Last month I covered sunscreens and sunless tanning lotions, and as a follow-up, there was a recent reclassification by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) that tanning beds should be raised to Group 1, that is, the highest risk level: “carcinogenic to humans”. While the artificial tanning bed industry has marketed their products as safer than the ultraviolet radiation from sunlight—and as not increasing the risk of melanoma (though they neglect to mention the increased risk of other forms of skin cancer)—the IARC reports a 75% greater risk of melanomas in people who start using tanning beds before the age of 30. Besides the cancer risks, while a tan might make you look better in the short run, in the long run you will end up more wrinkled. And though artificial tanning booths are dangerous, remember that sunless tanning lotions can be quite effective and safe.

Organic Food Not Worthwhile?

A headline from Reuters London caught my eye last week: “Organic food no healthier, study finds”. The author of the English study stated: “Our review indicates that there is currently no evidence to support the selection of organically over conventionally produced foods on the basis of nutritional superiority [italics mine].”  (Really, OK, maybe not proof, but no evidence at all?)

So a quick read might lead you to think it’s not worth the extra expense and trouble to seek out organic products. But this would be a false conclusion on at least two counts. First, the study only analyzed “nutritional content”; this is, what’s in the food, but most people choose organics because what’s NOT in them; i.e., pesticides and other organo-toxins (not addressed in this research). Second, if you look at what they consider “nutritional content”, you find they did not analyze antioxidant content, which is another reason to choose organic. While it’s true that there is not yet proof organics have a higher natural antioxidant content; for me, I’ll stick to organic products whenever I can. Unlikely any future research will find any health benefit whatsoever from eating foods with pesticides. It’s far more likely organic foods suffer less antioxidant loss during any processing, transport, and chemical additions.

Another Reason To Keep Your Cholesterol Below 200

If you know that your total cholesterol level is borderline or elevated, and you haven’t taken measures to change that, here’s another reason to take action. Published in the August Dementia and Geriatric Cognitive Disorders, researchers studied nearly 10,000 Northern California Kaiser Hospital members, and found that those who had total serum cholesterol levels over 200 mg/dL in their 40s, had a significantly great risk of dementia when they reached their 60s and 70s. The risk for either Alzheimer’s disease or vascular dementia was at least 50% percent greater in people with only mildly high levels—over 200. So take measures to keep your cholesterol in the normal range: whether it means a change in your diet and/or increased exercise, and if that doesn’t work, you should ask your doctor about possibly taking a “statin” drug to lower your lipid levels  (which—as logically follows from this study—have been shown may help prevent dementia.)

You probably know that legumes—which includes black beans as well as the color spectrum of others such as navy, red, pinto, and white—are healthy, but my guess is you don’t know how great they really are, and that the black variety is the healthiest of the lot. Some of the benefits of black beans:

1.    They are full of fiber, which naturally lowers your cholesterol absorption and production. High fiber diets have been linked with lower heart attack and stroke risk.
2.    Beans are also loaded with the best type of carbohydrates, the complex type, which are slowly absorbed and provide your body with long-lasting energy without the spikes in blood sugar seen with many carbs.  Beans are especially good for those with sugar control issues, and recently, blood sugar spikes have been implicated in long-term memory decline.
3.    Surprisingly, beans and particularly black beans are full of the same antioxidants, anthocyanins, that are found in grapes. Recent research has shown the darker the bean, the higher the antioxidant content. Black beans actually contain about the same anthocyanin content, weight-for-weight, as grapes and cranberries.
4.    They are low in calories and almost completely fat-free.
5.    Especially for a fruit/vegetable, they are full of protein…one cup provides about a third of your daily protein needs.
6.    Beans have high iron content, and are full of the wonderful trace element molybdenum, as well as heart-healthy folate (a B vitamin) and magnesium.
7.    Black beans likely have anti-cancer properties.
8.    They store well for long periods of time, and are cheap.

