Becoming Nicer As You Age

An Internet survey of over 132,000 adults aged 21 to 60 published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology found that more people described themselves as warm, generous and helpful after age 30. The conclusion - people become nicer as they age. So…if you have a curmudgeon in your life there's still hope.

Speaking Of Living Longer

Cynthia Kenyon, a structural biologist at University of California at San Francisco, was able to suppress a single gene in worms extending their normal life span six fold. Usually these worms live about 20 days. Her worms lived more than 120 days plus they remained robust almost until they died. She's working on creating a human antiaging pill. So...until the pill is perfected, keep taking that vacation.

ELDERLY BENEFIT FROM TAI CHI

Tai Chi consists of breathing exercises performed in conjunction with a series of body postures. In a recent issue of the Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, researchers found that tai chi "may be beneficial to elderly individuals for muscular strength and endurance enhancement," and that it is safer, more cost-effective and easier to perform than other forms of exercise. Every session consisted of a 20-minute warm-up period, 24 minutes of Yang tai chi training, and 10 minutes of cool down exercises. Both men and women appeared to show "significant" increased in muscle strength after participating in the tai chi program.

Berries, Another Way To Keep Brain Function

A study published in the Annals of Neurology found that the regular consumption of blueberries and strawberries appeared to delay cognitive aging such as thinking, remembering and reasoning by up to 2.5 years.
It appears that it is the flavonoid anthocyanin's in the berries that helps protect the body’s cells from damage and reduce inflammation.
The researchers used the data from the U.S. Nurses’ Health Study, which began in 1980 and collected dietary information every fours years on 16,000 female volunteers. The nurses that had the best benefit had the highest intake of berries, which was more than a ½ a cup once a week.
I suggest 1/2 cup per day!

Vitamin D May Lower Risk Of Alzheimer’s Disease

A study published in the Journal of Gerontology: Medical Science reported that the highest average intakes of Vitamin D reduced the risk of Alzheimer’s disease by a whopping 77%.
The researchers concluded that low consumption of Vitamin D precedes the onset of Alzheimer’s disease.
 
The researchers analyzed data from 498 women with an average age of 79.8 who did not take Vitamin D supplements. The researchers assessed the intake of Vitamin D from food frequency questionnaires and followed the women for seven years.
They found that the highest levels of Vitamin D had the lowest risk of Alzheimer’s.
If you take a Vitamin D supplement to make sure you are getting a sufficient amount, make sure its Vitamin D3 and you can take around 5000 IUs per day.

Magnesium Deficiency Showing Up In Alzheimer’s Patients

A study published in Magnesium Research found that people with mild-to-moderate Alzheimer’s disease who had low levels of ionized magnesium had the most impaired cognitive function compared to a control group.

There are two way to test for magnesium levels. One is the one docs usually use which is serum total magnesium levels. This test did not show a deficiency. The deficiency did show up when the ion test was done.

The researchers said that magnesium deficiency overexcites the brain’s neurons which results in less coherence and reduced cognitive function. So…to make sure you have the right levels of magnesium, make sure to ask your doc to run the ion test.

Going To The Hospital Can Be Dangerous For Dementia Sufferers

A new study found that people with dementia are more likely to be hospitalized than other older adults. While the reason they go into the hospital was not related to their dementia, just going into the hospital increased the likelihood that within the next year they would wind up in a nursing home or they would die.

The study examined the medical records of 771 Alzheimer’s patients who were living at home and fairly high-functioning. About half wound up in the hospital. Normally each year about 4% of the patients who weren’t hospitalized entered a nursing home and 2% died. With the Alzheimer’s patients, 29% wound up going from the hospital to the nursing home and 43% of those with delirium wound up in the nursing home.

Finally, of those who survived the initial hospitalization, 9% died in the next year and 15% of those suffering delirium died.

The researchers are not clear on why this was happening. So…the easy answer is to stay out of the hospital as it can be bad for your health.

(Associated Press, June 20, 2012)

Feedback From Wisconsin Assoc. of Homes and Services for the Aging on my Programs

I recently spoke to the Wisconsin Association of Homes and Services for the Aging. Here’s the feedback that I received from Janice Mashak, Director of Member Services:

“There are so many professional speakers today making grandiose promises to meeting planners. What makes you so refreshingly different is the fact that you deliver on everything you promise!

You promised you would have people talking about your presentation throughout the conference, and they did. You promised you would share information that participants could put to use immediately to help them reduce stress and practice better time management skills, and they are. You promised participants would ask that we bring you back for future programs, and they are.

As a matter of fact, you delivered 100% on every promise you made."

Thanks Janice!!

Taking B-Vitamins May Help Reduce The Risk Of Alzheimer’s Disease

A study published in Public Library of Science One conducted by the University of Oxford found that a combination of folic acid, Vitamins B6 and B12 (which are all B-Vitamins) appears to slow brain atrophy in elderly patients with mild cognitive impairment.

