice job of explaining AGE formation. Note: Original video was pulled from YouTube by the creators. This video gives mostly the same information.