The Worst Foods for AGE Glycotoxin Contamination

One of the ways whole food plant-based diets may help with aging is by reducing the load of gerontotoxins, age-accelerating toxins such as advanced glycation end-products, also known as glycotoxins, or AGEs, an acronym intentionally chosen to emphasize their toxic role in age-related disease. AGEs have been found to adversely affect virtually all tissues and organs, irreversibly cross-linking proteins in the body, increasing the stiffness of tissues. AGEs are implicated in age-related memory decline, impaired wound healing, skin aging, cataracts, Alzheimer’s disease, and erectile dysfunction (with the stiffening of penile arteries evidently resulting in penile unstiffening). As one pathologist put it, “It is hard to find an age-related disease that AGEs are not involved.”

AGEs occur naturally in animals, but dry cooking methods can generate 10 to 100 times more. When muscle cells rupture under dry heat, highly reactive compounds combine with blood and body sugars to form AGEs. So, even without cutting down on meat, you can significantly cut down on AGE intake by just switching up cooking methods. The safest ways of cooking meat are moist methods, such as boiling, poaching, stewing, and steaming.

There are some plant foods high in fat and protein that also form considerable amounts of AGEs, especially when exposed to high dry heat. Roasted nuts and seeds, for example, can have double the AGE concentration of raw. Broiled tofu has six times the AGE content of boiled tofu (as in soup), though still less than broiled meat. Similarly, the two veggie burgers that were tested, Amy’s and Boca Burger, have less than a beef burger, even when baked or fried.

Based on the most extensively-cited AGE food database, here are the top-twenty most AGE-contaminated products per serving, even though hundreds of non-meat items were also tested. Though, as you can see, chicken holds half of the top spots, bacon was found to be the single most AGE-contaminated food. Even though the serving size was only 13 grams (two slices), it still ranked #1 in AGEs per serving. Second was BBQ chicken skin, but I didn’t know if people even ate chicken skin straight; so, without a “serving size,” I left it off the list.

One more recent analysis found donor kebab to be worst, the vertically roasted meat cones shaved into shawarma or gyros, followed by canned salmon. Another analysis tagged fried black pudding as the worst, a type of pig blood sausage containing crushed bacon, followed by canned frankfurters.

On a gram-for-gram basis, parmesan cheese may have among the highest, but, given the small serving size, probably contributes relatively little to most people’s diets. The same with chocolate sprinkles that topped a different analysis on a per weight basis.

Different research teams used different analytical methods. So, for example, in one analysis grilled tuna beat out fried bacon and, in another, bacon didn’t even reach the top five. Out of hundreds of foods tested, the list went broiled hot dog, fried chicken, fried fish, McDonald’s Chicken Nuggets, and then broiled chicken, with bacon down around fried eggs. But, the same basic pattern emerged. In all databases, for example, the AGE content of fruit and vegetables was negligible. Intact whole grains also barely make a blip, as opposed to puffed, shredded, and flaked breakfast cereals. But, even a bowl of the worst, though—Rice Krispies—still has less than a bite of a sausage link.