Jan
04
2020

Preserving Youthful Power

By | exercise, fasting mimicking diet, Fitness, Health

Dr. Christopher W. Shade (PH.D.) presented a lecture in Las Vegas on Dec.13, 2019 talking about preserving youthful power. The presentation was at the 27th Annual World Congress on Anti-Aging Medicine and his title was “Building Youthful NAD+ Power with Precursors, Sirtuin-Activating Compounds, and Methylation support”.

In the first place, nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+) is a signalling molecule between the DNA of the nucleus of cells and the energy producing mitochondria that reside in the cells. The exact nature of the interaction is described in this review article. It describes how stress leads to a depletion of NAD+ and sirtuins, and causes accelerated aging. On the other hand, calorie restriction and exercise lead to increased production of NAD+, activation of sirtuins and longevity.

Details about low NAD+ activity

It is important to realize that when NAD+ is below a critical level the following disease states can develop. First, in the brain it is Alzheimer’s disease and neurodegenerative disease. Second, in the eyes macular degeneration and keratoconjunctivitis sicca can develop. Third, severe plaque-type psoriasis can occur in the skin. Fourth, the pancreas develops hyperinsulinemia and metabolic syndrome. Fifth, type 2 diabetes can make your muscles weak. Sixth, sarcopenia with loss of muscle mass and cardiovascular disease in the heart can also develop. Seventh, the liver reacts to the metabolic syndrome by causing hepatic steatosis. Metabolic syndrome causes inflammatory cytokines in the fatty tissue. Eighth, the lungs react by developing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Ninth, your blood can get endotoxin-induced inflammation and sepsis from bacteria. A lack of NAD+ causes all of these negative changes simultaneously in the body.

In fact, when a person exercises regularly, uses intermittent fasting as a tool of calorie restriction and takes supplements of NAD+ all of these negative processes stop and sirtuins are activated restoring the body to a more youthful condition.

Summary about the effects of NAD+

In other words, NAD+ is important for cardiometabolic health, energy balance, liver health, immune health and cognitive health. NAD+ is also involved in maintaining the membrane polarity of cell walls. The blood /brain barrier and the gut/blood barrier are also kept intact by NAD+. In addition, NAD+ is involved in detoxification and control of the action of free radicals. It also is important to control Inflammation. For these reasons, it is not a surprise that people with normal NAD+ function will be healthier than those who have a problem with this.

Sugar reduces NAD+ to NADH

It is important to note that scientists could show in animal models and in humans that sugar overconsumption leads to the reduction of NAD+ to NADH. All of the negative effects described above for low NAD+ are then coming true. NADH is a reduced and disabled form of the oxidized NAD+. In essence, this substance has no biological action.

Energy metabolism

Biochemists have determined with regard to the energy metabolism of mitochondria that there are three occasions where enzymes are dependent on NAD+. Without NAD+ the energy-providing oxidative metabolism in mitochondria would not take place. As NAD+ is lower in older age, this explains why an aging population has less energy. In addition, as we age, the number of mitochondria per cell is decreasing. That is to say that an aging population has less energy than youthful people.

Other factors that are important in preserving youthful power

The AMPK signalling pathway

AMPK stands for 5′ AMP-activated protein kinase. This is an enzyme that consists of three protein portions. In humans it is expressed in liver, brain and muscle tissue. It provides energy in the liver by fatty acid oxidation. In muscles it stimulates glucose uptake and fatty acid oxidation. AMPK also inhibits cholesterol synthesis, lipogenesis and triglyceride synthesis. Fasting and exercise can stimulate AMPK production, which in turn will stimulate SIR1 genes and NAD+ production. This is especially happening in muscle tissue. To put it another way, there are a close-linked metabolic reactions between NAD+, AMPK and sirtuins.

Balance between AMPK, NAD+ and methylation

Given the right circumstances this can lead to detoxification, longevity and energy. This is what intermittent fasting and exercise can do for you. AMPK needs high NAD+ levels to give you all of the benefits. But NAD+ must be balanced with methylation. This is a somewhat difficult subject to explain, but the link explains it in somewhat technical terms. In other words, with a balance of the body’s biochemistry the person is healthy. When there is a disbalance, you get sick.

Practical application how to supplement for preserving youthful power

Dr. Shade asked the rhetorical question: how can we achieve a balance between NAD+ and methylation?

His answer is to supplement with the following supplements.

  • Trimethylglycine (Betaine) 2‐5g/day
  • Vitamin B2: 10‐30mg/day
  • SAMe or methylcobalamin 1000‐3000mcg/day
  • Measure Homocysteine as marker of methylation; if it is low, the methylation pathway is normal and there is balance.

Next: how to we raise NAD+? The answer is by cardio-metabolic blending.

  • Berberine and quercetin (they are respiratory chain modulators)
  • Resveratrol, silymarin and lipoic acid (they are liver kinase B1 activators)
  • Resveratrol or pterostilbene and quercetin (they are sirtuin activators)
  • Nicotinamide riboside (NR) and nicotinamide mononucleotide (NMN) 200- 400 mg per day
  • Trimethylglycine (Betaine) 2-5 grams per day and methylcobalamin, B2, and others (methylation support)
Preserving Youthful Power

Preserving Youthful Power

Conclusion

It is difficult to describe energy flow in biochemical terms. Dr. Christopher W. Shade did exactly that in a lecture he gave at the 27th Annual World Congress on Anti-Aging Medicine in Las Vegas on Dec.13, 2019. The key for preserving youthful power is to balance the metabolism that occurs in the nucleus of the body cells with the metabolism taking place in the mitochondria. The mitochondria are the energy producers, but the steering of this occurs through the metabolic products from the cell nucleus. NAD+ plays a key role in our energy metabolism. But there is an interplay with AMPK, which stands for 5′ AMP-activated protein kinase. Sirtuin genes interact with these messenger molecules as well and this is where longevity comes in.

Longevity through sirtuin stimulation

Sirtuins are longevity genes that help us get more energy for a longer period of time. Regular exercise stimulates this complex biochemistry giving us extra NAD+ for energy. Intermittent fasting also stimulates sirtuins, which adds to the extra energy and gives us longevity. This is not a bad deal when you look at it from a distance. We can achieve a lot preserving our energy through an active life style. Supplements can be an auxiliary measure, but they are not effective enough without positive lifestyle choices.

Jun
15
2019

Replacing Part Of Red Meat With Fish Shows Health Benefits

By | diet, fish oil, Health, heart attack, Nutrition, omega-3 fatty acids

A Danish study has shown that replacing part of red meat with fish shows health benefits.

The research was done by a PhD student and pointed out that men above the age of 50 were particularly benefitting from fish substituting part of red meat in their diet. Women in the childbearing age also benefitted greatly. On this diet pregnant women as well as the unborn children become healthier.

Risk versus benefit analysis

Sofie Theresa Thomsen, the PhD student who conducted this study did risk-benefit assessments regarding partial substitution of beef with low-mercury fish. Red and processed meat contains saturated fat, which is added to the other saturated fat in the Danish diet. Red meat and processed meats have been associated with colorectal cancer and some other cancers. But red meat also contains beneficial iron. In contrast, fish contains a lot of omega-3 fatty acids that are anti-inflammatory and also contains vitamin D. But one has to be careful about methylmercury content in fish. I reviewed fish, mercury contamination and the benefits in this link.

In her calculations Sofie Theresa Thomsen replaced 350 grams of beef per week with 350 grams of low-mercury fish per week.

If all the Danish households would do this partial beef/fish exchange, the Danes would gain 7,000 healthy years of life annually. This includes, among other health conditions, the prevention of 170 deaths from coronary heart disease.

What kind of fish can you eat?

As the link above shows, there are low, medium and high methylmercury contaminated fish. The higher the fish is in the predator chain, the higher the methylmercury content. This is of particular concern for pregnant women as mercury is toxic for the fetal brain tissue. But they consume low mercury fish and shellfish, like mackerel, herring, wild salmon, shrimps or clams, pregnant women benefit greatly from the beef/fish exchange. Tuna is too high in methylmercury to be included in the beef/fish exchange. If you were to include tuna in this, you would experience a health loss.

Vitamin D and iron

The study showed further that a partial exchange of beef by fish would reduce the number of Danes who are vitamin D deficient. The 350 grams of fish per week are sufficient to significantly raise the vitamin D blood level. Conversely, replacing a part of the beef intake with fish does not cause iron deficiency problems.

Who benefits most from replacing part of red meat by fish?

Sofie Theresa Thomsen asked who would benefit most from such a beef/fish exchange diet.

