Feel & Look Younger This Year

Resolve to Step Up Your Anti-aging Efforts in 2013

If 2013 is your year to look better, feel younger, and be healthier, overhauling your diet might be in order. A healthy diet is the closest thing we have to a ticket to longevity – not to mention a better life right now. We simply are what we eat, and today’s scientific research supports that our diet holds sway over our ability to prevent age-related issues, including illness, disease, and overall wellness.

Is health and longevity on your plate this year? It should be. Now is the perfect time to reset the clock on your health. Resolve to make your diet work for you, not against you, in the coming year.

Is Your Diet Aging You?

It could be. The health of your brain, the vitality of your skin, and your chances of experiencing chronic illness are directly influenced by what you put on your plate. When your intake of sugars, fats, and processed foods begins to overtake your intake fruits and vegetables, it means your diet has deteriorated. As a result, you may be putting yourself at risk for what you most want to avoid as you age.

Your Diet Affects Your Brain

Without a healthy brain, let’s face it, the rest just doesn’t matter. But having a diet of prevention now can help keep your brain healthy and nimble later. Eating for brain health is part of a fundamental strategy to help reverse the aging process. Here’s why: a diet rich in anthocyanin-rich foods has been shown to reverse memory loss and slow cognitive decline. In fact, new research into cognitive health such as the Nurse’s Study shows that eating anthocyanin-rich foods can affect intellectual performance, memory, and brain performance related to aging. And, dietary antioxidants have been shown to protect against inflammation, and inflammation is thought to be a leading factor in brain aging and Alzheimer’s disease.

Your Diet Affects Your Skin

What we show the world on the outside reflects our inside – that couldn’t be truer when it comes to our skin. Our cells are engaged in a battle against free radicals everyday. Oxidative stress is associated with cancer, heart disease and other diseases of aging. It’s also evident on our outermost layers of cells – free radical damage is the reason the sun and our environment leads to wrinkles and a dull complexion. High antioxidant foods help us in the fight against free radicals and act as anti-aging agents. Dietary antioxidants such as anthocyanins, flavonoids found in the skin pigments of some foods like the deeply-colored wild blueberry, have the ability to neutralize free radicals and help prevent cell damage, and that includes our aging epidermis, an external hallmark of our maturity.

Your Diet Affects Your Risk of Chronic Illness

Can we avoid the chronic illness that plagues us as we age? Some nutrition experts believe we can, and scientists continue to make efforts to isolate the compounds that act on our bodies to prevent aging and disease. What we already know, however, is that natural compounds found in fruits and vegetables can help us prevent chronic illness and promote healthy aging. Aging is often characterized by diseases that are the result of low grade chronic inflammation that occurs inside the body and causes heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and even arthritis. Eating antioxidant-rich foods daily has been shown to minimize oxidative strain inside the body, which is connected to chronic illnesses and aging.

 

Resolve to Age Better in 2013

Here are three simple steps you can take to make 2013 your best year yet in health and anti-aging efforts.

1. Get Your 5 Cups 

Reaching (or even closing in on) your recommended amounts of fruits and vegetables will get you closer to your goal of healthy aging. This year, resolve to start eating a diet that combats age-related health risks by eating at a variety of colorful fruits and veggies and filling half your plate with them at every meal. According to the USDA dietary guidelines, that’s 2 cups of fruit and 3 cups of vegetables, on average, for a total of 5 cups every day. By getting your recommended cups per day, you’ll also get the added benefit of edging out less-than-healthy foods that are aging you too quickly. (That’s two resolutions for the price on one!)

2. Load Up on Berries

Look to berries if you are aiming to make the most of your anti-aging efforts. Why berries? Berries are notorious for their powerful antioxidant benefits thanks to phytonutrients, which aid the process of neutralizing free radicals and are found in high concentrations in berries’ colorful skin. Berries have also been shown to have “synergy” with other foods and to help ameliorate the adverse effects of a meal that occurs with absorption. Wild blueberries in particular top the list of high-phyto berries. (They are also high in fiber and contribute to glycemic control.) If slowing the aging process is your resolution, “bathe your meal in berries” says superfood guru Steven Pratt – whether it’s breakfast, salads, entrees or desserts – you’ll be arming yourself against inflammation and the diseases of aging.

