19 September 2008

During our first discussion about Type II Diabetes and its relation to inflammation we spent quite a bit of time talking about diet.  As this subject continued to come up I was constantly reminded that the issue was not entirely about subjective decision making but also had many social implicatiaions. One factiod that stuck in my mind was that inflammatory factors stay elevated for up to four hours after eating fast food. Well I found this article that specifically focuses of the inflammatory effects of the "Western Diet" and wanted to share it and wanted to know what you all thought about the increasing importance of AGEs and AGE receptors.

Cardiac inflammation associated with a Western diet is mediated via activation of RAGE by AGEs: http://ajpendo.physiology.org/cgi/content/short/295/2/E323

5 comments:

Madeline @ Food, Fitness, Family said...

It's articles like this that remind me how bad a high fat diet is for you. Just look at everything that increases when that is what you consume! I think it is interesting how these receptors are involved and I would like to learn a little more about that!

eetmorchikin3 said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
eetmorchikin3 said...

I thought it was very interesting that the "western diet" is 3 times higher in fat than the standard diet. We eat fast food out of convenience, but people don't understand how much of a health hazard they are putting in their body. From last week's discussion, I was motivated myself to eat even more healthier and make time to exercise.

I have never heard of AGEs before and this article brought out the importance of RAGEs by showing the effects of what happens whey they are blocked. I think AGEs are significant to look into more details. In fact, I looked up AGEs and found this article:

http://clinical.diabetesjournals.org/cgi/content/full/21/4/186

Something that stuck out to me was that AGEs can modify LDL cholesterol and cause atheroma, which is a swelling in the vessel walls due to a build up of cell debris containing lipids and calcium. Also, tobacco smoke is a source for AGEs to be introduced to the body.

jenniferm495 said...

I thought this article was extremely interesting! Its alarming how much more fat we (western diet) consume. Great find, Alex!

erinc495 said...

I agree with everything that was said and I think it's just plain scary that even educated people who know this stuff still can't avoid eating unhealthy! it's kind of part of our culture now and although its possible to stay away its tough! i mean look at our student union, there are lines of very educated college kids at burger king and panda express everyday!