LiveLongAgeWell

Today I’m posting a chapter from my  book-in-progress: How To Drop Dead Dancing In Your 90s….here is Part I of GREENS!

Kale. Collards. Mustard Greens. Beet Greens. Dandelion Greens. Swiss Chard. Spinach. All “greens”, and, except for spinach, they are foreign to most American diets. Despite having a taste that many might also regard as foreign—too strong, even bitter—to increase your odds of dancing into your 90s you should move beyond salad and the more conventional vegetables and start adding these more exotic  “greens” into your routine.

Taste bud research suggests some people are genetically programmed to despise the taste of greens, and if that includes you, try making an extra effort, because these are the vegetable superstars. Some nutritionists feel they have more value per calorie than any other food.
Perhaps greens have such a distinctive taste because they are so primitive. Unchanged for thousands of years, originally from Asia and Africa, hearty and easy-to-grow kale was among the first vegetables brought by the colonists to the New World. Later, American slaves popularized collards, and greens became part of “soul food”. Unfortunately they were often considered throwaways—vegetables for poor people—until scientists discovered that they were actually so nutritionally rich, and now greens are enjoying a renaissance.

They are full of fiber and low in calories, bursting with vitamins A and C, iron, calcium and various other minerals, and those mysterious “phytochemicals” such as lutein and the more impressively named zeaxanthin; these are the most exciting components in greens, the substances that protect our cells from cancer, age-related vision problems, and maybe dementia. An extra benefit: many American diets are deficient in vitamin K, and greens are the absolute best natural source for this vitamin.

Like most vegetables, adding greens to your diet will help keep your cardiovascular system healthy, and lower your risk of stroke. But greens are much more potent—studies suggest that a green-rich diet is associated with a significantly lower risk of lung, breast, ovary, colon, and bladder cancer. Most research indicates about a 20 to 50 percent lower risk of these cancers in people who eat lots of greens. The mechanism seems to be that the phytochemicals trigger a genetic signal that stimulates the activity of detoxifying enzymes in our liver, so carcinogens are neutralized before doing damage.

Scientists (and drug companies) are working furiously to treat osteoporosis, and along with the importance of calcium and vitamin D, vitamin K is a new star for keeping our bones strong. The Framingham Heart Study showed that those with the highest vitamin K intake had a 65% decreased risk of hip fractures! If true, eating a good amount of greens certainly is a much cheaper and safer and perhaps a more effective way, compared with medications, to lower your risk of disabling bone fractures. And, as we will discuss further in the PROTECT chapter, greens intake probably dramatically cut the risk of cataracts and macular degeneration (the most common form of age-related vision loss).

Next: Greens, Part II

For those of you with dreams of life extension, there was good news last week. It has been known for many years (since the 1930s), from fruit fly, worm, and mice studies, that long-term calorie restriction extends  life spans in many of these animals. Some mice, who from birth have been fed 30% fewer calories than normal mice, have had their life spans increased by up to 30- or 40%. But before you go on a radical diet (or worse, put your kids on such a diet), be aware that many strains of mice and rats do WORSE on such a diet. Still, the fact that many animals aged so much better has tickled the fancy of anti-aging researchers.

A big step up from rodent studies, and before human trials, is primate research. Monkey studies are very expensive to carry out, and life span research, as you might imagine, take many years to complete. Still, twenty years ago, a long-term rhesus study was started at the University of Wisconsin, and now there are preliminary results supporting the value of calorie restriction in suppressing diseases. The rate of tumors and cardiovascular disease was cut by half for the calorie-restricted monkeys, and none of the these monkeys developed any signs of diabetes (which affected about 40% of the normally-fed monkeys). Further, the calorie-restricted monkeys had less muscle and brain shrinkage, and also looked younger than the normally-fed group.

Identical ages; one on right fed long-term low calorie diet.

