Evidence against dietary advanced glycation endproducts being a risk to human health

In vivo, advanced glycation endproducts (AGEs) are linked to various diseases, particularly those associated with diabetes. AGEs are also formed when many foods are thermally processed. The extent to which dietary AGEs are absorbed by the gastrointestinal (GI) tract and their possible role in the onset and promotion of disease are currently of considerable interest. This paper reviews information that supports the argument that dietary AGEs are not a risk to human health.

Glycemic index, glycemic load, and risk of digestive tract neoplasms: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Background: Habitual consumption of diets with a high glycemic index (GI) and a high glycemic load (GL) may influence cancer risk via hyperinsulinemia and the insulin-like growth factor axis.
Objective: The objective was to conduct a systematic review to assess the association between GI, GL, and risk of digestive tract cancers.
Design: Medline and Embase were searched for relevant publications from inception to July 2008. When possible, adjusted results from a comparison of cancer risk of the highest compared with the lowest category of GI and GL intake were combined by using random-effects meta-analyses.
Results: Cohort and case-control studies that examined the risk between GI or GL intake and colorectal cancer (n = 12) and adenomas (n = 2), pancreatic cancer (n = 6), gastric cancer (n = 2), and squamous-cell esophageal carcinoma (n = 1) were retrieved. Most case-control studies observed positive associations between GI and GL intake and these cancers. However, pooled cohort study results showed no associations between colorectal cancer risk and GI intake [relative risk (RR): 1.04; 95% CI: 0.92, 1.12; n = 7 studies] or GL intake (RR: 1.06; 95% CI: 0.95, 1.17; n = 8 studies). Furthermore, no significant associations were observed in meta-analyses of cohort study results of colorectal cancer subsites and GI and GL intake. Similarly, no significant associations emerged between pancreatic cancer risk and GI intake (RR: 0.99; 95% CI: 0.83, 1.19; n = 5 studies) or GL intake (RR: 1.01; 95% CI: 0.86, 1.19; n = 6 studies) in combined cohort studies.
Conclusions: The findings from our meta-analyses indicate that GI and GL intakes are not associated with risk of colorectal or pancreatic cancers. There were insufficient data available regarding other digestive tract cancers to make any conclusions about GI or GL intake and risk.

Feeding association between the nucleus of the solitary tract and the ventral tegmental area

Male Sprague-Dawley rats were fitted with two cannulae in the VTA and one cannula in the NTS for co-administration of the mu-opioid receptoragonist DAMGO in one site and the opioid antagonist naltrexone in the other. Injection of DAMGO into the VTA or the NTS stimulated feeding. The increase in food intake after DAMGO injection into the VTA was decreased following injection of naltrexone into the NTS. Furthermore, the increase in food intake after DAMGO injection into the NTS was decreased following injection of naltrexone into the VTA. These results suggest an opioid-mediated feeding association between the VTA and NTS. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.