The downsides to beans are that they take some time to prepare and cook…the healthiest way is to cook them yourself rather than using canned beans (interestingly, in Brazil, you cannot even find or buy canned beans), and beans tend to cause gas (despite that they are considered beneficial for most people’s gastrointestinal tracts). Pre-soaking the raw hard beans in water for at least six hours makes them easier to cook and also decreases the gas problem. Then simmering beans can take an hour or two, but if cooked in a pressure cooker, it goes down to 30 minutes.

The Times mini-series details several black bean recipes, including basic simmered beans, black bean soup with spinach, and a healthy alternative to traditional fat-filled refried beans.

Real Brazilian feijoada is another matter entirely, and what’s in it depends on the region you live. The one I had last week had black beans mixed with various types of pork and sausages, potatoes, cabbage, squash, and collard greens. Here is one recipe from foodbuzz if you want to experiment. You can even find feijoada made only with chicken, or without meat, although those would not be considered true feijoadas by most (carnivorous) Brazilians.

But if you don’t want to spend the time making feijoada, try at least basic black beans from scratch. It will be worth the effort in taste and nutrition, and the more you can divorce yourself from canned food, the better! (But if you really don’t have the time or inclination to make from scratch, canned low-sodium black beans are an OK substitute.)

All in all, I would wager that black beans are the least expensive super-food we have, and these days, that is something to consider.

Based on last week’s survey results, rather than every week sending out two email updates to subscribers, I will send out one to two weekly based on the content. And as always,  three fresh posts will magically appear on the LLAW website itself every week.

Actually, quitting is tough, but about half of smokers eventually do it. Usually it takes multiple attempts. Especially if you are around secondhand smoke, which may even increase the risk of breast cancer, this year stop the damage and excess aging you are suffering; if you know a smoker, send him this post.

A smoker who quits, no matter her age, will begin to undue the damage, maybe even most of the damage. It doesn’t matter how long you smoked, you will be better off if you quit, now. Like all addictions it’s not easy, but if your personal resolve is strong you can try “cold turkey”. Many motivated smokers have quit this way.

But—no shame—if you want extra help, talk to your physician about nicotine replacement therapy (gum, patch, inhaler, or nasal spray), or one of the available prescription pills that significantly improve your chances of quitting. Realize though that if you choose a medication option, you still need a strong desire to quit, or you will fail.

All medication options have possible side effects, but not necessarily bad ones (and continuing to smoke has lots of side effects!)  Ask your doctor, and maybe research yourself) about this: the pill that has been on the market as a stop-smoking aid since 1997 (available relatively cheaply as generic bupropion) is also used as an anti-depressant, and many people even lose weight while taking it.

There is a newer drug (trade name Chantix) which is more expensive and has been heavily marketed to doctors, but may have more risks than the older medication bupropion. If your doc wants you to take the newer medication, quiz her closely about why she wants you to take the heavily marketed med rather than bupropion. Are the possible benefits really worth the risks of this new drug which could, in several years, be withdrawn due to side effects? (There have been enough concerns that the FAA has banned its use by pilots and air traffic controllers.) Often it’s safer, cheaper, and better to stick to the tried-and-true when it comes to medication. The newest is NOT necessarily better when it comes to prescription drugs!

Whatever method you choose, get support from an organization such as the Center for Disease Control (puts your tax money to work and has lots of great links) or the American Cancer Society.  And be aware that when you quit, for some time you could feel worse, even beyond missing the cigarettes.  Recent ex-smokers may cough more, and bring up more mucous, which might be a sign that the lungs are starting to come alive again, and that you are clearing out years of built-up debris. Discuss with your doctor.

When you—or someone you know—successfully quits, they will likely be happier, more self-assured, sick less, and no longer contributing to secondhand smoke risks.  Beyond that, while quitting, think of another reward.  Maybe a vacation, which now you can afford because you won’t be spending on cigarettes, and your health care costs will likely be lower!