The study followed 168 participants over two years. One-half were treated with a European drug called TrioBe Plus® which contained a combination of folic acid (0.8 mg/d), and Vitamins B6 (20 mg/d) and B12 (o.5 mg/d). The other group received a placebo.

Those taking the vitamins had on average 29.6% less brain shrinkage. The vitamins also reduced homocysteine by 22.5%. Homocysteine was found in The Framingham Study to double a person’s risk of dementia if they had homocysteine levels above 14 micromoles per liter of serum.

By the way, this is an example of where a drug company is researching a combination of vitamins and if successful, then the drug company will patent the vitamin formula. The drug company will then be able to raise the price of the vitamins to drug price levels.

Fortunately, you can still get a B-Complex which will have all these ingredients. You can even buy them separately. So…if someone you know has dementia, get them taking these B-Vitamins.

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So, What to Do If You Do Have Abnormal Test Results on the Alzheimer’s Balance Test?

Until recently there hasn’t been a really effective treatment for Alzheimer’s disease. The only approach was prevention strategies.

Well, there is now a safe, inexpensive and effective treatment. It is using vitamin B3 – Nicotinic Acid (in the form of niacinamide, a no-flush form of niacin or B3).

Nicotinic acid (B3) and its amide, niacinamide, are called vitamers, because both equivalently act as a vitamin. Niacin (a word derived from the Nicotinic acid vitamin) is a generic term describing both vitamers together.

An observational study of over 6,000 people 65 years of age and older found that compared to people in the lowest fifth of niacin intake, those with higher intake had reduced between 20% to 50% the progression and risk of Alzheimer's Disease. This result was after adjustment for age, sex, race, education, ApoE type and intake of vitamins E & C as well as beta-carotene. The effect was specific to B3, as opposed to the other B vitamins [JOURNAL OF NEUROLOGY, NEUROSURGERY, AND PSYCHIATRY; Morris,MC; 75(8):1093-1099 (2004)].

In further research, Niacinamide was also shown to cause a 60% decrease in the marker called tau protein.

Niacinamide additionally increased microtubules, which carry information inside brain cells. Microtubules are like highways inside the cells. Niacinamide makes the highways wider and more stable.

Some of the research done with mice and niacinamide brought the mice back to the level where they didn’t have the pathology. It even improved the behavior in non-demented animals.

The researchers think that niacinamide is good for Alzheimer’s disease and normal people, too. Since niacinamide has been used extensively for many purposes over the past 60 years, its safety is well proven.

The amount of niacinamide that is recommended is 1,000 milligrams taken three times a day.

In adult doses above 3 grams per day niacinamide has a potential for causing liver damage [DIABETOLOGIA; Knip,M; 43(11):1337-1345 (2000)].  Always seek your doctor’s advice in determining dosage safe for you.

As an aside, nearly everyone in another study reported that their arthritis symptoms disappeared after three to four of months of taking niacinamide.

A Balance Test to Predict Alzheimer’s Disease

There’s now a simple balance test that may predict cognitive decline in Alzheimer’s Disease.

This study was published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease and was carried out in 16 university hospitals with 686 outpatients.

What the participants did was a one-leg balance where they were asked to stand on one leg for as long as possible.  The results were abnormal when the participant was unable to stand on one leg for 5 seconds or more.

The participants who were judged abnormal on the test showed significantly more cognitive decline at 12, 18 and 24 months than participants who were normal at the beginning of the study and at the follow-up.

The researchers believe that the one-leg balance test is a predictor of advanced dementia.

Your Mouth Is Dry, What To Do Besides Drinking Water

About 30% of people over 65 have dry mouth syndrome. People who suffer from this lack saliva production which can cause a difficulty in swallowing, sore throats and bad breath. It can lead to tooth decay and oral infections.

Rather than take drugs, try coenzyme Q10. Volunteers who were given 100 mg of C0Q10 daily for a month had significantly improved salivary secretion.

The best form of CoQ10 is ubiquinol.

(Reported Whitaker Newsletter May 2011)

Omega-3 Fatty Acids – Affecting Age-Related Macular Degeneration

A study published in the Archives of Opthalmology found that omega-3 fatty acids may significantly reduced the risk of developing age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

The researchers followed 38,022 women for 10 years. They found a 45% lower risk of AMD occurring. Since AMD has no other recognized means of disease prevention, using omega-3 is a real breakthrough.

The participants were eating one or more servings of fish per week. While the study used fish oil,  I believe the same krill oil in the article before this one will have the same positive impact as the fish eaten in this study.

So…two results for the price of one supplement.

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Power Of Resveratrol Gets A Boost

You may have heard that wine can help with aging. It turned out that it was the resveratrol in the skin of red grapes that was having the positive anti-inflammatory effect .