3. Be Antioxidant Savvy

In the quest to age well, make sure you know what foods provide the most powerful source of antioxidants. Deep pigments and colorful skin is often nature’s tip-off that a food has beneficial compounds. By knowing the amount of antioxidants in certain foods, you can get the biggest antioxidant bang from your dietary buck.

You can determine the antioxidant capacity of different fruits and vegetables by knowing their ORAC score. Find a list on the United States Department of Agriculture or by checking OracValues.com, and use your knowledge to start buying foods that promote disease prevention. Shop the produce section or the freezer section for fruits and vegetables – that’s where you’ll find the healthiest foods. And those are the ones you’ll want on your plate every day. Then, even while the calendar keeps moving forward, you’ll know you’re making efforts to turn back the clock.

Healthy Aging Research 

Scientists around the world are studying the ways in which natural compounds found in the foods we eat can help combat disease and promote health aging. For an in-depth look at hundreds of health-related blueberry studies, visit the Wild Blueberry Association Research Library™.

Three Keys to Anti-aging You Should Know About

How Nutrition Can Unlock the Door to Age-Related Disease Prevention

The more we know about the aging-nutrition connection, the more theory becomes immutable fact: “Dietary choices are critical to delaying the onset of aging and age-related diseases, and the sooner you start, the greater the benefit,” says Susan Moores, RD, of the American Dietetic Association. Not only is nutrition our secret weapon when it comes aging, the opposite is also true – what we eat can cause aging. So, if you are still searching for the fountain of youth, stop the exploring and start eating, because the jury is in: we can use food to speed aging, or to slow it. The choice is on your plate.

In fact, some experts assert that the disease and deterioration that we often consider the natural process of aging is not natural at all, and is, in fact, completely preventable. While aging may not be entirely preventable through nutrition – there are other environmental or biological factors at work – nutrition is clearly a major key to the prevention of the signs of aging and age-related disease.

How does this magical fountain of youth operate? Nutrition works at a cellular level, where the aging process originates. Deep in the cells of our bodies three factors are at work – they overlap and interact with each other, but they are all at the core of preventing – or hastening – the aging process.

The Anti-aging Keys

1. Inflammation

Anti-aging is synonymous with anti-inflammation. Chronic inflammation at the cellular level is at the heart of many degenerative age-related diseases, and controlling it could be the key to delaying the aging process.

Inflammation is an immune reaction on the cellular level. It is our body’s natural defense – the result of a reaction to environmental toxins, irritation, and infection. In a sort of biological conundrum, inflammation protects our bodies and deteriorates it as well. It is the root cause of many chronic and common diseases of aging, such as arthritis, diabetes, heart disease, cancer, osteoporosis, and Alzheimer’s disease.

The good news is that researchers have found that diet has a significant effect on inflammation. It can minimize inflammation and as a result, delay the aging process. Colorful fruits and vegetables, omega-3 and low glycemic foods, for instance, have been named as part of an anti-inflammation diet. Some diets can cause inflammation, too, essentially producing an immune system that is out of control and putting aging in high gear. We could call it the Aging Diet – one characterized by high-carb, low-protein foods, refined sugar and polyunsaturated fats.

2. Oxidation

Inflammation is caused by free radical damage, and the well-known evils of free radicals are due to oxidation. Simply stated, oxidation occurs when the body produces by-products, referred to as oxygen free radicals. The result is a kind of rusting of the body, and when this rusting is applied to humans and not iron, it results in aging and diseases such a cancer. Free radicals are produced inside our bodies, and occur as a result of food, environmental pollutions and everyday things like air, water and sun. As we age, we become more susceptible to the long-term effects of oxidative stress (or too many free radicals) and inflammation on the cellular level. As E.R. Stadtman, a NIH researcher explains, “Aging is a disease. The human life span simply reflects the level of free radical oxidative damage that accumulates in cells. When enough damage accumulates, cells can’t survive properly anymore and they just give up.”

