Study Finds Physical Activity Crucial to Healthy Aging

By Greg Arnold, DC, CSCS, December 7, 2013, abstracted from “Taking up physical activity in later life and healthy ageing: the English longitudinal study of ageing” in the November 25, 2013 issue of the British Journal of Sports Medicine

The latest data from the Center for Disease Control states that the average lifespan in the United State is 78.6 years (1). A combination of lifestyle choices and genetics cause some people to have a higher quality of life compared to others. This is the concept of “healthy aging” and means not only the absence of clinical disease but also freedom from physical disability and preserved mental health (2)

The lack of physical activity is a crucial factor to healthy aging and ranks alongside tobacco, alcohol and obesity as a leading cause of reduced healthy life expectancy (3). Now a new study (4) has shed more light on the importance of physical activity to having a higher quality of life as we age.

In the study, 3,454 men and women between the ages of 54 and 72 participating in the English Longitudinal Study of Aging (5) were followed for 8 years. They provided data on their physical activity at the start of the study (6):

–        Inactive (no moderate or vigorous activity on a weekly basis)

–        Moderate activity at least once a week

–        Vigorous activity at least once a week.

They were then divided into four groups over the eight years:

–        Always inactive

–        Became inactive

–        Became active

–        Always active

The researchers defined “healthy aging” based on previous research (7) as having all of the following:

1.       Being free from major chronic disease

2.       Having no major impairment of cognitive function

3.       Having no major limitation of physical functions

4.       Having good mental health

“Good mental health” was based on recall tests (8) and the use of the eight-item Centre of Epidemiological Studies Depression (9) to assess depression. Disability was assessed based on perceived difficulties in both basic (difficulty dressing, including putting on shoes and socks) (10) and instrumental (difficulty preparing a hot meal) activities of daily living (11).

Finally, physical functioning was objectively assessed using walking speed measured over an 8-foot long course, with walking speed greater than 0.6 meters/second used as a threshold to predict poor health and function (12).

Over the 8 years of follow-up, the researchers noted a direct relationship between physical activity and healthy aging. Specifically, those engaged in moderate or vigorous activity were 3.1 and 4.3 times more likely to be healthy agers, respectively, in comparison with inactive participants (p < 0.001). What’s more, they noted that even those who were initially inactive but became active were 3.5 times more likely to be healthy agers (p < 0.001), demonstrating that it’s never too late to start exercising as a way to improve quality of life.

For the researchers, “A reduction in physical activity may be one of the first indicators of the disease onset”, that “a sustained level of physical activity in older age is associated with improved overall health in participants surviving over an 8-year follow-up” and that “this study supports public health initiatives designed to engage older adults in physical activity, even those who are of advanced age.”

Greg Arnold is a Chiropractic Physician practicing in Hauppauge, NY.  You can contact Dr. Arnold directly by emailing him at PitchingDoc@msn.com or visiting his web site at www.PitchingDoc.com

Reference:

1.       “Life Expectancy” posted on the CDC website

2.       Rowe JW, Kahn RL. Successful ageing. Gerontologist 1997;37:433–40

3.       Lee IM, Shiroma EJ, Lobelo F, et al. Effect of physical inactivity on major non-communicable diseases worldwide: an analysis of burden of disease and life expectancy. Lancet 2012;380:219–29.

4.       Hamer M. Taking up physical activity in later life and healthy ageing: the English longitudinal study of ageing. Br J Sports Med 2013 Nov 25. doi: 10.1136/bjsports-2013-092993. [Epub ahead of print]

5.       Study details available on the Institute for Fiscal Studies (United Kingdom) website

6.       Hamer M, Molloy GJ, de Oliveira C, et al. Leisure time physical activity, risk of depressive symptoms, and inflammatory mediators: the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing. Psychoneuroendocrinology 2009;34:1050–5

7.       Sabia S, Singh-Manoux A, Hagger-Johnson G, et al. Influence of individual and combined healthy behaviours on successful aging. CMAJ 2012;184:1985–92.

