A New Contender For “Best Diet For Heart & Brain” In Aging
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We previously wrote about how the Mediterranean diet‘s close cousins DASH and MIND were voted (by a panel of 69 doctors and nutritionists) as best for heart and brain health, respectively.
Here is that article, for reference: Which Diet? Top Diets Ranked By Experts
When we say “close cousins”, in this case we mean that DASH and MIND are variations of the Mediterranean in any case; see: Four Ways To Upgrade The Mediterranean Diet
And for more on the Mediterranean Diet itself, see: The Mediterranean Diet: What Is It Good For? ← More to the point: what isn’t it good for?
- It’s also been found, societally, to reduce general healthcare costs—basically, people get sick less and so have fewer healthcare costs.
- It’s been found to reduce all-cause mortality, which is about the best thing one can say of any diet.
- It’s especially good for heart health and against cancer.
- It’s particularly recommended for the prevention or management of diabetes.
What about best against aging?
We’ve written about eating vs aging, too:
How Much Does A Vegan Diet Affect Biological Aging? ← the answer is, it’s a lot, measurable even over the course of just 8 weeks of vegan eating:
As to the difference it made over the course of the 8 weeks…
❝Various measures of epigenetic age acceleration (PC GrimAge, PC PhenoAge, DunedinPACE) were assessed, along with system-specific effects (Inflammation, Heart, Hormone, Liver, and Metabolic).
Distinct responses were observed, with the vegan cohort exhibiting significant decreases in overall epigenetic age acceleration, aligning with anti-aging effects of plant-based diets. Diet-specific shifts were noted in the analysis of methylation surrogates, demonstrating the influence of diet on complex trait prediction through DNA methylation markers.❞
~ Dr. Varun Dwaraka et al. ← there’s a lot of “et al.” to this one; the paper had 16 collaborating authors!
This is not too surprising, since the Mediterranean diet is mostly plant-based anyway with very little meat and some fermented dairy,
Is there an alternative?
Yes there is! So if you don’t want to put aside all animal products, the diet we’ll talk about now is the one you want.
On the other hand: if you do want to put aside all animal products or are already vegan, then, this diet does not require animal products; it merely permits the inclusion of a few of them.
It’s called the Alternative Healthy Eating Index (AHEI), and (though one could quibble over definitions) it is generally considered to have been launched in 2010.
You may be wondering: if it was launched in 2010, why is it being described as a new contender for “best for heart and brain” in aging?
And the answer is: that is new, in the category of anything we want longitudinal studies for. While some markers of aging can be measured over the duration of a short RCT, as in the vegan study we quoted above, to be able to categorically declare its long-term benefits to organs, we need long-term science, and that takes time.
All so recently, a 15-year longitudinal study has “matured”, as it were, and been published. Specifically, the study followed 2,473 adults aged 60+ for 15 years to examine the effect of dietary patterns on multimorbidity (two or more chronic conditions).
The diets they examined:
- Alternate Mediterranean diet (AMED)
- Mediterranean–DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay (MIND)
- Alternate Healthy Eating Index (AHEI)
- Empirical Dietary Inflammatory Index (EDII)
What they found, in few words: The AMED, AHEI, and MIND diets were linked to a slower accumulation of chronic diseases, especially cardiovascular and neuropsychiatric conditions, while a pro-inflammatory diet (EDII) was (shocking nobody) associated with faster disease accumulation.
This was “dose dependent”, too, in the sense that those with the highest adherence to MIND and AHEI accumulated about two fewer chronic diseases over 15 years compared to those with the lowest adherence, and AHEI generally showed the most consistent protective associations.
It’s also worth noting that the benefits for cardiovascular disease appeared greatest in women and in participants aged 78+, though the extent to which those benefits showed themselves depended slightly on the statistical modelling method used.
You can read the paper here: Dietary patterns and accelerated multimorbidity in older adults
What’s in the AHEI Diet?
There is a little room for flexibility, and different studies may have slightly different definitions (which we will discuss), there is a clear general theme.
When we discussed the AHEI a few months ago, talking about a 30-year retrospective study (so, looking back on previous data and tallying it against the index that was created after the data was collected), and for that study it was parametered as essentially the Mediterranean diet with three small tweaks:
- no seafood, but long-chain omega-3 fatty acids include to compensate
- no sugar-sweetened beverages or fruit juices
- “no” sodium (in other words, minimal sodium, since almost everything contains trace amounts)
Indeed, they noted:
❝Higher intakes of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, unsaturated fats, nuts, legumes and low-fat dairy products were linked to greater odds of healthy aging, whereas higher intakes of trans fats, sodium, sugary beverages and red or processed meats (or both) were inversely associated.❞
Read in full: Optimal dietary patterns for healthy aging
With this in mind, in this 15-year longitudinal study, they included three additional stipulations, namely:
- little to no butter/cheese, ideally none
- little to no red meat, ideally none
- no processed meats
…which latter may be considered a de facto necessity under the “minimal sodium” directive, but the point is, this time it was spelled out.
