Tag: Longevity

Healthy Longevity | The Nutrition Source

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Healthy Longevity | The Nutrition Source

Longevity is the achievement of a long life. We may hope for longevity so that we can experience many years of quality time with loved ones or have time to explore the world. But living to a ripe old age doesn’t necessarily mean healthy or happy longevity if it is burdened by disability or disease. The population of people over age 65 has grown more quickly than other age groups due to longer life spans and declining birth rates, and yet people are living more years in poor health. [1] Therefore, we will explore not just one’s lifespan but healthspan, which promotes more healthy years of life.

What you do today can transform your healthspan or how you age in the future. Although starting early is ideal, it’s never too late to reap benefits.

Five Key Lifestyle Factors

Researchers from Harvard University looked at factors that might increase the chances of a longer life. [2] Using data collected from men and women from the Nurses’ Health Study and Health Professionals Follow-up Study who were followed for up to 34 years, researchers identified five low-risk lifestyle factors: healthy diet, regular exercise (at least 30 minutes daily of moderate to vigorous activity), healthy weight (as defined by a body mass index of 18.5-24.9), no smoking, and moderate alcohol intake (up to 1 drink daily for women, and up to 2 daily for men). Compared with those who did not incorporate any of these lifestyle factors, those with all five factors lived up to 14 years longer.

In a follow-up study, the researchers found that those factors might contribute to not just a longer but also a healthier life. [2] They saw that women at age 50 who practiced four or five of the healthy habits listed above lived about 34 more years free of diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and cancer, compared with 24 more disease-free years in women who practiced none of these healthy habits. Men practicing four or five healthy habits at age 50 lived about 31 years free of chronic disease, compared with 24 years among men who practiced none. Men who were current heavy smokers, and men and women with obesity, had the lowest disease-free life expectancy.

  1. Healthy diet – The prevalence of hypertension (high blood pressure) and dementia increases with age. Eating patterns such as those from the DASH, MIND, and Mediterranean diets can lower the risk
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Fitness May Matter More Than Weight Loss for Health and Longevity

Vera
Fitness May Matter More Than Weight Loss for Health and Longevity

Dec. 28, 2021 — Numbers are easier. That may be why a person’s weight — and the desire of millions of people to lose weight — is the first topic under discussion when it comes to health and longevity. Not long after you walk into your doctor’s exam room, for example, you’ll step on a scale. It’s usually the first measurement they take, ahead of vital signs like blood pressure and heart rate.

This makes sense. It’s a number, which means it’s easy to see if your weight has changed in either direction since the last time they weighed you.

But there’s an unintended result: You come away thinking that your weight is every bit as important as how well your heart and blood vessels are working, and that losing a few pounds will improve your health in tangible, long-lasting ways.

Yes, weight loss has proven health benefits. But should weight loss be the top priority for everyone classified as “overweight” or “obese” — a demographic that now includes three-quarters of all American adults?

“The weight loss message is not, and has not been, working,” says Glenn Gaesser, PhD, a professor of exercise science at Arizona State University.



He’s among a growing number of health experts who believe that weight loss may not be the most important benefit when it comes to adopting a healthier lifestyle. That’s especially true if you compare it to the benefits of increasing your fitness level, as Gaesser and a co-author did in a recent study.

Intentional weight loss — that is, losing weight on purpose, rather than because of an injury or illness — is usually associated in studies with a lower risk of death from any cause. The effect is most powerful among those with obesity and/or type 2 diabetes.

But here’s an interesting wrinkle: The amount of weight lost doesn’t seem to change the risk of dying. If the weight itself is the problem, why wouldn’t those who lost the most get the biggest risk reduction?


Gaesser is skeptical that the health benefits of weight loss are entirely or even mainly caused by a lower number on the scale. Many clinical weight loss trials — studies in which people take part in a structured program — also include exercise and diet components.

Moving more and eating better

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