Since these monkeys normally live about 27 years (and up to 40 in some cases), this 20-year-old study is only about half-way completed, and life span comparisons will take some time yet. But (and here’s your chance again to be part of a research study if you live in the Eastern United States), the so-called CALERIE study is beginning in several U.S. medical centers, which attempts to see if a 25% reduced calorie diet (of course nutritionally balanced) will show positive changes in humans.

Scientists don’t know why calorie-restriction diets might work. Of course if we have lower cholesterol levels, lower blood pressure, fewer cancers, less diabetes and so forth, it’s not so hard to imagine a longer life span, but other factors are also suspected. It is thought that semi-starvation shuts off some of our genes that are directed towards reproduction, and turns on genes that promote better maintenance of our current bodies (our organism senses there is not enough food to share with other, new people, so to best preserve the species, our bodies work harder to preserve our own bodies).

Realistically, a calorie-restricted diet on a long-term basis is not easy to maintain, so many biotech researchers are trying to mimic this semi-starvation effect through medication. Many of the efforts involve resveratrol, an “anti-aging” component found in red wine. This sort of medication would have an incredible market potential as you can imagine, and I believe that within ten years we will a FDA-approved pill we can take that will replicate this semi-starved state.

But for now, I think anyone interested in trying a severely calorie-restricted diet should talk to their regular physician, as well as to an endocrinologist and a nutritionist to see if it’s a good idea, as there are risks. These potential, yet unknown risks and a constant feeling of deprivation might not be worth it, and you might well wait for more human trial results or some proven pill to be released. Failing that, there are studies showing that periodic short fasts—by stressing your body much as exercise stresses your muscles, yet makes you stronger—might offer some of the same benefits. It may be that some form of alternate-day fasting may be as good as full-time calorie restriction. Again, talk it over with your doctors, and if you decide to try something like this, get regular blood tests and physical exam monitoring to see how you are doing.

Finally…..I want to mention to my subscribers that only about 1/2 of the LLAW posts are sent out (I know there is too much mail)…but if you care to read other posts, on other topics, you need to go the the LLAW website itself. Thanks for your interest.

I have always been impressed how often a bad string of ill health starts with a fall. For many older people, a fall, especially one resulting in a broken hip, can lead to a cascade of problems: surgery, a long period of diminished mobility and further loss of bone and muscle strength, then sometimes complications like blood clots and pneumonia, and even a tendency towards mental decline if measures are not taken to reverse this course.

And falls in younger people are not great either. For the physically active, sprained ankles are the number one sports injury. In the U.S. alone, about 8 million people suffer such an injury, and, alarmingly, about 30 to 80 percent of those people will go on to re-sprain either the same ankle or the other.

One common factor leading to falls in both younger, and especially older folds, is a diminished sense of balance, so no matter what your age—whether you want to avoid a sprained ankle that would crimp your exercise routine or a broken hip that could lead to much worse problems—I recommend you look at this simple, yet elegant 3 minute video about balance training imbedded in this New York Times health blog article. While the video shows several different simple exercises you can do to strengthen your ankles and improve your sense of balance, the take-away basic exercise is this (from the article): “Stand on one leg. Try not to wobble. Hold for one minute. Repeat.”  (Try it; it might be tougher than you suspect.)

You can progress towards more difficult exercises from that basic one, such as crossing your arms while balancing on one leg, then closing your eyes, then trying it on an unstable, softer surface such as foam or a pillow. The more difficult ones will do more to strengthen your brain’s balance circuitry, which is especially important as we get into middle-age and beyond (if doesn’t apply to you, think about your parents).

Make sure you do any of these exercises close to a wall or a table or column or something to steady yourself if needed, and do it away from sharp or breakable objects. Check with your doctor especially if you have had a recent injury. You might even start a routine of doing the basic balance exercise while brushing or flossing your teeth…it’s a way to incorporate several beneficial health behaviors at the same time, and beginning a routine like that will make you much more likely to be consistent with the activity, and consistency is one key to success. Consider a Post-It reminder note on your bathroom mirror, until the activity becomes a habit!

