Healthy Aging: Body, Mind & Spirit

Don’t miss these 5 habits to keep your brain healthy!

Brain World is a GREAT new magazine!

Check out these five healthy habits for your brain!

How to help your skin age more beautifully

Here are the results of my latest research into how our diet affects our skin:

Skin, Diet and Aging

Vitamin C: It is best to get this from your diet as too much vitamin C can be dangerous.  Vitamin C is critical for collagen formation, which is the foundation of your skin.

One recent study found that Vitamin C protects DNA by fibroblast stimulation as well.  In fact, some researchers believe it may actually help to heal the skin.  One ACJN study in women found that participants with the highest levels of vitamin C were 11% less likely to look wrinkled.

Legumes and Vegetables: Dietary legumes and vegetables are associated with less skin aging and damage.

Lutein and Xeaxanthin: Lettuce, broccoli, zucchini, spinach, peas, kale and egg yolks all have an abundance of these two phyto-nutrients.  According to one recent study, spinach and kale had excellent results, “increasing skin hydration by 60 percent, skin elasticity by 20 percent and the amount of superficial lipids present in the skin by 50 percent after adjustment for placebo, all while decreasing the oxidation of those beneficial lipids by 64 percent.”

Saturated Fats and Meat: Avoid these bad boys!  They are associated with additional skin wrinkling.

Sugar: Table sugar is composed of a molecule of fructose and a molecule of glucose and both are hard on your skin.  A good skin formula to keep in mind is:

Sugar = Wrinkles

No wonder researchers have found that both glucose and fructose increase the formation of advanced glycation end products (AGEs).   What are they?  These are by-products of digestion of sugars.  Especially fructose, rapidly accelerate the pace of AGEs.  Worse than that, these AGEs also damage your collagen, which is the backbone of your skin. This has been demonstrated in a study where rats were fed a control diet and a high fructose diet.

Fish: Fish was found to be skin protective.  Fish helps with just about everything else from the heart to the brain.  Just watch out for high mercury levels.  Sushi has one of the highest!

Berries & Nuts:   ellagic acid, a phyto-nutrient found in berries and some nuts, was given to mice and found to be photo-protective against UVB radiation.  This chemical decreases wrinkles and inflammation, and promotes collagen development.

Tea, Prunes and Apples: These nutritional powerhouses were associated with less skin wrinkling.  Any dark colored fruit or vegetable is packed with antioxidants.

High Flavanol Cocoa:  One study (on women) showed that high flavanol cocoa thickens the skin, increases skin hydration and protects against UV damage.

Lycopene: The lycopene in tomato sauce and paste has been shown to be very protective of your skin from sun damage.   Researchers gave participants the equivalent of 5 tablespoons of tomato paste per day and noticed 33% less damage from UV radiation, which is roughly the equivalent of SPF 1.3.

CONCLUSION:

Simply by eating a diet filled with antioxidants, your skin will improve dramatically.  Try eating more spinach, egg yolks, blueberries, veggies including broccoli, olive oil, green tea, black tea and carrots nearly every day!  All have strong antioxidants that help to preserve your epidermal tissue.

Parkinson’s linked to stomach bacteria

The bacteria responsible for stomach ulcers have been linked to Parkinson’s disease, according to researchers in the US.   Mice infected with Helicobacter pylori went onto develop Parkinson’s like symptoms.

The study, presented at a meeting of the American Society for Microbiology, argues that infection could play “a significant role”.

Learn more here!

How does one die of Alzheimer’s disease?

My husband asked me this.   Here’s how:

Death by Alzheimer’s disease, a progressive brain disorder characterized by loss of memory, is usually caused by secondary infections that are common in incapacitated patients.  There are about 4 million Americans with the disease, and the average length of time between diagnosis and death is eight years, although people can live with the illness 20 years or more. As the disease progresses, patients lose the ability to coordinate basic motor skills such as swallowing, walking, or controlling bladder and bowel. Difficulty swallowing can cause food to be inhaled, which can result in pneumonia. Inability to walk can lead to bedsores. Incontinence can result in bladder infections. These infections become particularly difficult to deal with because Alzheimer’s patients are unable to understand and participate in their own treatment.

Falls often lead to death because the patient does not have the capacity to follow directions or motivation to try to walk again.   Such incapacitation again sets the stage for deadly infections.   Doctors say it is possible that an Alzheimer’s patient could progress to the point that damage from the disease to the centers of the brain that control breathing could cause death, but patients rarely get that far without an infection setting in.   Once a patient is extremely incapacitated, there is little medical motivation to aggressively treat such infections.

Five myths about sex and aging

Did you see this AARP article yet? It’s all true!

Five deadly mistakes when it comes to heart disease

Here’s an important guest post from a fellow medical writer in Scotland:

For women and men of any age, heart disease may well be the # 1 killer.   It kills more people than ALL forms of cancer combined.   If you’re black or over 65, your chance of suffering from heart disease is greater, but it’s an equal opportunity destroyer. Anyone anywhere can have a cardiac arrest at any time.

Myth #1: Only adults need to worry about heart disease

The lifestyle habits that contribute to heart disease develop gradually over many years. Bad habits like living the life of a couch-potato, begin when we are children.   Doctors are now seeing victims of heart attack as young as in their 20s and 30s.