How do we defeat the aging evil of oxidative stress? That’s where antioxidants (think anti-oxidation) come in. The antioxidants eliminate the damage that free radicals cause in our bodies. Some foods are high in antioxidant content and some contain powerful substances called phytonutrients that some believe are capable of unlocking the key to longevity. Phytonutrients are members of the antioxidant family, and are responsible for ridding the body of free radicals, and as a result, slowing the rusting, or the aging, process. That’s one of the reasons that a diet of high antioxidant foods is your first defense against aging.

3. Blood Flow

Blood flow is key #3, and is affected by inflammation and oxidation. Blood vessels are particularly vulnerable to oxidative stress and inflammation, and keeping them healthy cannot be understated when it comes to preventing age-related disease. Blood flow to the heart protects the heart muscle from damage, and prevents restricted blood vessels, which helps the brain, and every organ in the body.

Low blood flow is a major factor in aging; its relationship to aging and its diseases are permanently intertwined. Enter nutrition to change the equation. According to Steve Pratt, author of Superfoods Rx, some foods lower inflammatory markers, cause basal dilation and lower blood pressure and improve blood flow. They work on the capillary level to keep microcirculation working well, and that affects the heart, the brain and eyes and prevents the diseases of aging that attacks them.

Anti-aging Targets: Brain, Heart & Eyes

Maintaining our brain, heart, and eyes top the list for those concerned about preserving health and youthfulness as they age. If these things are healthy, chances are, you’re healthy, too. Perhaps it’s not surprising that usually, these three body parts work in tandem and are subject to the same forces – inflammation, oxidation and blood flow.

Brain. Isolating Alzheimer’s disease is one step toward achieving the ideal: anti-aging. If we can preserve brain function, along with body function, we can delay the aging process.

Researchers have discovered that one of the risk factors of deteriorating brain function appears to be how the body handles glucose. Studies of the genetic code of those with Alzheimer’s disease appear to suggest it is connected to cholesterol metabolism. Also, high antioxidant foods possess anti-inflammatory benefit to the brain, which researchers have found increases cell signaling pathways. We know nutrients are a contributor in combating oxidative stress, and oxidative stress is a major cause of neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases.

Heart. Thanks again to the anti-inflammatory effect of some foods, good nutrition can have a major impact on aging by preserving the function of one of our most important organs, the heart. By decreasing inflammation in the arteries surrounding the heart, we can keep the heart functioning longer and better. Nutrients in some foods that are high in antioxidants protect the heart muscle from damage by acting as anti-inflammatory agents. Nutrition reduces cholesterol levels and by reducing build-up, which helps prevent cardiovascular disease and stroke. And, many studies into the compounds of fruits like wild blueberries indicate supplements can help regulate blood pressure and combat atherosclerosis.

Vision. According to an interesting new study, anthocyanins from blueberries may protect critical eye tissue from premature aging and light-induced damage. The study, published in the British Journal of Nutrition, indicates that cells treated with blueberry extract improved the viability of cells exposed to light which experienced premature aging.  The conclusion of the author of the study was that “blueberries, or other kinds of fruits that are rich in anthocyanins, have the potential to prevent age-related macular degeneration and other retinal diseases related to RPE cells.”

Such examples of the vision-nutrition connection is part of a major boon in research into the benefits of dietary prevention when it comes to aging and diseases of aging. Researchers continue to find links between nutrition and healthy eyes. Studies indicate the vitamins and minerals from fruits and vegetables slow the progress of age-related vision loss, and while the exact nutrients and in what combinations is still unknown, researchers have concluded that the big three keys – anti-inflammation, anti-oxidation and blood flow, are at the heart of maintaining vision. Because some foods with anthocyanins, for instance, work on the capillary level to keep microcirculation working well, that has a positive affect on eyes, tired eyes, and vision diseases that occur with age.

Open the door to anti-aging. Still exploring, Ponce de Leon? Try exploring your kitchen instead. When you use nutrition to decrease inflammation, decrease oxidation, and enhance your blood flow, the aging brain, heart, and eyes will have a new lease on long, disease-free life.

Read about how foods can accelerate the aging process.

Watch the video from The Canadian called Anti-Aging linked to Blueberries and Salmon.