The other highly quoted study recruited 200 people from the campus at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland. Only in the detail of the study do you see that 88% of the subjects worked at the NIH. I suspect this group was not representative of typical Americans; they were probably (hopefully) more health conscious—they worked at the National Institutes of Health! The conclusion again was an average gain of only one pound. They followed the subjects longer, into the next fall, and found, disturbingly, that the weight people gained during the holidays was usually not lost later in the year.

So you can see that the subjects studied in each of these reports were not typical Americans. Many studies, including important ones testing for possible side effects in new drugs, are done by recruiting otherwise healthy college students, and the results might not apply to the average older person who might actually need that drug someday. Medical centers often recruit students for their studies because the hospitals are located on campuses and it’s easy to find willing student subjects, especially if they can earn a few dollars  participating.

Enough today about studies….now what can you do to prevent your own weight gain this year-end? Look at this link from the Cleveland Clinic: 8 Steps to Surviving Holiday Weight Gain. My favorite of their hints: don’t forget to keep up aerobic activity during the holidays, and never go to a party hungry! Next week I’ll post my take on the 12 Best And Worst Beverages For Weight Loss.

While Dr. Miller measured blood flow only in the arm, it’s likely that pleasant music would cause increased blood flow throughout the body, an effect that is good for the heart. (The opposite of what occurs in a person with high blood pressure where the vessels tend to be constricted and tight—not a heart-healthy process.) Dr. Miller didn’t discover the mechanism that made music open up vessels, but he suspects it has to do with the release of endorphins, chemicals released from deep in the brain which result in feelings of well-being.

One of the best ways to keep your brain functioning well as you get older is to frequently challenge it with new ideas, new activities….and even new types of music; music you might not initially like, but with a flexible brain, you learn over time to actually enjoy. Dr. Miller’s research suggests to me though that in times of stress—particularly if you already have high blood pressure or heart disease—one healthy way to chill out is to pro-actively seek out music that is most relaxing for you, and allow your blood vessels to open up and relax too.

Remember this for example next time you go to the dentist for some uncomfortable work, or on an airplane if flying stresses you. Be assertive; protect your heart as well as your mind…bring your iPod and put on whatever you most like, from hip-hop or rap to classical or christian contemporary, and let the blood flow. Don’t be shy; the research supports you.

“Belly fat” is otherwise known as “visceral fat”, which means it is located deep in your abdomen, wrapped around your internal (visceral) organs, rather than just below the skin. Doctors describe people with belly or visceral fat as being “apple shaped” (versus those with hip fat, which gives a “pear shaped” appearance). It seems that the deep visceral belly fat—wrapped around our vital organs (not an appetizing thought in itself)— secretes toxic substances that especially leads to inflammation, diabetes, high blood pressure, and cardiovascular mortality.

And now we have strong evidence that people in their 40s who carry excess visceral fat are much more likely to develop dementia and Alzheimer’s disease when they are in their 70s.

Researchers in California in the 1960s and 70s began studying a group of more than 6000 people, measuring their abdominal girth to see what would happen to them over many years. This long-term study found that even people who were otherwise normal weight but had big bellies were 89% more likely than flat bellied people to eventually become senile from Alzheimer’s and all other causes. And those both overweight and with a big belly had a dementia risk over 200% greater than normal-weight people. Obese people (heavier than just “overweight”) had a risk factor of more than 300% (check this link for a great graphic and more details).

The mechanism for this belly fat-dementia risk is not known. It’s possible that the fat itself is not causing the dementia, but that some other mechanism is working that brings about both a big belly and dementia at the same time…but there is a good chance that if you do have a big belly, if you somehow fix your belly situation, you may well decrease your chances for dementia as you get older. This might be particularly important for people with a family history for dementia. You can’t change your family history, but you can fix a big belly.

Next post I’ll cover one possible remedy for the belly fat problem, and I can tell you now: it’s not liposuction…

It is a startling statistic, but one out of eight women will develop breast cancer during their lifetime (one out of 100 breast cancer cases occur in men), so anything that decreases this risk is welcome. And while the media tends to focus on risk factors we can’t control such as genes and family history, this study from the National Cancer Institute describes one relatively simple action women can take.