8.       Wilson RS, Leurgans SE, Boyle PA, et al. Neurodegenerative basis of age-related cognitive decline. Neurology2010;75:1070–8

9.       Steffick DE. Documentation of affective functioning measures in the Health and Retirement Study (HRS/AHEAD Documentation. Report DR-005). Ann Arbor, MI:Survey Research Center, University of Michigan, US. 2000

10.   Katz S, Downs TD, Cash HR, et al. Progress in development of the index of ADL. Gerontologist 1970;10:20–30

11.   Lawton MP, Brody EM. Assessment of older people: self-maintaining and instrumental activities of daily living. Gerontologist 1969;9:179–86

12.   Studenski S, Perera S, Patel K, et al. Gait speed and survival in older adults. JAMA 2011;305:50–8.

©2014 Reposted with permission from NOW University. This article can be found at http://www.now-university.com/Library/HealthyAging/099761.htm?cat=

It’s not Fat That Makes You Fat

Guest Article by Mark Hyman, MD

from Organic Connections

If you’re feeling completely confused about whether you should cut fat from your diet, you are not alone. But here’s the bottom line: fat does not make you fat or sick. So, why do so many people believe that fat is bad for you and causes heart attacks?

This all started in the Dr. Key’s “Seven Countries Study” decades ago that examined heart risk based on lifestyle and dietary habits. He found that in the countries where people ate more fat–especially saturated fat–there were more cases of heart disease, and he concluded that the fat caused the disease. But here’s the problem with this study: correlation is not causation. Just because both fat intake and heart disease were higher among the same population doesn’t mean the heart disease was caused by the fat consumption. Here’s another way to look at it: Every day, you wake up and the sun comes up, but although these events happen at the same time, you waking up doesn’t cause the sun to come up.

A study that observed this would show a 100% correlation between these two events, but it would be wrong to conclude that you caused the sun to rise. Because of studies like this, we became sidetracked into believing that saturated fat causes heart disease. But in fact, we are now learning that sugar is the true culprit, not fat. A review of all the research on saturated fat published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found there was no correlation between saturated fat and heart disease. And a recent editorial in the British Journal of Medicine hammers home the same point and shatters the myth that fat causes obesity and heart disease. Researchers have found that, while it’s true that lowering saturated fat in the diet may lower total cholesterol, it’s actually lowering the good kind of cholesterol, the light, fluffy, buoyant LDL that’s not a problem.

When people eat less fat, they tend to eat more starch or sugar instead, and this actually increases their levels of dangerous cholesterol, the small, dense cholesterol that causes heart attacks. In fact, studies show that 75% of people who end up in the emergency room with a heart attack have normal overall cholesterol levels. What they do have is pre-diabetes or type 2 diabetes.

So, what’s the conclusion here? Eating a diet with good quality fat and protein prevents and even reverses diabetes and pre-diabetes (diabesity). And eating sugar and refined carbs cause diabesity.

So, I encourage you to look at the issue of fat and sugar in a totally different way. Don’t cut out the fat; enjoy it! Eat good fats. Here are my favorite sources of fat:

• Avocados
• Nuts—walnuts, almonds, pecans, macadamia nuts, but not peanuts (one recent study showed a handful of nuts a day reduced death from all causes by 20 percent)

• Seeds—pumpkin, sesame, chia, hemp

• Fatty fish, including sardines, mackerel, herring, and wild salmon that are rich in omega-3 fats

• Extra virgin olive oil (a large study showed that those who consumed 1 liter a week reduced heart attacks by 30 percent)

• Enjoy grass-fed or sustainably raised animal products (I recommend the Environmental Working Group’s Meat Eater’s Guide to eating good quality animal products that are good for you and good for the planet).

• You can even eat saturated fat like extra virgin coconut butter, which is a great plant-based source of saturated fat that has many benefits. It fuels your mitochondria, is anti-inflammatory, and it doesn’t cause problems with your cholesterol. In fact, it may help resolve them. I have many diabetic patients whose health improves when I get them on diet that’s higher in fat.

I was just talking to researchers from the Joslin Diabetes Center who told me that the low-fat recommendations for diabetics promoted by the American Diabetic Association has in fact been harmful, bad advice making diabetes worse! Their new research shows that diabetics should be switching to a diet that’s about 30% fat, 30% protein, and about 40% low starch vegetables and fruits (carbohydrates). That turns their previous advice on its head.

So here’s the take-home message: Fat doesn’t make you fat. Sugar makes you fat. Eating good fats can actually help you stay healthy. So, eat good quality fats and real, whole, fresh food, and don’t worry about it.

Mark Hyman, MD

Dr. Hyman is dedicated to identifying and addressing the root causes of chronic illness through a groundbreaking whole-systems medicine approach called Functional Medicine. He is a family physician, a four-time New York Times bestselling author, and an international leader in his field.

©2014 Reposted with permission from Organic Connections.
This article can be found at: http://organicconnectmag.com/fat-makes-fat/.

Do You Need an Oil Change?

Guest Post by Mark Hyman, MD
from Organic Connections

It’s time to change the way you think about fat. For 30 years well-meaning diet gurus have preached that eating fat makes you fat.