Want to learn more?
You might like:
Better Than The Mediterranean? ← this is about what happens if we simply remove the remaining animal products from the Mediterranean Diet.
Enjoy!
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Green Tea Can Benefit You (But Watch Out!)
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It’s not breaking news that green tea is healthy in moderation. But there’s a lot that many people don’t know, too.
A timeless classic, unless…
Of the various true teas, there are different possible metrics we may go by and different ways we could weight them, but the popular consensus is that green tea offers the strongest and most consistent health benefits, while traditionally brewed tea of any type is broadly safe and beneficial.
In terms of polyphenols, green tea retains high catechin levels due to minimal fermentation, while black tea contains theaflavins and thearubigins from oxidation; theanine and of course caffeine also contribute to physiological effects, and we’ve written about those in fair detail here:
- L-Theanine: What’s The Tea?
- Neuropsychologist Explains What She’s Got Out Of 6 Years Taking L-Theanine
- Caffeine: Cognitive Enhancer Or Brain-Wrecker?
As for the rest of the benefits, they are manifold, including:
- Cardiovascular protection: regular green tea intake—e.g. 2–3 cups per day—is linked to lower cardiovascular and all-cause mortality; polyphenols reduce LDL cholesterol, improve endothelial function, lower blood pressure, and reduce oxidative stress.
- Anticancer potential: findings in humans are mixed, but meta-analyses support reduced risks of oral, lung (in women), and colon cancers with regular green tea consumption.
- Weight and metabolic effects: green tea and catechin-rich preparations show modest, consistent reductions in body weight, fat mass, LDL cholesterol, and oxidative stress; cohort studies suggest lower diabetes risk, though other studies have not shown benefits, so in other words, the science is still a work-in-progress on this one.
- Neuroprotective effects: habitual tea drinking is associated with reduced cognitive decline, better cognitive performance, and lower Alzheimer’s-related biomarkers, with strongest benefits in adults aged 50 to 69. It’s also generally found to be beneficial for stress management.
- Muscle health benefits in aging: a surprising and much less well-known one, but catechin-rich green tea can help maintain or increase muscle mass and improve grip strength in older adults or those with sarcopenia in general.
- Inflammation and immunity: tea polyphenols lower inflammatory markers and oxidative stress, help reduce uric acid levels, and show antibacterial and antiviral activity (including against influenza, HPV, and SARS-CoV-2), though most antiviral data come from in vitro studies.
Rather than bombard you with sources for all of the above, we’ll drop a link to one excellent paper that covers them all:
Beneficial health effects and possible health concerns of tea consumption: a review
Wait, what’s that about “and possible health concerns”?
The problems highlighted by the above-linked studies are threefold, but the good news is that they can all be avoided, so long as you’re aware of them:
- Brew it yourself: bottled and bubble teas often contain sugars, artificial sweeteners, or preservatives that negate benefits, and to make things worse, processing and storage markedly reduce catechin content. So, just buy tea leaves and brew your own.
- Check safety/quality certifications: some teas contain pesticide residues, heavy metals, or microplastics; typical exposure is low risk, but long-term heavy consumption could run into problems if the supplier isn’t good.
- Timing matters for nutrient absorption: generous tea intake can inhibit non-heme iron and calcium absorption, so it’s best to avoid drinking your greens at the same time as eating your greens (leafy greens being good sources of non-heme iron and calcium).
Some people can also run into other problems that are more person-specific; we touched on that briefly here a few years ago: Green Tea Allergies and Capsules
Want to learn more?
As we mentioned up top, the other kinds of teas have their benefits too.
You can see which is best for what, here: Which Tea Is Best For The Health, By Science?
Enjoy!
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The Gut-Healthiest Yogurt
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Not only is this yogurt, so it’s winning from the start with its probiotic goodness, but also it’s full of several kinds of fiber, and gut-healthy polyphenols too. Plus, it’s delicious. The perfect breakfast, but don’t let us stop you from enjoying it at any time of day!
