Eating lots of or very little of certain foods that have AGEs (like grilled or fried foods) for six weeks doesn’t seem to change how well your small blood vessels work in healthy people aged 50 to 69.

Eating foods like fried meat, processed cheese, and baked goods can add harmful compounds to your body because of how they're cooked, and your body actually absorbs a big chunk—up to 30%—of one of these compounds called carboxymethyl-lysine.

If you eat the same amount of food with the same carbs, fats, and calories—but just change how many AGEs (chemicals formed when food is cooked at high heat) are in it—for six weeks, your blood sugar, cholesterol, and related body signals don’t change. So, those cooked-food chemicals probably don’t mess with your metabolism in the short term.