Month: June 2018

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Health

4 Things you should do to avoid becoming a frail little old lady (or man)…

Becoming frail when you get old isn’t inevitable… Researchers have found 4 things you can change to increase your chances of being able to move easily and do all the things you want well into old age.

4 things you should do to to prevent becoming frail:

  1. Watch your weight. Keep your weight in the normal to overweight class. Those who are very overweight, classed as “obese” have a 7.9% chance of having difficulty getting around when they’re old compared to 2.9% of those who are a healthy weight.

    1. Not sure what’s normal? Here’s a link to a chart that can help you figure it out, or a calculator that will give you a Body Mass Index (BMI) number.

    2. Aim to have a BMI between 18.5 and 29.9, although some recent studies suggest people with a BMI between 25 and 29.9 live the longest. Being underweight is considered as risky to your health (statistically) as being obese.

  2. Be active, ideally every day, but at least for 30 minutes 3 times a week. This recommendation just makes sense – muscles that aren’t used wither and become weak over time. As some will say, “use it or lose it”!

    1. Note that it doesn’t have to be strenuous exercise, just walking will do. And it doesn’t have to be 30 minutes straight of exercise. Ten minutes 3 times during the day works just as well.

    2. If you carry a phone around with you, an easy way to measure your activity is to install a free pedometer on it. I tried out a few and the one I like best is called Pedometer Step Counter. It tracks steps, distance, calories burned and time, and allows you to set goals if you want. You can look back by day, week or month to see how you’ve been doing. It’s really fun to see how far you’ve walked when on vacation… I walked over 150 km a month when we were in Spain last fall!

    3. By the way… the photo above is of a 90-year old who teaches yoga! Here’s her story as told on ABC News in 2013…

  3. Don’t smoke. This one probably has something to do with losing lung function… 5.4% of smokers became frail in old age, compared to 3.5% of non-smokers. But smoking also causes inflammation (see #4) so could be causing frailty and contributing to the aging process in several ways. There are so many reasons to quit… Smoking makes your skin age more quickly too, by the way, so quitting will help keep you looking your best!

  4. Reduce chronic inflammation. Two proteins are found in your blood that tell doctors how much inflammation might be hiding in your body.

    1. The first is called interleukin-6, and it is an indication of inflammation levels in the body. Higher interleukin-6 means you have more inflammation, and that’s an important factor in aging and disease. More about that later…

    2. The other is C-Reactive Protein (CRP), another marker of inflammation. Some doctors have started checking CRP levels to determine their patients’ risk of heart disease.

      1. Production of both interleukin-6 and CRP proteins can be decreased by cutting down on sugar intake and reducing stress.

Chronic inflammation

A Harvard Health article refers to inflammation as a “unifying theory of disease”. Often thought of as a result of disease, inflammation has been shown in newer studies and observations to be part of the cause of many diseases. Mounting evidence suggests that coronary artery disease (that leads to heart attacks), diabetes, cancer and Alzheimer’s Disease all include inflammation as part of their causes.

We recognize acute inflammation by the heat, pain, redness and swelling it causes. This is part of the body’s response to injuries, like cuts, scrapes, and sprains, to foreign substances, and disease-causing organisms like bacteria and viruses. Acute inflammation is part of our immune system’s protective action. The problem occurs when the helpful inflammation is not turned off afterward. This leads to chronic inflammation that can cause aging and disease.

We all have a certain amount of chronic inflammation and for many it stays under the radar, only to be noticed by a blood test. Anti-inflammatory drugs like aspirin and ibuprofen reduce inflammation and this is likely part of the reason that low-dose aspirin helps to prevent heart attacks along with its ability to prevent blood clots.

But many chronic diseases have been observed to occur less often in people who are taking anti-inflammatory drugs for other reasons, such as for pain or arthritis. Over a hundred years ago, it was observed that sugar levels in the urine of people with diabetes were reduced when they took high doses of sodium salicylate, a form of aspirin. It was even documented that sugar in the urine could be eliminated in some people with milder cases of diabetes. Of course, that doesn’t say that their blood sugar, the more important reading, was completely reversed, but it was a very interesting observation.

Cancers of the liver, cervix and stomach which make up about 15% of cancers, are closely tied to levels of chronic infectious diseases, generators of chronic inflammation. Cigarette smoke, a known cause of lung cancer, and asbestos, associated with a type of cancer of the lining of the chest, both contain ingredients that cause inflammation.