Beginning in 1987, the researchers studied over 32,000 post-menopausal women and found that women who engaged in regular vigorous activity or vigorous exercise had about a 30% reduction in the risk of breast cancer. Interestingly, this effect was seen only in slim and normal-weight women; obese women did not show the same good effect from strong exercise (though obese women would cut their risk by losing weight).

The type of activity that led to the decreased cancer risk included heavy housework such as washing windows, scrubbing floors, or digging outside. But don’t fear if you don’t want to do—or don’t have time for—heavy housework, because women who engaged in strenuous sports or vigorous exercise such as running, serious tennis, and fast dancing enjoyed the same benefit. Light housework such as washing clothes, basic gardening, or mild exercise didn’t seem to have the strong protective effect.

So especially if you have a higher-than-average risk of breast cancer, for example due to family history, keep vigorous activity in mind. (For an excellent current reference on breast cancer, check out this pdf from the American Cancer Society.) For Monday: how both men and women can cut their risk of another common and feared affliction, Alzheimer’s disease.

I suspect many people, despite being inundated with usually depressing news, are strangely drawn to it, at times nearly addicted to the constant feed, 24/7  available. While energy becomes more expensive, information becomes cheaper; it’s easy to get addicted to it, and I suspect a near constant flow of volatile and often negative news might not be a positive factor for our aging well.

Next time you find yourself glued to, for example, the Dow, and it’s making you a little sick but you can’t pull yourself away, shut it off. Do something else. Take a walk, watch YouTube, work, call a loved one, drink tea, listen to music. The earth will continue to rotate and the news will continue the same whether or not you are watching.

Then consider the times you are lucky enough to be talking with a loved one, yet you are also multi-tasking some trivial news feed, turn off the one that is not vital, and tune into your partner. The more you connect with what’s truly important, the happier you should be.

Next week we’ll cover less-weighty topics such as ways to improve your looks…and a podcast! Have a great weekend!

Last week I talked about eating more fish and perhaps taking fish oil as ways to boost mood. Fish is fantastic “brain food”, but it doesn’t work instantly, so today let’s talk about something that does—deep (abdominal) breathing. It’s free, easy to do, and can be done almost anywhere at anytime. It’s so simple and basic that typically we don’t even think about it, but for many people, focused breathing can have a very powerful calming effect.

When tense, we tighten our chests and take shallow, weak breaths (which can make us even more tense). We fail to expand the lowest part of our lungs; pulse and blood pressure rise. Now if we breathe in the opposite way—deep, slow, and using the abdomen more than the chest—our body seems to reset itself to what it experiences when we are calm…easy and relaxed. Such breathing is fundamental for meditation and yoga, but when we don’t have the time or training or desire for those, we can get much of the benefit from just practicing this abdominal breathing.

Next time you feel “uptight”, try this:  first breathe out completely, then inhale very slowly and deeply through your nose, and as you breathe in, make sure your abdominal muscles are relaxed, and that your abdomen protrudes out as you breathe in. Feel the oxygen expanding the bottom of your lungs. Breathe in for the count of three, hold the breath for a second or two, then even more slowly breathe out either through your nose or mouth. When first practicing, it’s good to place your hand on your navel and note that your hand rises an inch or so each time you inhale.

There is no one formula as to how to do this right, so experiment to see what makes you feel most relaxed. Don’t hyperventilate or try too hard. You can do it for just a few breaths, or up to 10 minutes or longer if you are advanced, at best several times a day. Try picking a calming word to say as you let out each breath, and imagine the tension leaving your body each time. For much more about the subject, read this article from Discovery Health.

On Friday, after a couple news items, I’ll finish out this mini-series on stress reduction with one more quick (and even easier) technique. In the meantime, give focused, abdominal breathing a try and see what happens!