One
of the best aspects of having an HSA is that you can control
your medical care. If you want to have a medical test
or procedure done that is not covered by your health insurance,
you pay for it with pre-tax money from your health savings
account. One of the processes of aging that scientists
have been learning more about in recent years is glycation,
and the formation of Advanced Glycation Endproducts, or
AGEs. Here's how to reduce this harmful process, and a
simple test you can pay for from your HSA to see how you're
doing.
What
is "Glycation" and what are AGEs?
When
we take a piece of bread and put it in the toaster, it
slowly turns brown. This is the result of a natural process
called the "Maillard reaction", in which sugars
react with proteins. It is this process that gives flavor
to beer, pizza crust, and roasted coffee.
The
same process naturally happens in the human body. (So
in a sense, we all slowly "brown" as we age).
When a protein in your body is "glycated", it
has a sugar molecule attached to it, and can then bond
to another protein in your body in a process called "cross-linking".
These damaged proteins result in the formation of Advanced
Glycation Endproducts.
Exposure
to AGEs in the body contributes to inflammation and to
a large variety of age-related diseases, including cataracts,
joint stiffness, Alzheimer's disease, and cardiovascular
diseases. Some AGEs increase the risk of auto-immune diseases
such as rheumatoid arthritis, and others increase the
risk of cancer.
Reduce
AGEs in your Food
When
experimental mice are fed a low-AGE diet, they have better
cardiovascular health, better kidney health, better blood
sugar management, and they live longer. AGE formation
is increased when foods are cooked at high temperatures,
and for longer periods of time. You can significantly
reduce AGEs created in food preparation by using boiling,
poaching, or stewing rather than frying or grilling.
So
one strategy is to simply reduce your consumption of "browned"
foods. So for instance, fried shrimp will have way more
harmful AGE compounds than boiled shrimp.
How
to Reduce AGE Formation in your Body
AGE
formation is particularly high in diabetics, due to uncontrolled
sugar levels in the body. This is one of the reasons why
they suffer from increased rates kidney disease, vision
loss, and cardiovascular disease.
Millions
of Americans who have not been diagnosed as diabetic still
have glucose handling difficulties, typically diagnosed
as "metabolic syndrome". It is becoming more
and more evident that a diet low in foods that raise blood
sugar rapidly (typically the "white" foods like
bread, pasta, rice, and sugar) will reduce a person's
risk of diabetes or metabolic syndrome. This in turn will
also reduce your body's AGE formation.
Supplements
You Can Take
Numerous
dietary supplements have now been shown to reduce glycation,
cross-linking, and AGE formation. Some experts recommend
the following supplements, typically 500 mg to 1 gram
of each, per day:
- Carnosine
- Benfotiamine
- Alpha-lipoic
acid
- Acetyl-l-carnitine
- Curcumin
If
your health care practitioner recommends supplements for
the prevention or treatment of a specific health condition,
you can pay for them from your HSA.
A
Simple Test
A
common blood test that diabetics have done is Glycated
Hemoglobin A1c. This measures how much the red blood cells
have become glycated over the past one to three months,
and is seen as an indicator of average blood sugar levels.
The
approximate correlation between HbA1c values and average
blood glucose measurements over the previous 4-12 weeks
is shown in this table:
Many
of our clients take advantage of the access to low-cost
lab tests that we make available on our Additional
Benefits page. For just a few bucks you can find out
where you stand, and pay for it from your HSA.
Stay
Healthy, Grow Your HSA
We
all obviously want to stay as healthy as we can for as
long as we can. This is a picture of my son and me running
into the waves in Tulum, Mexico.
He's
5, I'm 45. When he's my age, I will hopefully be 85, still
going strong. And if I do stay healthy, my HSA should
have well over $1,000,000 in it.
So
be proactive - fund your HSA to the max, do what you can
to optimize your health, and let your account grow.
