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Eating Well in Your Autumn Years |
Eating well in your autumn years
by Eveline Gan
Feb 20, 2010
Weakened taste and smell sensations, and poor dentition can increase the risk of nutritional imbalance
As my Chinese epicurean grandmother would say when we gather for our weekly family meal - neng chi shi fu (it's a blessing to be able to eat).
However, for older adults, several issues may interfere with their ability to eat well in their autumn years.
Ms Lim Su Lin, chief dietitian at National University Hospital, said, generally, older adults tend to have poorer appetites due to reasons such as decreases in taste and smell sensations.
Mr George Toh, a dietitian at Alexandra Hospital's department of nutrition and dietetics, added that irregular meal patterns or the tendency to only eat foods that are easy on their teeth can increase their risk of nutritional imbalance.
"Poor dentition makes the elderly lean towards softer food - such as porridge with canned food - which may have a lower nutritional value. They may also consume insufficient fibre, as they often requires chewing," he explained.
According to Ms Lim, our aged need to increase their intake of proteins, calcium, vitamins B6, B12, D, E and folate.
Vitamins B6 and B12 generate red blood cells and keep the nervous system healthy. Vitamin D is needed for calcium absorption while Vitamin E is a natural antioxidant that aids healing, and keeps nerves and red blood cells healthy.
(Read full article here) |
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Omega-3s May Slow Aging in Heart Patients |
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Omega-3s May Slow Aging in Heart Patients
Heart Disease Patients With High Omega-3 Fatty Acids Age More Slowly on Cellular Level
By Kathleen Doheny | WebMD Health News
Jan. 19, 2010 -- Heart disease patients with the highest blood levels of omega-3 fatty acids appear to age more slowly than those with the lowest blood levels, according to a new study.
Previous studies have shown that heart disease patients with a high intake of omega-3 fatty acids -- found in fish and in dietary supplements -- have higher survival rates.
The new study may help explain why. ''We've shown an entirely new effect of omega-3 fatty acids, which may be to slow down the biological aging process in patients with coronary heart disease," says lead author Ramin Farzaneh-Far, MD, an assistant professor of medicine at the University of California San Francisco.
Farzaneh-Far and his colleagues looked at a marker of biological age -- the rate of shortening of telomeres, structures at the end of a chromosome involved in its replication and stability. As the telomeres shorten over time, the eventual result is cell death, scientists believe.
In previous research, Farzaneh-Far says, his team looked at the same group of heart disease patients and found that telomere length was ''a powerful predictor of death and bad outcomes [from heart disease]. In that [study], we found the shorter your telomeres, the greater your risk of death."
In the new study, the higher the blood levels of omega-3 fatty acids in the patients evaluated, the slower the rate of telomere shortening.
"We looked at the biological effects of higher blood levels," Farzaneh-Far tells WebMD, "not supplement intake."
The study is published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
(Read full article here) |
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Study Shows Tocotrienol Protects Brain After Stroke |
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Study Reveals How One Form of Natural Vitamin E Protects Brain After Stroke
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Blocking the function of an enzyme in the brain with a specific kind of vitamin E can prevent nerve cells from dying after a stroke, new research suggests.
In a study using mouse brain cells, scientists found that the tocotrienol form of vitamin E, an alternative to the popular drugstore supplement, stopped the enzyme from releasing fatty acids that eventually kill neurons.
The Ohio State University researchers have been studying how this form of vitamin E protects the brain in animal and cell models for a decade, and intend to pursue tests of its potential to both prevent and treat strokes in humans.
“Our research suggests that the different forms of natural vitamin E have distinct functions. The relatively poorly studied tocotrienol form of natural vitamin E targets specific pathways to protect against neural cell death and rescues the brain after stroke injury,” said Chandan Sen, professor and vice chair for research in Ohio State’s Department of Surgery and senior author of the study .
(Read full article here) |
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UC-Davis Shows Vitamin E Role in Treating Equine Neurologic Disease |
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UC-Davis Shows Vitamin E Role in Treating Equine Neurologic Disease
Dec 1, 2009
Ed Kane, PhD
Horses' condition makes it easier for vitamin E to do its work protecting cells from free-radical damage.
Some inflammatory or degenerative neurologic diseases that affect horses — equine degenerative myeloencephalopathy (EDM) and equine motor neuron disease (EMND) — are linked to vitamin E deficiency. Vitamin E is a dietary antioxidant that protects cell membranes and tissues from oxidant free-radical damage, which is believed to play a role in the etiology and progression of the diseases.
Now, researchers at the University of California-Davis say horses with neurologic disease may respond differently to vitamin E treatment because of disruption of the blood-brain barrier or increased oxidant damage associated with the underlying disease.
The blood-brain barrier of horses with neurologic disease may be potentially compromised, allowing vitamin E to cross more easily, show higher cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) concentrations and be more effective in reducing oxidant free-radical damage in the brain.
Conversely, vitamin E may be more readily metabolized due to increased oxidant damage, and therefore show lower CSF values at the desired site of action. The antioxidant "demand" for older horses might be greater, especially those with neurologic disease.
(Read full article here) |
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