What is Your Biological Age?
Do you watch the Biggest Loser? If so, you have seen each contestant visit a doctor at the start of the season and many times they’ll learn their actual ‘biological’ age. This usually ends up being a shocker, such as a 28 year-old whose physical condition is that of a 55 year-old or something drastic like that. Telomeres are a tool that can be used to fairly accurately identify your biological age.
I recently participated in a webinar hosted by Spectra Cell Laboratories and lead by Dr. Mark Houston discussing telomeres.
What is a telomere?
Telomeres are a DNA sequence that appears at the end of each chromosome. Chromosomes comprised of DNA are in each cell of our body. Our DNA is protected at each end by telomeres. Dr. Houston describes a telomere as a safety cap or ball cap on the end of each chromosome. They protect the chromosome and DNA from things like oxidative stress. As the telomere becomes damaged the chromosome and cell function ineffectively the cell begins to die.
Telomere Shortening
As a normal part of aging, telomeres become shorter. Once a telomere becomes shortened there is no way to lengthen the telomere.
There are many factors that influence how quickly telomeres shorten. Here are some of the factors that impact telomere length:
Million Hearts: Prevent 1 Million Heart Attacks and Strokes in 5 Years
On September 13, 2011, the Department of Health and Human Services launched Million Hearts. Million Hearts is aimed to prevent 1 million heart attacks and strokes over the next five years.
Cardiovascular disease costs $444 billion annually in medical costs and lost productivity.
Million Hearts focuses on two goals:
1. Empower Americans to make health choices.
This includes preventing the use of tobacco, reducing sodium and trans fat intake. Taking this steps can mean decreased medical treatment (and costs) for blood pressure and cholesterol.
2. Improve care of those who need treatment.
The initiated is targeted to using Aspirin for people at risk, promotion of Blood pressure control, Cholesterol management, and Smoking cessation. This treatment focus is being referred to as the “ABCS” and is intended to cover the major risk factors for heart disease, which means prevention of heart attacks and strokes.
Cholesterol and the Gene Apolipoprotein E
Are you someone that has followed a heart healthy diet “to the letter” and still struggled to lower blood pressure or cholesterol levels? If so, it’s possible the diet didn’t work for you due to your specific genetic makeup.
Mapping of the human genome (13 year project that identified all genes in human DNA) was completed by scientists in 2003.
For the most part, genes are the same between individuals, with just a 1% variation. This small difference is what accounts for our unique physical attributes, biological processes, and metabolism. It’s also this slight difference that makes one individual more susceptible to heart disease than another.
Nutrigenomics
This has opened the door for nutrigenomics and the role it can play disease prevention. You see, dietary recommendations, such as Dietary Reference Intakes and Recommended Dietary Allowances, are established to meet the needs of 99% of the population from a statistical perspective. However, a “one size fits all approach” doesn’t necessarily work. Now, don’t get me wrong, it’s a great foundation to base your diet around, but if you have a specific disease or increased risk for disease, this is where nutrigenomics can step in.
Nutrigenomics looks at the interaction between nutrients and genes, because how we respond and metabolize nutrients is influenced by our genes.
Apolipoprotein E
The Apolipoprotein E (APOE) genotype influences coronary heart disease risk. APOE was discovered back in 1970 and can bind to triglyceride rich lipoproteins and acts as a binding mechanism for receptors.
Clogged Arteries: Young Doesn't Equal Healthy
Shouldn’t you be the “picture of health” as a young adult? Guess it shouldn’t come as a surprise that looks are deceiving.
Canadian researchers presented study results recently at the 2011 Canadian Cardiovascular Congress regarding their study of 168 adults between the ages of 18 and 35 years-old.
Study participants had no family history of heart disease, nor any other known risk factors, such as diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or smoking.
Guess what? Researchers found a “staggering” number of participants to have atherosclerosis, which is a build-up of plaque along artery walls. Almost half of participants had signs of atherosclerosis – 48%.
Height, weight, body mass index (BMI), and waist circumference were recorded for all participants. MRI scans measured both subcutaneous (fat under the skin) and visceral fat (fat around vital organs).
These measurements found many participants to have greater waist circumferences and higher levels of visceral fat within the chest and abdomen. These high levels of visceral fat increase risk of suffering a heart attack or stroke at some point in their lives. It’s this high level of visceral fat that is likely contributing to the early signs of atherosclerosis.
These Canadian findings corroborate previous research that has found up to 80% of young American’s killed in war or car accidents to have premature and hidden atherosclerosis.
What Can You Do?
Lower Cholesterol with 3 Diet Shifts
Dietary changes can result in lower cholesterol levels. By making dietary changes to promote lower cholesterol levels you’ll be able to work with your doctor to gradually wean off medication and eliminate negative medication side effects. And the diet changes don’t have to be hard!
Here are three examples of simple diet shifts that will promote a lower cholesterol.
Diet Shift #1 – Replace eggs & bacon with oatmeal & fruit.
If your standard breakfast consists of cholesterol laden fried eggs and a side of fat (okay, bacon) swap this out for a bowl of oatmeal topped with fresh berries and ground flaxseed. The whole grain oatmeal will promote lower cholesterol levels, blood sugar control, and help you feel full longer. Antioxidant rich berries will help reduce the oxidation of LDL cholesterol that leads to plaque build up, while flaxseed is a rich source of heart healthy omega 3 fatty acids.
What equals 25 – 35 grams of dietary fiber?
I recently had an individual email me the following question:
How much fiber do I need to eat to equal 25 grams? How many pieces of fruit, slices of bread, cups of barley or flaxseed? I can’t relate to 25 grams.
I want to share the answer with everyone. Read on. . .
How Much Dietary Fiber
You need to consume between 25-35 grams of dietary fiber daily. Of this, soluble fiber should make up 15 grams. For every 1-2 grams of daily soluble fiber intake, LDL (bad) cholesterol is lowered 1%.
The average US dietary fiber intake is 12-18 grams/day. If your current diet is very low in dietary fiber, do not increase to 35 grams overnight. A sudden increase will result in gastrointestinal (stomach) distress and unpleasant side effects (flatulence and diarrhea). You want to increase your intake gradually.
Top 5 Foods Containing Dietary Fiber