You will need
- 1 cup yogurt with minimal additives. Live Greek yogurt is a top-tier choice, and plant-based varieties are fine too (just watch out, again, for needless additives)
- 7 dried figs, roughly chopped
- 6 fresh figs, thinly sliced
- 5 oz chopped pitted dates
- 4 tbsp mixed seeds (pumpkin, sunflower, and chia are a great combination)
Method
(we suggest you read everything at least once before doing anything)
1) Soak the dried figs, the dates, and half the seeds in hot water for at least 5 minutes. Drain (be careful not to lose the chia seeds) and put in a blender with ¼ cup cold water.
2) Blend the ingredients from the last step into a purée (you can add a little more cold water if it needs it).
3) Mix this purée into the yogurt in a bowl, and add in the remaining seeds, mixing them in thoroughly.
4) Top with the sliced figs, and serve (or refrigerate, up to a few days, until needed).
Enjoy!
Want to learn more?
For those interested in some of the science of what we have going on today:
- Making Friends With Your Gut (You Can Thank Us Later)
- Dates vs Figs – Which is Healthier?
- The Tiniest Seeds With The Most Value
Take care!
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5 Health Truths Every Woman Over 50 Should Know
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How many were you aware of?
What matters the most, healthwise
Dr. Ruth Machin’s five points to know about:
- There’s less wiggle room now when it comes to diet: declining estrogen promotes insulin resistance, increases visceral fat, contributes to muscle loss, and worsens blood lipid profiles, making it more important to prioritize protein, fiber, and unsaturated fats while limiting refined carbohydrates and saturated fats.
- Muscle becomes your internal health insurance policy: this is because maintaining and building muscle supports metabolism, improves insulin sensitivity, strengthens bones and joints, enhances balance, and helps preserve independence later in life. The good thing is that building muscle doesn’t require a gym, heavy weights, or lengthy workouts because even lighter resistance training can produce benefits when performed consistently and progressively.
- Downtime nevertheless becomes more important: yes, we must exercise, but also, chronic stress, inadequate sleep, and insufficient recovery can undermine health and fitness progress, while deep sleep plays a key role in muscle repair and adaptation. Also, reduced estrogen negatively affects tendons and ligaments, making gradual progression and adequate recovery especially important when increasing exercise.
- Quick fixes were never good, but now they become more dangerous: this is because crash diets can accelerate muscle loss, increase hunger, slow resting metabolism through metabolic adaptation, and contribute to weight regain and weight cycling. In contrast, sustainable habits and gradual progress are much more beneficial. On which note…
- Health is a marathon, not a sprint: Dr. Machin encourages us to focus on the mobility, energy, and independence that we want at ages 75 or 85 rather than on results over the next few months.
For more on all of this, enjoy:
Click Here If The Embedded Video Doesn’t Load Automatically!
Want to learn more?
You might also like:
Mobility For Now & For Later: Train For The Marathon That Is Your Life!
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It’s On Me – by Dr. Sara Kuburic
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This isn’t about bootstrapping and nor is it a motivational pep talk. What it is, however, is a wake-up call for the wayward, and that doesn’t mean “disaffected youth” or such. Rather, therapist Dr. Sara Kuburic tackles the problem of self-loss.
It’s about when we get so caught up in what we need to do, should do, are expected to do, are in a rut of doing… That we forget to also live. After all, we only get one shot at life so far as we know, so we might as well live it in whatever way is right for us.
That probably doesn’t mean a life of going through the motions.
The writing style here is personal and direct, and it makes for quite compelling reading from start to finish.
Bottom line: if ever you find yourself errantly sleepwalking through life and would like to change that, this is a book for you.
Click here to check out It’s On Me, and take control of what’s yours!
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Our ‘food environments’ affect what we eat. Here’s how you can change yours to support healthier eating
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In January, many people are setting new year’s resolutions around healthy eating. Achieving these is often challenging – it can be difficult to change our eating habits. But healthy diets can enhance physical and mental health, so improving what we eat is a worthwhile goal.
One reason it’s difficult to change our eating habits relates to our “food environments”. This term describes:
The collective physical, economic, policy and sociocultural surroundings, opportunities and conditions that influence people’s food and beverage choices and nutritional status.
Our current food environments are designed in ways that often make it easier to choose unhealthy foods than healthy ones. But it’s possible to change certain aspects of our personal food environments, making eating healthier a little easier.
Unhealthy food environments
It’s not difficult to find fast-food restaurants in Australian cities. Meanwhile, there are junk foods at supermarket checkouts, service stations and sporting venues. Takeaway and packaged foods and drinks routinely come in large portion sizes and are often considered tastier than healthy options.
Our food environments also provide us with various prompts to eat unhealthy foods via the media and advertising, alongside health and nutrition claims and appealing marketing images on food packaging.
