Life, Aging and ...

Featured

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

A new study compared low fat, low carb and Mediterranean diets. The findings were that those on the low carb and Mediterranean diets, lost more weight and had more improved cholesterol and triglyceride levels, than those on the low fat diet.

The study was conducted at a remote nuclear facility in Israel, so there was control over the diets of the participants. There were many more men than women in the study, so the findings for women may be less general. The low fat and Mediterranean were calorie restricted, the low carb diet was not calorie restricted.

All dieters lost weight, but those on the low fat diet lost the least. Men lost most on the low carb diet, whereas women lost most on the Mediterranean diet.

HDL cholesterol (the good cholesterol) increased most on the low carb diet, closely followed by the Mediterranean diet and the worst was the low fat diet. LDL cholesterol (the bad cholesterol) decreased the most on the Mediterranean diet, the low carb diet was intermediate and there was only a small decrease on the low fat diet. Triglycerides dropped most with the low carb diet, the Mediterranean diet had a slightly small drop and the low fat diet had a much smaller drop.

These results suggest that low carb and Mediterranean diets may be more effective than a low fat diet both for weight loss and improving cholesterol and triglyceride levels.

Since the low carb and Mediterranean diets are almost equally effective, then choosing the diet that suits your tastes and lifestyle, is going to be what is most successful.

The study is published in the New England Journal of Medicine 359:229-241, 2008.

photo credit: sethschoen

[tags]low fat, low carb, Mediterranean, diet, weight, cholesterol, triglycerides[/tag]

Popularity: 7% [?]

Aging

One of the problem with many drugs that are on the market is they were only tested on a certain population. It used to be that drugs were basically tested on white males in their middle years. Now there is much more testing on women but there is still not much testing on the aged. Why does being elderly make a difference? Here are two of the reasons.

As we age there are a range of changes in our bodies. This has implications for the medications we take. One of these is that the relative amount of fluid in our bodies decreases. Most drugs are not evenly distributed throughout the body, but are found either predominantly in either in fluid or in fat. The majority of drugs are in fluids, which includes blood, inside cells, between cells etc.

For a drug that is found in fluids, if the amount of fluid in the body is less, then for the same dose the concentration of the drug will be higher. Same amount in a smaller volume. This can mean that for the same dose the concentration of the drug in the body can be higher.

Additionally, some processes in the body slow down, whereas others do not. There are a range of mechanisms for clearing medications from the body (that’s why we have to keep taking them). Different drugs are cleared by different mechanisms. If one of these mechanisms is slower or does not work as well, for the same dose there will be drug may build up in the body.

Drugs have what is known as a therapeutic window. Below a certain concentration in the body, they have little or no effect. Above a certain concentration in the body, there will start to be serious side effects. Different drugs have different sized windows. If a drug has a narrow window, then an increase in concentration in the body can have serious consequences.

The bottom line is that a drug that works and is well tolerated in a younger person may or may not be suitable for an elderly person. This problem is compounded by the fact that as we age, we usually need to take many more medications. Many physicians do not fully consider the age of the person once they have reached adulthood. If you are involved in the care of any elderly persons, having them see a physician who specializes in gerontology may be helpful for quality of life, including less side effects and potential medication problems.

photo credit: peyri

Technorati Tags: medication, drug, clearance, volume of distribution

Popularity: 26% [?]

Skin

Kinerase cream and lotion are two products that seem to, at least in part, live up to the hype. They are recommended for improving the look of aging skin and seem to improve skin pigmentation with less blotchiness and a more even skin tone, and perhaps a reduction in minor wrinkles.

Both products contain kinerase or N6-furfuryladenine. The lotion, but not the cream, also contains retinyl palmitate, which is a retinoid that is converted in the skin to retinoic acid (retin-A). The lotion therefore packs more power but for some people may be more irritating unlike the cream.

N6-furfuryladenine is found in most cells of the body. Originally it was isolated from plants but has been found in nuclei of cells including human. Another common name is kinetin. In the scientific literature, kinetin is the name that is used.

Studies of keratinocytes (skin cells) and fibroblasts (also found in skin) have shown that kinerase treatment delays aging, particularly in the presence of high levels of calcium. In human studies there is some evidence of improved skin tone and more even pigmentation, and reduction in minor wrinkles. Recently kinerase has been found to be helpful for rosacea.

As well as being a signaling molecule that plays a role in regulation of maintenance and repair of cells, kinerase has been shown to have antioxidant effects. Additionally there is evidence that N6-furfuryladenine may improve the skin barrier and so reduce the loss of moisture from the skin.

As people get older they are more likely to become calcium deficient. Since, as stated above, high calcium levels added to the effect of kinerase, it may be that as well as reducing the rate of osteoporosis, calcium may help slow aging of skin too.

Kinerase Cream and Kinerase Lotion can be found at my favorite online skin store Dermadoctor.
Currently they have free shipping on domestic orders over $49.

Technorati Tags: kinerase, kinetin, N6-furfuryladenine, skin, pigmentation

Popularity: 17% [?]

Diet

The NY Times today has a list of 11 foods that you should be eating, but likely are not. How many do you eat?

They are 1) beets, 2) cabbage, 3) chard, 4) cinnamon, 5) pomegranate juice, 6) dried plums (newish name for prunes), 7) pumpkin seeds, turmeric*, 9) sardine, 10) frozen blueberries and 11) canned pumpkin.

I didn’t do very well. I regularly eat cabbage, chard, pomegranate juice, frozen blueberries and canned pumpkin. I loathe beets, so maybe for me the list should be 10. I am not very keen on sardines but will eat them. Perhaps I can find some way to disguise them a bit.

I started to buy canned pumpkin for the dog. It is good for dogs to get a dollop a day, particularly when they are getting old and/or have a significant part of their diet as raw meat, offal etc. They benefit from beta carotene too. So I usually have a dish of canned pumpkin (don’t leave in the can) in the fridge and often add a human dollop or two, to stews etc.

Wasn’t too keen on chard until one day I tried removing the stems, chopping them into about 1 inch lengths and frying them for a good few minutes before adding the wet leaves. Shame it is not cheaper.

Pomegranate juice and vodka is pretty good.

Between them these foods have a whole range of benefits such as anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory, antioxidants, lower cholesterol, improve diabetes, etc. See the article or more info.

So, I guess next time I go to the store, I might buy some prunes and pumpkin seeds and at home will cook with more cinnamon and turmeric. Will have to think about the sardines.

Link to article

* I have no idea where the happy face came from and why it replaced number eight. Deleting and retyping the text surrounding it does not help, it pops back up again instead of 8). I usually type the posts in Word and then copy and paste. Probably some weird piece of code that came from Word.

photo credit: Crystl

Technorati Tags: beets, pomegranate, chard, canned pumpkin

Popularity: 29% [?]