On the one hand it is the older than 50 year male population who is at a significant risk of developing heart attacks. The fatty fish with omega-3 fatty acids reverses some of the plaque in the arteries and keeps coronary arteries open. This prevents heart attacks and strokes.

On the other hand pregnant women and their children benefit greatly from the beef/fish exchange diet. The women will feel more energy and their offspring will have healthy brains.

Replacing Part Of Red Meat With Fish Shows Health Benefits

Replacing Part Of Red Meat With Fish Shows Health Benefits

Conclusion

A study from Denmark analyzed what happens when a person exchanges 350 grams of beef with low mercury fish or shellfish per week. The conclusion was that Danes would gain 7,000 healthy years of life annually. Among these is the prevention of 170 deaths from coronary heart disease. But the most lives saved would be among men older than 50 years due to heart attack and stroke prevention. Pregnant women are also benefitting tremendously, not only for themselves, but for their children. The fish needs to be low mercury fish, as mentioned above, as mercury is a central nervous system toxin. Tuna is too high in mercury.

I have cut out red meat and meat products from my diet since 2015, when the WHO came out with the statement that red meat causes colorectal cancer. As a result I eat a lot more low mercury seafood and shellfish.

May
26
2019

The Foods That Are Killing Us

By | Alzheimer’s disease, Arthritis, breast cancer, Cancer, Cardiovascular disease, cholesterol, Diabetes, diet, fish oil, gout, Health, heart attack, Heart Disease, High Blood Pressure, milk, Mortality, Nutrition, Obesity, omega-3 fatty acids, Processed food, Stroke, sugar, Vitamins and supplements

There is an article in a CNN report talking about the foods that are killing us. This review is based on an article in the Lancet. The Lancet study was based on a global review of eating habits in 195 countries. The question in the study was which of 15 food items caused the diseases that killed people. The answer was surprising. There are either omissions or unhealthy components of foods that kill us. Here is a list of 12 food groups that are problematical.

A dozen foods that were found to be problematical in the global review

  • Diet high in sodium (4 grams per day, which is 86% above the optimal level)
  • Low intake of whole grains (only 23% of optimal levels)
  • Low fruit intake
  • Diet high in trans fatty acids
  • Low omega-3 fatty acid diet (due to low intake of sea food)
  • Diet low in calcium
  • Diet low in fiber
  • High intake of sugar beverages or sugary foods (49 grams of sugar per day)
  • Processed meat intake too high (4 grams per day, 90% more than optimal)
  • Red meat consumption too high (27 grams per day, 18% higher than optimal)
  • Nut and seed intake too low (only consuming 12% of desired amount)
  • Diet low in milk (16% of desired amount)

Each of these components or several of them in combination create deficiencies in us or overburden us to the point where we can get sick and disabled.

Different countries have different eating habits

Globally there were 11 million deaths found in 2017 and 255 million years of disability because of various dietary inadequacies.

Here is the lineup of the leading causes of death:

  • cardiovascular disease with 10 million deaths and 207 million years of disability.
  • Cancers caused 913,090 deaths and 20 million years of disability.
  • Type 2 diabetes caused 338,714 deaths and 24 million years of disability.

This was broken down into statistics for each of the contributory countries. Here I am only citing some pertinent data that shows the importance of balanced meals for a healthy life expectancy.

Different death rates in various countries

There were big differences in terms of cardiovascular disease deaths according to various regions. Central Asia had the highest death rate with 613 deaths per 100,000 people per year. In contrast the high-income Asia Pacific group had only a cardiovascular death rate of 68 per 100,000 people per year.

Cancer deaths were highest in East Asia with 41 deaths per 100,000 people. The lowest cancer rate was found in North Africa and the Middle East with 9 deaths per 100,000 people.

Among the 20 most populous countries Egypt had the highest diet-related deaths, namely 552 deaths per 100,000 people. On the other hand Japan had the lowest of all diet related deaths with 97 deaths per 100,000 people. 

Some highlights how unhealthy foods kill us

Globally people only eat 12% of the desirable amount of nuts and seeds. They only drink 13% of what they should consume in terms of milk. People worldwide eat 23% of the desirable amount of whole grains.

Nuts and seeds contain mono- and polyunsaturated fats and omega-3 fatty acids, which lower your risk of getting heart attacks and strokes.

Milk is a good source of calcium, protein, minerals and vitamins. However, milk, yogurt or cheese should be consumed as low fat varieties. Alternatively people who do not consume milk should look for protein carriers such as soy milk or pea milk.

If you eat nuts and vegetables you can largely compensate for low milk consumption. If you don’t get enough whole grains, you are missing a whole lot of nutrients. This makes you more vulnerable of getting cardiovascular disease, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, colon cancer, and obesity.

Other unhealthy foods can kill us

The WHO has labelled red meat and processed meat as being carcinogenic

Studies clearly showed a higher than normal rate of colorectal cancer in those who consumed larger amounts of red meat and/or sausages.

Sugar overconsumption

Sugar overconsumption leads to a variety of conditions. Weight gain with the development of obesity and type 2 diabetes are common when you eat too much sugar. But even cancer like colorectal cancer and pancreatic cancer is more common in people who overindulge in sugar or sugary drinks. Sugar consumption raises your triglyceride and LDL level. This will eventually lead to hardening of the arteries, heart attacks and strokes.

Gout develops with purine containing foods

Gout can be caused by consuming a lot of red meat combined with copious amounts of beer. This is how royalty in the Middle Ages suffered from gout attacks. Gout had the nickname of “Disease of the affluent.” Both beer and red meat contain a lot of purines, which the kidneys cannot handle. The uric acid crystals that precipitate around joints cause excruciating pains.

 What the global health study showed

Researchers of the global health study stated that improving the diet habits could potentially eliminate 1 in 5 deaths globally. Dietary risks for major diseases like heart attacks, strokes and cancer are independent from sex, age and socioeconomic status.

Three dietary factors stood out: too much salt, too little fruit and too little whole grain. These three items were responsible for 50% of diet-related deaths and 66% of “disability-adjusted life years”. The authors used this expression to describe how years of disability had their root in diet deficits (e.g. too little fruit) or overdoses of unhealthy food components (e.g. salt).

The leading dietary risk factors are too much salt, low whole grain, low fruit consumption, low vegetable intake and low omega-3 fatty acid consumption. On top of that come the previously established risks due to sugar overconsumption, excessive fat intake and consumption of red meat and processed meat.

Discussion of the meaning of these results

Deaths from heart attacks and strokes

We know for some time that high sugar and high starchy food intake cause elevated triglycerides and elevated LDL cholesterol. This leads to hardening of the arteries and eventually to strokes and heart attacks.

High sodium intake

Sodium intake of more than 2300 mg per day is considered high and can cause high blood pressure. heart attacks, strokes and aneurysms.

Eating not enough fruit

If you eat too little fruit, your system does not get enough vitamin C and other vitamins. Heart disease, cancer and anemia could develop from that.

Eating not enough vegetables

People who do not eat enough vegetables do not have enough antioxidants that protect them from free radicals. Free radicals are unstable chemicals that attack cells and DNA. Mutated cells can cause cancer. If you eat too little vegetables, you are at a higher risk of getting cancer. But there is another aspect of vegetables: phytonutrients protect from hardening of the arteries and blockages of heart and brain vessels. When someone does not eat enough vegetables, the risk for heart attacks and strokes is higher. Eating vegetables also protects you from diabetes and keeps the blood sugar more stable.

Not eating enough whole grain

Whole grain was identified as missing in a lot of people’s diet. When you incorporate whole grains into your food, you reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, colon cancer, and obesity.

There are vitamins, minerals, dietary fiber and lignans in whole grain. Other nutrients are beta-glucan, several phytochemicals, phytosterols, phytin, and sphingolipids. All of these are necessary to maintain good health.

Low omega-3 fatty acid consumption

Omega-3 fatty acids are important for healthy skin, brain development (neurodevelopment of children) and prevention of heart attacks. Omega-3 fatty acids reduce the risk of cancer because of their anti-inflammatory action and inhibition of cell growth factors. In one study rectal cancer showed a 21% reduction comparing the highest omega-3 fatty acid intake to the lowest intake of omega-3 fatty acids. Colon cancer showed no effect to omega-3 consumption, but breast cancer showed a reduction with omega-3 fatty acid supplementation. Researchers showed that omega-3 fatty acid supplementation can slow down dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. Protein deposits called amyloids were found less in the brain of patients with omega-3 fatty acid supplementation; in addition the brain volume was preserved more with the omega-3 supplement. Low omega-3 fatty acid consumption also has a detrimental effect on macular degeneration of the eyes and on joint pains of rheumatoid arthritis patients.