However, being healthy and at the proper bodyweight does not protect you from heart attacks. Although regular exercise and proper body weight does help, you still need to check your cholesterol and blood pressure levels regularly.  The best cholesterol (or lipid profile) number is under two hundred, and a good blood pressure level is 120/80.

Myth #2: I’d feel sick if I had high blood pressure or high cholesterol

These are called “silent killers” because they often appear with no warning signs.  One third of all adults have high blood pressure. Of those, one-third have no idea they suffer from it.

Cholesterol testing is a measure of the fats circulating through your bloodstream at any one time. Fats may congregate in all of your organs, including your heart.  This habit may run in your family, so even if you’re at a good bodyweight and do not smoke cigarettes, have your cholesterol levels and blood pressure levels checked regularly. Once is not enough.

Myth #3: Males and females DON’T have the same signals

Women and men CAN have the same signals, however they commonly do not. Women tend to get the subtler signs while men more frequently have the form of cardiac arrest you see in movies.   These subtler warning signs, as well as jaw achiness, nausea, shortness of breath and excessive low energy, are likely to get ignored.  “Half of women have no chest pain at all,” states Kathy Magliato, a heart specialist at California’s St. John’s Health Center.  Put all the little signs alongside one another and pay close attention to any strange changes in your body.

Myth #4: So long as my sugar level is under control, Type II diabetes is not a heart threat

Although keeping your sugar level within proper range (80ml-120ml) does help, just having extra blood sugar in your body takes its toll on your arteries. You should exercise and eat healthier to take control of your diabetes, but don’t forget to measure your blood pressure and cholesterol regularly.

Myth #5: My physician would order the proper tests if I were at risk for cardiovascular disease

Typically, we all overlook telling our physician about small changes in our health. The physicians, not knowing the various things we consider as insignificant, might pass over a complete heart exam.   “Mammograms and colonoscopies are routinely prescribed,” says Merdod Ghafouri, a cardiologist at Inova Fairfax Medical center in Virginia,“and are needed, but heart scans usually are not routinely executed.”  A cardiac scan can recognize plaque build-up inside arterial blood vessels before we even know we have a problem.

Do you have the engine oil pressure and transmission fluid checked in your car or truck?   Doesn’t your  heart deserve as much interest as your car?

Millie M. Bruce lives in Banffshire, Scotland.  She is trained in adult nutrition, and also produced publications for the New England Journal of Medicine. She is retired and works now as a guest writer for medical websites, blogs and other forums.

Quality sleep and quality of life

Learn more about what sleep really is, how to acquire high quality sleep, and why it is essential to a high quality of life over at BRAIN WORLD Magazine!

Study finds no blood clot risk with hormone patch

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Women who use hormone patches rather than pills for menopause symptoms may not have an increased risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE) — even when they have a history of clots, a new study suggests.

The findings, published online in Menopause, add to evidence that transdermal hormone replacement therapy (HRT) can be a safer alternative to pills.

Some studies have found that, unlike pills, patches may not raise women’s risk of a first-time (VTE).   And a large UK study earlier this year found that women who used low-dose patches for hormone therapy had no greater risk of stroke than women not on HRT.   Those on hormone pills or high-dose patches, however, did have a higher stroke risk than non-users.

For the new study, French researchers looked at hormone therapy and the risk of repeat VTEs among more than a thousand women who had already been treated for one.   They followed 103 women who used hormone patches for menopausal symptoms after finishing VTE treatment, another 10 women used oral HRT, and roughly 1000 women who didn’t use hormone replacement at all.   Over an average of 6.5 years, 77 women — or 1% per year – had a repeat blood clot. For women using hormone patches, the risk was no greater than it was for women not on HRT.

Of the 103 women who used the patches, six had a recurrent clot, versus two of the 10 who used oral HRT. After adjustment for such factors as age and weight, women taking oral HRT had a six-fold greater risk of clot recurrence than women who didn’t take hormones at all.

The findings suggest that even for women at high risk of VTE, hormone patches may not further that risk, lead researcher Valerie Olie, of the French national research institute INSERM, told Reuters Health by e-mail.

The researchers think hormone patches may be less risky than pills because of the way they work.   Unlike oral hormones, transdermal hormones bypass the liver and may not boost clot-promoting proteins in the blood.

The current study, Olie said, is only the first to suggest that high-risk women who use hormone patches have no extra risk of repeat blood clots.   And the findings cannot tell women whether they should or shouldn’t try hormone patches for severe menopause symptoms, according to Olie.   That is a personal decision for women to make after talking with their doctor about the risks and benefits.

What’s the scoop on retinol cream?

Retinol products are not all created equal.   The quality of your cream can mean the difference between a waste of money and younger looking skin.  Retinol is a proven ingredient in anti aging skin care – but just because a product contains some retinol – doesn’t mean it will get rid of your wrinkles.   You need a high level of retinol and a good delivery system so the retinol stays effective in the bottle and penetrates deep into your skin when you use it.

One way to check the quality of your product is the amount of actual retinol in it.   Be certain your retinol cream contains at least 100,000 IU per ounce.

The good news about coffee just keeps coming!

Coffee reminds me of vitamin D.   The research findings just keep getting better and better!

Now they’ve discovered that coffee has been linked to a reduced risk of dying from prostate cancer in a study of nearly 50,000 US men.

Those who drank six or more cups a day were found to be 20% less likely to develop any form of the disease – which is the most common cancer in men.

Learn more here!