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

Last week I wrote about how a major research study showed that vitamin C and E supplements were ineffective for reducing the risk of heart disease and cancer. In general, these two vitamins, particularly vitamin E, are falling out of favor in the medical literature. But several others, particularly vitamins D and B12, are gaining more positive reviews in recent research. An interesting study from Oxford University, published in the journal Neurology, showed that individuals with a higher B12 level in their blood had significantly less brain shrinkage as they got older, than people with a lower B12 blood level. (Brain size was measured by serial MRI scans.)

B12 in the diet comes only from animal sources such as meat, including chicken; fish; milk; and eggs. (Strict vegetarians—vegans—require B12 supplements.) Many nutritional experts believe that especially as people are eating less meat, there is a growing crisis of B12 deficiency, and that middle-agers and above need to pay much more attention to B12 intake, either through diet or supplements. I will take up supplements in a later post, but the concern about B12 deficiency is another great reason to regularly eat fish! Salmon in particular is rich in B12. (For much more detail on this vitamin, go to the Nutrition section in the LLAW right sidebar, then click Linus Pauling Institute>Vitamins>Vitamin B12.)

In the next week I will discuss some other ways to help prevent brain shrinkage, at any age, and not through diet or supplements.

Since cancer and heart disease are the number one and two causes of death in the U.S., I would love to report that taking vitamins will lower your risk, but several recent research reports cast doubts at least on vitamins C and E. Actually, these recent studies are part of a research trend showing that many vitamins—taken in pill form that is—have not been as effective as many had hoped for in preventing various diseases.

There is even the suggestion that taking some vitamin pills, particularly the B vitamin folic acid or vitamin E, might increase your chance for certain diseases, but the data is inconclusive and controversial, and further analysis is needed (and being done). Still, caution seems to be in order as far as taking vitamin pills.

At the recent American Association for Cancer Research “Frontiers in Cancer Prevention” meeting, the results of a 10-year long study were presented. This was a randomized clinical trial (the best type of research study), and it followed nearly 15,000 physicians. Some were given 400 IU of vitamin E every other day, some 500 mg. vitamin C every day, and others given placebo (dummy) pills. After a 10-year period the number of cancers was analyzed, and those who had taken the vitamins showed the same cancer rate as those who had taken the placebo. They also measured the rate of heart attack, heart failure, stroke, and angina, and again there was no benefit for the group that took the vitamins.

People who eat a diet full of fruits and vegetables seem to have a lower cancer risk, so it was hoped this long-term vitamin study would show similar benefits. Does this mean that vitamins have no benefit? No, but it does indicate that perhaps the only way to get the anti-cancer and heart-protective benefit, at least for these vitamins, is through your diet, and not through pills or supplements. Most likely there are many more substances in fruits and vegetables, particularly “phytochemicals“, that are more important for disease prevention than the vitamin content.

The status of vitamins in the medical literature will be unsettled for some time; for example, while vitamins C and E are falling out of favor, other vitamins such as D and B12, even in supplement form, are currently showing promise. And keep in mind that today we only considered if these vitamins help decrease the risk of cancer and heart disease; we haven’t touched on other diseases, such as cataracts, where vitamin supplements might be effective. I will discuss this in future posts and more completely in my book.

The trends though in vitamin research indicate this general recommendation: get your vitamins through a diet rich in a variety of fresh vegetables and fruits. Don’t rely on pills. As further vitamin research is released (a good study is underway on multivitamin pills), I will report it here.