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ageing

Blood flow and Leg Muscles

Blood flow and Leg Muscles

An April 2021 study by Kanazawa University found "no difference was found in the changes in muscle pump action with age", and that "elderly people may be able to maintain their muscle pump action when they have exercise habits".

Klotho and Ageing Muscles

Klotho and Ageing Muscles

An April 2021 study by the University of Pittsburgh said, 

"Although there are no proven treatments for sarcopenia [age-related loss of skeletal muscle mass and function] yet, there are some pharmaceutical treatments entering clinical trials. Interestingly, many of these act on mechanisms that also involve a protein called Klotho," 

"Evidence suggests that Klotho levels gradually decline with age, and so we wanted to test whether supplementation with Klotho may attenuate the development of sarcopenia."

"Our data suggest that treatment with Klotho may be more effective in slowing the progression of sarcopenia at an earlier time point, rather than rescuing advanced age-related disease, by which time the gene responses seem to be more random," 

"It will be interesting in future studies to determine whether boosting Klotho levels at a younger age could prevent muscle declines into old, and even oldest-old, age.”

Household chores and brain health

Household chores and brain health

An April 2021 study by Baycrest's Rotman Research Institute said, 

"Scientists already know that exercise has a positive impact on the brain, but our study is the first to show that the same may be true for household chores," 

"Understanding how different forms of physical activity contribute to brain health is crucial for developing strategies to reduce the risk of cognitive decline and dementia in older adults."

"Besides helping to guide physical activity recommendations for older adults, these findings may also motivate them to be more active, since household chores are a natural and often necessary aspect of many people's daily lives, and therefore appear more attainable,"

Exercise for long-term health

Exercise for long-term health

An April 2021 study by UCSF Benioff Children's Hospitals said,

"Results from randomized controlled trials and observational studies have shown that exercise lowers blood pressure, suggesting that it may be important to focus on exercise as a way to lower blood pressure in all adults as they approach middle age," 

"Teenagers and those in their early twenties may be physically active but these patterns change with age. Our study suggests that maintaining physical activity during young adulthood - at higher levels than previously recommended - may be particularly important."

"Nearly half of our participants in young adulthood had suboptimal levels of physical activity, which was significantly associated with the onset of hypertension, indicating that we need to raise the minimum standard for physical activity,”

"This might be especially the case after high school when opportunities for physical activity diminish as young adults transition to college, the workforce and parenthood, and leisure time is eroded."

Maintaining Health

Maintaining Health

Ibn Sina in his Canon said, 


“Therefore we may say that the art of maintaining the health is not the art of averting death, or of averting extraneous injuries from the body; or of securing the utmost longevity possible to the human being. 


It is concerned with two other things:

  1. The prevention of putrefactive breakdown; and

  2. the safeguarding of innate moisture from too rapid dissipation, and maintaining it at such a degree of strength that the original type of constitution peculiar to the person shall not change even up to the last moment of life.

This is secured by a suitable regimen, namely

  • one which will ensure the replacement of the innate heat and moisture which are dispersed from the body as exactly as possible; and

  • a regimen which will prevent any agents which would lead to a rapid dessication from gaining the upper hand—excluding agents which produce a normal desiccation;

  • one which safeguards the body from the development of putrefactive processes within it and from the influence of alien heat (whether extraneous or intrinsic).

For all bodies have not the same degree of innate moisture and innate heat. There is a great diversity in regard to them.

Beetroot Juice and Healthy Ageing

Beetroot Juice and Healthy Ageing

A March 2021 study by the University of Exeter said, 

"We are really excited about these findings, which have important implications for healthy ageing,”

"Previous studies have compared the oral bacteria of young and older people, and healthy people compared to those with diseases, but ours is the first to test nitrate-rich diet in this way.

"Our findings suggest that adding nitrate-rich foods to the diet - in this case via beetroot juice - for just ten days can substantially alter the oral microbiome (mix of bacteria) for the better.”

"Maintaining this healthy oral microbiome in the long term might slow down the negative vascular and cognitive changes associated with ageing."

"Our participants were healthy, active older people with generally good blood pressure,”

"Dietary nitrate reduced their blood pressure on average, and we are keen to find out whether the same would happen in other age groups and among people in poorer health.

"We are working with colleagues in the University of Exeter Medical School to investigate interactions between the oral bacteria and cognition to better understand the how diet could be used to delay cognitive decline in older age."

Some Nitrate Rich Foods

  • Betroot

  • Garlic

  • Meat

  • Dark Chocolate

  • Leafy Greens

  • Citrus Fruit

  • Pomegranate

  • Nuts & Seeds

  • Watermelon

Cocoa, heart health, stress

Cocoa, heart health, stress

A March 2021 study by University of Birmingham said, 

"We found that drinking flavanol-rich cocoa can be an effective dietary strategy to reduce temporary impairments in endothelial function following mental stress and also improve blood flow during stressful episodes”.

"Flavanols are extremely common in a wide range of fruit and vegetables. By utilizing the known cardiovascular benefits of these compounds during periods of acute vascular vulnerability (such as stress) we can offer improved guidance to people about how to make the most of their dietary choices during stressful periods."