I’m here to tell you that fat, in and of itself, is not what is making you fat. Instead, it’s eating too much of the wrong kinds of fat. After all, all fats are not created equal. But, if you are like 90 percent of Americans, you are eating the wrong kind of fat most of the time. Time for an oil change!

What is Fat?
Fat is one of the body’s most basic building blocks. The average person is between 15 and 30 percent fat! Of all of the types of fats in our diets, the body only REALLY needs two—omega-3 and omega-6.

What is an omega fat? The omega numbers (in this case 3 and 6) refer to where the hydrogen atom joins the fat molecule. Remember, the name is just basic chemistry lingo. What is important is to understand the impact of different fats on the body.

The higher-quality the fat, the better your body will function. That’s because the body uses the fat you eat to build cell walls. You have more than 100 trillion cells in your body, and every single one of them needs high-quality fat.

How do you know if your cells are getting the fats they need? Your body sends signals when it’s not getting enough good fats. It’s up to you to recognize the warning signs:

• Dry, itchy, scaling, or flaking skin
• Soft, cracked, or brittle nails
• Hard earwax
• Tiny bumps on the backs of your arms or torso
• Achy, stiff joints

Why does the type of fat matter? Building your body from the inside out is just like building a house. You can frame the house with the cheapest stuff you can find or you can invest in quality materials that are going to be energy-efficient and last a long time.

Which Fats to Eat and Which to Avoid
If you want to settle for cheap and easy, stick with a diet of processed foods. Most processed foods are made with poor-quality omega-6 fats because they are abundant and cheap. Plus, fat makes food taste good and improves its texture.

Take a look at the ingredients of your favorite packaged food. If the list includes oils made from corn, soy, or safflower you are getting a sub-par fat. When the body puts these cheap fats to work, the cell walls are also sub-par. That means instead of flexible and responsive, cell walls are stiff and rigid. The more rigid the wall, the slower the cell functions and the more vulnerable it is to inflammation.

To ensure your body has the fats it needs to construct high-quality cell walls, you need to eat more omega-3 fats. For starters, cell walls made from omega-3 fats are flexible, allowing cells to respond more quickly to messages. Secondly, these “good” fats help the body churn out prostaglandins, hormones that put the kibosh on inflammation. The best places to find omega-3 fats include cold-water fish, organic canola oil, walnuts, Brazil nuts, and sea vegetables.

Your body is designed to run on high-quality fats. Scientists suspect that early humans ate almost equal amounts of omega-6 and omega-3 fats (back then most people got their omega-6 fats from seeds and nuts). But, as people began to refine oils from plants, the ratio became skewed more toward omega-6.

As a result of fats being out of balance in the modern diet, our bodies are more vulnerable to diseases such as cancer and heart disease. After all, when the human diet contained a balanced number of omega-3 and omega-6 fats, heart disease was almost nonexistent. Now cardiovascular disease is the number one cause of death in the developed world.

Body Boon
The more omega-3 fats you eat, the easier your body cools itself. A cool body is a less inflamed body. And inflammation is at the root of nearly every chronic disease, especially those impacting the brain and the heart.(1)

Of all the body parts dependent on high-quality fat, the brain is uniquely vulnerable. That’s because the brain is made up of 60 percent fat, the biggest portion of which is an omega-3 fat called docosahexaenoic acid (DHA for short).(2) Your brain needs DHA to spark communication between cells. Easy access to high-quality fat boosts cognition, happiness, learning, and memory. In contrast,
studies link a deficiency of omega-3 fatty acids to depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia.(3)

After the brain, it’s the heart that will thank you for eating more omega-3s .(4)

The heart is a direct beneficiary of omega-3 fats. They tamp down cholesterol by reducing levels of bad fats (triglycerides). Meanwhile, they raise levels of good fats (HDL) in the blood. Part of their magic is that omega-3 fats make blood more slippery, which reduces the likelihood of artery disease.(5)

Beyond the heart and brain, eating the right fat also helps you shed fat. Healthy cell walls made from high-quality fats are better able to metabolize insulin, which keeps blood sugar better regulated. Without proper blood sugar control, the body socks away fat for a rainy day. Ironically, it’s not eating fat that makes you gain weight it’s eating the WRONG types of fat.

3 Ways to Change Your Oil
The process of rebuilding all the walls of your cells can take up to a year, so there’s no time to lose. Here are three ways to change your body’s oil:

1. Eat more wild or sustainably raised cold-water fish. Aim for two servings a week. The best sources of omega-3s are wild salmon, sardines, herring, or small halibut. Of course, everyone is concerned about the sustainability and safety of fish. It’s important to know where your catch comes from.

