Why Glycation Could Be Quietly Aging Your Metabolism
Last Updated: November 2, 2026
If your doctor has ever checked your A1c, you've already been tested for glycation. Most people just don't know it.
Your A1c measures how much sugar has stuck to your red blood cells over the last few months. That sticking has a name: glycation. And it isn't only happening in your blood. After 35 years and more than 19,000 clients, I've learned it's one of the quietest ways your metabolism ages, and one of the most overlooked.
Quick Summary
Glycation happens when sugar in your bloodstream sticks to proteins and fats without an enzyme controlling it.
Your A1c is a glycation test. It shows how much sugar has stuck to your red blood cells over about three months.
Glycation and insulin resistance often show up together, and each can make the other worse.
Muscle is one of the biggest places your body puts sugar to use, so protecting muscle matters here.
No single number tells the whole story. Your bloodwork, body composition and history have to be read together.
What Glycation Actually Does Inside Your Body
Glycation is the same reaction that browns a steak on the grill. Sugar bonds to proteins and fats without an enzyme guiding it, and over time those bonds form what are called advanced glycation end products, or AGEs.
Your body makes some AGEs as part of normal metabolism, and certain foods cooked at high heat add more. The question isn't whether they form. It's how much your body is building up, and what that buildup is doing to your tissues and your energy.
I like to say our biggest enemies are the ones you can't see or feel. You can't feel glycation happening. That's exactly why it gets ignored.
Your A1c Is Already a Glycation Test
Here's something most people never hear: A1c (also called HbA1c) stands for glycated hemoglobin. It measures the percentage of hemoglobin in your red blood cells that has sugar stuck to it. Since red blood cells live about three months, A1c gives a picture of your average blood sugar over that time.
Your doctor uses it to screen for prediabetes and diabetes. I use it as one clue among many. Two people can have the same A1c and very different stories: different muscle, different body fat, different energy, different eating patterns. The number alone can't tell you why it's where it is.
Glycation vs. Glycosylation: Why the Difference Matters
These two words get mixed up all the time. Glycosylation is controlled. Your body uses enzymes to attach sugar to proteins on purpose, because it needs them to work. Glycation is the uncontrolled version, and it's the one that builds up over time.
How Glycation and Insulin Resistance Feed Each Other
This is where it gets personal. When your body stops responding well to insulin, sugar stays in your bloodstream longer. The longer it stays there, the more chances it has to stick to something. And the buildup from glycation may make it harder for your body to handle sugar well. One feeds the other.
This is the heart of the Glyco-Cycle® system I developed about 35 years ago. Your body has a switch for storing fuel (insulin) and a switch for releasing it (glucagon). Think of hot and cold water: when one is on, the other is off. When insulin stays switched on all day, the body never gets the break it needs. Cycling those switches is how my clients lose fat without losing muscle.
And muscle matters more than most people realize. Your muscles are one of the biggest places your body sends sugar to be used. Lose muscle, and that sugar has fewer places to go. In 35 years, I've never met a client with too much muscle. If you want to go deeper, here are 7 ways to improve insulin sensitivity naturally.
Watch for these clues in your own life:
Your A1c or fasting blood sugar has been creeping up year after year
You've been told you have prediabetes, diabetes or insulin resistance
You get an energy crash an hour or two after meals
Your belly is getting bigger even though your weight hasn't changed much
You're doing "everything right" and YOUR scale won't move
Stop Guessing. Let's Read Your Clues Together.
Your body is already leaving clues. My job is to read them with you, and to work alongside your doctor, not instead of them.
Every MBO client receives:
A 120-biomarker blood panel, so we see far more than one number (here's how to choose a comprehensive biomarker panel)
An Omron body-composition monitor, so you track fat and muscle at home, not just weight
A plan built around everyday grocery-store foods you already like
Your predicted fat loss and muscle gain before you start
One-on-one coaching with me, in our Vero Beach office by appointment or virtually anywhere in the US
The comment I've heard most often in 35 years of coaching: "Coach took away all the guesswork."
Talk with Coach Remington
If your A1c keeps creeping up, or what used to work stopped working, you don't need another diet. You need someone to read your clues with you. You can talk with me within 24 to 48 hours, not weeks or months.
📅 Talk with Coach Remington: https://oncehub.com/mbo-clinic
📞 Call or text Iris: (772) 946-1328
Has your doctor ever told you your A1c number, and did anyone explain what it meant for you? Tell me in the comments. I read every one. And if this helped, share it with someone who's watching their numbers creep up.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is glycation, and how does it happen in the body?
Glycation is a slow reaction in which sugar molecules attach to proteins or fats without the help of an enzyme. Over time those attachments can form advanced glycation end products, or AGEs. Some AGEs come from the body's own glucose, and others come from certain foods cooked at high heat. Higher and more persistent blood sugar tends to speed up the process. Because AGEs build up slowly, the effects are easy to miss until they show up as changes in how the body handles glucose.
Is A1c a measure of glycation?
Yes. A1c, or HbA1c, stands for glycated hemoglobin. It measures how much of the hemoglobin in your red blood cells has sugar attached to it, which reflects your average blood sugar over roughly the past three months. It's the most common glycation measurement there is, even though most people never hear it described that way.
Can advanced glycation end products be measured in the body?
AGEs can be measured in some research and clinical settings, but there is no single test that gives a precise level for your body or a clear target to hit. Results are most useful when read alongside blood sugar markers like A1c, body-composition data, your history and how your body responds over time. Ask any provider what a result means and what they will do with it, and keep your own doctor part of that conversation.
Does high blood sugar increase advanced glycation end products?
Persistently elevated blood sugar gives glycation more raw material to work with, which is why it's central to how AGEs form. That doesn't mean every rise in glucose causes lasting damage, or that your AGE level can be read from your glucose alone. The pattern over weeks and years, along with your muscle, body fat and other markers, is what shows how much this matters for you. That's exactly what we look at together when you talk with me.
Coach Charles Remington has coached fat loss for 35 years and more than 19,000 clients. He is the creator of the Glyco-Cycle® system and founder of Metabolic Body Optimization (MBO Clinic).
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