Read about the research into the benefits of wild blueberries, a top anti-aging food.

New Video! Exciting Study Ties Blueberries to Breast Cancer Prevention

There is no more exciting time in the world of blueberry research. The nutritional potential of blueberries, particularly wild blueberries, is high and building as we find out more and more about the natural disease preventing chemicals sheathed by that dark blue skin.

Now, a new study conducted by researchers at the City of Hope in Los Angeles provides an encouraging connection between the nutritional benefits of this powerhouse fruit to breast cancer prevention, isolating a specific link to a very aggressive form of the disease.

Watch Blueberries: A Triple Threat Against Triple-Negative Breast Cancers from the City of Hope and hear firsthand what the researchers have to say about this important study.

The study builds upon an infrastructure of previous research into the effect of phytochemicals, naturally occurring substances that are highly concentrated in blueberries and are present in other fruits and vegetables. Phytochemicals neutralize free radicals and help prevent cell damage, which prevents diseases of aging and types of cancer.

This promising study reports on the effect of blueberries on a type of breast cancer referred to as triple-negative. Triple-negative breast cancer is difficult to treat and has a high mortality rate compared to other types of breast cancers.

The study was conducted by researchers Shiuan Chen, Ph.D., and Lynn Adams, Ph.D and will be published in the October 2011 issue of The Journal Of Nutrition. In terms of the connection between triple-negative breast cancer and the effect of blueberries, the report includes the following outcomes:

  • inhibited proliferation of triple negative cells
  • increased death rate of bad cells
  • inhibited metastatic potential, or migration of cells
  • inhibited tumor growth

The details of the results of the study can be found at The Lempert Report.

We know that blueberries contain phytochemicals, and according to co-researcher Dr. Shiuan Chen, we already have the evidence that blueberries can help to suppress the proliferation and migration of cancer cells. Still outstanding is actually defining what the active chemicals are that act on these cancer cells. But the results of this initial study remain very exciting. Because the study was conducted with blueberry powder fed to mice, it must, of course, be replicated in humans, but one encouraging factor was the achievable amount of blueberry intake involved. It is common to hear of studies involving amounts of food that would be impossible to consume. Here, the dose required to achieve results was equivalent to two cups of fresh blueberries per day, something reasonable for consumption by humans.

Breast cancer affects 1 in 8 women during their lives. Anticipating more definitive research into this important cancer, particularly into this very aggressive form, is very exciting. There are few effective drugs for triple-negative breast cancer, and lowering mortality rates would have an enormous impact on the population with the disease and for those who are at risk. But there’s no need to wait to start a disease-fighting regimen: there is overwhelming agreement in the scientific community that efforts to lower the risk of breast cancer involve eating blueberries and a variety of fruits and vegetables, according to co-researcher Dr. Lynn Adams. To get variety in your diet, use the rainbow as your guide. The different colors of fruits and vegetables provide diverse forms of phytochemicals, which appear to act in synergy with one another to prevent disease. Blueberries, specifically wild blueberries, which have a higher ORAC score than cultivated blueberries, are the best way to integrate the blue-purple color of the spectrum.

The fact that foods which could provide anti-cancer benefits are readily available is a valuable message for consumers. We are lucky that this convenient, delicious fruit is available frozen in grocery stores all year, providing all the nutrition of fresh. Start getting your two cups per day. You’ll be doing something good for your body and making strides toward disease prevention.

A lot is happening in the world of nutrition research! Find out more about the exciting new research into the health advantages of wild blueberries, and read the latest news about how blueberries can reduce the risk of metabolic syndrome.

Fall for Apples

Shine Up a Cortland, Grab a Macoun…This Favorite Fruit 
Has a Lot to Offer 

Kiwi, guava, cactus pears, acai…the longsuffering apple can get lost in the cornucopia of today’s stylish fruit choices. It’s easy to pick up a bag during apple-picking season, cook up a crisp, and forget this favorite until next year. But the list of reasons to keep apples on your year-round list is long. The apple has a reputation for warding off the doctor for a reason. Besides being universally liked, it is easy to eat and transport, it is readily available, and its nutritional benefit is rock solid.