At the supermarket, unhealthy foods are often promoted through prominent displays and price discounts.
We’re also exposed to various situations in our everyday lives that can make healthy eating challenging. For example, social occasions or work functions might see large amounts of unhealthy food on offer.
Not everyone is affected in the same way
People differ in the degree to which their food consumption is influenced by their food environments.
This can be due to biological factors (for example, genetics and hormones), psychological characteristics (such as decision making processes or personality traits) and prior experiences with food (for example, learned associations between foods and particular situations or emotions).
People who are more susceptible will likely eat more and eat more unhealthy foods than those who are more immune to the effects of food environments and situations.
Those who are more susceptible may pay greater attention to food cues such as advertisements and cooking smells, and feel a stronger desire to eat when exposed to these cues. Meanwhile, they may pay less attention to internal cues signalling hunger and fullness. These differences are due to a combination of biological and psychological characteristics.
These people might also be more likely to experience physiological reactions to food cues including changes in heart rate and increased salivation.
It’s common to eat junk food in front of the TV.
PR Image Factory/ShutterstockOther situational cues can also prompt eating for some people, depending on what they’ve learned about eating. Some of us tend to eat when we’re tired or in a bad mood, having learned over time eating provides comfort in these situations.
Other people will tend to eat in situations such as in the car during the commute home from work (possibly passing multiple fast-food outlets along the way), or at certain times of day such as after dinner, or when others around them are eating, having learned associations between these situations and eating.
Being in front of a TV or other screen can also prompt people to eat, eat unhealthy foods, or eat more than intended.
Making changes
While it’s not possible to change wider food environments or individual characteristics that affect susceptibility to food cues, you can try to tune into how and when you’re affected by food cues. Then you can restructure some aspects of your personal food environments, which can help if you’re working towards healthier eating goals.
Although both meals and snacks are important for overall diet quality, snacks are often unplanned, which means food environments and situations may have a greater impact on what we snack on.
Foods consumed as snacks are often sugary drinks, confectionery, chips and cakes. However, snacks can also be healthy (for example, fruits, nuts and seeds).
Try removing unhealthy foods, particularly packaged snacks, from the house, or not buying them in the first place. This means temptations are removed, which can be especially helpful for those who may be more susceptible to their food environment.
Planning social events around non-food activities can help reduce social influences on eating. For example, why not catch up with friends for a walk instead of lunch at a fast-food restaurant.
Creating certain rules and habits can reduce cues for eating. For example, not eating at your desk, in the car, or in front of the TV will, over time, lessen the effects of these situations as cues for eating.
You could also try keeping a food diary to identify what moods and emotions trigger eating. Once you’ve identified these triggers, develop a plan to help break these habits. Strategies may include doing another activity you enjoy such as going for a short walk or listening to music – anything that can help manage the mood or emotion where you would have typically reached for the fridge.
Write (and stick to) a grocery list and avoid shopping for food when hungry. Plan and prepare meals and snacks ahead of time so eating decisions are made in advance of situations where you might feel especially hungry or tired or be influenced by your food environment.
Georgie Russell, Senior Lecturer, Institute for Physical Activity and Nutrition (IPAN), Deakin University and Rebecca Leech, NHMRC Emerging Leadership Fellow, School of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences, Deakin University
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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Tooth Remineralization: How To Heal Your Teeth Naturally
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Dr. Michelle Jorgensen, dentist, explains:
The bare-bones details:
Teeth cannot be regrown (yet!) but can be remineralized, which simply involves restoring lost minerals. When we’re talking about health, “minerals” is usually used to mean elemental minerals, like calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, etc, but the specific mineral that’s needed here is hydroxyapatite (a calcium phosphate mineral, the same as is found in bones).
Not only can acids from food and bacteria dissolve the minerals from the teeth, but also, the body itself may extract minerals from the teeth if it needs them for other functions it considers more critical and/or more urgent.
Cavities occur when acids create porous holes in teeth by dissolving minerals, which allows bacteria to invade, which means more acid, and cavities.
Remineralization can be achieved by doing the following things:
- Use hydroxyapatite-based products (tooth powder, mouthwash).
- Improve gut health to ensure proper mineral absorption.
- Reduce acidic food and drink intake.
- Maintain good oral hygiene to prevent bacteria build-up.
- Eat foods rich in vitamins A, D, E, and K, which help direct minerals to teeth and bones.
For more on all of the above, enjoy:
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Want to learn more?
You might also like to read:
- Less Common Oral Hygiene Options
- Fluoride Toothpaste vs Non-Fluoride Toothpaste – Which is Healthier?
Take care!
Don’t Forget…
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