Just when you think you know what makes you old - pollution, free radicals, UVB rays - brainiacs in white coats discover a new cause of wrinkles (and sudden memory lapses). But this time the culprit is something you can control. Researchers have found that some of the most common cooking methods and the way we process a bunch of our favourite foods (snags, chips) can react with sugars and fats in those edibles to create destructive compounds called advanced glycation end products (AGEs). These molecular pests can shift our ageing process into fifth gear. "If you have high amounts of AGEs in your body - no matter how young you are - you're on your way to developing chronic diseases you normally wouldn't see until you are much older," says Dr Helen Vlassara, a professor of medicine and geriatrics at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, US, who specialises in AGE research.

The upside: halve your AGE consumption and you'll give Mother Time the finger. "When you cut back your AGE consumption, you save your eyesight, your memory, your skin and your blood vessels," Dr Vlassara says.

Too hot to handle
AGEs might not have made the headlines until recently, but they've been around since Neanderthals discovered fire and hosted their first caveside rave and boar roast. AGEs form when dry, high heat causes sugar and fat to break down into protein molecules that shrivel up and turn brown or black. Any time you see sear marks on steak, a crispy coating on fried chicken, or a golden crust on bread, you're looking at AGEs, says food scientist and culinary chemist, Dr Guy Crosby.

AGEs live up to their nickname by attacking cells that keep you young and healthy. First, in a desperate move to save themselves, these defective proteins bind to immune cells, causing them to become inflamed - and inflammation is a primary cause of age-related conditions such as Alzheimer's, diabetes and heart disease. Making matters worse, AGEs also cause the formation of equally unstable free radicals, the molecules that travel through your body damaging cells. This can lead to other serious problems, such as cancer, and trigger signs of ageing like crow's feet and those "Where the hell did I put my keys?" moments.

Over the past 50 years, we've upped our AGE intake dramatically - we've moved away from eating farm-fresh food and towards processed products loaded with fats and added sugars and cooked at high heat. In other words, AGE grenades. "Many prepared foods are exposed to high temperatures to lengthen shelf life, so we're getting more AGEs than before," Dr Vlassara says. Combine those foods with the way we cook them - grilling, frying and microwaving, all involving dry, high, AGE-generating heat - and we're getting way more AGEs than our bodies can handle, she adds.

AGE-less cooking
To find out what happens when you cut back on AGEs, Dr Vlassara's team served one group of mice high-AGE meals and another group food with half the amount. The low-AGE group lived 20 weeks longer than the less-fotunate rodents - the equivalent of 12 human years.

But before you you toss the T-bones, go raw and donate your cherished barbie and microwave to charity, there are ways to cook that juicy steak safely. "If you're grilling a steak at a high temperature, make sure you only leave it under the grill for a short time," says WH nutrition expert Sharon Natoli. "If it's something that needs to be cooked all the way through, like chicken, make sure it's done at a lower temperature." You can also cut back dramatically on AGEs by utilising their arch nemesis: water. Using cooking methods that involve lots of the wet stuff slows the AGE-creation process because the liquid offsets the heat. Three ways to do this: steaming, braising and blanching. Don't worry - blanching only sounds bland. By adding herbs and spices (containing anti-ageing antioxidants), your food will explode with flavour, not age-accelerating by-products, says chef Michael Adams.

Here, Adams' tips for whipping up appetising meals and minimising AGEs:

Spa treatment
Adams recommends treating vegies, chicken, fish or pork to a tasty herbal steam bath. Add tbs of four to five herbs and spices to L water. Cover and boil for 10 minutes. Reduce to a simmer and add chicken, pork or fish. Cook for five minutes per 450g. For vegies, place them in a steamer basket over the boiling herbal mixture for three minutes. Here, Adams' favourite blends for each type of food:Chicken, fish or vegetables: garlic, lemongrass, onion;Root vegetables (beetroot, carrots, potatoes, turnips): bay leaf, cloves, fennel, garlic, peppercorn, saffron. And for fish: bay leaf, mustard seed, peppercorn, tarragon.

Simply smashing
Braising is perfect for beef and pork (large cuts like roasts are commonly braised, but smaller cuts, such as chops and steaks, can be cooked this way too). Pour beef or chicken stock into a roasting pan, then add four smashed cloves of garlic, bay leaf, tbs fennel seeds, tbs fresh thyme and ½ tbs peppercorns. Place a to 2kg piece of beef or pork into the broth, leaving a quarter of the meat exposed. Cover and bake at 135°C to 150°C for two and a half to three hours.

Double dip
It sounds like water torture for produce, but blanching - a process of transferring vegies from boiling-hot to icy-cold water - makes for super-crisp, fresh-tasting sides. Try it on non-watery vegies like asparagus, green beans, potatoes, snow peas and butternut squash. First, add 1 tbs of four to five different herbs and spices to L water and bring to a boil. Drop the veg in the boiling water (one to two minutes for greens, two to three minutes for most other chopped veg, and until tender for root vegies) then immediately remove and place in ice water for the same amount of time they were in hot water, adding more ice as it melts. Take out of ice water and serve.



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