The Foods That Are Killing Us

The Foods That Are Killing Us

Conclusion

I have reviewed a global health study that described various risks that led to deaths from different diseases. It was noticeable that death and disability rates varied significantly according to different countries. The authors also looked into food habits and could pinpoint certain food deficiencies that caused diseases that prematurely disabled or killed people. I have described the various one-sided food habits that led to specific diseases.

What we should all learn from this complicated study is that we all can strive to eat more balanced meals. You want to eat a low sodium diet, eat enough fruit and vegetables, to which you add some nuts. Eat enough whole grains and add omega-3 fatty acids. This way the risk of getting cancer, cardiovascular diseases or other problems can be significantly reduced.

Mar
09
2019

Live The Life That We Evolved For

By | Anxiety, depression, exercise, Fitness, Health, Nutrition, Obesity

A review article at CNN by a psychiatrist recommends that we live the life that we evolved for. Dr. Arash Javanbakht, an assistant professor of psychiatry at Wayne State University in Detroit, MI explains that man lived on this planet only since 200,000 years. But it takes about 1 million years for evolutionary changes to take place. As a result of this we tend to still behave in our lives the way we may have reacted 10,000 years ago. It is useful to think back of us being hunters and gatherers.

Anxiety, an ancient emotion

Anxiety, for instance, is an emotion that goes far back to 10,000 years ago when humans had to be part of the tribe. If an opposite tribe was fighting them chances were high that they could get killed. Even if your own tribe did no longer like you, there was a strong possibility that you were driven out or killed. This left us with an inheritance going back many millennia of anxiety. In modern life though it is the boss who does not like something you did. It could be a deadline for a school or college project that makes us anxious or some political news. The reasons have changed, but anxiety is still there!

Live the life that we evolved for: assess what we eat

Food was very scarce 10,000 years ago. When the tribe finally caught some prey, there was a feast where fatty food, meat, vegetables, fruit, nuts and seeds were eaten. Refined sugars were not available. You did not know when the next time would come where you had ample food. Today we still behave this way: we eat what we can and eat some more. The only problem is that there is no longer the pattern of famine orfeast. Instead there is easy access to the fridge with all kinds of food. We also have access to fast food places. And we drink sodas, eat candies and other sweets. Eventually we end up fat and fatigued.

Live the life that we evolved for: which way do we move?

Our ancestors had to run and walk many miles a day to find food. They may have been attacked by wild animals and had to flee. They also needed to chase a prey for food. Constant movement was the order of the day. What are we doing today? We did not evolve to step into a car and drive to work. We also did not evolve to sit at a desk from 9AM to 5PM. In the evening we sit in front of the TV or lie on a couch eating munchies and drinking beer.

Our modern life

It is no wonder that we gain weight, that our heart and lungs do not get conditioned, and that our muscles are a pile of mush. We need to think back what our bodies were built to do. Perhaps a long walk would be healthier than sitting all the time. Some of us do not mind to visit a gym daily and build an exercise routine into the day. This mimics the activities of the hunter/gatherers and is a lot better for our bodies.

Live the life that we evolved for: sleep problems

Many people today have problems to fall asleep. The sun had 100% control of the diurnal rhythm in the past. Now we have artificial lightning, blue light from TV’s, computer screens and iPhones. We are constantly getting stimulated. In addition, the stories we read or see on TV get us excited, so that the stress hormone, cortisol is released and melatonin, the sleeping hormone gets suppressed. Taken all this together, it is not really a wonder we have problems sleeping. Relaxation methods can help us to tone down before we go to sleep. You may want to meditate, do self-hypnosis, practice some yoga or just lie still and relax, clearing your mind, and more importantly switch the TV off and put the computer on “sleep”. Sleep for you comes easier this way.

Live the life that we evolved for: our fears

10,000 years ago fear was a normal part of our lives. There were predators you had to fear. There were tribal wars where you had to fight for your survival. You had to fear starvation. The fight/flight response was a reality. Compare this to our lives now. We may fear an exam, a meeting at work or agonize what to wear for a party. We have no real existential fears unless you live in a war zone. Many people may feel that they do not have enough fear in their lives, so they get drawn to horror and mystery stories, computer games, haunted houses etc. But this is fodder for anxiety!

Live the life that we evolved for: how to feel better

When we adopt a pet, let’s say a dog, we understand that it needs food, exercise, love and sleep. But when it comes to the human animal in us, we find it hard to understand that we need that too. In fact, we need to live the life that we evolved for. We need some form of exercise all the time, because that is what we were meant to do 10,000 years ago and our bodies are still built for that. When you walk the dog, you may make new friends or even a date. If you go to the gym, you realize that your muscles work better and begin to make your body fitter. You will also feel better about yourself. You appreciate that your mood is lifting, and you feel the increased energy and strength.

Dr. Arash Javanbakht said about the bottom line:

“If we treated our body the way responsible dog owners treated their dog, we would live a much happier life.”

Live The Life That We Evolved For

Live The Life That We Evolved For

Conclusion

It takes people 1 million years for evolutionary changes. We do not change our behavior fast. Dr. Arash Javanbakht, an assistant professor of psychiatry at Wayne State University in Detroit, MI compared our lives now with the lives of the hunters/gatherers in the past. People ate fatty food, meat, vegetables, fruit, nuts and seeds when a prey was hunted. But then there was an episode of fasting. People then had to walk and run all day long to catch some food again or they had to run to escape from a predator. Nowadays we use cars for transportation, use the elevator to get upstairs and walk from the table at home to the TV set. If we do not move enough and we eat the wrong foods, we do not turn fit but we turn fat.

Our modern lives

We also use LED lights from TV’s, computers, iPhones and tablets that interfere with our diurnal hormone rhythm. It is not about going back to sending smoke signals, but it is all about setting limits and when to stop and disengage from social media and the phone. Not setting limits is part of why we have problems to sleep. Stress can also be a factor of insomnia. Dr. Javanbakht says that we need to relearn how our bodies were built. We need proper nutrition without high-energy carbs. In addition we need regular exercise that will help us to relax and feel more energy. Anxieties will lift and we will feel better about ourselves.

Mar
02
2019

Exercise For Different Age Groups

By | Arthritis, back pain, Cancer, Cardiovascular disease, exercise, Fitness, fractures, Health, heart attack, lifestyle, Menopause, Osteoporosis

In a health article CNN reported about exercise for different age groups.

Exercise has profound positive effects on the body. First it strengthens the lungs and the heart. Secondly, it conditions your muscles. Thirdly, exercise can protect you from chronic diseases like heart disease, type 2 diabetes and many cancers. Each age group needs different exercises, as follows.

Growing up years

During childhood exercise helps to grow healthy bones, regulate weight and build up self-confidence. In addition the child sleeps better, when exercise is part of the course of the day. Children should try out various sports. They should learn how to swim and how to handle a ball. They should also play in playgrounds together with other kids. Several studies have shown that during the teen years exercise levels decline steadily, particularly for girls. Especially during the teen years regular exercise builds a healthy body image and helps adolescents to manage stress and anxiety. Parents should encourage teens to keep one team sport regularly. For those who are not into team sports, swimming and any kind of sport is a good substitute.

Exercise for different age groups: in your twenties

In your mid twenties you are at the highest performance level in your life. You have the fastest reaction time and your heart pump capacity is the highest. Exercise physiologists measure this by an expression, called VO2 max. This value decreases each year by 1%. Your reaction time also decreases every year. The good news is that you can slow down the decline by exercising regularly for the rest of your life. If you train your body regularly during this time, your lean body mass will be preserved and your bone density will stay dense until your later years. To make it more interesting, vary your training with various sports.

If you are a regular exerciser, talk to a trainer about interval training, which intermittently pushes your exercise limit to the maximum. This type of training releases human growth hormone from your pituitary gland. The effect of this is that you increase your stamina and endurance. It also builds up lean muscle mass, decreases body fat content and provides you with more energy.

Exercise for different age groups: in your thirties

Family life and stress at the job can be a reason that you forget about exercise. But right now there is a particular need to maintain a regular exercise program. You may want to get up early, work out at a gym and go to work from there.

Some employers encourage those who work at a desk to get up every 30 minutes and have a brief exercise break for only 2 or 3 minutes. There are computer programs that show you what to do and all you have to do is copy what you see on the screen. Keep good posture while you sit. When you need a rest room break, you may decide to use the rest room downstairs. This gets you to climb some stairs and use the muscles that were resting when sitting at the desk.

As already outlined for those in the twenties, high-intensity interval training is a tool where you can exercise for only 20 minutes intensely. You do a burst of maximum exercise that brings you up to 80% of your maximum heart rate. This can be done cycling or sprinting and is alternated with low intensity exercise.