Mom’s the Word

The apple’s iconic history is unparalleled in our culture, with its penchant for pie, and its ability to conjure wholesome visions of an apron-clad Mom. It’s nutritional history is similarly deep: famed SuperfoodRx author Dr. Steven Pratt, who helped bring the advantages of antioxidant-rich wild blueberries to the public, also gave the superfood nod to apples for their disease-preventing, anti-aging nutrients. They can’t be ignored for those interested in fighting cancer, heart disease, and Type II diabetes.

So, is the everyday apple prescription tired advice? Not a chance. Here’s why:

  • They have fiber.
  • They are rich in Vitamin C.
  • They have excellent antioxidant properties.
  • They contain a powerful dose of polyphenols.
  • They are rich in potassium.
  • They are satisfyingly high in fiber (whenever possible, eat the skin).
  • They are fat free, sodium free & cholesterol free.

Tastes Worth Telling, William

Red Delicious, Northern Spy…the variety of apples adds to the fruit’s allure. Whether you cherish sweetness or crispness, you’ve probably got your favorite. There are hundreds of apple varieties, and Maine provides an excellent region for sampling many of them. Visit a local orchard and start grazing to identify your favorite. The Maine Pomological Society (that’s right – pomology is the study of pome fruit, and apples are the most commonly known pome)  provides a run-down of local varieties you’re likely to encounter.

The time is now for enjoying the essence of apples, and if you live here in Maine, it’s practically an apple fair a day. Check the Portland Press Herald for a listing of apple festivals galore, including this weekend’s Apple Pumpkin Festival in Livermore Falls, and Downeast Heirloom Apple Week at the College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor taking place in October.

Cider: Apples to Apples 

It’s truly the essence of the apple. The enthusiasm for the array of apple cider blends for its connoisseurs is no less than that of oenophiles for their wine. Cider, the naturally sweet juice from apples, is particularly beloved in the Northeast. It serves as the impetus for many fairs, festivals and gatherings that focus on this drinkable treat. Cider is a unique seasonal pleasure that differs from apple juice because of its raw, unfiltered nature. (In cider, the pulp and sediment that is otherwise taken away in regular apple juice is preserved.) It may come as no surprise that cider contains all the health benefits of apples. For those who pasteurize, the process does little to affect its high nutrition.

Can you make your own? You bet. Pickyourown.com tempts those who want to try their hand at their own personal blend. The required equipment can be purchased without too much expenditure, and the result can be enjoyed, or canned for future use.

Slim Pickings

Take full advantage this fall when local apples are abundant in the Northeast – and keep them on your radar throughout the year for nutritional benefit in a figure-saving package. If you are looking for ways to bite the big apple, go au naturel for unadulterated advantage, or take your pick from these apple ideas when your diet allows for indulgence.

Dr. Oz’s “Cancer Detective” Makes a Case for Wild

Dr. Oz has enlisted one of the most deductive minds in plant nutrition research to help us understand the compelling potential of wild plants in cancer prevention. For us, this Sherlock Holmes of health has a very familiar name.

That’s because we spoke with Dr. Mary Ann Lila about the fascinating nutritional research taking place at the Plants for Human Health Institute at North Carolina State University where she is the Director, back in September. She talked to Wild About Health for a two-part series about her work in shifting the global perception of plant crops and their potential, as well as her research involving wild blueberries, including mapping the blueberry genome and its fascinating role in Parkinson’s prevention.

   

On a recent show, Dr. Oz referred to Lila as a “cancer detective” because she is responsible for some major breakthroughs in nutritional health, particularly in the field of cancer prevention. At the Institute, she and her team are using the most up-to-date technology to understand the most old-fashioned remedies: plants. Her task is understanding how and to what extent they protect human health.

Lila performs research by testing promising plants, and uses that research in conjunction with knowledge gathered from places like Mexico, New Zealand, Equador and Bostwana. In these countries, she and her team tap native elders so they can better understand how berries are collected and used. Combined with research, this information helps them to scientifically understand something we have long intuitively understood about fruit and its medicinal properties.

