Sugar For Our Joints - It Isn't That Great For Them, However!

What’s the logic behind the idea that too much sugar consumption can “cause” osteoarthritis?

Sugar consumption has been linked to many different health issues. Today, what we’ll be looking at is how an overconsumption of all that refined carbohydrate “comfort foods” can actually be detrimental to our joints in not just one way.

We do know that an overconsumption of sugar can be pro-inflammatory. That’s a given. And the inflammatory response can signal the macrophages in our immune system to do 2 things.

Firstly, the macrophages can be induced to produce more matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) enzymes in a pro-inflammatory environment.

That is precisely how the initial repairs to any form of injury in our body commence. We feel the symptoms of pain in a sprained ankle, for instance, which is associated with a strong spike in pro-inflammatory cytokine signallers. This pro-inflammatory signal induces macrophages to swarm the site of injury and produce more MMPs to digest away the dead/injured bits of tissue, which, of course, involves collagen proteins.

Of course, the pro-inflammatory signal is quenched when the digestion is complete.

A chronic overconsumption of sugar can lead to a mildly elevated inflammatory signal, which, also, of course, does increase MMP activity overall.

These MMPs, unfortunately, do not differentiate between healthy functioning collagen or damaged collagen.

Remember, in an injury, the inflammation signal is localized at the source of the injury, with the macrophages swarming the site of injury. With sugar overconsumption, we’re looking at an increased inflammation signal throughout the body, especially as the macrophages patrol through all our blood vessels.

Hence, the first thing that we can see is that sugar overconsumption is pro-inflammatory and can induce our immune system to destroy healthy collagen at a faster rate.

The next issue, however, is that sugar overconsumption also disrupts the formation of fresh collagen.

After all, we have 3 dominant amino acids in the structure of collagen — glycine, proline and lysine. While glycine and proline aren’t that necessarily reactive, lysine contains an additional amino (-NH2) group that the lysyl oxidase enzyme targets and converts into an aldehyde.

Two aldehyde groups on neighbouring collagen protein strands can react with each other in an aldol condensation reaction, which then results in the cross-linking of these collagen protein strands.

Now, the problem is that glucose itself also exists as an aldehyde. If two aldehyde groups on adjacent collagen proteins have to react in an aldol condensation reaction, what’s going to happen if the glucose interrupts that collagen cross-linking by itself cross-linking to the aldehydes present on the collagen protein?

The structure of the cross-linked collagen protein is going to collapse, of course.

We’d have to be really careful of that.

The overconsumption of sugar not only facilitates collagen destruction in our body, it can also hinder the formation of new collagen structures.

Is that why people tend to look like they’ve aged more rapidly when on a diet rich in processd carbohydrates, then?

One can only guess as much! Best to avoid all those “comfort” or “emotional support” foods out there as much as possible, you reckon?

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