Women should do Kegel exercises (pelvic contractions) following labor to prevent incontinence.

Change exercises around to keep them interesting.

Exercise for different age groups: in your forties

This is the time when a lot of people put on extra weight. Resistance training is a way to counteract this by burning fat and preventing the loss of 3-8% of muscle mass per decade. As this link shows, 10 weeks of resistance training increases muscle mass by 3 pounds (1.4kg), increases the resting metabolic rate by 7% and decreases fat by 4 pounds (1.8kg). Exercise machines in gyms or Pilates equipment in Pilates centers will give you this type of training.

Exercise for different age groups: in your fifties

Many people develop joint aches when they are fifty and older. Also, chronic diseases like heart disease, type 2 diabetes and others are starting to get more frequent. In postmenopausal women, where estrogen is on the decline, heart disease is getting more common. Bioidentical hormone replacement can reverse these problems. Strength training twice a week will counter muscle loss that you would get otherwise without any regular exercises. Do weight-bearing exercises like a fast walk where you breathe a bit faster and where you break out into a sweat. This will make your bones and muscles stronger and prevent osteoporosis. Tai Chi, yoga and Pilates are all exercises suitable for this age group.

Exercise for different age groups: in your sixties

This age group is characterized by the fact that multimorbidity is getting more prevalent. People often have mental and physical illnesses. Or they have diabetes and heart disease. They often are on multiple drugs for various conditions. Aging is also a strong risk factor for developing many cancers. But regular exercise can prevent many cancers. For instance post-menopausal breast cancer, colon cancer and cancer of the womb are cancers that can be prevented to a certain extent with regular exercise. Heart disease and type 2 diabetes will also largely improve with regular exercise.

Physical exercise tends to decline in this age group for various reasons. Some reasons are obesity, various diseases that make individuals more sessile and general disability. It is important to resist this trend as much as possible. Take ballroom dance lessons and join the dancing community. Any other dance type (Latin, Bachata, Salsa, Kizomba, Argentine dancing etc.) is good exercise and enjoyable as well. It is a fun way to socialize and exercise at the same time. Aqua-aerobics is a great way to keep your joints and muscles in good shape. People with arthritis will tolerate this. Use brisk walking to maintain your cardiovascular fitness. Do strength and flexibility exercises twice per week to maintain your muscle mass and your balance.

Exercise for different age groups: in your seventies and beyond

Frailty and falls are common in the 70’s and 80’s. Many fractures are happening needlessly. Keep exercising regularly and your muscles will be strong enough to prevent falls. Walk and talk with friends instead of sitting around a table. It is good for your friends to walk as well. If you have several chronic conditions, talk to a physiotherapist or exercise professional what type of exercises you should do. You need some strength, balance and cardiovascular exercises. Enlist the help of a trainer. Sustained exercise is what benefits you most. Think of brisk walks, swimming and aqua-exercises.

Exercise For Different Age Groups

Exercise For Different Age Groups

Conclusion

We are born to stay active. Movement is life. As long as we live, we need to do regular exercise. This way a lot of chronic diseases will be prevented and even many cancers as well. I have summarized that for different age groups there are different activities that are appropriate. But the key in all age groups is to move and keep your lean muscle mass from shrinking. As explained, this will automatically make you also lose a few pounds. Strength exercises (also called resistance exercises) are the key to achieving this. When you get older, you are not exempt from exercising. Now even more than before your well being depends on exercising regularly. You want to prevent osteoporosis, falls and fractures. You want to avoid chronic diseases, heart disease and diabetes, and exercise is one valuable key to achieve this.

Dec
29
2018

Fasting Mimicking Diet Is Very Relevant For Health And Longevity

By | diet, Health, Nutrition, Prevention, stem cells, telomeres

Several speakers in Las Vegas said that the fasting mimicking diet is very relevant for health and longevity. This happened on day 1 of the 26th Annual A4M World Congress 2018 in Las Vegas.

What were the findings that are relevant?

Dr. Longo has done a lot of animal experiments with intermittent fasting and studying longevity. He repeated what he has learnt over the years from animal experiments and from research on humans. Here are the results that he shared already at last year’s Anti-aging Conference in Las Vegas.

Effects of fasting mimicking diet

  • Obesity diminishes, because of the weight loss effect due to missing calories.
  • Diabetes: insulin resistance becomes lower and blood sugar levels drop.
  • High blood pressure reduced: many patients were able to reduce their medications or discontinue them
  • Pain conditions improve as all kinds of pain disappears, an effect for which there is no explanation at this point
  • Autoimmune diseases like MS and rheumatoid arthritis improve, likely because of the effect of increased stem cell circulation
  • Prevention of heart attacks and strokes because of reduction of LDL, triglycerides and CRP
  • Cancer cure rates improve by protecting normal cells and the bone marrow
  • Longevity improved in mice with a 3-fold increase of their life span. Telomere length in humans was increased. Increased stem cells will find defective areas that need repair. This effect leads to less disease in older age.

Increased life span, less heart attack and cancer rates

We know from these animal experiments that mice have a threefold increase in life span. But when heart attack rates and stroke rates improve in humans, cancer cure rates improve and telomere length in humans increase, there is strong evidence that it increases human life expectancy as well. It may take another 10 to 20 years before we have better statistics about the real survival advantage on this diet versus the Standard American diet. But what we know now is a significant start.

Patients on chemotherapy and FMD have much better healing rates than controls

The lecture by Dr. Longo on Dec. 13, 2018 did provide more human data. Patients undergoing chemotherapy tolerate and survive chemotherapy much better when combined with the fasting mimicking diet (FMD). The human data is very similar to the previous mouse model data. This human research was done at the Charité Hospital in Berlin, Germany. Dr. Longo is starting to engage in clinical trials by partnering with physicians, but the publication of this will take several years. In the meantime the FMD is an effective way to rejuvenate on an ongoing basis. Since last year I underwent 12 courses of 5-day FMD every month. Dr. Longo says that even 3 to 4 courses of FMD per year would have a lasting rejuvenating effect.

About the right food intake and getting enough sleep

Dr. La Valle gave a talk in the afternoon of the first conference day where he pointed out several important things. He started his talk by saying that North Americans eat the wrong foods, they eat too much of it and they often eat it at the wrong time (in the middle of the night when the body wants to rest). This can interfere with our diurnal hormone rhythm, which in turn will eventually lead to inflammation in the body. Fasting overnight rests our hormone receptors so they are fully active the following day.

Preventing Alzheimer’s disease

Dr. La Valle praised the FMD as being able to elevate brain derived neurotropic factor. Newer research is pointing at the importance of this factor for preventing Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease. He pointed out that the FMD is a good start to change other things in a patient’s life. Such things like exercise, bioidentical hormone replacement and taking vitamins and supplements. All of these all in combination will build up a patient’s health.

More human data about anti-aging

The internist, Dr. Kurt Hong said that he is seeing 200 patients every week. He has done clinical studies on various forms of fasting. The FMD, he said he liked best as it is easy to do (5 days out of one month 500 calories on each of the FMD days). Dr. Hong has seen amazing improvements in patients with MS, Hashimoto’s disease and Crohn’s disease. His talk concentrated on how fasting improved the metabolic syndrome, improved inflammation in the body and improved immune diseases. The FOXO pathway involves transcription factors that are important to regulate cell death (apoptosis). A variant of FOXO3 is responsible for longevity in humans and has been found in centenarians.

Dr. Hong pointed out that self-cleaning (autophagy) is an important rejuvenation process in the body. The FMD stimulates this process. In a 2017 study Dr. Longo and Dr. Hong compared 100 regular patients with 100 patients on the FMD. Only the patients on the FMD showed that the body weight came down. In addition the blood pressure came down as well and the pluripotent stem cells in the blood were up. So, the FMD has a positive effect on various organ systems without any medication. The strongest effect of the FMD would be in the age group of 20 to 40 for anti-aging purposes as it stimulates stem cell production and elongates telomeres.

Fasting and women’s health

Dr. Felice Gersh gave a talk about the effects of fasting on women’s health. She pointed out how important estrogen is in a woman for every organ system. All of the major organ systems including the skin have estrogen receptors. Estrogen stimulates the metabolism. It stimulates the immune system by stimulating macrophages that also have estrogen receptors. In menopause less estrogen production leads to a lack of energy, because the mitochondria are no longer stimulated as they were before. Estrogen also stimulates sirtuins, which is important for anti-aging. Studies with the FMD have shown that estrogen production is re-stimulated in women.