A New Risk Factor For H1N1 (swine flu) Infection

An interesting risk factor has emerged regarding those who get severely ill or die from H1N1 flu: obesity. It seems that a large majority of those ending up in intensive care units worldwide are overweight, and the more overweight, the higher the risk of more severe complications. This story of course is still unfolding, but it’s a very curious finding so far, and may be the reason that Japan, for example, with a very low prevalence of obesity, has had ZERO deaths with over 2000 H1N1 cases confirmed. The U.S., with a huge, growing prevalence of obesity, has a much higher death rate. For more, including theories why, click here. Another good reason to keep your weight under control, and not only for this infection…excess fat cells secrete substances that impair your general immune system, leaving the obese more prone to infections, as well as cancer.

Here in LLAW we’ve recently covered sunscreens, and that the sun is responsible for a majority of the changes in our skin that we normally blame on aging. It’s not our age, but the amount of sun exposure we’ve accumulated over the years that gives us most of our wrinkles.

If you listen to dermatologists, they will say something like: “there’s no such thing as a safe tan”. Meaning, all tans, while they might make you look good, are manifestations of damage to your skin’s DNA. From a wrinkle- and cancer-prevention standpoint, a pale complexion, while not considered the most attractive, is certainly the most “healthy”.  I have several dermatologist friends who are really serious about the sun issue. They practice what they preach, and I have never seen them with a tan.  But, for me, I’ll take a bit of sun, a bit of that risk. Still, it’s nice to know there’s a decent alternative—self-tanning—something people are moving to as a way of avoiding the risk and damage altogether. Are self-tanners safe?…

In the last few years the cosmetic industry has developed products that won’t turn you a sickly shade of orange.  By blending the tanning chemical DHA (dihydroxyacetone) into a blend of moisturizers, and stabilizing the chemical release, most people can now get acceptably good results. And the active component DHA does truly appear to be safe. It’s derived from glycerin, is not absorbed into the bloodstream, and only works on the outmost layer of the epidermis of the skin. The brownish color is result of a chemical reaction between DHA and the proteins in your skin cells, and, since your dead outer skin cells are constantly shed off, the “tan” also sheds off within a few days to a week.

DHA has been around for 30 years in various cosmetics, and as far as I can find has never been found to be toxic or carcinogenic. While you might hear about other products, such as tyrosine, DHA is the only component that appears to be safe and effective. Certainly avoid any pill that promises to make you tan; these are all dangerous. (And don’t believe that some tanning beds are OK; none of them are safe sun alternatives.)

Sunless-tanning hints:

1. check out products from Jergens (the Natural Glow line, various products for different skin tones) and L’Oreal Sublime Glow Daily Moisturizer. If you like the more “chic” brands, try one made by Clarins.

2. consult the list of products approved by the Skin Cancer Foundation.

3. you might have to experiment with several to see which one works best for you. When you first use one, don’t use it on your face; find an out-of-the-way spot to check the result and to make sure you aren’t allergic.

4. first wash and gently exfoliate your skin before applying, so that your skin is a smooth surface to uniformly pick up the product.

5. use fairly generously, as you would sunscreen, but avoid too much around your elbows, hands, and tops of the feet. Here your skin is thicker and you might get more pigment change. If certain areas turn out too dark, you can partially reverse the process with a bit of hydrogen peroxide or even whitening toothpaste rubbed-in as needed.

6. wash your palms right away, and if you use on your face, don’t forget to apply to your ears.

7. remember you still need to use sunscreen if you get out into the sun! Neither the “sunless tan” or the product themselves will protect your skin from sun damage. However, there are new products that combine 15-30 SPF sunscreen into the self-tanners.

I suggest you try one of these products, particularly if you are worried about the damage you get from even a mild tan, or about possible toxic effects from sunscreens themselves. None of these DHA products out now are perfect, but most people can find one that works quite well.  And on the horizon, being developed in Australia, are self-tanners that work by stimulating our skin’s melanin. If they are shown to be safe (I wouldn’t be the first to use them), they will be a remarkable leap forward in sunless tanning.