Purpose: u00a0Exploration of phospholipid balance, genetic expression, impact of toxicity and longevity through examination of fatty acid imbalances revealed through red cell lipid biopsy from Johns Hopkins with definitive medical approaches towards metabolic stability of lipid metabolism and longevity.
Introduction
In the past century, a combination of successful public health campaigns, changes in living environments, and advances in medicine have led to a dramatic increase in human life expectancy. Long lives experienced by unprecedented numbers of people in developed countries are a triumph of human ingenuity.
Only one intervention has been proven to extend both the average and maximum lifespan of all animal species tested: reducing the consumption of dietary calories, or caloric restriction (CR). While widely recommended, exercise and nutritional supplementation have not been shown to extend maximum lifespan.
New research suggests that green tea may slow down the muscle wasting seen that occurs in muscular dystrophy. The study of mice with a Duchenne muscular dystrophy-like disease revealed that daily doses of green tea extract appeared to slow down deterioration of some muscle tissue. The researchers believe that the extract may work by combating oxidative stress in the muscle.
Health experts are warning of the dangers of vitamin-B12 deficiency after a recent study revealed that the problem is much more common than previously thought. The study of 2,999 people found that 39% of individuals had low-to-normal blood levels of the vitamin, 17% had levels low enough to cause symptoms of deficiency, and 9% were deficient.
Kathleen M. Koehler of the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration reports that thousands of people could be spared heart attacks each year if food manufacturers reduced use of trans fatty acids, a by-product of hydrogenation (a technique that solidifies liquid oils for use in processed foods), which has been implicated in causing buildup of cholesterol in arteries.
Researchers at the University Hospital Saint Orsola-Malpighi, the Rizzoli Orthapaedic Institute and the University of Bologna in Italy studied men and women ages 90 to 106 living in northern Italy, and found that: half were low in selenium 52% of the men and 41% of the women were low in zinc, and 40% of the men and 59% of the women were low in vitamin B-6.
According to research released by The Commonwealth Fund, a private foundation, at least one-third of the 1.6 million nursing home residents in the United States may suffer from dehydration and malnutrition, which can aggravate pre-existing medical conditions and lead to weight loss and even death. A 1987 federal law requires nursing homes to meet residents' nutritional needs.
High-protein diets such as The Atkins Diet and The Zone may help people to lose weight, but they may also severely compromise long-term health, say experts from the American Heart Association's (AHA) nutrition committee. Although no long-term studies of the safety of these high-protein diets have been carried out, certain evidence suggests that they can cause heart disease, and kidney, liver, and bone problems.
Women who eat a wide variety of healthy foods may significantly lower their risk of dying from such things as cancer, heart disease and stroke. Researchers at the National Cancer Institute's nutritional epidemiology branch looked at overall eating patterns and found that a diet that includes plenty of fruits, vegetables, whole grains and low-fat meat and dairy products reduces a woman's chances of dying - up to 30 percent for women who ate the healthiest diets compared with those with the most unhealthy eating habits.
