The potential adverse health effects of diet-derived advanced glycation end-products (AGE) is of current interest, due to their proposed involvement in the disease progression of diabetic and uremic conditions(Reference Vlassara and Palace1).
Currently, accurate information about the levels of AGE in foods is lacking. The objective of this investigation is to determine the level of the AGE, N ε (carboxymethyl)lysine (CML) and N ε-(carboxyethyl)lysine (CEL) in a wide range of foods commonly consumed in a Northern Irish diet.
CML and CEL have been measured in 262 foods and beverages. Individual foods were mixed, lyophilised, ground, reduced, fat-extracted, hydrolysed and underwent solid-phase extraction using a C18 cartridge. Extracts were analysed by ultra-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry with the use of isotopically labelled internal standards and by reference to an external standard calibration curve(Reference Assar, Moloney and Lima2).
The table shows CML and CEL levels in a selection of foods.
This is the first time that CML and CEL levels have been measured in a comprehensive range of foods using a validated instrumental method.