Dr. Joel Kahn was another speaker in the afternoon. He talked about how important the FMD is for cardiovascular health. He does not think that coronary artery surgeries and stents will suddenly get abandoned, but he thinks that the FMD is a powerful tool to delay arteriosclerosis in the arteries. This will delay coronary artery lesions from developing and will add life. In his opinion 40 to 60 year old patients should start using the FMD to prevent cardiovascular disease.

Aging drives chronic disease

Sebastian Brandhorst, PhD pointed out that if we stay active and eat healthy, we will age well. The US is the only country on earth where the life expectancy goes down after there was an initial health gain in the past.

Yeast, worms, flies and mammals follow a nutrient-sensing pathway. That means when food is not around, starvation increases resistance to a variety of toxins. One important aspect of the FMD is the observation that it protects the body against the toxic effects from chemotherapy. FMD and chemotherapy combined almost completely blocked progression of breast cancer in mice. Further studies showed that cytotoxic T cells were responsible for stopping cancer growth. When antibodies against T cells were administered, the beneficial cytotoxic T cell effects against cancer were wiped out. In humans the same protective effect of the FMD was observed. The FMD combined with chemotherapy gave the best survival data in cancer patients.

Fasting Mimicking Diet Is Very Relevant For Health And Longevity

Fasting Mimicking Diet Is Very Relevant For Health And Longevity

Conclusion

The fasting mimicking diet (FMD) was ranking very prominently among last year’s anti-aging conference in Las Vegas. Several speakers of this year’s anti-aging conference pointed to the health supporting effect of the FMD. It is now evident that the previous findings in animal research are also true in humans. Missing at this time are prolonged clinical trials that analyze the mechanisms of why the FMD works so well. In the meantime everybody can safely use FMD 5 days out of every month, which will rejuvenate your system by gradually prolonging pluripotent stem cell activation and telomere lengthening. It is just a matter of time when the missing links will be filled in.

More info: intermittent fasting may benefit health.

Dec
22
2018

Biological Age Is Different From The Chronological Age

By | alcohol, Alzheimer’s disease, andropause, blood test, cholesterol, diet, exercise, food, Health, heart attack, lifestyle, osteoarthritis, stress, Stroke, telomeres

Biological age is different from the chronological age said professor Morgan Levine from Yale Medical School. She is working in the department of pathology. She has found in her research that people of the same chronological age have very different biological ages. From a biological standpoint they may be much younger or older than their chronological age. When people are younger than their chronological age, they have less disease and less mortality. This article has reviewed the facts.

Measuring biological age

Dr. Levine also has developed tools how to determine the biological age. And when the biological age is higher than the chronological age, she recommends lifestyle changes that will set back the biological clock. We age differently according to what we eat, how our genetic make-up is, which we cannot change, whether we are physically active and what environmental toxins we are exposed to. So, the biological age determines our health status and what our final life expectancy will be.

Biomarkers for biological age

A simple blood test that your family doctor can order consists of the following. A fasting blood sugar, kidney and liver tests, immune tests and inflammatory tests. In addition the doctor will want to know whether you are smoking or not, how much alcohol you consume and how much red meat and processed meat you eat. A computer program processes these results, which determines your biological age.

Lifestyle improvements can lower biological age

Biological age testing has a strength built in. By changing your lifestyle you can lower it. When you exercise more regularly and switch to eating a Mediterranean diet you can lower your biological age. Other studies have shown that the Mediterranean diet is anti-inflammatory. A telomere test, which also determines the biological age, is fixed. It is not easily changed by dietary measures and increasing your exercise.

Dr. Levine said: “I think the most exciting thing about this research is that these things aren’t set in stone.”

Putting the biological age to the test

Dr. Levine was curious what her own biological age was. She entered her blood test data and lifestyle facts into the computer. She was surprised that her biological age was not as good as her first assumption. Now she is trying to get more sleep, has increased her exercise level and improved her diet.

Her research team is working on getting the algorithm online so that everyone will be able to put one’s blood tests and other data into the computer program and calculate the biological age. The program will also recommend what steps are likely most helpful to increase one’s health and decrease the biological age.

Lower your biological age

No one wants to live a long life, if they are in pain and have various illnesses like arthritis or Alzheimer’s. But things are different, if they can change lifestyle factors and maintain a low biological age for a long time. Now they can stay active, have no pains and are able to contribute to society.

“By delaying the onset of diseases and cognitive and physical functioning problems people can still be engaged in society,” Dr. Levine said. “I think that is the ideal we should be striving for.”

Other literature about biological age

Inflammation increases the biological age

In this publication the authors stressed that inflammation is the common denominator for developing disease and premature aging. The authors stress further that it is mandatory to change one’s lifestyle to lower the biological age and live longer.

Diastolic blood pressure predicts mortality

In an older study the diastolic blood pressure was related to mortality. The higher the diastolic blood pressure was, the higher the mortality.  The authors also noted that it was the persons with the higher biological age who were at the highest risk of dying.

Scientific study about the predictors for the biological age

Here is a scientific study that examines predictors for the biological age.  This is not easy reading, but I placed it here for completeness sake.

Link to a site that can calculate your biological age

Here is a link to a site that calculates your biological age. It is probably not as good as Dr. Levine’s computer analysis will be when it is available. However, it is a good approximation to what it will be like.

Biological Age Is Different From The Chronological Age

Biological Age Is Different From The Chronological Age

Conclusion

The dream of staying younger for longer is not new. Research has shown that we actually can do something about it. If we look after our lifestyle, don’t smoke, don’t drink excessively, eat a sensible Mediterranean-type diet and exercise regularly, our biological age will be less than our chronological age. It is the biological age that determines how old we get and whether or not we will suffer from age-related illnesses. Researchers also found out that when your biological age is younger than your actual age mortality will occur later. The math is simple. Let’s assume that your biological age is 15 to 20 years younger than your chronological age. As the average life expectancy presently is 80 years, your life expectancy can increase to 95 or 100 years.

Feb
25
2017

Heart Health Improves With Hormone Replacement

By | Alzheimer’s disease, andropause, Anti-aging medicine, Cardiovascular disease, Diabetes, Health, heart attack, Heart Disease, High Blood Pressure, Hormones, Inflammation, Menopause, mitochondria, Mortality, Obesity, Prevention, prostate cancer, stress, Stress management, Stroke

Dr. Pamela Smith gave a lecture in December 2016 showing that heart health improves with hormone replacement. Her talk was part of the 24th Annual World Congress on Anti-Aging Medicine (Dec. 9 to Dec. 11, 2016) in Las Vegas, which I attended. The title of the talk was: “Heart health: The Importance of Hormonal Balance for Men and Women”. Her keynote lecture contained 255 slides. I am only presenting a factual summary of the pertinent points here.

1. Estrogen

First of all, estrogens are the main female hormones in women that protects them from heart attacks.

Observations regarding risk of heart attacks

  1. Women have a lower risk of heart attacks before menopause compared to men of the same age.
  2. Heart attack rates go up significantly after menopause.
  3. Estrogen replacement therapy may reduce the risk of heart attacks by 50% for postmenopausal women.

Lipid profile after menopause

There is an elevation of LDL cholesterol, total cholesterol and triglycerides as well as lower HDL cholesterol levels. All of this causes a higher risk of heart attacks for postmenopausal women. Estrogen replacement therapy increases the large VLDL particles, decreases LDL levels and raises HDL-2. Postmenopausal women who do estrogen replacement therapy (ERT) are helping to reduce their heart attack rates.

Difference between oral and transdermal estrogen replacement

The liver metabolizes estrogen taken by mouth. This reduces the protective effect on the cardiovascular system. In contrast, transdermal estrogen (from commercial estrogen patches or from bioidentical estrogen creams) has a higher cardioprotective effect. The liver does not metabolize transdermal estrogen. Dr. Smith explained using many slides how estrogen prevents heart attacks. Apart from lipid lowering effects there are protective effects to the lining of the arteries. In addition there are metabolic processes in heart cells and mitochondria that benefit from estrogens. The end result is that postmenopausal women who replace estrogen will outlive men by about 10 years. The production of Premarin involved pregnant mares. In other words, it is not human estrogen and it does not fit the human estrogen receptors. Also the liver metabolizes estrogen taken as tablet form, which loses a lot of the beneficial effects that you get from transdermal estrogen. 

How can you document the beneficial effects of estrogen replacement?

