Posted on 04/25/2010 11:48:58 AM PDT by decimon
According to legend, it was The Fountain of Youth that the famed Spanish explorer Ponce de Leon was seeking when he landed on the Floridian coast in 1513. It has long been said that he who drinks from the Fountain will have his youth restored. Without a doubt, the quest for eternal youth is as ancient as any pursuit. However, although we are now living longer than ever, there is now growing concern that quantity of years is not nearly as important as quality of those years. Indeed, as we experience the many joys of living longer, we also must deal with myriad consequences accompanying this aging trend. For instance, osteoporosis, arthritis, and other serious and often painful bone and joint diseases are much more common as we get older. And, not surprisingly, seniors often struggle daily with what was once the simple task of getting around. Hence, the obvious question in today's society concerning our longevity is "What choices can we make to help ease these inconveniences of aging?"
One area of particular interest is the role that diet plays in keeping bones and muscles strong from infancy to old age. For instance, a limited number of studies point to the possibility that optimal intake of vitamin D (the "sunshine" vitamin) might help keep our muscles strong and preserve physical function. Although there are only few longitudinal studies investigating this relationship, their findings have been mixed. To help understand this diet-health association, Dr. Denise Houston from the Sticht Center on Aging at Wake Forest University and her collaborators studied the relationship between vitamin D status and physical function in a group of relatively healthy seniors living in Memphis, TN and Pittsburgh, PA. Their results will be presented on Sunday, April 25 as part of the scientific program of the American Society for Nutrition, composed of the world's leading nutrition researchers, at the Experimental Biology 2010 meeting in Anaheim.
This study was part of the Health, Aging, and Body Composition (Health ABC) study initially designed to assess the associations among body composition, long-term health conditions, and mobility in older adults. For Houston's segment of the investigation, she studied 2788 seniors (mean age: ~75 years) for 4 years. At the beginning of the study, they assessed vitamin D status by analyzing each person's blood for 25-hydroxyvitamin D, a precursor for activated vitamin D. At baseline and then 2 and 4 years later, the research team then determined whether circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D was related to the participants' physical function. Specifically, they looked at how quickly each participant could walk a short distance (6 meters) and rise from a chair five times as well as maintain his or her balance in progressively more challenging positions. Each participant was also put through a battery of tests assessing endurance and strength.
When the results were tabulated, participants with the highest levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D had better physical function. And, although physical function declined over the course of the study, it remained significantly higher among those with the highest vitamin D levels at the beginning of the study compared to those with the lowest vitamin D levels. The scientists were not surprised to learn that, in general, vitamin D consumption was very low in this group of otherwise healthy seniors. In fact, more than 90% of them consumed less vitamin D than currently recommended, and many were relying on dietary supplements.
The good news: higher circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D is related to better physical function in seniors. But it's impossible to tell from this type of research whether increasing vitamin D intake will actually lead to stronger muscles and preserve physical function. This is partly due to the fact that our bodies can make vitamin D if they get enough sunlight. So, it is possible that the participants with better physical function had higher vitamin D status simply because they were able to go outside more often. Indeed, the ominous "chicken-or-the-egg" question can only be answered by carefully controlled clinical intervention trials. Nonetheless, it is possible that getting more vitamin D from foods (like fortified milk and oily fish) or supplements will help maintain youth and vitality as we enjoy longer lifespans. As Houston points out: "Current dietary recommendations are based primarily on vitamin D's effects on bone health. It is possible that higher amounts of vitamin D are needed for the preservation of muscle strength and physical function as well as other health conditions. However, clinical trials are needed to definitively determine whether increasing 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentrations through diet or supplements has an effect on these non-traditional outcomes."
Will vitamin D research lead us to The Fountain of Youth? Probably not. But paying attention to how much vitamin D we get is likely important at every age and will help enhance the "quality" component of life as we enter our senior years.
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Dr. Denise Houston (Wake Forest University, Winston Salem, NC); Dr. Janet Tooze (Wake Forest University); Rebecca Neiberg (Wake Forest University), Dr. Kyla Shea (Wake Forest University), Dr. Dorothy Hausman (University of Georgia, Athens, GA), Dr. Mary Ann Johnson (University of Georgia), Dr. Jane Cauley (University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA), Dr. Doug Bauer (University of California, San Francisco, CA), Dr. Frances Tylavsky (University of Tennessee, Memphis, TN), Dr. Marjolein Visser (VU University, Amsterdam, Netherlands), Dr. Eleanor Simonsick (National Institute on Aging, Baltimore, MD), Dr. Tamara Harris (National Institute on Aging), and Dr. Stephen Kritchevsky (Wake Forest University) were coauthors on this paper.