Lila’s focus is on deep pigment berries. They hold the key to powerful anti-cancer nutrients. Today, 1 in 3 women and 1 in 2 men will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime, and Lila’s detective work entails cracking the case of how berries could lead to stopping cancer in its tracks.

You can find out more about the wild berry mystique at DoctorOz.com and how this translates into protection for our own bodies.

Something Wild

As part of Dr. Oz’s Cancer Prevention series, Lila discusses the compelling cycle of how plants grown in harsh environments naturally have health benefits that are the result of a complex system engaged to defend themselves. Wild blueberries, for example, grow only in Maine and Canada, enduring harsh winters on the coast, and they are prime examples of the wild mystique: wild blueberries are exposed to constant sunlight in the summer, they grow in tough coastal and rocky terrain, and they endure rollicking seasonal shifts.

This otherwise unprotected plant, Lila explains, manufactures its own natural protection. It helps itself endure environmental stress and promote its own survival in its aim to live another season. The wild blueberry’s skin has high concentrations of sun protection; its tough outer tissue wards off cold temperature and salt stress; it naturally discourages predatory insects and invasive microbes; and its bright colors help attract pollinating insects, helping to disperse their seeds. To achieve all this, the plant draws on its own natural components to produce powerful phytochemicals that protect and preserve it and allow it to prosper.

“Stressed for Success”

For human life forms, the benefits from these phytochemicals can’t be overstated. It’s too good to be true that the protection plants use for their own survival and propagation can be used to such enormous effect – aptly stated as medicinal effect – for us. As Lila terms it, these plants are “stressed for success”. The “stress” they endure triggers them to devote their natural resources to accumulating these protective phytochemicals for their benefit and ultimately ours. The anti-inflammatory benefit for heart and blood vessels that phytochemicals provide is medicine we as a population need more than ever as we struggle against increasingly prevalent and deadly diseases associated with these symptoms.

Understanding the difference between wild and cultivated can bring wild’s particular heath advantages into stark relief. Wild blueberries are native to North America and they have little intervention from growers, which allows their natural defenses thrive. In contrast, the berries’ cultivated counterparts are grown for other strengths. That means they have actually been selected against some of the health-protective phytochemicals, Lila explains. And, of course, cultivated plants don’t have the stressors of wild, so they simply don’t produce the protective benefits. Making sure we are eating wild – those native plants indigenous to Maine and parts of Canada – is the key to the most powerful protection against cancer.

In addition to cancer prevention, wild provides plenty of other advantages.

The Wild Advantages: 

  • Superb antioxidant capacity. Wild Blueberries have the highest antioxidant capacity per serving, compared with more than 20 other fruits.
  • Ability to lower blood glucose levels for diabetics.
  • Improved motor skills.
  • Reversal of short-term memory loss associated with the human aging process.
  • Protection for the heart and help in preventing stroke.
  • Protection against the effects of aging including its effects on vision and skin.
  • Promising potential in the prevention of metabolic syndrome.

Learn more about wild at DoctorOz.com, at get recipe suggestions to help you get in touch with your wild side!

Can You Clean Your Brain? New Research Shows Berries Can Eliminate Brain “Debris”

It sounds as wonderful as it does impossible: that our brain can be cleaned, restored, and refreshed by eliminating harmful clutter. There’s some brand new research indicating that this clean sweep is no new age fantasy, and it may be achieved by what we eat.

The latest scientific research reveals that what is cluttering up the brain and leaving us susceptible to its diseases of aging such as Azhiemer’s and memory loss can be tidied up through berries – specifically blueberries, strawberries and acai berries, frozen or fresh. The concept marks a leap in a compelling area of science focused on maintaining the health of the brain. It also strengthens an already compelling link between diet and prevention.

The study was presented at the 240th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society, and it showed that berries (and possibly walnuts), activate the brain’s natural “housekeeper” mechanism, which cleans up and recycles toxic proteins linked to age-related memory loss and other mental decline.

