How To Use Your Health Savings Account
One of the best aspects of having a Health Savings Account is that you can control your medical care. If you want to have a medical test or procedure done that is not covered by your health insurance, you pay for it with pre-tax money from your health savings account. One of the processes of aging that scientists have been learning more about in recent years is glycation, and the formation of Advanced Glycation Endproducts, or AGEs. Here’s how to reduce this harmful process, and a simple test you can pay for from your Health Savings Account to see how you’re doing.
What is "Glycation" and what are AGEs?
When we take a piece of bread and put it in the toaster, it slowly turns brown. This is the result of a natural process called the "Maillard reaction", in which sugars react with proteins. It is this process that gives flavor to beer, pizza crust, and roasted coffee.
The same process naturally happens in the human body. (So in a sense, we all slowly "brown" as we age). When a protein in your body is "glycated", it has a sugar molecule attached to it, and can then bond to another protein in your body in a process called "cross-linking". These damaged proteins result in the formation of Advanced Glycation Endproducts.
