Dr Tej K Munshi
The possibility of delaying the ageing process is more vivid now than the elapsed century. Credit goes to numerous factors like diet and awareness of risk factors for diseases like smoking, heavy drinking and mental upheavals. Heart disease, blood pressure and diabetes are the major maladies faced in the middle age. Added to this is the debility of numerous malignancies lately affecting us in the middle and later age. The age-related dementia and Alzheimer’s disease are the latest additions to the burden of the average healthy man now. It is now estimated that one in three seniors in the West, still dies with some form of dementia. Age is the main risk factor for neurodegenerative conditions. The brain normally shrinks with age, starting at midlife. There are changes at every level, from molecules to memory: loss of neurons and degeneration of the brain’s white matter, disruption of transmission of nerve signals. Decline starts in the cognitive front cortex of the brain, but winds up being pronounced in cerebellum, and the hippocampus, the brain’s learning and memory center. But there are exceptions who have no signs of any age-related disease even after they cross 80 or beyond.
Consumption of energy:
The most notable feature of the brain is its furious consumption of energy. Although it accounts for 2 percent of body weight, it is metabolically active that it consumes 20 percent of the body’s fuel. Evidence suggests that cognitive decline, including Alzheimer’s disease, may be a disturbance in the fuel operation by the brain. This process loses efficiency with age and is influenced by what we eat, affecting the primary glucose, the researchers find. The raging brain spews out highly unstable free radicals of oxygen that damage the machinery of cells and their protective membranes, which shows up as slowing of function and memory problem, believe the researchers in the field.
Why studies link Mediterranean diet to longevity:
The green Mediterranean diet is distinguished by provision of 1240 mg per day of polyphenols: 3-4 cups daily of green tea, rich in polyphenol epigallocatechin gallate, and 100 gm of duckweed, an aquatic plant consumed as a vegetable in south east Asia. Ducks and geese normally feed on it. Besides containing 200 polyphenols and full protein, with all nine essential amino acids, it is also rich in fiber, B vitamins, and minerals. Participants in the research study drank a green duckweed shake a day, without any red or processed meat in it. The less meat participants examined, the less brain atrophy they had. Thus the researchers believe that long term polyphenol enhancement potentiates the effects of a healthy lifestyle. Following physical activity and a Mediterranean diet, they deem it ‘a powerful strategy to halt or even reverse the progression’ of both cognitive and cardio metabolic decline. Polyphenols are especially abundant in cocoa, berries and spices such as cloves, as well as red wine, black olives, and green tea. They are also widely abundant in cocoa, berries and spices such as cloves, as well as red wine, black olives, and green tea. Moreover, compared to the standard western diet, especially the Mediterranean diet features less meat in favor of fish, fewer carbohydrates but greater amounts of monosaturated fats, notably olive oil; and significantly more plant-based foods, whole grains and nuts, besides lower amounts of fruits and vegetables. Fruits and vegetables are rich in substances like polyphenols that act as effective antioxidants that can maintain brain function, besides limiting the damages done by environment, poor soil, excess sun and infestation by bugs. Consumed by humans, plant-based polyphenols can cross the blood-brain-barrier, reduce stress and inflammation. They can also increase the cerebral blood flow and maintain the quality of white matter.
Mediterranean diet: Team of researchers from Harvard of US, Leipzig of Germany, and Ben-Gurion of Israel–Universities, has tweaked the standard medical diet of 284 participants, with average age of 50 years with obesity, feeding them with standard medical diet or green medical version for 18 months, besides the same version of physical activity. The researchers found that the green Mediterranean Diet participants showed significant attenuated brain atrophy, especially hippocampal loss shown on MRI. The effect was correlated with other improvements like blood glucose, insulin sensitivity, weight loss, and decreased blood pressure. While mental integrity improved too. Both medical groups consumed 25 gm a day of walnuts, providing 440 mg per day of polyphenols.
Nutrition and immune system:
The immune system is a sophisticated, complex system that works to keep us healthy in various roles throughout the body. Our immune system helps create boundaries to the outside, both those we can see (skin etc.) and those inside our body (airways and gastro-intestinal tract), and maintains surveillance through white blood cells. Eating nutrient-dense foods is important to support our immune health as well. Consuming proteins from foods like eggs, lean meat, low-fat dairy, and legumes supplies the immune system with amino-acid building blocks for its cells and functions. Vitamins A and C, found in red and orange foods, such as sweet potatoes, carrots, citrus and bell peppers, and Vitamin D, found in a few foods like fish and fortified dairy, help to sustain healthy skin and tissues. Antioxidants like Vitamins C and E and mineral Selenium help protect cells from oxidative damage. Nuts and seeds are rich in Vitamin E, and Selenium can be found in lean meats. One has to ensure that our maximum protein also has nutrients to help support our immune system basic protein, Vitamins A, C, D, and E, zinc and selenium. The immune system is fuelled by a well-balanced lifestyle, including proper sleep, regular exercise and intentional nutrition from foods.
Keep positive outlook and cultivate hope:
Being around positive people is one way to help an optimistic mindset. It does mean that hopeful people tend to spend more time associating with those who share a bright and proactive attitude. They maintain a healthy balance and never get overwhelmed by the negativity around them and remain compassionate mostly. When it comes to high hope people, they endeavor to see a silver lining, no matter what life throws at them. High hope people are also creative problem-solvers. When faced with a challenge they don’t give up easily. They invest their energy in the future and hunt for the good.
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