"Our findings are significant for everyday diet, given that the daily dosage administered could be achieved by consuming a variety of foods rich in flavanols - particularly apples, black grapes, blackberries, cherries, raspberries, pears, pulses, green tea and unprocessed cocoa. This has important implications for measures to protect the blood vessels of those individuals who are more vulnerable to the effects of mental stress,"

Plethora - Hypertension

Plethora - Hypertension

Ibn Sina in his Canon said, 

“Speaking in general the signs of plethora of the first type are : 

Objective : red face ; full veins ; tightness of skin ; sluggish movements (gestures) ; full pulse. High-coloured urine ; dense urine ; scanty appetite. 

Subjective : sense of weight in the limbs ; weak vision ; dreams in which there is a sense of weight—as when one dreams one is unable to move, or is carrying a heavy weight, or cannot give utterance to words. This kind of dream may be compared with that associated with attenuation of humours, or where the humours are moderate in amount for here one dreams one is flying through the air, or moving at a great spee

The translator’s note is: “The modern term " hypertension" is covered by the old term of plethora or repletion. The correspondence is verified by some of its symptoms. Thus, hemorrhagic phenomena occur—in the nose, retina, cerebrum, meninges, labyrinth, the skin ; and as hematuria and hsemetemesis simulating organic disease. Hypertension causes fatigue of the heart shown by : dyspnoea, palpitation, quick pulse, anginal attacks, nocturnal pseudo-asthma, bruit de galop.”

Overweight -v- Obese

Overweight -v- Obese

An intriguing March 2021 study by The Ohio State University found that,

  • "The impact of weight gain on mortality is complex. It depends on both the timing and the magnitude of weight gain and where BMI started.”

  • "The main message is that for those who start at a normal weight in early adulthood, gaining a modest amount of weight throughout life and entering the overweight category in later adulthood can actually increase the probability of survival."

Gum disease and blood pressure

Gum disease and blood pressure

A March 2021 study at University College London Eastman Dental Institute found, 

"Patients with gum disease often present with elevated blood pressure, especially when there is active gingival inflammation, or bleeding of the gums," 

"Elevated blood pressure is usually asymptomatic, and many individuals may be unaware that they are at increased risk of cardiovascular complications. We aimed to investigate the association between severe periodontitis and high blood pressure in healthy adults without a confirmed diagnosis of hypertension."

“[The] evidence indicates that periodontal bacteria cause damage to the gums and also triggers inflammatory responses that can impact the development of systemic diseases including hypertension," 

"This would mean that the link between gum disease and elevated blood pressure occurs well before a patient develops high blood pressure. Our study also confirms that a worryingly high number of individuals are unaware of a possible diagnosis of hypertension."

"Integration of hypertension screening by dental professionals with referrals to primary care professionals and periodontal disease screening by medical professionals with referrals to periodontists could improve detection and treatment of both conditions to improve oral health and reduce the burden of hypertension and its complications. Oral health strategies such as brushing teeth twice daily are proven to be very effective in managing and preventing the most common oral conditions, and our study's results indicate they can also be a powerful and affordable tool to help prevent hypertension."

Midlife loneliness, Dementia and Alzheimer's

Midlife loneliness, Dementia and Alzheimer's

A March 2021 study by the Boston University School of Medicine said, 

"Whereas persistent loneliness is a threat to brain health, psychological resilience following adverse life experiences may explain why transient loneliness is protective in the context of dementia onset," 

Sardines and Diabetes

Sardines and Diabetes

A May 2021 study the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya's (UOC) Faculty of Health Sciences and the August Pi i Sunyer Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBAPS) said,

"Not only are sardines reasonably priced and easy to find, but they are safe and help to prevent the onset of type 2 diabetes. This is a huge scientific discovery. It is easy to recommend this food during medical check-ups, and it is widely accepted by the population”

"As we get older, restrictive diets (in terms of calories or food groups) can help to prevent the onset of diabetes. However, the cost-benefit ratio is not always positive, as we found in other studies" 

"However, the results lead us to believe that we could obtain an equally significant preventive effect in the younger population."

"Nutrients can play an essential role in the prevention and treatment of many different pathologies, but their effect is usually caused by the synergy that exists between them and the food that they are contained in. Sardines will therefore have a protective element because they are rich in the aforementioned nutrients, whereas nutrients taken in isolation in the form of supplements won't work to the same extent”

Exercise and the Brain

Exercise and the Brain

A March 2021 study by the University of Texas Southwestern reports,

"This is part of a growing body of evidence linking exercise with brain health," 

"We've shown for the first time in a randomized trial in these older adults that exercise gets more blood flowing to your brain."

"There is still a lot we don't know about the effects of exercise on cognitive decline later in life," 

“[mild cognitive impairment] and dementia are likely to be influenced by a complex interplay of many factors, and we think that, at least for some people, exercise is one of those factors."

"There are likely some people who benefit more from exercise than others," 

"But with the sample size in this study, it was hard to analyze subgroups of people to make those conclusions."

