| Diet and nutrition are keys to best of mature health | |
| By Leonard J. Hansen | |
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You are what you eat. The maxim has never meant more than today as a succession of research studies report to mature adults the importance of diet and nutrition in maintaining the best of health, preventing illness and slowing the aging process. The recommended dietary changes are not radical nor to they call for the purchase of expensive fad food, herbs and supplements. In fact, a healthy diet may cost less first at the supermarket and then later at the physician’s office or hospital. New reports important to mature adults include: ANTIOXIDANT FOODS Eat your spinach. The dark green leafy vegetable is one of the best antioxidant foods available, according to new studies published in the Journal of Nutrition and the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Simply stated, oxidants which come from some fats, toxic substances such as tobacco smoke, and other sources, break down the human immune system. A dietary antioxidant is a substance in foods that significantly decreases the adverse effects of free radicals - reactive oxygen species, reactive nitrogen species or both - on normal physiological function in humans. Free radicals are unstable molecules resulting from normal metabolic processes. The oxygen molecules lose an electron, creating an unstable molecule and, as a result, create oxidative stress. The free radicals attack healthy cells in the body in hopes of finding another electron to stabilize themselves; and in the process damage or destroy healthy cells. Certain foods produce high levels of antioxidant performance and may help slow the processes associated with aging in both body and brain, state experts from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Researchers have rated the foods on a new antioxidant assay - called ORAC - showing in two human studies that eating high-ORAC fruits and vegetables or simply doubling a person’s intake of fruits and vegetables raises the antioxidant power in the blood between 13 and 25 percent. Fruits high in antioxidants include prunes, raisins, blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, raspberries, plums, oranges, red grapes and cherries. The top antioxidant vegetables, according to the USDA, are kale, spinach, Brussels sprouts, alfalfa sprouts, broccoli florets, beets, red bell peppers, onions, corn and eggplant. Spinach has also proved most potent in protecting different types of nerve cells in two separate parts of the brain against the effects of aging. ANTIOXIDANT VITAMINS Antioxidant vitamins include carotenoids, vitamins C and E and selenium, as identified by the IFIC Foundation, a food industry research organization. Carotenoids are found in fruits and vegetables including carrots, fresh tomatoes, tomato products, green vegetables, peppers and squash. Vitamin C is abundant in oranges and orange juice, peppers, tomatoes and many other fruits and vegetables. Vitamin E is found in nuts, fats and oils, wheat germ and green leafy vegetables. Selenium is present in seafood and organ meats such as liver and kidney. PREVENTING HYPERTENSION Eating a diet right in fruits, vegetables and low-fat dairy foods, and reduced in saturated fat, total fat and cholesterol with a modest increase in protein significantly lowers blood pressure and may be effective in preventing and treating hypertension. The diet recommendation - with the acronym of DASH - has been reported in the Archives of Internal Medicine. Researchers at the Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina, found in an 11-week study that the DASH diet significantly lowered systolic blood pressure in 459 adults with high-normal blood pressure and stage 1 hypertension Hypertension - high blood pressure - is a major cardiovascular risk factor affecting nearly 50 million Americans, most of them mature adults, substantially increasing their risk of heart failure, heart attack, stroke and kidney failure. Diet is an important determinant of blood pressure, according to the study. Current national guidelines recommend three nutritional approaches to prevent and treat hypertension: reduced sodium intake, weight reduction in those overweight, and moderation of alcohol. The study revealed that the DASH combination diet lowered blood pressure while weight and sodium intake were held constant, which made the DASH recommendation even more significant in its effectiveness. VITAMIN D FOR BONES, HIPS Mature women who have hip fractures probably are deficient in their intake of vitamin D. A new study of 98 postmenopausal women who were admitted to Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston shows that the 30 with hip fractures had lower vitamin D and higher parathyroid hormone (PTH) levels than their 68 counterparts who were admitted for elective joint replacement. Vitamin D deficiency is easily preventable through diet or supplementation, according to the study reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The vitamin is required for efficient absorption of calcium and for normal bone mineralization. The risk of hip fracture increases exponentially with age, and hip fracture is increasing worldwide and is the most devastating and costly of the osteoporotic fractures, state the researchers. "Advancing age is associated with reductions in sun exposure, intake and skin-activation of vitamin D, and in vitamin D absorption, all of which may contribute to low vitamin D levels," according to the article. The 1997 Dietary Reference Intake guidelines from the National Institutes of Health recommend 400 international units (IU) of vitamin D supplement daily for persons from age 51 through 70 years and 600 IU daily for those older than age 70. The report suggests further that supplements of about 800 IU of vitamin D per day and calcium may be necessary to attenuate bone loss in the winter and to reduce fractures. |
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