  1. Carotid intima measurements in postmenopausal women on ERT show a consistent reduction in thickness compared to controls.
  2. Postmenopausal women on ERT reduce their physical and emotional stress response compared to postmenopausal women without ERT.
  3. Hormone replacement therapy in postmenopausal women reduces blood pressure. Measurements showed this effect to be due to a reduction of angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) by 20%. This is the equivalent of treating a woman with an ACE inhibitor without the side effects of these pills.
  4. Coronary calcification scores were lower in postmenopausal women on ERT than a control group without ERT. These calcification scores correlate with the risk for heart attacks.
  5. Oral estrogen replacement leads to proinflammatory metabolites from the liver metabolism of estrogen. No proinflammatory metabolites occur in the blood of women using transdermal estrogen. The anti-inflammatory effect of transdermal estrogen is another mechanism that prevents heart attacks.
  6. Postmenopausal women on ERT had no increased risk of heart attacks or venous thromboembolism (clots in veins). Menopausal women without ERT have a risk of 40% of dying from a heart attack. Their risk of developing breast cancer is 5.5%, the risk of dying from breast cancer is about 1%. There was an increase of venous thromboembolism in women who took oral estrogen.
  7. Estrogen has antiarrhythmic effects stabilizing the heart rhythm. Dr. Smith said that in the future intravenous estrogen might be used to prevent serious arrhythmias following heart attacks.

Estrogen levels in males

Males require a small amount of estrogens to maintain their memory, for bone maturation and regulation of bone resorption. But they also need small amounts of estrogen for their normal lipid metabolism.

However, if the estrogen levels are too high as is the case in an obese, elderly man, there is an increased risk of heart disease. Factors that lead to increased estrogen levels in an older man are: increased aromatase activity in fatty tissue, overuse of alcohol and a change in liver metabolism, zinc deficiency, ingestion of estrogen-containing foods and environmental estrogens (also called xenoestrogens).

2. Progesterone

Furthermore, progesterone is the second most important female hormone, the importance of which has been neglected in the past. Progesterone is significantly different from the progestin medroxyprogesterone (MPA). MPA was the oral progestin that was responsible for heart attacks and blood clots in the Women’s Health Initiative. MPA increases smooth muscle cell proliferation. This in turn causes hardening of the coronary arteries. In contrast, progesterone inhibits smooth muscle cell proliferation, which prevents heart attacks. Progesterone also lowers blood pressure and elevates HDL cholesterol, but MPA does not.

Progesterone in males

In a small study Depo-Provera was given to males for 17 days. Blood tests showed a lowering of triglycerides, LDL cholesterol and Apo A-1.

3. Testosterone

Finally, testosterone is the third sex hormone that is present in women. In men it is the main hormone, but women benefit from just a small amounts of it for libido, clarity of thought and muscle endurance.

Testosterone replacement in women

Testosterone in women does not only increase their sex drive, but also relaxes the coronary arteries in women who were testosterone deficient. This allows more blood flow to the heart. In postmenopausal women testosterone replacement lowered lipoprotein (a) levels up to 65%. The physician replaces first with bioidentical estrogen; only then does he consider replacing missing testosterone in women. Otherwise testosterone alone can cause heart attacks in women.

Elevated testosterone in women with PCOS

Women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) can have increased testosterone levels when they go through premenopause or menopause.

Women with PCOS are at a higher risk to develop diabetes, heart disease and high blood pressure. 50% of women with PCOS have insulin resistance. 70% of women with PCOS in the US have lipid abnormalities in their blood.

Elevated testosterone levels in the blood can lower the protective HDL cholesterol and increase homocysteine levels. Both can cause heart attacks.

Women with PCOS have a 4-fold risk of developing high blood pressure.

Testosterone replacement in males

A 2010 study showed that low testosterone levels in males were predictive of higher mortality due to heart attacks and cancer. Low testosterone ca cause high blood pressure, heart failure and increased risk of cardiovascular deaths. There was a higher incidence of deaths from heart attacks when testosterone levels were low compared to men with normal testosterone levels.

Low testosterone can cause diabetes and metabolic syndrome, which in turn can cause heart attacks.

It is important that men with low testosterone get testosterone replacement therapy.

DHT (Dihydrotestosterone)

DHT is much more potent than testosterone. Conversion of testosterone leads to DHT via the enzyme 5-alpha-reductase. While testosterone can be aromatized into estrogen, DHT cannot. Some men have elevated levels of DHT. This leads to a risk of heart attacks, prostate enlargement and hair loss of the scalp.

Andropause treatment

Only about 5% of men in andropause with low testosterone levels receive testosterone replacement in the US. This may be due to rumors that testosterone may cause prostate cancer or liver cancer. The patient or the physician may be reluctant to treat with testosterone. Researchers sh0wed that bioidentical testosterone does not cause any harm. It is safe to use testosterone cream transdermally. It does not cause prostate cancer or benign prostatic hypertrophy.

An increase of 6-nmol/L-serum testosterone was associated with a 19% drop in all-cause mortality.

Testosterone helps build up new blood vessels after a heart attack. Testosterone replacement increases coronary blood flow in patients with coronary artery disease. Another effect of testosterone is the decrease of inflammation. Inflammation is an important component of cardiovascular disease.

Testosterone replacement improves exercise capacity, insulin resistance and muscle performance (including the heart muscle).

Apart from the beneficial effect of testosterone on the heart it is also beneficial for the brain. Testosterone treatment prevents Alzheimer’s disease in older men by preventing beta amyloid precursor protein production.

4. DHEA

The adrenal glands produce the hormone dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA). It is a precursor for male and female sex hormones, but has actions on its own. It supports muscle strength. Postmenopausal women had a higher mortality from heart disease when their DHEA blood levels were low.

Similar studies in men showed the same results. Congestive heart failure patients of both sexes had more severe disease the lower the DHEA levels were. Other studies have used DHEA supplementation in heart patients, congestive heart failure patients and patients with diabetes to show that clinical symptoms improved.

5. Melatonin

Low levels of melatonin have been demonstrated in patients with heart disease. Melatonin inhibits platelet aggregation and suppresses nighttime sympathetic activity (epinephrine and norepinephrine). Sympathetic activity damages the lining of coronary arteries. Melatonin reduces hypoxia in patients with ischemic stroke or ischemic heart disease. Lower nocturnal melatonin levels are associated with higher adverse effects following a heart attack. Among these are recurrent heart attacks, congestive heart failure or death. Melatonin widens blood vessels, is a free radical scavenger and inhibits oxidation of LDL cholesterol. Melatonin reduces inflammation following a heart attack. This can be measured using the C-reactive protein.

In patients who had angioplasties done for blocked coronary arteries intravenous melatonin decreased CRP, reduced tissue damage, decreased various irregular heart beat patterns and allowed damaged heart tissue to recover.

6. Thyroid hormones

It has been known for more than 100 years that dysfunction of the thyroid leads to heart disease. Hypothyroidism can cause heart attacks, hardening of the coronary arteries and congestive heart failure. Lesser-known connections to hypothyroidism are congestive heart failure, depression, fibromyalgia, ankylosing spondylitis and insulin resistance. Some cases of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) with low thyroid levels may successfully respond to thyroid replacement.

Thyroid hormones improve lipids in the blood, improve arterial stiffness and improve cardiac remodeling following a heart attack. Thyroid hormones help with the repair of the injured heart muscle. They also work directly on the heart muscle helping it to contract more efficiently. Lower thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) values and higher T3 and T4 thyroid hormone levels lead to improved insulin sensitivity, higher HDL values (= protective cholesterol) and overall better functioning of the lining of the arteries.

Dr. Smith said that thyroid replacement should achieve that

  • TSH is below 2.0, but above the lower limit of normal
  • Free T3 should be dead center of normal or slightly above
  • Free T4 should be dead center of normal or slightly above

Most patients with hypothyroidism require replacement of both T3 and T4 (like with the use of Armour thyroid pills).

7. Cortisol

Cortisol is the only human hormone that increases with age. All other hormones drop off to lower values with age. The adrenal glands manufacture cortisol. With stress cortisol is rising, but when stress is over, it is supposed to come down to normal levels. Many people today are constantly overstressed, so their adrenal glands are often chronically over stimulated. This can lead to a lack of progesterone. It also causes a lack of functional thyroid hormones as they get bound and are less active. When women have decreased estradiol in menopause there is a decline in norepinephrine production, production of serotonin, dopamine and acetylcholine. Women with this experience depression, lack of drive and slower thought processes.

Heart Health Improves With Hormone Replacement

Heart Health Improves With Hormone Replacement

Conclusion

Seven major hormones have been reviewed here that all have a bearing on the risk of developing a heart attack. It is important that these hormones are balanced, so they can work with each other. Hormones can be compared to a team that works together and is responsible for our health. If one or several of the team players are ineffective, our health will suffer. For this reason hormone replacement is crucial.

