The most obvious sign of "age" is A*G*Es - Advanced Glycation End-products.

Your goal: prevent more AGE's, especially in your skin.

They show up as dark spots, liver spots, age spots, and wrinkles.

Right now, medical science doesn't recognize any way to reverse AGE's.

That means prevention NOT a cure. A natural supplement - a variation of Vitamin B1 - may help keep AGE's under control.

So let's start at the beginning.

The 10th Hallmark of Aging?

That's what some experts are calling AGE's.

The other 9 Hallmarks of Aging have to do with cellular aging.

The AGE form of aging is structural aging. It takes place outside cells - in the Extracellular Matrix (ECM).

And that's where we find AGE's.

What are AGE's

They're discolored, unhealthily stiff pieces of flesh - including your inner organs.

In your skin, they're unslightly but not dangerous.

However, they also exist in your inner organs, where you can't see them.

By stiffening your organs as you age, AGE's contribute to their reduced functioning.

What is the Extracellular Matrix

Those're the lattice-like structures containing and holding your cells in place. 

It's sort of like a honeycomb, with a little cell to hold each bee. Or an apartment building holding the people who live in it.

That structure is the ECM. A healthy, youthful ECM is strong but flexible and elastic, to accomodate the needs of the cells and the organs. Remember, all this is inside your body.

It's made up of various proteins, including collagen. 

Of course, collagen - and elastin - are both well-known as critical components of a strong, healthy and youthful skin. Most of your skin is an ECM holding the actual skin cells. That's why your skin gets stiff when the ECM grow less flexible with age.

Collagen is actually found as a structural support in ECMs all through your body. It makes up about 25% of the composition of your ECMs.

Unlike the rest of your body, your ECM is very long-lived. It can go on for 100-120 years, and that appears to be the reason 120 years is the maximum human lifespan.

The Role of Glucose

The protein molecules in your ECMs are all bathed in glucose.

Glucose is highly reactive. Therefore, eventually, glucose and proteins bond. Glucose also binds to fats and nucleic acids. Th bonding process is called glycation.

Glycation forms fixed chains or cross-linked fibrotic bonds. And all this changes their physical properties, making the bonds toxic and inflammatory. And they stiffen.

These don't go away because the ECM has such low turnover. Therefore, the toxic bonds and crosslinks remain, hardening your ECMs.

Besides Unsightly Black or Brown Skin Spots, AGE's Lead to:

* Vascular stiffening, which causes high blood pressure

* Kidney failure

* Lung fibrosis

* Cognitive decline

Clearly, avoiding AGE's is important to your health and appearance.

Modern Medicine is Beginning to Pay Attention

Research is ongoing to look for ways to somehow "break up" or "unstiffen" AGE's and their toxic crosslinks.

So far, there are no products on the market approved for this.

You're Also at Risk From the AGE's You Eat

Roasting, frying or broiling foods - especially animal proteins such as meat - at high temperatures also causes AGE's, through the Maillard reaction. Barbequing is especially risky.

The high cooking temperatures facilitate chemical reactions between all the amino acids, resulting in glycation and the formation of numerous AGE's.

AGE's you consume in this way add to the total AGE burden of your body.

Eliminating foods with AGE's from your diet will, therefore, help protect you from AGE's.

Sugar in Your Diet

Of course, we need glucose to supply us with energy. But excess blood glucose is extremely harmful. AGE's are considered partially responsible for the many unhealthy consequences of diabetes and excess blood sugar: including damage to blood vessels, blindness, neuropathy and heart disease.

However, many people who aren't diabetic suffer from AGE's too.

Controlling your blood sugar levels is clearly critical.

1. Cut out processed sugars and grains.

2. Eat whole plant foods. They contain fiber which slows down the digestion of natural sugars in the plant.

3. Eat plenty of antioxidant-rich foods, such as blueberries. Antioxidants also blunt the spike in your blood glucose that comes from eating meals with sugar.

Other Ways to Reduce Your Body's AGE Burden

1. As explained above, don't eat foods, especially meat, cooked at high temperatures - especially barbequed. Even roasted nuts have a high number of AGE's.

2. Quit smoking. Some components of cigarette smoke combine with ECMs to form structures similar to AGE's.

3. Exercise. Most studies show this reduces the number of AGE's in circulation in your body.

4. Take 250-1,000 mg every day of benfotiamine.

Benfotiamine is a fat-soluble, laboratory-created variation of Vitamin B1 or thiamine.

Benfotiamine needs much more research, but it does apparently blocks the biochemical pathways by which blood sugar damages your body.

Some research indicates benfotiamine may even be reversing the damage done to diabetics.

Regular thiamine is responsible for regulating glucose metabolism but is water soluble. Because it's fat soluble, benfotiamine is more bioavailable than simple Vitamin B1. 

Also, unlike diabetic drugs, benfotiamine lowers high levels of intracellular glucose. That reduces contact with your ECM's.

It improves your body's response to the toxic products produced by excess glucose. Benfotiamine produces the enzyme transketolase, which converts them into harmless compounds your body simply eliminates.

Use an anti-AGE lifestyle and benfotiamine to keep AGE's until control - in your skin and your entire body. 

https://www.lifeextension.com/magazine/2023/4/protect-cells-from-sugar-damage

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6600625/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwBVnIjeOfw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eo93la2yxNE