"Having physiological findings like this can also be useful for physicians when they talk to their patients about the benefits of exercise,”

"We now know, based on a randomized, controlled trial, that exercise can increase blood flow to the brain, which is a good thing."

Fasting then a Healthy Diet

Fasting then a Healthy Diet

A March 2021 study by the Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association and the Experimental and Clinical Research Center run by the Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin found that, 

"Switching to a healthy diet has a positive effect on blood pressure," 

"If the diet is preceded by a fast, this effect is intensified." 

"The innate immune system remains stable during the fast, whereas the adaptive immune system shuts down," 

"Body mass index, blood pressure and the need for antihypertensive medication remained lower in the long term among volunteers who started the healthy diet with a five-day fast," 

"We were able to isolate the influence of the medication and observe that whether someone responds well to a change of diet or not depends on the individual immune response and the gut microbiome," 

"Those who have [low healthy gut bacteria] often feel that it is not worth the effort and go back to their old habits," 

"Fasting acts as a catalyst for protective microorganisms in the gut. Health clearly improves very quickly and patients can cut back on their medication or even often stop taking tablets altogether."

Activity and Brain Size

Activity and Brain Size

A March 2020 study by Columbia University in New York said,

  • “[These results] suggest that people may potentially prevent brain shrinking and the effects of aging on the brain simply by becoming more active,"

  • "Recent studies have shown that as people age, physical activity may reduce the risk of cognitive decline and dementia. Our study used brain scans to measure the brain volumes of a diverse group of people and found that those who engaged in the top third highest level of physical activity had a brain volume the equivalent of four years younger in brain aging than people who were at the bottom third activity level."

  • "Our results add to the evidence that more physical activity is linked to larger brain volume in older people."

  • "It also builds on evidence that moving your body more often throughout one's life may protect against loss of brain volume."

    Walnuts for Longevity

Walnuts for Longevity

A February 2020 study funded by the California Walnut Commission found that eating two portions of walnuts a week had positive health and longevity benefits for mature women.

Body Temperature, Calorie Restriction

Body Temperature, Calorie Restriction

A September 2020 study by Scripps Research continues the research on the links between body temperature and calorie restriction.  The researchers said, 

“It's not easy to discern what's driving the beneficial changes of calorie restriction … Is it the reduced calories on their own, or the change in body temperature that typically happens when one consumes fewer calories? Or is it a combination of both?"

"The data we collected showed that temperature has an equal or greater effect than nutrients on metabolism during calorie restriction,"

Restricted Diets and Longevity

Restricted Diets and Longevity

A February 2020 study by the University of Sheffield said,

  • “Dietary restriction [defined as “a reduction of particular or total nutrient intake without causing malnutrition”] is an unusual paradox which has attracted a great deal of interest within the field of ageing. Our results have now pointed us towards a more refined explanation of why it occurs, and have the potential to wholly shift the focus of future research.”

  • "Our most surprising finding was that under certain circumstances, restricted diets can also be the origin of particular types of damage to the individual. This enhanced understanding of the penalties and benefits of certain types of diets, will expedite the quest to identify pharmaceutical interventions which mimic dietary restriction."

  • "The effects of diet on health are huge, but we understand little of the exact mechanisms. Our work has now uncovered a surprising property of dietary restriction, in that it makes flies ill-prepared for rich diets. This was contrary to our expectations and contrary to current evolutionary theory. In the biology of ageing field evolutionary biology has been highly influential in guiding interpretation of more mechanistic research. Our work thereby contributes to the broader understanding of dietary restriction and the efforts to translate its benefits to humans."

Sitting, Insulin Resistance, and Heart Disease

Sitting, Insulin Resistance, and Heart Disease

A February 2020 study by the Arizona State University College of Health Solutions said,

“We were surprised to observe such a strong negative link between the amount of time spent sitting and insulin resistance, and that this association was still strong after we accounted for exercise and obesity,"

"The findings of this study build upon earlier research including our own, which showed, among older women, that too much time in sedentary behaviors was associated with higher risk for diabetes and heart disease. Reducing sitting time improves glucose control and blood flow, and engaging in physical activities, even light-intensity daily life activities like cooking and shopping, show favorable associations with reduced mortality risk and prevention of heart disease and stroke."

"Health care providers should encourage patients, including older adults, to reduce their sitting time, take breaks in their sitting time and replace sitting with brief periods of standing or light physical activity."

 

Lifestyle, memory, ageing

Lifestyle, memory, ageing

An April 2020 study by Kings College London found that,

  • “…nutrient-sensing pathways play an important role in memory and suggests that the ABTB1 and GRB10 genes are likely molecular links for the association between diet, the ageing of neural stem cells and our memory ability.”

  • “To our knowledge this is one of the first studies looking at these relationships with human data and adopting this back-translation approach which uses lab-based experiments to inform research on large datasets, allowing for a more targeted approach.”

  • “Our findings suggest that changes in lifestyle may be able to delay a decline in memory and thinking but that the effectiveness of these approaches will depend on the genetic makeup of each person. For example, adherence to a diet such as the Mediterranean diet may be most beneficial for people with a specific GRB10 mutation while increased exercise may be a better approach for participants with specific SIRT1 variations.”