Inflammatory reactions produce reactive forms of oxygen that can damage cell DNA, and this damage can lead to the initiation of a cancer. Fruits and vegetables contain many anti-oxidants that can neutralize these free oxygen radicals, and this is likely one way that these foods help to prevent heart disease and cancer. They probably help to prevent diabetes and Alzheimer’s, too, through the same mechanism… reducing inflammation in the body.

Here’s what you can do…

The good news is that there is lots you can do to reduce inflammation in your body and keep your cells from aging more quickly. Eat a healthy diet with lots of fruits and vegetables, and avoid high amounts of added sugar, refined carbohydrates (like white flour), and processed foods, especially those containing trans fats. Reduce stress as much as you can and exercise regularly, as it reduces the negative effects of stress on your health as well as keeping you fit.

Make sure you seek treatment for any infection, complete the treatment and go back if it’s not completely cleared. And talk to your doctor about whether you would benefit from a low dose of the anti-inflammatory, aspirin.

Other research

In an earlier blog “On family dinners and living longer” I described research on Blue Zones, areas where significant numbers live beyond the age of 100 years… click here if you missed it.

References:

Old before your time? Daily Mail, UK

Inflammation and Insulin Resistance, Journal of Clinical Investigation

BMI Calculator

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Health

The world inside…

We humans, each of us, have trillions of microbes that live inside and on the surface of our bodies – most experts say about 4 pounds worth. These include over 10,000 different types of microbes (including bacteria, viruses, and fungi), collectively known as our “microbiome”. And having a larger variety of microbes in our system may actually be a protector against future illness, as new research suggests they give us resilience against disease.

For many years we only heard about bad bacteria, viruses and fungi that cause disease. But the truth is, most organisms are beneficial, and, in fact, we can’t live without them. We need to think of these good microscopic inhabitants of our bodies, as a part of us that we need to keep healthy. We have a “symbiotic” relationship: we evolved together and rely on each other for survival.

The pharmacy school at the University of Toronto recently hosted an online Town Hall Medicine summit on the microbiome, where 21 researchers spoke about results of research they have been conducting in this area. I listened to most of the lectures and want to share some of what I learned. The series is still available (for a fee) if you are interested in learning more.

What do microbes do for us?

These microorganisms perform many bodily functions for us: from helping to digest our food and absorb nutrients, to protecting us from disease, to controlling how our immune system functions, and more. Although they’ve been researching our microbiome for over 10 years, scientists are still learning new ways they interact with our human cells with significant increases in understanding in the last 5 years. They now believe there is a connection between the make-up and health of the microbiome and obesity, autism, allergies, intestinal health, responses to drugs, rheumatoid arthritis, Type 1 diabetes and many other conditions.

Inflammatory diseases, like Multiple Sclerosis (MS), asthma and Crohn’s disease, have been on the rise over the past 50 years. Researchers have proposed the “hygiene theory” which suggests that decreased exposure to microbes, through overuse of antibacterial agents and just being too clean, has lead to decreased diversity of our bodies’ beneficial microbes. Some evidence suggests that exposure to good bacteria in the early years of life is crucial to avoid inflammatory diseases, such as asthma and inflammatory bowel disease, later in life. Think of it as giving your immune system “exercise” to help it strengthen and learn to function properly.

The gut and the brain “talk” to each other…

Recently they have even identified communication between gut bacteria and the brain, through hormones, nerves, and chemicals known as neurotransmitters. They believe that this communication affects our mental health. What we eat influences the composition and activity of the microbiome and this has lead to research on how our diet could influence mental health. For example, newer studies suggest eating a western diet of highly processed food may increase risk of depression and anxiety. But choosing a Mediterranean diet, with higher amounts of vegetables and good fats like olive oil, may reduce risk of these mood disorders. This field of study is called nutritional psychiatry.

We also have a major nerve, called the vagus, that directly connects the brain and the gut. Years ago, surgeons would sometimes cut this nerve in patients who had ulcers caused by stress. The ulcers healed, but many patients developed psychiatric problems afterward. It turns out that this nerve is a two-way street, carrying messages from the gut to the brain as well as in the other direction, and it’s another important way our gut and our brain communicate.

I’ve read about an abdominal breathing technique that is suggested help with relaxation: the belly is pushed out during inhalation and pulled in while exhaling. I’d always thought this was just a distraction technique, a type of meditation to take a person’s mind off their troubles. But I’ve learned that this abdominal movement can stimulate the vagal nerve when done correctly, actually creating a relaxation response in the brain. However, experts stress that it requires practice to be able create a full parasympathetic relaxation response that is useful during an episode of stress. Seems like a worthwhile skill to develop!

