SUBJ: Proper anti-aging diets still undetermined
SUBtitle: More protein in diet preserves muscle strength
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Lots of nutrition news this week. Promising possibilities I mention but need to be discussed with specialists.
SHORT NOTES: Anti-aging diets, caloric restriction, fasting, protein and ketogenic diets hold promise, but cannot yet be recommended for healthy people; Higher protein intakes were associated with greater appendicular lean mass and handgrip strength; Higher ultra-processed food intake was associated with a 19% higher risk of coronary artery disease; Physical exercise is generally beneficial to all aspects of human and animal health, slowing cognitive ageing and neurodegeneration; A chemical isolated from grape seed extract, procyanidin C1, prolongs the lifespans of old mice by 9 per cent; Plant-Based Diets for Personal, Population, and Planetary Health; We observed that higher diet quality is associated with a greater whole blood derived mitochondrial DNA copy; single 670 nm light exposures were demonstrated to improve aged mitochondrial function and enhance colour vision in older people; Cellular increases in oxidative stress (OxS) and decline in mitochondrial function are identified as key defects in aging, and a combination of glycine and N-acetylcysteine as a cysteine precursor appears to reverse multiple aging hallmarks; Addition of a relatively high culinary dosage of mixed herbs and spices tended to improve 24-h blood pressure; evidence on the association between higher predicted circulating vitamin D levels and a lower risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection; malignant cells in hematologic cancer (leukemia, lymphoma, and multiple myeloma etc.) rely on a cytoskeletal protein, called WASp. Attacking WASp can destroy malignant cells without threatening healthy ones; frequent nut consumption was not associated with risk of total cancer and common individual cancers; The importance of food systems and the environment for nutrition ; no important association between total, dietary or supplemental vitamin C intake and breast cancer risk.
LONG NOTES:
Anti-aging diets; Science pg 953: Caloric restriction, fasting, protein and ketogenic diets hold promise, but carefully controlled studies are needed before any can be recommended for healthy people.
Higher protein intakes were associated with greater appendicular lean mass and handgrip strength adjusted for BMI in this representative sample of US middle-aged adults. Our findings highlight the need for further research on dietary protein as a potential modifying factor of sarcopenia risk in middle age.
There were 2006 incident coronary artery disease cases documented over a median follow-up of 27 y. Higher ultra-processed food intake was associated with a 19% higher risk of coronary artery disease among middle-aged US adults.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-04183-x
Abstract; Physical exercise is generally beneficial to all aspects of human and animal health, slowing cognitive ageing and neurodegeneration. The cognitive benefits of physical exercise are tied to an increased plasticity and reduced inflammation within the hippocampus, yet little is known about the factors and mechanisms that mediate these effects. Here we show that ‘runner plasma’, collected from voluntarily running mice and infused into sedentary mice, reduces baseline neuroinflammatory gene expression and experimentally induced brain inflammation. Plasma proteomic analysis revealed a concerted increase in complement cascade inhibitors including clusterin (CLU). Intravenously injected CLU binds to brain endothelial cells and reduces neuroinflammatory gene expression in a mouse model of acute brain inflammation and a mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease. Patients with cognitive impairment who participated in structured exercise for 6 months had higher plasma levels of CLU. These findings demonstrate the existence of anti-inflammatory exercise factors that are transferrable, target the cerebrovasculature and benefit the brain, and are present in humans who engage in exercise.
A chemical isolated from grape seed extract, procyanidin C1, prolongs the lifespans of old mice by 9 per cent by clearing out their old, worn-out cells. The treatment also seems to make the mice physically fitter and reduces the size of tumours when used alongside chemotherapy to treat cancer. The finding strengthens the case for future anti-ageing therapies that target senescent cells – aged cells that lose their ability to replicate and instead churn out substances that cause inflammation.
Plant-Based Diets for Personal, Population, and Planetary Health. If widely implemented, interventions and policy changes that shift the globe towards healthy plant-based dietary patterns could be instrumental in ensuring future personal, population, and planetary health.
We observed that higher diet quality is associated with a greater whole blood derived mitochondrial DNA copy number (mtDNA-CN) in middle aged to older adults in Framingham Heart Study (FHS) participants with mean age of 57 years. A higher DASH score was positively associated with mtDNA-CN after adjusting for sex, age, energy intake, smoking status, alcohol intake, and physical activity level. Blood cell composition, particularly neutrophil counts, attenuated the association between diet quality and mtDNA-CN.
“Weeklong improved colour contrasts sensitivity after single 670 nm exposures associated with enhanced mitochondrial function” Mitochondrial decline in ageing robs cells of ATP. However, animal studies show that long wavelength exposure (650–900 nm) over weeks partially restores ATP and improves function. The likely mechanism is via long wavelengths reducing nanoscopic interfacial water viscosity around ATP rota pumps, improving their efficiency. Recently, repeated 670 nm exposures have been used on the aged human retina, which has high-energy demands and significant mitochondrial and functional decline, to improve vision. We show here that single 3 min 670 nm exposures, at much lower energies than previously used, are sufficient to significantly improve for 1 week cone mediated colour contrast thresholds (detection) in ageing populations (37–70 years) to levels associated with younger subjects. But light needs to be delivered at specific times. In environments with artificial lighting humans are rarely dark-adapted, hence cone function becomes critical. This intervention, demonstrated to improve aged mitochondrial function can be applied to enhance colour vision in old age.
Cellular increases in oxidative stress (OxS) and decline in mitochondrial function are identified as key defects in aging, but underlying mechanisms are poorly understood and interventions are lacking. It is particularly exciting that GlyNAC (combination of glycine and N-acetylcysteine as a cysteine precursor) supplementation appears to reverse multiple aging hallmarks, and if confirmed in a randomized clinical trial, it could introduce a transformative paradigm shift in aging and geriatrics. GlyNAC supplementation could be a novel nutritional approach to improve age-associated defects and promote healthy aging, and existing data strongly support the need for additional studies to explore the role and impact of GlyNAC supplementation in aging.
Addition of a relatively high culinary dosage of mixed herbs and spices tended to improve 24-h blood pressure after 4 wk, compared with lower dosages
Our study provides suggestive evidence on the association between higher predicted circulating 25(OH)D levels and a lower risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Greater intake of vitamin D supplements was associated with a lower risk of hospitalization.
Scientists at Israel’s Bar-Ilan University have found that malignant cells in hematologic cancer (leukemia, lymphoma, and multiple myeloma etc.), rely on a cytoskeletal protein, called WASp. Attacking WASp can destroy malignant cells without threatening healthy ones.
In 3 large prospective cohorts, frequent nut consumption was not associated with risk of total cancer and common individual cancers.
The importance of food systems and the environment for nutrition
Dietary and Supplemental Vitamin C Intake and Risk of Breast Cancer: Results from the Nurses’ Health Studies Our results do not support any important association between total, dietary or supplemental vitamin C intake and breast cancer risk.
