LiveLongAgeWell

Artificial Tanning Beds

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.)

If you have high cholesterol, and are taking or considering taking (prescription) “statin” medication to lower cholesterol and decrease heart attack risk, you might be interested in this large Israeli study. The results suggested that those who faithfully took their statin medication over a four- to five-year period had a significantly lower death rate (45 percent) than those who took their medication only occasionally. It’s interesting research—worth talking to your doctor about if you are in a high risk group—but it’s not a perfect study. It may be that those who took their medication faithfully also took better care of themselves in other ways, and those other ways were more responsible for their better survival than the statin drug.

(This dedicated to my brother for his birthday today…he’s a faithful and accomplished marathon runner. I hope he avoids cataracts based on his running, because he doesn’t use sunglasses, and that increases his risk.) Particularly if you have a family history of AMD (age-related macular degeneration, the biggest cause for blindness in adults) or cataracts, you will be interested to know that people who run faithfully may have a much decreased risk of developing those eye diseases. For example, one report showed that those who run over 4 kilometers per day (2.5 miles) cut their risk of AMD by up to 54 percent. Much more detail here.

Do you know people who still smoke, and are crazy about their pets? More about this later, but it seems that pets really suffer the effects of secondhand smoke too, and that many smokers might be motivated to quit once they realize they are harming their pets!

Quick. What’s your guess? No points for you if you say the stuffing or the gravy, but if you guessed the turkey, not bad. If you said sweet potatoes, even better, but the award really goes to the cranberries! (for my Brazilian readers: cranberry is oxicoco). It’s ironic that I’ve been to many Thanksgiving dinners where people make fun of cranberries…but in fact it’s the part of the meal most bursting with healthy anti-oxidants.

Even before the Pilgrims arrived in 1620, North American Indians regarded cranberries as medicine. Later, sailors brought sacks of the vitamin C rich berries on voyages to prevent scurvy. And for generations, American folklore has regarded cranberry juice as prevention from urinary tract infections. Only recently has this been proven and the mechanism discovered: chemical tannins in cranberries called proanthocyanidins prevent the E. coli bacteria from adhering to the lining of the urinary tract, and if the bacteria doesn’t attach, they don’t infect.

Another area where cranberries act as a “natural Teflon” is in the mouth. The main cause of cavities is the bacteria Streptococcus mutans, and cranberries block this bacteria from attaching to the tooth surface and forming the “biofilm” necessary to make cavities and plaque. Blueberries have some anti-cavity activity also, but cranberries are much more potent.

More significant, cranberries are amazing little gems in the anti-oxidant world. On the scale of anti-oxidant activity of all foods, cranberries are almost at the very top, above chocolate, blueberries, red wine, coffee, and broccoli. Cranberries are simply one of the best foods we have, and there is a host of research that—like coffee but without the negatives—they can significantly raise our HDL (good) cholesterol levels. Cranberries are also beneficial for our stomach and gastrointestinal tract (again preventing adherence of various bacteria), and there is growing lab data that they might inhibit various cancers, particularly breast, brain, lung, skin, and prostate.

To prove these anti-cancer benefits in humans, more research is needed. Cranberries though are so wonderful that within the next few months I’ll revisit them and discuss the best ways to enjoy them (emphasizing limiting the sugar that often goes with cranberries).  But for now, just enjoy the cranberry sauce, and think that these little berries will be countering some of the bad heart effects of the gravy.

Finally, another thought on the healthiest part of the Thanksgiving meal. Perhaps it’s really none of the foods at all, but rather the human connection we can make with the others at the table. Please consider that connection, that communion, and give thanks for that.  Connecting well with others is probably better than all the anti-oxidants in the world as a way to age well. So to all, especially my regular readers and subscribers, I thank you for reading, and have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Last post I gave some background information on coffee, and today I am offering some practical pointers on how to maximize the health benefits of coffee. This is from my upcoming book How To Drop Dead Dancing In Your 90s: Live Long Age Well. If you have any thoughts or comments about coffee drinking and health, please leave a comment! In the meantime, I suggest you grab a cup and read on…

• Choose caffeinated coffee if you can, because it has greater health benefits as far as decreasing your risk of Parkinson’s disease and diabetes, and caffeine tends to increase your HDL (good) cholesterol. Decaffeinated coffee can raise your cholesterol level. If you cannot tolerate much caffeine, try caffeinated in the morning, and decaf later in the day. If that’s still too much caffeine, at least limit your decaf to one to two cups per day. If you drink decaf, buy high-quality, water-processed decaf that has been prepared through a filter (not the espresso style).

• The ideal healthy amount of caffeinated coffee is one to four cups per day, ideally two to three, spaced throughout the day to avoid caffeine rebound when the coffee jolt wears off.  If coffee keeps you up at night, try drinking earlier in the day before resorting to decaf. When you consider “bad health behaviors”, drinking more than four cups a day is not so bad, but if you drink a lot, you are more likely to become caffeine addicted (one of the easier addictions to beat if needed), and you need to keep an eye on your blood pressure. If you get jittery or notice heart palpitations, cut back.

• If you often drink “fancy” coffee drinks, think about the calories. If you order one of the über-marketed (whatever)-ccinos, you could ingesting over 500 calories in that one tasty drink. (Hint: be suspicious of any drink that has the ® symbol…it’s probably full of unhealthy calories.)  If you drink a ® coffee regularly, probably you have moved coffee from something healthy to something that could make you fat and harm your heart.

• Filtered coffee or percolated or instant is the healthiest. Less healthy is French press, boiled, and (unfortunately) the espresso types, because those styles, taken as an espresso, or mixed into a latte or cappuccino and into any number of other chic-ccinos, can increase your cholesterol. A coffee filter removes harmful chemicals that naturally are found in coffee (such as kahweol and cafestol), and espresso drinks are not filtered.  Of course once in a while it’s fine to drink espresso or lattes or cappuccinos, but for your basic coffee, remember that regular filtered coffee is healthiest. If you want to be both chic and healthy when you order, ask for a “Caffé Misto” or “Café au Lait” (filtered coffee with steamed milk). You can still use the French name, but the barista should make your drink with filtered coffee rather than the less-healthy espresso type.

• Coffee and osteoporosis: if you take enough calcium in your diet, 1000 to 1200 mg. per day, you probably don’t have to worry about coffee lowering your calcium level. But if you have a concern about bone thinning, take your coffee with milk or better, soy or skim milk, and if you have a serious issue, talk to your doctor. If you are pregnant or lactating, many doctors feel a cup of coffee is probably OK, but discuss with your physician.

• If you have high or borderline blood pressure, occasionally check your pressure after coffee. If you have coronary artery disease (narrowed blood vessels in the arteries of your heart), you should wait an hour after drinking coffee before doing significant exercise.

• For some reason I don’t understand, anti-oxidants have the nasty tendency to stain your teeth... nothing is perfect.  But be careful—coffee can ruin your smile, so swish water after drinking to avoid the un-sexy dark teeth look. Or chew a stick of sugar-free gum (especially good is gum with xylitol) after coffee to freshen your breath and keep your teeth white.