Healthy Ageing

Written by Jo Kidd (Naturopath)

It can be confusing trying to decipher accurate evidence-based information on how to live a long and healthy life.

There is a myriad of information out there on healthy life choices. There is good evidence-based research to guide us and the whole world of epigenetics is revealing how diet, lifestyle and the environment in which we live are huge influencers on our health and longevity.

This article will touch on some of the healthy and helpful foods that you can consider including in your diet.

A study in 1981 by Doll and Peto gained global attention when it found that up to 35% of all cancer deaths may have been attributed to an unhealthy diet. Twenty years later Mokdad et al calculated that actual causes of death due to diet and physical inactivity were 15.2%. WHO estimates that dietary factors represent five of the seven identifying causes of non - communicable disease deaths worldwide.  The other two being physical inactivity and tobacco use.

An American study of 350,000 people found that the cohort that had a diet highest in wholegrains, fruits and vegetables and lower in fat was associated with lower death rates. The Mediterranean diet is perhaps the best studied diet. It is characterised by high consumption of fruits, vegetables, breads, other cereals, potatoes, beans, nuts, seeds and garlic. Olive oil is the main dietary fat and there is low to moderate amounts of diary, fish and poultry. Only a little red meat is eaten. Up to 4 eggs per week are consumed and wine 1-2 glasses per day with a meal. Having a predominantly Mediterranean-style diet is associated with a lower risk of mortality from heart disease and cancer.

The Mediterranean diet is predominantly plant based. In recent years there has been a lot of research about certain molecules found in plants that have great health promoting actions. For example, resveratrol is the natural molecule found in grapes and other plants that are undergoing stress. And by stress it may be sporadic water supply, insect attack, changed weather conditions. This molecule possibly explained the French Paradox that the French had lower rates of heart disease but they traditionally eat larger amounts of saturated fats like butter and cheese.

Resveratrol stimulates an enzyme like longevity gene called Sirtuin 1. There are 7 known Sirtuins and they are responsible for repairing our cells in times of stress. They regulate our cells, repair DNA and reduce DNA damage and assist in cell survival. The Sirtuins help protect us from major diseases of aging like diabetes, heart disease, Alzheimer’s, osteoporosis, cancer and metabolic disease. Sirtuins respond to what we eat, how much we eat and also how much we exercise and what time of the day it is.

The more coloured a vegetable is whether blue, red, orange or yellow, the more “Xenohometic” the food is. Xenohormesis is the idea that stressed plants produce chemicals in order to survive. Compounds like allicin from garlic, lycopene from tomatoes, salicylic acid in a variety of plants, quercetin in fruits and polyphenols in tea, especially green tea. It is believed that humans have evolved to sense these chemicals the foods have produced in their time of stress when we ingest them. Those chemicals turn on our own warning systems (like the Sirtuins) to repair our cells and trigger the longevity genes.

Organically grown foods are not exposed to herbicides and pesticides and because of this are more prone to insect attack and become more stressed. Organic foods have been found to have higher levels of these chemicals that are protective of our cells and trigger our DNA cell repair. If ever there was a reason why we should grow our own organic veggies this is one of them!

There is an enormous amount of research going into another chemical that is in our cells and in some foods that goes by the rather wordy name Nicotinamide mononucleotide or NMN. Our ability to produce this reduces as we age. It is found in foods such as avocado, broccoli and cabbage. This NMN has been shown to reverse the causes of aging and a multitude of chronic diseases by again triggering genes responsible for DNA repair and cell regulation. The research is proving to be quite remarkable as to what this compound can do.  More information on this incredible research that’s been done can be found in David Sinclair’s book.

So it’s never too late to help kick start those longevity genes to help us live a healthy and long life, by including in our diet a range of lovely coloured fruits and vegetables!

References

David A.Sinclair with Matthew D.La Palaite, Lifespan – Why we age and why we don’t have to. 2019 Harpers Collins

Jerome Sarris, Jon Wardle Clinical Naturopathy 2e, 2014. Churchill Livingstone Elsevier

Kerry Bone, Metabolic Dysfunction, March 2019. Mediherb.