Category: Longevity & Health

A new study on fitness and dementia from the University of Gothenburg in Sweden suggests women with high physical fitness in middle age are nearly 90% less likely to develop dementia decades later, compared with women who are moderately fit. If these highly fit women did develop dementia, they did so on average 11 years later than women who were moderately fit, or at age 90 instead of age 79.

“These findings are exciting because it’s possible that improving people’s cardiovascular fitness in middle age could delay or even prevent them from developing dementia,” said study author Helena Hörder. “However, this study does not show cause and effect between cardiovascular fitness and dementia, it only shows an association. More research is needed to see if improved fitness could have a positive effect on the risk of dementia and also to look at when during a lifetime a high fitness level is most important.”

For the study, 191 women, average age 50, took a bicycle exercise test to measure their peak cardiovascular capacity. A total of 40 women met the criteria for a high fitness level, 92 women were in the medium fitness category, and 59 women were low fitness.

Over the next 44 years, subjects were tested for dementia six times. During that period, 44 developed dementia: 5% of the highly fit women; 25% of moderately fit women: 32% of the women with low fitness. The highly fit women were 88% less likely to develop dementia than the moderately fit women.

Some women had to stop the original exercise test due to problems such as chest pain or high blood pressure; 45% of this group developed dementia.

(Neurology Journal, 14 March 2018 online.)

Researchers at the University of Birmingham and King’s College London have found that staying active keeps the body young and healthy. They set out to assess the health of older adults who had been active most of their adult lives to see whether exercise slows down ageing.

The study recruited 125 amateur cyclists aged 55 to 79, 84 of whom were male and 41 were female. The men had to be able to cycle 100 km in under 6.5 hours, while the women had to be able to cycle 60 km in 5.5 hours. Smokers, heavy drinkers and those with high blood pressure or other health conditions were excluded from the study. Participants underwent a series of tests, and were compared to a group of adults who did not partake in regular physical activity. This group consisted of 75 healthy people aged 57 to 80 and 55 healthy young adults aged 20 to 36.

As expected, the study showed that loss of muscle mass and strength did not occur in those who exercised regularly. The cyclists also did not increase their body fat or cholesterol levels with age and the men’s testosterone levels remained high. More surprisingly though, the study revealed that the benefits of exercise extend beyond muscle as the cyclists had an immune system that did not seem to have aged either. An organ called the thymus, which makes immune cells called T cells, starts to shrink from the age of 20 and makes fewer T cells. In this study however, the cyclists’ thymuses were making as many T cells as those of a young person.

Professor Janet Lord, Director of the Institute of Inflammation and Ageing at the University of Birmingham, said, “Hippocrates in 400 BC said that exercise is man’s best medicine, but his message has been lost over time and we are an increasingly sedentary society. Our research means we now have strong evidence that encouraging people to commit to regular exercise throughout their lives is a viable solution to the problem that we are living longer but not healthier.”

Norman Lazarus, Emeritus Professor at King’s College London and Dr Ross Pollock, who undertook the muscle study, suggested, “Find an exercise that you enjoy in whatever environment that suits you and make a habit of physical activity. You will reap the rewards in later life by enjoying an independent and productive old age.”

(Properties of the vastus lateralis muscle in relation to age and physiological function in master cyclists aged 55–79 years. Aging Cell, 8 March 2018.

Major features of Immunesenescence, including Thymic atrophy, are ameliorated by high levels of physical activity in adulthood. Aging Cell, 8 March 2018.)

A major new study by researchers at the University of Edinburgh, indicates that maintaining a healthy weight and continuing in further education, are two of the best behaviours to adopt to extend our lifespan. Data was drawn from 25 separate population studies mainly across Europe, Australia and North America. For each year spent studying beyond school, 11 months was added to lifespan. Giving up smoking and being open to new experiences also seem helpful. However, for people who are overweight, each extra kilogramme of body weight is associated with two months off their lifespan. The study identified two new DNA differences which affect lifespan: a gene linked to the immune system adds around half a year to life expectancy whilst one linked to blood cholesterol levels shortens it by around eight months.

Dr Peter Joshi, Chancellor’s Fellow at the University of Edinburgh’s Usher Institute, said: “Our study has estimated the causal effect of lifestyle choices. We found that, on average, smoking a pack a day reduces lifespan by seven years, whilst losing one kilogram of weight will increase your lifespan by two months.”

(Genome-wide meta-analysis associates HLA-DQA1/DRB1 and LPA and lifestyle factors with human longevity. Nature Communications, on-line 13 October 2017.)

In NGS National Gardens and Health Week, it seems appropriate to survey what we now know about how gardening and access to green spaces, impacts on our well being. Much of what is “discovered” in scientific research into this topic, will come as no surprise to keen gardeners or those who know them.

In the UK, 87% of households have a garden, and half the adult population in England report gardening as a free time activity: homing in on age ranges, this figure is 40% in the 25-44 age group and 70% for those aged 65-74. Increasing numbers of younger adults would like to grow food. As an indicator of the direction in which gardeners’ interests overall are moving, sales of vegetable seeds have recently exceeded those of flower seeds for the first time since the Second World War.

It has been established that time spent in green spaces is linked to a long-term reduction in reported health problems. This includes heart disease, cancer, musculoskeletal problems, obesity, depression and anxiety. School gardening is linked with a significant increase in fruit and vegetable intake by children. Allotment gardening improves mood and self-esteem, and reduces cortisol levels (a measure of stress) in subjects compared with their matched controls. Studies in Holland, Japan and Canada indicate that for every 10% increase in exposure to green space, people enjoy health equivalent to that of someone five years younger. Living in areas with green spaces is associated with significantly less income-related health inequality.

As we get older, gardening becomes relatively more important as a physical activity. There is emerging evidence of a link with prevention of falls, dementia and cognitive decline.

The NHS is beginning to use social prescribing and community referral, having recognised that social and economic factors play a role in underpinning health: Lambeth GP Food Co-op covers eleven practices where patients with long-term conditions work together to grow food. Horatio’s Garden creates and maintains gardens in NHS spinal injury centres.

So in addition to spending time in your own garden, consider visiting others in the south-west which are open this week under the NGS scheme

(Gardens and health: Implications for policy and practice. The King’s Fund, May 2016.)

A meta-analysis of 25 double-blind, randomised, controlled trials covering 11 000 participants, has concluded that vitamin D supplementation is both safe and can help provide protection against acute respiratory tract infections.
Participants ranged in age up to 95, and data on a host of factors was assessed, including incidence of infections, their requirement for antibiotics, and number of days off school or work. Trials had taken place in 14 countries across 4 continents. Protective effects were strongest in those who already had profound vitamin D deficiency at baseline.

There were no serious adverse events associated with taking vitamin D. Concerns normally centre around raised blood calcium levels and kidney stones; these were no higher in the vitamin D groups compared to the control groups.

The researchers say their results add to the body of evidence supporting the introduction of public health measures such as food fortification, to improve vitamin D status, particularly in settings where profound vitamin D deficiency is common.

Public Health England recommended in 2016 that everyone needs vitamin D equivalent to an average daily intake of 10 micrograms, although this is intended to protect bone and muscle health.

(Vitamin D supplementation to prevent acute respiratory tract infections: systematic review and meta-analysis of individual participant data. British Medical Journal, online 15 February 2017.)