Exposure early in life is important

Studies of asthma and allergies are very telling. Children who receive an antibiotic in the first year of life have higher rates of asthma. Studies also suggest growing up on a farm, with a dog, or being born by natural birth versus by sterile caesarean section can result in lower risk for asthma and allergies. All of these affect the types of bacteria a child is exposed to early in life and therefore will incorporate into their digestive and other systems. It seems that exposure to organisms in the first 3 years of life – while the immune system is developing – is more important with longer-lasting effects than later in life when our systems are well-established. Trying to repair and maintain a microbiome that is damaged as an adult is more difficult than establishing a healthy one in the first place and requires ongoing effort. Researchers describe extinction of entire species of microbes in the inside world, the gut, of some populations. And they can be very difficult to reintroduce, just as it’s almost impossible to reintroduce animal species that have become extinct in the outer world. Keep in mind that a typical probiotic capsule contains less than 10 species of organisms, compared to around 10,000 species in a healthy adult. Although probiotics can help some, we need to do more.

How can we help out our gut microbes?

Factors that affect the composition of our microbiome include the types of food we eat and where we spend our time. With modern urban living, many can spend as much as 90% of their time indoors. Simply spending time in nature can change the types of organisms we take into our bodies. Bringing fresh fruits, vegetables and plants into the home can help recreate “the farm effect” with benefits to our microbiome.

Eating fermented foods can also help, as the fermentation process creates many beneficial bacteria. One expert recommends five servings per week of at least three different types of fermented foods. These foods also provide fibre, which feeds good bacteria. Although raw foods contain more live bacteria than those that have been cooked, even organisms killed in the cooking process benefit the immune system.

Just like a garden…

One expert, Anne Bikle, who is also an avid gardener, describes our large bowel as a “garden” and a “medicine chest”, producing substances that protect us from abnormal, potentially cancerous, cells as well as infections. She tells us that 40% of the compounds in our blood are made by our microbiome, and that we are as much microbial as we are human. She suggests we need to treat our digestive system as we would a garden: feed it plenty of fiber and nutrient rich plants, just as you would add nutrients and compost to soil to have a healthy garden that produces tasty vegetables or beautiful flowers. Her advice in a nutshell? “Mulch your garden soil, inside and out”. Keep your inside world and your outside world healthy…

Reference:

Town Hall Medicine, University of Toronto, Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy

Are we more microbe than human?

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Health

Could pizza prevent cancer?

Italian scientists at the National Cancer Institute in Naples claim they have designed a cancer-preventing pizza. Their Pizza Pascalina is being called “the pizza that extends life” and an “anti-tumour” pizza.

North American pizza is generally thought of as an unhealthy treat… so what’s the difference with this new style of pizza?

First, there is no cheese or meat on it. The ingredients, chosen for their ability to decrease risk of heart disease, stroke and some types of cancer, are common in the Mediterranean diet.

It has fresh tomatoes which contain vitamins and minerals, and some research suggests tomatoes may slow the growth of some cancers.

It also has olives and olive oil – basic ingredients of the healthy Mediterranean diet that contain healthy fats our bodies need. Broccoli is another vegetable in the recipe that provides vitamins and minerals and has been shown to reduce risk of various cancers, according to some research.

Here’s my version of this recipe:

  • Whole wheat crust

    • 4 cups whole wheat flour (bread flour is best)

    • 2 tsp (1 envelope) instant rise yeast

    • 1 tsp salt

      • Mix together then add:

    • 1 1/2 cups warm water

    • 2 tbsp olive oil

    • 1 tbsp honey (optional – helps “feed” the yeast)

      • Mix, then knead until smooth and elastic, 5 – 10 mins

        • To knead, fold dough in half towards you, push away with heels of hands, turn dough 1/4 turn, and repeat. Add flour underneath and on top as needed to prevent sticking.

      • Let rest for 10 mins, then spread in pizza pans (makes 2 pizzas)

      • Meanwhile, prepare desired amount of toppings:

  • Cherry tomatoes (halved)

  • Rapini (a type of broccoli) – finely chopped (I used regular broccoli)

  • Ripe olives (Kalamata) – pitted and sliced

  • Extra virgin olive oil

  • Garlic

  • Onions

  • Chilli or other spices/herbs as desired (I used tarragon, oregano and basil)

    • Fry onions and garlic in olive oil until softened

    • Add tomatoes – fry until excess liquid is mostly evaporated

    • Add finely chopped broccoli

    • Spread 1 to 2 tbsp olive oil on uncooked pizza crusts

    • Add toppings from pan

    • Sprinkle on sliced olives, herbs and/or spices

    • Bake at 500F 10-15 mins, or until browned on bottom and edges

I didn’t miss the salami or pepperoni at all, but I did add some cooked seafood (small scallops, shrimp) to mine to make it tasty! And I cheated just a little and added a small amount of Asiago – a strong cheese that you don’t need much of to add flavour. A small amount of Parmesan or Feta would work too, and these provide some calcium that our bodies require. It’s all about the amount you add… everything in moderation!

