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Fighting the effects of aging: diet, exercise and supplements keep cells fit

Vegetarian Times, Oct, 2002 by Marshall Jr. Norton

With a history of heart disease no her father's side of the family, Pamela Peeke, MD, MPH, has a vested interest in staying healthy as she grows older. The chance that she might develop medical problems in the future prompted her to study nutrition--a subject Peeke believes many physicians still are unfamiliar with. "They never taught me five minutes of it in medical school," she remembers, but she believes it's a subject everyone should take to heart as they age.

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If, like Peeke, you're a Baby Boomer, you need to know what aging is and what natural products may help you make the transition in a healthy, positive way. One way to understand aging is to consider it a process called senescence. According to the American Federation for Aging Research (AFAR), as normal cells near the end of their lives, they lose their ability to divide and reproduce. For example, certain skin cells produce collagen--a protein present in healthy skin and bone. As those skin cells grow older, they begin to work against you, switching from producing collagen to producing collagenase, an enzyme that actually breaks down the skin-enhancing collagen. AFAR says scientists think this process might be responsible for the thinning and wrinkling of skin as people age. So studying senescence can provide important clues to the aging process.

Although aging is inevitable, there are steps you can take to combat effects such as the onset of wrinkles or the increased risk of developing serious conditions like cancer. By combining a well-rounded diet, nutritional supplements geared toward your individual needs and regular exercise, you'll at the very least be able to slow the effects of senescence, keeping your cells--and yourself--healthy.

Peeke, an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, says she was an athletic tomboy growing up, and it wasn't until high school that she became interested in science and medicine. These days, when she isn't running in the New York City Marathon--she ran in November 2001 with 12 of her patients, the Peeke Performers--Peeke gives lectures on metabolism or provides nutrition commentary on television talk shows.

Author of Fighting Fat After Forty, Peeke says her work has been based on the relationship between nutrition and stress. "Clearly, you accelerate the aging process when you overeat due to stress," she says. People who have stress, whether it's caused by depression, fatigue or the workplace, tend to overeat fatty, processed foods that contain unhealthy trans-fatty acids such as hydrogenated oils. Many food manufacturers go to great lengths to make sure their products stay fresh on the grocery shelf and in your pantry, but those same ingredients that keep food fresh have the opposite effect on your body. "I read labels, looking for `fake foods,'" says Peeke. "Do they contain hydrogenated oils? Are they over-salted? Over-caffeinated?"

Peeke says most of her meals are vegetarian, yet she chooses to get protein in her diet by eating fish four or five times a week. Peeke says the omega-3 fatty acids found in fish promote cellular health by significantly reducing the risk of heart disease and stroke, as well as helping prevent recurrences in people who have experienced such problems.

Whether you're a vegetarian or not, Peeke says a few simple principles are important: "Fruits, vegetables and whole grains are your natural medicine cabinet." As long as your diet is based on these healthy basics, and you're getting the highest amount of protein that you can, "that's the recipe for optimal cellular health."

Radical Thinking

"Unless you take the necessary steps to help counteract the unrelenting attack from free radicals--chemical compounds that are unstable due to a missing electron--you run the risk of allowing cumulative damage to your tissues, joints, organs and blood vessels," says Debora Robinett, RD, a registered dietitian who offers nutritional consultation in Tacoma, Washington. Free radicals attack molecules in your body and become more troublesome as you age.

"Free radicals have been implicated in kidney disease, cataracts, inflammatory bowel disease, colitis, lung dysfunction, pancreatitis, drug reactions, skin lesions and aging," Robinett says.

Heart disease and cancer are two of the most widespread diseases associated with free-radical damage. Several factors, such as high blood-cholesterol levels, hypertension, cigarette smoking and diabetes, are chief culprits in the promotion of heart disease--the leading cause of death in the United States, responsible for as many as one in three deaths among Americans. However, several recent studies show that the free-radical-fighting properties of antioxidants have a positive effect on the heart. For instance, a study published in April 2002 in the British medical journal Lancet concludes that taking vitamins C and E--two important antioxidants--could prevent patients from developing atherosclerosis--hardening of the arteries--in the first year after receiving a heart transplant.

Fighting the effects of aging: diet, exercise and supplements keep cells fit

Vegetarian Times, Oct, 2002 by Marshall Jr. Norton

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