Dr. Paul Reynolds has spent his career studying what he calls “two heads of the same beast”: inflammation and glycation — two interlocking processes that may help explain why so many chronic diseases are connected, even when they are treated as separate conditions.
Dr. Reynolds is a professor and research scientist at Brigham Young University whose NIH-funded research program studies inflammation, lung biology, glycation, and the AGE/RAGE receptor system that links metabolic and environmental stressors to disease throughout the body.
In this episode, Dr. Reynolds traces the glycation cascade from early sugar-protein reactions to advanced glycation end-products, or AGEs, and explains how the RAGE receptor can act as a self-perpetuating accelerant for inflammation. He also breaks down why the brain may be uniquely vulnerable to glucose dysregulation, how diesel exhaust and tobacco smoke can create AGE-like structures that bind the same inflammatory receptors, and how the glyoxalase defense system helps neutralize damage before it becomes permanent.
Questions Answered in This Episode:
Can breathing polluted air trigger some of the same inflammatory pathways as excess sugar exposure?
Is browned food a real glycation concern, or is the bigger issue what happens inside the body when glucose stays elevated?
Why is the brain especially vulnerable to glucose dysregulation?
How does fasting help the body reduce glycation and inflammatory burden?
What do people need to understand about sugar substitutes like allulose and xylitol when it comes to glycation?
How should we approach kids’ nutrition if glycation and inflammation can begin early in life?
Is glycation damage reversible, and where does the body draw the line?
This conversation offers a mechanistic map connecting cardiovascular disease, neurodegeneration, metabolic dysfunction, environmental exposures, and visible aging back to two upstream processes many patients never hear named in a clinical visit.
Find the Meet Consumption and Cognitive Health paper here.
Sign up for his upcoming Q&A on The Metabolic Initiative here.
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Special thanks to the sponsors of this episode:
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