I love making pizza and have been making it for many years, but I think this was the best one I’ve ever made… tasty as well as healthy! Researchers say this one is healthy enough to have it twice a week.

Let me know how yours turns out if you decide to try it!

Reference article:

The Cancer-Preventing Pizza

Categories
Health

Doing what successful people do…

Many of the most successful people, like Bill Gates and Elon Musk, have an interesting habit. They spend time every day learning something new.

Are you trying to keep your brain sharp? Or do you want to get ahead in your career? Lifelong learning – setting time aside to learn something new every day – can help, especially if you choose to learn specific skills that contrast with what you already know or do for a living.

Learning opposing skills and integrating them with what you already know has a fancy name –”Integrative Complexity”. Think of it as becoming a more complex person by integrating new knowledge. Many of us avoid learning skills in areas that are outside our comfort zone. But these are the skills that can challenge you to expand your mind and capabilities, both in your personal life and at work, more than just learning more about something you already know. Continually learning new ideas and skills throughout your life keeps your brain sharp too! Your brain actually forms new connections between its neurons (nerve cells) as you learn.

Some examples…

As a pharmacist I had to study a large amount of scientific information. For over twenty years, I have done formal reviews of pharmacy education programs. This was much more professional education than was required, but I enjoyed and appreciated the opportunity for exposure to the newest ideas and information. After I sold my business, I had a chance to improve my second language, French, by working in an area where French was spoken. I’d always wanted to speak the language better! Although it was very different from learning about my scientific profession, I enjoyed my new skill so much I decided to work on a third language, Spanish. I found a free app called Duolingo, that sends me reminders every day. Now I just need to find someone in my area of Canada to help me practice speaking Spanish!

At the same time, I decided to write down “everything I’d learned about hormones” into a book. I wanted to record the information I’d learned about how hormones work, what happens when they get out of balance, and what can be done to rebalance them again in a format where others might find useful. I quickly realized that writing a book is a lot different than writing articles, as I’d been doing for pharmacy journals for over ten years. So, I decided to study writing techniques and skills…all about words, grammar, and how to get ideas across effectively in written form. This blog is one way I’ve been practicing my new skills. I’ve learned a great deal about the craft of writing in the past two years, and will continue to learn for years to come, I expect!

What if you don’t have the time?

Integrative Complexity, learning and integrating skills of diverse types and reading/learning daily, is a common trait of highly successful people like Barak Obama. We might think these busy people would have difficulty finding the time to read an hour a day. However, they regard learning as an activity important enough to justify the necessary time.

How can you create time for learning? One way is by reducing time spent on TV and social media. Another is to “multi-task” by listening to learn as you do another activity like driving or household chores. Most books are available in audio form now, and audio lectures, courses and educational podcasts abound on the internet, many at no or low cost.

Where to start?

A simple internet search can find information sources that interest you. Udemy is a website I came across with courses on many topics, and I found some excellent writing courses there. Digital Photography School’s website is where I indulge my passion for photography, reading tips and short articles each week. This educational blog format is particularly useful for those who just want a new ideas on their chosen topic on a regular basis. I also signed up for a wonderful free online photography course, A Year With My Camera, in January that’s taught me many new skills. They send a weekly email with information, techniques and exercises to practice what was discussed.

Choose a learning goal…

But, learning is most effective when we have a goal that we work toward, rather than just learning random facts and ideas. Putting what you’ve learned to use right away (as I’ve been doing with my writing skills in this blog) helps you to remember and integrate information, too. Experimenting with activities that use your new knowledge can also help you to learn quickly what else you need to learn to improve your new skills further.

So, take a minute to think about what you’d like to learn, or what you’ve always avoided doing because you feel uncomfortable about trying it. Research sources of information (YouTube.com is great for this) and wade in! Your brain and your career will more interesting and no doubt you’ll gain a sense of satisfaction and pride from your new skills…

Happy learning… and let me know if I can help (especially if one of your goals is to learn to be healthier!).

Sources and further reading:

Integrative complexity

5-Hour Rule (spending at least 5 hours a week learning)