Advanced Glycation Endproducts (AGEs) may play a major role in the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes. AGEs are formed endogenously but also enter the body during cigarette smoking and the consumption of heat-processed food, which is high in AGEs. The fluorescent nature of certain AGEs enables their accumulation within body tissues to be detected by an AGE Reader, a device which non-invasively measures skin autofluorescence (SAF). Identification of habitual dietary and lifestyle factors which influence tissue AGE levels may provide information about simple lifestyle modifications which could potentially prevent or slow the development of type 2 diabetes in susceptible individuals.

This study aimed to identify dietary and lifestyle behaviours associated with SAF in a cross-sectional population sample.

Adult volunteers (n= 250, mean age= 47±16 years) completed validated food frequency (EPIC-FFQ) and physical activity (International Physical Activity Questionnaire-Short Form) questionnaires, and a general health survey. Participant BMI, waist circumference, blood pressure and random blood glucose was also measured. SAF was measured by an AGE Reader (Diagnoptics, the Netherlands). A Dietary AGE Score was calculated for each participant based on their consumption of high-AGE foods and use of cooking methods which promote AGE formation.

Significant positive correlations were found between SAF and age, body weight, waist circumference, BMI and random blood glucose. Cigarette smokers also had a significantly higher SAF than non-smokers (2.4 U vs 2.0 U respectively, P<0.05). No correlations were found between SAF and any dietary or physical activity variables. Regression analysis identified age (beta: 0.019, P<0.001, 95% CI: 0.014-0.025), cigarette smoking (beta: 0.4, P=0.001, 95% CI: 0.11-0.61) and waist circumference (beta: 0.008, P<0.01, 95% CI: 0.002-0.013) as the only significant predictors of SAF. Age, cigarette smoking and waist circumference explained 46% of the variation in SAF.

Age, cigarette smoking and waist circumference were independent predictors of SAF in this adult sample. Tissue accumulation of fluorescent AGEs was not associated with habitual physical activity or dietary intake of any macronutrients, micronutrients or AGEs in food. This may indicate that healthy adults have sufficient detoxification and/or excretion systems to prevent dietary AGEs and their precursors from accumulating in body tissues.