Hormone effects on heart muscle

Hormones have effects on mitochondria of the heart muscles cells. They stabilize the heart rhythm as in the case of estradiol. But they can also strengthen the heart muscle directly through DHEA and estrogens in women and DHEA and testosterone in men. Thyroid hormones are another supportive force for the heart. Physicians can  use them therapeutically in chronic heart failure patients. When people age, their hormone glands will produce less hormones, but blood tests will show this. Replacing hormones that are missing can add years of active life. Taking care of the symphony of hormones means you are taking care of your most important organ, the heart!

Dec
17
2016

Magnesium Is Essential To Life

By | Alzheimer’s disease, Cancer, Cardiovascular disease, Diabetes, headache, Health, heart attack, Heart Disease, High Blood Pressure, immune system, Inflammation, kidney disease, Mortality, Nutrition, Obesity, Osteoporosis, Prevention, Stroke

Magnesium is an important co-factor in many biochemical reactions, so magnesium is essential to life.

Many diverse diseases and cancers can develop from magnesium deficiency. The key is to supplement with magnesium regularly to get more than the government recommended daily allowance (RDA). The RDA for magnesium is 420 mg a day for males and 320 mg a day for females.

In the following I will review the diseases that occur without enough magnesium on board.

A lack of magnesium can cause heart disease

In this 2014 study 7216 men and women aged 55-80 with at high risk for heart attacks were followed for 4.8 years. The risk of death from a heart attack was found to be 34% lower in the high tertile magnesium group when compared to the lower magnesium tertile group.

The protective mechanism of magnesium was found to be as follows. Magnesium counteracts calcium and stabilizes heart rhythms. Magnesium helps to maintain regular heart beats and prevents irregular heart beats (arrhythmias). It also prevents the accumulation of calcium in the coronary artery walls. This in turn is known to lower the risk of heart attacks and strokes.

Another study, which was part of the Framingham Heart Study, examined calcification of the heart vessels and the aorta as a function of magnesium intake.

There were 2,695 participants in this study. For each increase of 50 mg of magnesium per day there was a 22% decrease in calcification of the coronary arteries. For the same increase of magnesium the calcification of the body’s main artery, the aorta, fell by 12%. Those with the highest magnesium intake were 58% less likely to have calcifications in their coronary arteries. At the same time they were 34% less likely to have calcifications of the aorta.

In a Korean study a group with low magnesium levels was at a 2.1-fold higher risk of developing coronary artery calcifications compared to a group with normal magnesium levels.

Low magnesium increases your stroke risk

In a 2015 study 4443 subjects, men and women aged 40-75 were followed along.

928 stroke cases developed. The researchers compared the group with the highest 30% of magnesium intake with the lowest 10% of magnesium intake. They had significantly lower blood pressure (7 mm mercury) and lower total cholesterol levels. They also had 41% less strokes than those with low magnesium intake.

In a 2015 study that lasted 24 years the authors investigated 43,000 men.

Those with the highest magnesium supplement had a 26% lower stroke risk. Those with the lowest magnesium intake served as a control.

Among women low magnesium levels were shown to cause 34% more ischemic strokes than in controls.

This study included 32,826 participants in the Nurses’ Health Study. Examiners followed them for 11 years.

It is clear from all these studies that supplementation with magnesium can prevent strokes.

Magnesium protects kidney function

This study examined 13,000 adults for 20 years to see how kidney function was dependent on magnesium levels. Those with the lowest magnesium levels had a 58% higher risk of developing chronic kidney disease. It makes sense when you consider that magnesium is necessary to keep arteries healthy, blood pressure low, and blood sugars stable. When diabetics do not control their blood sugars optimally their kidneys develop kidney disease. The term for this is diabetic nephropathy. In the presence of magnesium supplementation and a low sugar diet people are less likely to develop diabetes or kidney disease.

Magnesium helps blood sugar control

A metaanalysis showed that magnesium supplementation was able to improve blood sugar control. This occurred in both diabetics and borderline non-diabetics within 4 months of supplementing with magnesium.

An important factor in helping control blood sugar is magnesium. Here is an article as an example.

Magnesium good for bones and teeth

Magnesium is important for calcium metabolism and this is helping your bones and teeth to stay strong. The bones store half of the body’s magnesium. Another location for magnesium are in our teeth.

Low levels of magnesium lead to osteoporosis, because one of the two structural components of bone (calcium and magnesium) is missing. In addition low magnesium causes inflammatory cytokines to increase. These break down bones. The Women’s Health Initiative showed that when daily magnesium intake exceeded 422.5 mg their hip and whole-body bone mineral density was significantly greater than in those who consumed less than 206.6 mg daily.

With regard to healthy teeth magnesium is important as it prevents periodontal disease.

This study found that there was less tooth loss and there were healthier periodontal tissues in 4290 subjects between 20 and 80.

Those who took magnesium supplements had healthier teeth.

Migraine sufferers improve with magnesium

A double blind randomized study showed that magnesium supplementation can reduce migraines. The researchers in this trial used 600 mg of magnesium supplementation for 4 weeks.

This reduced migraines by 41.6% in the magnesium group compared to the non-supplemented control group.

Another study showed that both intravenous and oral magnesium are effective in reducing migraine headaches.

Intravenous magnesium showed effects on improving migraines within 15 – 45 minutes. The authors concluded that one could supplement other migraine treatments with both oral and intravenous magnesium.

Too little magnesium can cause cancer

It may surprise you to hear that magnesium can even prevent some cancers. Two cancers have been studied in detail. I will limit my discussion to these two.

Pancreatic cancer

One study found that pancreatic cancer was reduced. Researchers recruited 142,203 men and 334,999 women between 1992 and 2000 and included them in the study. After 11.3 years on average 396 men and 469 women came down with pancreatic cancer. On the male side they found that when the body mass index (BMI) was greater than 25.0 there was a 21% reduction of pancreatic cancer for every 100 mg of added magnesium per day. There were a lot of smokers on the female side, which interfered with the study as confounding factors undermined statistical validity.

In another study, the US male Health Professionals Follow-up Study was examined after 20 years of follow-up. Those with a BMI of above 25.0 on magnesium supplementation had a reduced risk of pancreatic cancer. The pancreatic cancer rate in the higher magnesium group was 33% lower than in the lower magnesium group. The higher group consumed 423 mg of magnesium daily, the lower group 281 mg per day. It is significant that in both studies it was the heavier patients who came down with pancreatic cancer. It is common knowledge that obesity is a pancreatic risk factor.

Colorectal cancer

A study done on Japanese men showed that magnesium could protect them significantly from colon cancer.

Men who consumed the highest amount of magnesium developed 52% less colon cancer over 7.9 years. Researchers compared them to the group with the lowest 20% intake of magnesium. The women in this study did not reach statistical significance.

A study from the Netherlands examined colon cancer in patients. They found that only in patients with a BMI of greater than 25.0 magnesium did have protective effects. For every 100 mg of magnesium per day increase there was a 19% reduction of colon polyps. And there was also a 12% reduction of colorectal cancer for every 100 mg increase of magnesium per day.

Magnesium plays an important role in genome stability, DNA maintenance and repair. It also prevents chronic inflammation and reduces insulin resistance, all factors contributing to cancer reduction.

Live longer with magnesium

Consider that magnesium is the fourth most common mineral in the body. Add to this that magnesium is a co-factor of more than 300 enzymes in the body. Magnesium is an important co-factor in the conversion of chemical energy from food that we ingest. Magnesium is regulating blood sugar, blood vessel health and our brain electrical activity. 50% of our stored magnesium is located in our bones, which helps the strength and integrity of them.

Because of the distribution of the enzymes to which magnesium is a co-factor, virtually every cell in the body depends on our regular intake of magnesium.

Magnesium deficiency develops in older age

Since the 1950’s soils have lost magnesium where farmers grow vegetables and raise fruit trees. We simply do not get enough magnesium from food.

But chelated magnesium is freely available in health food stores. Take 250 mg twice per day, and you will have enough.

Because our metabolism slows down, there is a critical age where magnesium deficiency becomes more obvious than when we are younger. By the age of 70 there are 80% of men and 70% of women who do not get the minimum of magnesium-required amount they should get (350 mg for men and 265 mg for women).

Proton pump inhibitors lowering magnesium levels

At this age many people are on multiple drugs. For many proton pump inhibitors (PPI) are used to suppress acid production in the stomach. PPI’s have been associated with low magnesium blood levels. This link explains that when a patient takes PPI’s the total time of taking the medication should not exceed 1 year.

Low magnesium levels accelerate the aging process on a cellular level. Low magnesium levels increase senescent cells that can no longer multiply. Some of them could cause the development of cancer. These senescent cells also can no longer contribute to the immune system. This causes more infections with an adverse outcome.

Remember to take chelated magnesium capsules or tablets 250 mg twice per day and you will be protected from low magnesium levels in your body.

