No magic pill for living longer
Posted by: smilie on 01/24/2005 - 12:21 AM
Daily exercise, nutritious foods top experts' lists
By Craig Stoltz and January W. Payne
Washington Post
In addressing the topic of aging well, we wanted to do a story not on the illnesses associated with aging, but with how to prevent those illnesses: heart disease, dementia, diabetes, high blood pressure, arthritis, osteoporosis and any number of cancers. We braced for a story exploring the leading edge of genomics, customized pharmaceuticals, advanced multidimensional imaging and, we figured, something or other about nanotechnology.
Alas, we were disappointed or disabused. A majority of the most conclusive research studies we found on prevention of age-related disease kept pointing to the same things: get lots of exercise and enough sleep. Eat plenty of fruit, vegetables, lean protein and whole grains; go easy on the fat, sugar and junk. Dont smoke at all, and don't drink alcohol a lot. Relax.
Although drugs, supplements and other purported anti-aging magic bullets get a lot of attention, the power of simple lifestyle change is well-known in the disease-prevention community.
Although drugs, supplements and other purported anti-aging magic bullets get a lot of attention, the power of simple lifestyle change is well-known in the disease-prevention community.
Prevention of illness isn't really possible, of course. Research shows that certain things you eat or do can substantially reduce your risk of getting, say, Alzheimer’s or heart disease. But many other factors influence whether you get sick or not: family history. Environmental exposure to things we can 'tavoid or haven't identified. Subtle relationships between genes and environment. Obscure biological processes not yet discovered. In many cases these things are the most powerful determinants of illness. Trouble is, you can't do anything about them.