2. Buy omega-3 rich eggs. These are one of the few animal products that are low in toxins and high in quality fats that balance blood sugar. These eggs supply the body with DHA and don’t raise your cholesterol; just the opposite. Enjoy up to eight of these eggs a week.

3. For good measure, take an omega-3 supplement twice a day with breakfast and dinner. Look for a reputable supplement maker that certifies its products are free of mercury and other contaminants. Choose a supplement with 500 to 1,000 milligrams of omega-3 fats (a ratio of roughly 300 EPA and 200 DHA is ideal).

Of course, it is understandable that people who try to lose weight do so by eliminating fat from their diets. But remember there is no such thing as a healthy fat-free diet. Fat is essential for good health. The key is knowing how to maximize good fats and reduce bad fats to keep your body protected and to rebuild itself every day from the inside out!

©2014 Reposted with permission from Organic Connections.  This article can be found at:  http://organicconnectmag.com/does-your-body-need-an-oil-change/.

Coconut Oil

By Mishelle Knuteson, M.H.

October 3, 2013

Coconut oil, once shunned as being unhealthy because it is high in saturated fats, is now considered by many as a magical health food. The difference between coconut oil and other saturated fats is in the size of the fat molecules. Long chain fats are hard to digest, and pass directly into the lymphatic system. The fats in coconut oil are medium chain fatty acids (MCFA’s). These MCFA’s are quickly digested, even without the aid of pancreatic enzymes, and are transported via the hepatic portal vein to the liver. MCFA’s never enter the lymphatic system or bloodstream, so they don’t clog arteries like their longer chained relatives. Instead, they are light, easy to digest, and quickly converted to energy. Coconut oil actually lowers cholesterol and improves fat metabolism.

Most commercial grade coconut oils are made from dried copra (meat of the coconut) and go through an extensive refining process to extract the oil. Virgin coconut oil is made from the fresh meat and the oil is extracted either through a quick drying method, using minimal heat and then mechanically pressed or it goes through a process called wet-milling where the meat is not dried. Instead the “coconut milk” is expressed first, and then the oil is further expressed from the water either through the method of boiling, fermentation, refrigeration or a mechanical centrifuge. Some retailers and manufacturers will call their oil “Extra Virgin Coconut Oil” but there is no other processing method then what is listed, so there is no official classification or difference between “virgin” and “extra virgin” like there is in the olive oil industry.
There are false claims of coconut oil being raw and full of enzymes, all coconut oil has “seen heat.” For one thing coconuts are native to the tropics where temperatures are very hot, so shipping alone will expose the oil to higher temperatures and some heat needs to be applied in the processing to ensure that no moisture is present in the oil that may cause deterioration. Virgin oil uses minimal heat in the processing methods.

The good thing about coconut oil is that it isn’t damaged by heat. That’s why it is so good for cooking. It’s the saturation that makes it stable. If coconut oil contained enzymes, it would become very perishable-just like all raw foods containing enzymes ~ Lita Lee Ph.D.

Cooking with coconut oil does not introduce hydrogen into the oil or hydrogenate it. Hydrogenation is an industrial process to make an oil turn solid at room temperatures which creates harmful Trans fatty acids. Coconut oil is naturally [a] very stable oil.

To purchase a healthy coconut oil, one must determine between “virgin” and “refined” oil. Virgin oil, healthier oil, is made from the fresh meat therefore it will have a distinct aroma and the taste of coconut will be present. Tasteless coconut oil is more than likely refined and made from copra (dried meat). Buying organic virgin coconut oil may help to insure that there has been no pesticides or fertilization used on the crop. Buying “expeller-pressed” oil usually means that the oil was extracted by “physical refining” rather than a chemical extraction using a solvent.

The health benefits from using coconut oil claim to be many and come mainly from the MCFAs. Coconut is a food so therefore the oil is very safe for consumption in adults, pregnant women, children and pets. An adult should consume about 3.5 tablespoons of coconut oil throughout a day to receive the best benefit and taken with foods high in fiber and protein.

Mishelle Knuteson is certified in Rapid Eye Technology (RET) an emotional release therapy, teaches classes in The Art of Feminine Presence and a Master Herbalist–graduate of The School of Natural Healing. Mishelle currently works as an Educative Master Herbalist (MH) for The School of Natural Healing and as Office Manager of Christopher Publications.

© 2013. Used by permission of Herbal Legacy. This article can
be found at http://articles.herballegacy.com/coconut-oil/.

February 2014

“Good health and good sense are two of life’s greatest blessings.” – Publilius Syrus