If all this talk of garbage and recycling sounds more like working at a landfill than working on your health, here’s some new concepts to start thinking about:

Brain “Debris”

Previous research has suggested that one factor involved in aging is a steady decline in the body’s ability to protect itself against inflammation and oxidative damage. This damage results when normally protective cells become overactivated to the point that they damage healthy cells. This is, in a sense, the origin of brain debris, or the buildup of biochemical waste. This waste of the nervous system collects during aging, essentially gumming up the works. Without a little cleanup, this can prevent the brain from working the way it should.

Brain “Cleansing”

Now that we have the dirt, we need the broom. Enter cells called microglia. They are the housekeepers of the brain that in normal functioning collect, remove, and actually “recycle” the biochemical debris in a process called autophagy.

This process can be hindered as we get older, and without this “sweeping” process, we are left with the buildup. As a result of this slowing of the natural protective process, we are left vulnerable to degenerative brain diseases, heart disease, cancer, and other age-related disorders.

Restoring a Cluttered Brain

We know that natural compounds called polyphenolics found in fruits and vegetables have an antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effect that may protect against age-associated decline. Shibu Poulose, Ph.D. and James Joseph, Ph.D., (Joseph passed away in June; you can read our rememberance of Jim Joseph here) did the latest research that takes these details and ties them directly to the berries in question.

The research by Poulose and Joseph suggests that the berries’ polyphonolics are responsible for what they call a “rescuing effect”.  They restore the housekeeping action – the normal function of sweeping away debris – that hinders the function of the brain.

 
A Growing Area of Study

While we are already aware of the disease preventing effects of polyphenols, this “rescuing” process has been previously unrecognized by researchers. It furthers the science behind an important link between diet and maintaining healthy brain aging.

Keeping diseases of the brain at bay seems to be more and more within reach by accessing the great foods that surround us. As research into the astonishing benefits of berries continues, researchers continue to provide compelling data about their disease preventing power  – and that means hope for all of our aging, cluttered brains.

Pawl-ee-FEE-nol: Today’s Nutritional Buzzword?

Just twenty years ago we would have been hard pressed to find information about the little substance called the polyphenol, even in the most arcane scientific literature. Now, thanks to chemical research and nutritional science, polyphenols are turning up everywhere. What accounts for polyphenols going mainstream? Many things. But one interesting thing is your skin.

Sunscreen for Your Insides

“We know that a third of skin-related nutrition relates to polyphenols,” Superfood doc Steven Pratt told the Wild Blueberry Health News last fall. “If you want to have healthy skin, you better eat blueberries. They play a bigger role in keeping skin wrinkle-free than any other food group.”

Dr. Pratt was referring to research that indicates that polyphenols play a major role in keeping the skin healthy. While piling on the sunscreen has been de rigueur since people began to understand the dangers of sun exposure, both for good health and for wrinkle prevention, Dr. Pratt suggests putting sunscreen on from inside out, with polyphenols. Polyphenols, found in foods like berries, appear to inhibit the production of inflammatory mediators, protecting the skin from wrinkles and from the signs of aging.

What’s the connection? Chronic inflammation at the cellular level is at the heart of many degenerative age-related diseases. In studies of rats fed polyphenols-rich blueberries, the concentration of several substances in the brain that can trigger an inflammatory response was significantly reduced. Polyphenols appeared to inhibit the production of these inflammatory mediators. That’s important for many health-related reasons, including maintaining healthy, youthful skin. You can read the research here.


Put Polyphenols in Your Life

In addition to serving as an internal sunscreen, polyphenols, because of their antioxidant properties, may reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease and cancer. In fact, polyphenols as regulators of carbon cycling have even been of interest to researchers for how they might affect global warming.

Berries are one of the major players in the role of polyphenols, hence Dr. Pratt’s reference to blueberries as a great source. High levels of polyphenols can generally be found in fruit skins, which is why the deep blue skin of blueberries, and the high skin-to-pulp ratio of wild blueberries in particular, puts this fruit at the top of the list. Other sources of polyphenols include tea, grapes, chocolate, and many fruits and vegetables.

The idea that we can protect our skin from within as well as from without should be considered groundbreaking for a society preoccupied with youth (Hands, please!). Health always works from the inside out, after all. Now that summer’s around the corner, you can pack in the polyphenols when you think of slapping on the sunscreen, knowing you are doing something truly beneficial for your skin.

