Written by Gerry Davies MD, owner of Lonjevity.net

 The good news is each lifestyle improvement step appears to have a compounding effect on life expectancy. 

 The common degenerative diseases including aging are largely influenced by chronic low grade inflammation that takes place in all of the cells and fluids of the body.  By taking steps to decrease inflammation one can slow down the whole process of aging and disease development and each step has an additive beneficial effect on health.

 Take for instance the article “Increased Body Mass Index Linked to Large Increase in Mortality Rate”.  The authors found a decrease in life expectancy with increasing obesity. A body mass index of 40 to 45 was associated with a 10 years average decrease in life expectancy.  Smoking, a potent cause of inflammation, was also associated with a 10 year decrease in life expectancy but the two together were additive and decreased life expectancy by 20 years.  http://lonjevity.net/content.php?pgID=44

 Another recent study “Anatomy of health effects of Mediterranean diet: Greek EPIC prospective cohort study”

 (http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/338/jun23_2/b2337?view=long&pmid=19549997).  They broke down 9 separate components of the Mediterranean diet to see which contributed to a lower mortality rate.  They found the greatest contribution to longevity was moderate alcohol consumption, which usually meant a couple of glasses of wine with dinner, with a 24% improvement in life expectancy.  Low meat consumption added 17%.  A high vegetable consumption adds a further 16%.  Another 10% with high fruit and nuts and another 10% with high olive oil use.  High consumption of legumes added a further 10% so that an 87% improvement in life expectancy was achieved in those who had all the above habits of the Mediterranean diet.  Consumption of fish, dairy and cereal was not associated with any change in life expectancy in this particular study.

 There are fascinating inter-relationships between obesity, metabolic syndrome, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease.  Firstly the main cause of obesity is the stimulation of fat synthesis and fat storage by the pancreatic hormone insulin.  Insulin is produced when blood glucose rises and the tragedy is that 75% of the calories consumed in America are high glycemic carbohydrates that cause the highest increase in blood glucose.  In addition to causing obesity high blood glucose is one of the main causes of chronic low grade inflammation and recent research has confirmed inflammation is a major cause of vascular diseases as well as the insulin resistance leading to type 2 diabetes,  http://content.onlinejacc.org/cgi/reprint/51/3/249.pdf  and if that wasn’t bad enough fat cells themselves actively secrete inflammatory substances into the circulation. 

 Surprisingly the link between glucose levels and circulatory disease is more important than cholesterol. Therefore, it is important to keep blood glucose low and not just for people with diabetes.  The Norfolk cancer study inadvertently discovered that progressively higher glucose was associated with increasing circulatory diseases and all causes of death. http://www.annals.org/cgi/content/abstract/141/6/413

 Replacing high glycemic foods with low glycemic foods benefits not only by keeping glucose low but they are mainly whole plant based foods and good sources of fiber and antioxidants which decrease cell damage and inflammation.

 No study has ever addressed the cumulative gains from making multiple changes in beneficial lifestyle choices.  The speculation is that one would live an active life until one’s genetically determined life expectancy which could be well in excess of 100 years old.

 Here is a list of measures to improve health and prevent disease:  If you incorporate them all they will add up to big gains in healthy life extension.

1.      Weight loss in an obvious one and all of the steps listed here will not only improve health but lead to weight loss and a lean strong physique.

2.      Lower your blood sugar:  Higher blood sugar levels even in non diabetics directly correlate with all causes of mortality. [see links 1,2,3,4 below]

a.      Maintaining low blood sugar is difficult because over 70% of calories consumed are high glycemic foods (HGI). http://www.lonjevity.net/content.php?pgID=33  One truly needs to be a glycemic food detective to eliminate them and instead consume high fiber whole plant based foods which are digested and absorbed slowly and don’t increase blood sugar levels. 

b.      Start by eliminating sugar, high fructose corn syrup, caloric sweeteners like agave, maple, honey, white flour, potatoes, white rice, corn flour products

3.      Maximize anti-inflammatory food consumption. 

a.      These are largely whole plant based foods with their myriad of antioxidant compounds.  Colorful fruits, vegetables, whole grains, herbs, spices, teas, etc.

b.      Omega 3 oils are anti-inflammatory. Fish oil, Krill Oil and some algal oils are the best source

c.      Other oils which are anti-inflammatory are canola, olive, flax, avocado, coconut, walnut

4.      Decrease consumption of meat and dairy products but not eliminate them.  This is the “Flexitarean” dietary approach

5.      Moderate consumption of alcohol.  Red wine may have particular benefits.  Abstinence from alcohol as well as excessive consumption both decrease life expectation.

6.      Very low fat diet is not beneficial and may be harmful as it leads to a decrease in the anti-inflammatory high density lipoprotein HDL.  The very low, HGI carbohydrate diet has been shown to be much better at controlling weight and inflammatory markers. [3]

7.      Exercise:  especially interval aerobic conditioning and strength training

8.      Stop smoking:  Smoke inhalation causes lung damage and generalized inflammation throughout the body. 

References

1.      Heart attack risk more than doubles at blood sugar levels considered to be "prediabetic"  http://www.phlaunt.com/diabetes/15945839.php

2.      Postmeal glucose peaks at home associate with carotid intima-media thickness in type 2 diabetes Katherine Esposito, et. al. J Clin Endo doi:10.1210/jc.2007-2000

3.      Association of Hemoglobin A1c with Cardiovascular Disease and Mortality in Adults: The European Prospective Investigation into Cancer in Norfolk. Kay-Tee Khaw, MBBChir FRCP; Nicholas Wareham, MBBS, FRCP; Sheila Bingham, PhD; Robert Luben, BSc; Ailsa Welch, BSc; and Nicholas Day, PhD.Annals of Internal Medicine, 9/21/2004, Vol 141, no 6, 413-420   http://www.annals.org/cgi/content/abstract/141/6/413

4.      Glycemic Control and Coronary Heart Disease Risk in Persons With and Without Diabetes. The Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study. Elizabeth Selvin,et. al. Arch Intern Med. 2005;165:1910-1916.  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=16157837