Thank you very much!
I read that too, and looked into it. If you take the D3 with K2 ( some are sold that way, but you can buy K2 seperately) it’s supposed to minimize that. K2 keeps the arteries soft and supple, according to claims anyway.
That's what my PCP has me taking. Also Citrical which has some vitamin D in it.
When the spinal column is transected, aka cut, the distal axons degenerate. However the accompanying inflammatory reaction promotes scar tissue formation that the regrowing nerves can't cross. The neurons can't regrow their axons through the fibrotic scar tissue.
Snip off the scarred ends and then apply the chitosan stuff?
They'll probably try that on rodents with old spinal cord injuries. Only time will tell if it works, but other factors might come into play such that removing the scar won't be enough. It might be good only for acute injuries before the scar is completely formed. The initial spinal cord injury sets off an inflammatory reaction. There may only be a short window to get to a neurosurgeon who knows what they are doing.
Thanks.
Terrific! Thanks for the tip. :-)
Beginning in November I upped my D3 dose from 2,000 to 4,000 units per day.(flu season)
In January, early on , I ceased riding my bike, too cold. By late March and warmer weather I resumed riding my bike. After several days on the flat, I attempted the hills. Couldn’t make it up the hills for the first time ever.
Vitamin D does not promote strength. Repeated exercise promotes strength. I’ll try again in a week or so
I use to have one of those Earl Mendell Vitamin Bibles...it helped me through periods when I need it most. Booked marked the site you recommend. Mendell said that Zinc was the Master mineral while E was the Master Vitamin of the body.
I don’t take A, but do E, C, probiotics, plant sterols, flax seed, fish oil, B12, and Coleagen. You have to be careful of the oil based vits building up in the blood stream. I do take the D3. It’s strange that when my husband takes the fish or flax seed oil his heart does a random double beat, scares the day lights out of him. We were trying to get his cholestrol down with out all the drugs which have so many muscle side effects. Diet doesn’t help much, it’s more hereditary.
What’s the one with the aliens in the water and the seniors?
“You finally did it!” Heston on seeing the Statue of Liberty half buried - “You finally elected Obama!” How the movie should have ended.
My hubby has the same problem with his cholestrol. I’m not a fan of almost all drugs, but, they do have there place. The cholestrol lowering drugs as far as I’m concerned are bad news. And my hubby has the same problem that diet doesn’t lower it a whole lot. He takes the fish oils and doesn’t have a problem. I don’t know what brand your using, maybe that’s it??? I’m just guessing. I buy Nordic Naturals for my hubby. they have several different ones. I’ve been buying him the complete omega 3.6.9. My hubby also eats oat meal every morning and that did lower it some, 10 points or so. I think it’s just the fiber.
I take quit a bit of vitamins also. I did get to where it was getting nuts. I was taking so much. I had to really think about what was important to take and let the other things just go. I take a good basic multi, c, magnesium, chromium, D3, E, COQ10. Sometimes I add other things for awhile. My adrenals are messed up so I’m taking extra B5 right now.
Blustery, drizzle, and I got dehydrated sweating in the rain jacket, so my quads cramped.
Did I mention the 20-mph headwinds?
Still finished the 65-miler; but for the first time my cubs (on their respective high school track teams) beat me.
Cheers!
Cheers!
Natures Bounty is the brand I usually buy. We tend to eat Cherrio’s & Raisin Bran mixture for breakfast with a half a banana each, skim milk. I bake, boil, broil or grill most of our foods. Fried is few and far between.
I avoid multi’s because I react to some of the things in them like the chromium, bilberry.
Hubby’s cholestrol is not all that bad, triglicrides get him he’s a starch/sweetaholic, his doc just thinks 230 is to high. Just like his BP is usually 140 when we go in...after driving the chaotic I-240 loop..any one would have high BP! We are doing more walking now he has his new partial knee.
B5 activates and helps build up weak adrenals. B5 or Pantothenic acid is part of the Krebs cycle(cellular energy) I take extra C and DHEA. I don’t take the over the counter DHEA. My doc gives me a script for DHEA. And I get it from a compounding pharmacy.
Yea, my tri’s are bad too. I have a sweet tooth you wouldn’t believe. I take extra chromium and it seems to cut my cravings for sweets. I usually do a whey protein drink in the morning with 2 or 3 quarters of a frozen banana or any other frozen fruit.
My hubbies BP also is to high so he takes BP meds. My BP would be through the roof if I had to drive those city high ways regular....lol
BTW the Sunday Housecalls Doctor on Fox stressed anyone taking cholesterol-lowering drugs should take CoQ10 with the statin drug...
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