Glucose

Biological Mechanisms

How Glucose works at a cellular level.

PromotesGlycation
High-sugar diets, conditions like diabetes in which there is chronic hyperglycemia, and overreliance on dry-heat-cooked food can all increase the level of glucose catabolism by-products that form AGEs.
PromotesCellular senescence
Glucose-enriched diets increase aging-related phenotypes such as increased SA beta-gal staining, decreased proliferation, increased ROS; glucose suppresses and down-regulates sirtuins
PromotesFuels Cancer Cell Proliferation
Cancer cells had a strangely gluttonous appetite for glucose, devouring it at up to forty times the rate of healthy tissues (the Warburg effect)
PromotesRAS pathway activation
Sugar activates RAS and PKA genes known to accelerate aging
PromotesPKA pathway activation
InhibitsDifferential stress resistance
High sugar levels make heart cells and mice more sensitive to damage during chemotherapy; corticosteroids increase glucose and worsen chemo toxicity to normal cells