Is Death a Disease to Be Cured? Anti-Aging Uncovered: Part I

Recently, we read a fun post from the Idaho Statesmen that takes a global look at the Top Antiaging Foods. The “You” docs, the force behind www.RealAge.com, also known as Oprah pals Mehmet Oz and Mike Roizen, the authors of You: On a Diet, are responsible for the list. To make the case for anti-aging and preventing age-related diseases, the Docs take one cautionary step away from anti-aging marketing and one forthright step toward foods that those who live long healthy lives actually eat. From Nova Scotia’s Blueberry Grunt to the wine of France, they celebrate proven healthy eating around the world.

The “You” Docs are right to consider our eating habits from a global as well as a historical perspective. As our lifestyle becomes more and more modern, our food choices evolve and contract too, and tunnel vision sets in. Because foods like berries, nuts, fish, veggies actually work in opposition to the modern lifestyle, our need for these “real” foods has increased, and our consumption of them has dropped.

When it comes to the impact of nutrition on longevity, the claims seem almost magical. That nature is full of powerfully nutritious foods that conspire to offer a fountain of youth seems too good to be true. But what’s even more magical is the idea that some foods and how we eat them can not just prevent aging but reverse the aging process. All the prattle about anti-aging on everything from a bottle of face cream to a cereal bar begs the question: what is anti-aging? Is death itself a disease that can be cured?

An Amazing Mechanism

Dr. Pratt, Superfoods guru and author of Superfoods Rx – 14 Foods That Will Change Your Life credits longevity to foods like blueberries, avocados, yogurt, tomatoes and wild salmon. He gave an interview to Wild Blueberry Health News this past fall.

“Your body is an amazing repair mechanism given half a chance,” Pratt said, opening the door to the idea that foods can not only slow the aging process but reverse it. “These foods they are very important to us. They lower inflammatory markers. They cause basal dilation, they lower blood pressure.” The very things responsible for the diseases of aging.

You’ve heard it before. People say, understandably, that they don’t want to live “too” long because they would be bed-ridden and feeble-minded. But the very idea of longevity is that we don’t want to just live longer, we want to be healthy, too. Pratt said he has talked to patients for decades that are afraid to get old. “They are afraid to get old because they’re afraid they’ll be blind, deaf, in a wheelchair…all of these things that put people in a nursing home. And berries [and other foods on his list, too] offer a tasty way to avoid all that.”

Wow. Really? Avoid all that?

“It’s really that simple.”

Enter anti-aging – of the body’s mechanism, not its chronology – which includes all aspects of the body: the brain, the heart, the eyes – those things that pop up first on the list of what’s important to preserve during our more mature years. They all go together, says Dr. Pratt. “Rarely do you see a brain that’s top notch and poor eyesight. It’s good for the eyes, it’s good for the brain and if it’s good for the brain it’s good for the heart,” he said.

The Science of Anti-aging

In fact, it’s really not magic, it’s science. One of the most important aspects of “anti-aging” that these foods can deliver is anti-inflammation.

Some foods (like berries) lower inflammatory markers, as Pratt said. They cause basal dilation and lower blood pressure and improve blood flow. They work on the capillary level to keep microcirculation working well, and that affects the heart, the brain and eyes and prevents the diseases of aging that attacks them.

Chronic inflammation at the cellular level is at the heart of many degenerative age-related diseases. For example, when rats with neuronal lesions were fed a blueberry-supplemented diet, not only did they perform better in cognitive tests, the concentration of several substances in the brain that can trigger an inflammatory response was significantly reduced. The polyphenols in blueberries appear to inhibit the production of these inflammatory mediators. Dr. James Joseph, Ph. D., from the USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging has been studying the anti-inflammatory potential of the polyphenols in blueberries, his research is published in Nutritional Neuroscience.

Preventing the disease of aging is an important and nascent issue in the field of nutrition, and research into its implications is exploding. In future posts, we’ll explore more of the science behind longevity, otherwise known as healthy aging, anti-aging, and age-related disease prevention. Behind each term may lurk the key to making our golden years truly worth living.