Association between habitual dietary and lifestyle behaviours and skin autofluorescence (SAF), a marker of tissue accumulation of advanced glycation endproducts (AGEs), in healthy adults

Purpose: Advanced glycation endproducts (AGEs) are produced endogenously and also enter the body during the consumption of AGEs present in heat-processed food. It is unknown whether AGEs of dietary origin accumulate within the body of healthy individuals. AGEs can deposit within skin tissue long-term by crosslinking extracellular matrix proteins. The fluorescent nature of many AGEs enables their detection within the skin by non-invasively measuring skin autofluorescence (SAF). This study aimed to identify habitual dietary and lifestyle behaviours cross-sectionally associated with SAF in an adult population sample.Methods: 251 Healthy adult volunteers completed validated food frequency and physical activity questionnaires. Waist circumference, BMI, blood pressure and blood glucose was also measured. SAF was measured using an AGE Reader.Results: Significant positive correlations were found between SAF and chronological age (r = 0.63, P < 0.001), waist circumference (r = 0.28, P < 0.01), body weight (r = 0.24, P < 0.05), BMI (r = 0.23, P < 0.05) and consumption of meat and meat products (r = 0.22, P < 0.05). A negative correlation was found between SAF and cereal consumption (r = −0.21, P < 0.05). Cigarette smokers also had a significantly higher SAF than non-smokers (2.4 vs 2.0 U, P