Here is why we live longer with magnesium supplementation

Our blood vessels will not calcify as early; they keep elastic for longer, preventing high blood pressure. Our kidneys will function longer with magnesium, preventing end-stage kidney disease. We need our kidneys to detoxify our system! More than 300 enzymatic reactions all over our body help that we have more energy and also help to prevent cancer. When there are fewer strokes and less heart attacks this helps reduce mortality. Magnesium supplementation helps to lessen the risk for Alzheimer’s disease and also reduces insulin resistance. Researchers have shown that this prevents Alzheimer’s disease.

The bottom line is we live longer and healthier; that is the meaning of longevity.

Magnesium Is Essential To Life

Magnesium Is Essential To Life

Conclusion

Magnesium is a key essential mineral. It balances calcium in the body and participates in many enzymatic reactions in the body as a cofactor. As long as we have enough of this mineral we won’t notice anything. It is with magnesium deficiency that things go haywire. Heart disease or a stroke could affect you . You could get kidney disease. And you could even get pancreatic cancer or colorectal cancer. If this is not enough, magnesium deficiency can cause diabetes, osteoporosis and bad teeth. You may suddenly die with no obvious cause. But, if balance your your magnesium blood level by taking regular supplements, you will carry on living and eliminate a lot of health problems.

Oct
15
2016

Commuting Affects Your Health

By | Fitness, Health, Nutrition, Obesity

A research report from Great Britain was recently reviewed by CNN; it revealed that commuting affects your health.

The longer we commute to work and back the more downtime we have where we do not move our muscles. But we also are exposed to more unhealthy snacks and sugary drinks that make us deposit more fat. The original research report was published here. What were the elements of this study?

Commuting affects your health, study design

Three consecutive annual waves of the British Household Panel Survey were utilized. These are longitudinal surveys of nationally representative households in Great Britain. The sample years were 2004/2005, 2005/2006 and 2006/2007. There were 15,791 participants in the study; of these 4,056 entered the study. The main mode of travel to work was determined at each time point. The self-reported height and weight was taken to calculate the body mass index (BMI) at baseline and at 2 years. Attention was paid to switches of transportation mode (that is from active to sedentary and vice versa).

Commuting affects your health, results of study

  1. Switching from car commute privately to active travel (walking, bicycling) or public transport resulted in a significant loss in BMI. There were even larger reductions of BMI’s in those who enrolled in the first year in active transportation, because of the longer exposure. Those with the longest journeys who used active transportation had significant weight losses.
  2. A group of 787 people switched from active travel or public transport to the use of their private cars as transportation. This resulted in a significant BMI increase.
  3. The study concluded that any interventions that would allow private car commuters to switch to an active mode of transportation could contribute to the population’s BMI being reduced significantly.

Commuting affects your health, Cambridge experiment

In a 2016 study from Cambridge (Great Britain) a similar experiment was done. They studied traffic patterns in the county of Cambridgeshire. The city compared 1143 adults working in the city with 1710 people who used the Cambridgeshire Guided Busway. The public had access to a new bus network that has connections with pedestrian pathways and cyclists since 2011. Longer commuting journeys incorporated walking and cycling, for which otherwise people used a private car and public commute. When officials explained the benefit of active travel to people, there was a 1.8-fold increase of active travel. There was also a 2-fold decrease of commuting solely by car. The weekly cycling commuting time had increased to 1.34-fold compared to the previous level.

Active commute most beneficial

People who at baseline were the vast majority in being inactive in their commute, were the ones who appreciated an active commute most. There was an association of active commuting, greater overall physical activity with an improvement of health and weight loss.

Commuting affects your health, US study

A multi-city study involved the largest 3,914 municipal jurisdictions, which were located in 473 of the most populous U.S. counties. This involved 48 states and the District of Columbia. In order to encourage more active commuting (walking, cycling) many municipalities developed pedestrian zones or pedestrian-friendly zones with adjacent bus transportation. A new concept of transit-oriented developments or districts (TODs) was adopted. TODs are higher density areas that are compact. They are mixed use areas, which you find around transit stops. This encourages walking. The study was completed in 2016. It showed that the TOD zones had higher occupancy rates. Many house owners had no car as they commuted using public transportation only.

Summary about transit-oriented developments or districts (TODs)

TOD zones were more populous, people in it had higher income, and they were more racially diverse and younger. The occupants of TOD zones had a 2.1-fold higher rate of using public transportation and they also had a 2.48-fold higher rate of using active transportation to work.

Commuting affects your health, general comments

The majority of commuters in England and Wales spent 56 minutes in their cars going to and from work in 2013. In London this daily commuting time is 79 minutes. The US data are similar.

With a well-developed public transportation system the authorities developed various programs designed to replace at least some part of the commute by active commuting. This is good for your metabolism, it is good for your cardiovascular status and it gets you away from snacking junk foods driving in your car.

Commuting leads to stress

A survey from London, England polled more than 1500 commuters. 55% reported increased stress levels, 33% reported increased snacking, 29% admitted to fast food consumption, 36% complained about sleeping problems, 41% said that they reduced physical activity and 44% reported that they had less quality time with their friends and family. 58% felt that flexible work hours would improve their health and wellbeing. Remember that how you are commuting affects your health.

My own experience watching commuting in various cities

Over the years I have traveled extensively in Germany, Austria and the US. In Europe it is interesting how many years ago the pedestrian zones in the old town centers have reshaped the commuting. The U-Bahn (subway) and commuter trains have intermingling networks that shoot you out to pedestrian zones. There is no escaping from it, you have to walk before you can catch a connecting bus or tram.

Vienna (Austria)

Vienna (Austria) for instance allows you to get out at the U-Bahn station of Stephansplatz, which is a pedestrian zone around the Stephan’s Church (Stephanskirche). There is an amazing array of shops and in a side alley you can even find a Starbucks, if this is what you are looking for. When you walked enough, you hop onto any of the U-Bahn connections. This brings you where you need to be. If you are too far from your goal, hop onto a tram and enjoy the sightseeing. There are also buses that can get you there. It is all covered under the same Vienna card, which I appreciated as a visitor. It is best to park your car in the periphery and use the commuting network to get you to where you want to go.

Munich (Germany)

Munich (Germany) has a lot of cycle paths, which run parallel to the pedestrian paths. I was interesting to see business people in black suits cycle to work. Otherwise there are the U-Bahn, S-Bahn, trams and buses that all interconnect.

Münster (North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany)

Münster (North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany) has an extensive network of cycle paths and pedestrian walks. Buses and trams are also constantly running. The old historic town is a pedestrian zone, but anybody can commute to anywhere between walking or using the bus/tram. I found it astonishing this spring when I visited; there were hundreds of people, young and old cycling to and from work. The employers are providing huge metal racks where people can attach their bikes to with a lock.

Berlin

Berlin is another multi level commuting city in Germany. You can use the U-Bahn, S-Bahn (commuter train), bus or tram to get to work. Here is an informative video that explains.  I did not see many cyclists there. But hundreds of people are walking. Yes, there are many pedestrian zones and they interconnect with all of the commuter options. Berlin spreads over a vast area, so the S-Bahn, which is a local commuter train is particularly important. For the shorter connecting trips people commute by the U-Bahn (subway). Buses and trams plus walking do the fine-tuning to get to your destination.

Vancouver (BC, Canada)

Vancouver (BC, Canada) has some cycle pathways in the West end, close to Stanley Park. Otherwise there is a network of buses, the Skytrain, Sea Bus (between North Vancouver and downtown) and the West Coast Express (a commuter train). For the size of the city I think that Vancouver could benefit from studying some of the transportation modalities in Europe to entice the car travelers to use public transportation. When I travel to Vancouver, I use my own car, as it is so much faster to reach any goal. Public transportation is at this point not effectively connecting all the areas in this city.

Commuting Affects Your Health

Commuting Affects Your Health

Conclusion

In the past we often heard that there was nothing that could be done about traffic jams and commuter stress. Think again. Revitalization of city cores all over Europe, Great Britain and in the US has taken the TOD concept to heart and active commuting has become a reality. Whenever you can, use alternatives like cycling, walking and public transit to get to and from work. Studies have even shown that when you become an active commuter you likely will also become more active after work. Even using public transit makes the commute more active, as you are not sitting for an hour or more in your vehicle.

Use public transit, not your own car to commute

You have to get out and walk in order to catch a connection. This all helps to keep you physically more fit than the commuting style, where you sit in a vehicle and possibly dip into junk food. It is not only about body mass index reduction and decreasing your waistline. Active commuting is also a lot less stressful than the passive modality, where traffic jams add to frustration and stress at the beginning and at the end of a workday.