It also turned out that these positive changes had only been observed in the test tube.

Well, there’s now a report on its positive impact on humans. This was from a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism.

In the study 20 healthy participants were randomized to receive a placebo or 40 mg of resveratrol over a six-week period.

The researchers reported a potent anti-inflammatory effect for the participants treated with resveratrol. 

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Soothing Arthritis Pain

My brother, Stan, and his wife, Heidi, were recently on a cruise to Alaska (lucky people). At one of the stops, as they were wandering around town they walked into a local shop and made a "wonderful find".

The shop is run by Harlena Warford, a native Tlinget medicine woman. She had an ointment to stop arthritis pain. Since they both have pain from arthritis, Harlena kindly allowed them to rub some of the ointment into the areas of their pain.

They left the store and continued to walk around town.

About 20 minutes later, they both realized that their pain was gone. They immediately walked back to the store and purchased some of the ointment.

I’ve personally purchased the ointment and have recommended it to several people. They have been reporting great results with it.

To find out about getting the ointment for yourself, go to http://linkbee.com/GutShuWu and get the Skookem Ointment. Harlena also says you can use it for fibromyalgia, neuropathy, lupus and other degenerative diseases.

Another product Harlena offers is Devils Club oil and ointment, which can be used for massaging sore muscles, psoriasis and eczema.

LiveJournal Tags: Dr Jerry Teplitz,arthritis,native medicine,Alaskan Medicine Woman,Skookem Ointment,fibromyalgia,neuropathy,lupus,degenerative diseases

Get A Dog And Live Longer!

Even though I have dog I’m not making a prejudice statement. It seems that dog owners 50 and older see their doctors less often, have fewer illnesses and recover more quickly when they are sick verses those who don’t have a dog.

Researchers have even found that simply petting an animal lowers blood pressure by producing an instant relaxation response in the body.

Alan Beck, Sc.D., from the Purdue University School of Veterinary Medicine reported that animal owners had a higher one-year survival rate following a heart attack than a non-pet group, even when both groups were doing the same level of exercise.

Perhaps retirement communities should reconsider their no pet policies and hospitals and nursing homes could allow the family pet to come to visit the patient.

(As reported in AARP Magazine)

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The Importance Of Exercising As You Age Has Just Gone Up

A study reported in the Archives of Internal Medicine clearly supports continuing to exercise, even for the very oldest among us.

The three-year survival rate was about three times higher for active 85-year-olds who were doing four hours of exercise a week versus the inactive ones.

Even previously sedentary 85-year-olds had a three-year survival rate, double that of inactive 85-year-olds.

As a further plus, the active oldsters also reported less depression and loneliness and a greater ability to perform daily tasks.

So the old adage of “use it or lose it” has taken on new importance for everyone. Just check with your Doc first.

(Reported by Lindsey Tanner, Associated Press)

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Getting Through The Medicare Doughnut Hole

As you may know, people on Medicare and taking needed prescription drugs, can fall into the “doughnut hole,” which means that they have to pay 100% of the cost of their medications out of their own pocket.

Once their medical out-of-pocket expenses have reached the catastrophic level, the government will pay for their meds.

Now you have an online tool, the AARP Doughnut Hole Calculator, that will give you some options to either avoid or postpone the “doughnut hole” altogether.

The tool, which will tell you when you might hit the hole and gives tips on how to stay out of the hole, is located at http://linkbee.com/DoughnutTool.

The site automatically lists less expensive medication alternatives.

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Checking Out Of The Emergency Room Can Be Dangerous To Your Health

When people check out of the emergency room, they are given care   and discharge instructions. According to researchers at Northwestern  University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, 78% of the patients didn’t  fully understand the instructions they were given.

Further, 80% weren’t even aware that they didn’t understand. This means that these patients may have a greater likelihood of complications after leaving the emergency room.

One of the best things you can do to protect yourself is to bring a family member or friend to ask questions and help remember the care instructions. Be sure to ask the doc or nurse to clearly write everything down that you are to do.

(Reported Northwestern Winter 2008)

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Preventing Alzheimer’s Disease

The Oxygen Club of California held its annual meeting in March 2008. Several presentations focused on Alzheimer’s disease.

One study had patients taking 600 mg of alpha-lipoic acid per day for four years. Patients with early dementia who were on this regimen exhibited less deterioration in cognitive function.

Another study found that genistein from soy (tested in vitro) may prevent cognitive decline.

A third study fed pomegranate juice to mice used to model Alzheimer’s; researchers found a 50% reduction in the formation of amyloid  beta-peptides, which was associated with improved cognitive and physical performance.

LiveJournal Tags: Jerry Teplitz,Oxygen Club of California,Alzheimer's disease,alpha-lipoic acid,cognitive function,genistein,pomegranate juice,amyloid beta-peptides