Healthsifter by mary desmond pinkowish, since 2003

Senior Moments? Cut Down on the Sugar

This possibly helpful information comes from Scientific American Mind:

"Senior moments, those pesky instances of not so total recall—forgetting where we left our keys or what we did last weekend—are a subtle but significant part of the aging process. Another effect of growing old: rising blood sugar levels, which typically take off in our late 30s or early 40s as our bodies become less adept at metabolizing glucose in the bloodstream. Now a study has linked these rising levels with momentary forgetfulness, pinpointing exactly where in the brain the aging process acts—a finding that could help the elderly ward off memory lapses."

The people on this study were 65 and older. I haven't noticed that sugar interferes with my memory, and I'm not as old as the people in they looked at with functional MRIs of the hippocampus, but I can't tolerate sugary food the way I could when I was younger--jittery, squeamish, tired, etc.

How Accurate are Life Expectancy Calculators?

If you believe the Numbers Guy at the Wall Street Journal, aka Carl Bialik, life expectancy calendars really aren't very accurate. Interesting, yes. Helpful in getting lifestyle factors under control, definitely. But accurate? Here's what Bialik says:

"The biggest failing of life-expectancy calculations, whether from life-insurance companies or from online tools, is that they can't predict the future. That's clear for individuals, because the output is based on averages and can't account for, say, the workplace stress on a brain surgeon or a president.

But this failing extends further, because the calculators are based on today's mortality rates. Had a young John McCain sat down to answer an offline version of these questionnaires when he was in his late 20s, his future would have been foretold using annual death rates at the time of 2.3% of men aged 55 to 64, and 4.9% of men aged 65 to 74. By 2005, those death rates in the U.S. had dropped to 1.1% and 2.6%, respectively.

"It's very difficult to gaze into the future," says Dr. Recker of the osteoporosis foundation, "even with the best epidemiological and mortality data you can get."

Longevity: Why Women Outlive Men

Scientists are getting a better grip on why a Good Man is Hard to Find--especially on senior cruises and in retirement communities. They just die earlier. Why? Tom Perls, MD, head of the New England Centenarian Study answers questions about this phenomenon in Laura Blue's column at the Time web site this week. Men die earlier than women for many reasons, including testosterone poisoning (booze-infused driving, excessive and stupid risk-taking, etc., especially when young), early heart disease, and a greater tendency than women to kill themselves when they're depressed.

Dr. Perls also discusses some interesting stuff like the role that iron deficiency may play in longevity. Because of menstruation, women are relatively iron deficient compared to men. Being slightly iron deficient may enhance the way our bodies respond to free radicals. Perls also explains why genetics isn't destiny:

"Overall, about 70% of the variation around average life expectancy - [just over 80 for women and just over 75 for men in the U.S.] - is probably attributable to environmental factors - your behaviors and your exposures. Probably only 30% is due to genetics. And that's very, very good news. There's so much we can do. Most of us should be able to get into our late 80s. What's more, to get to older ages, like the centenarians, you are necessarily compressing the time you're sick to the end of your life. It's not a case where the older you get, the sicker you get. It's very much the case that the older you get, the healthier you've been."

For more, see Dr. Perls web site, Living to 100.com. I had also interviewed him for an article in Barron's earlier this summer.

Low HDL Cholesterol Linked to Memory Problems

More evidence that your cardiovascular health is related to your brain health: The higher a person's HDL cholesterol level, the better he or she performed on a memory test involving a 20-word list. That was the conclusion of an investigation using data from the British Whitehall II study,  which conducted the tests in 1995-1997 and again in the same people in 2002-2004. More than 3,600 people participated. The participants had a mean age of 55 during the first test period and 61 during he second and were catergorized as having low HDL (less than 40 mg/dL) or high HDL (greater than 60 mg/dL). The difference between the low-HDL and high-HDL groups was statistically trivial when they were in their 50s but became more pronounced when they were in their 60s. People whose HDL declined between the first and second test period had the hardest time with the 20-word list. HDL cholesterol is the so-called "good" cholesterol. The results were published in Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology. Here's a comment on the study from MedPage Today, where it was reported this morning:

"The 'life-long' view of dementia stresses the importance of risk factors in midlife," the authors said. "Our findings on individuals ages 55 and 61 at the two phases of data collection suggest that low levels of HDL-C may be an important risk factor."

A commonality in risk factors for cardiovascular disease and dementia has helped blur the distinction between vascular dementia and Alzheimer's disease, they said.

Human Growth Hormone for Anti-Aging: Save Your Money

The issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) that came out on June 18th carried a commentary by two authorities on aging, Dr. Jay Olshansky, a professor of public health at the University of Illinois in Chicago, and Dr. Thomas Perls, head of the New England Centenarian Study. The article concerned the illegal provision of human growth hormone (hGH) for anti-aging purposes through clinics, compounding pharmacies, and internet operations, which now represents a $2 billion-a-year enterprise in the U.S. 

The benefits of hGH in healthy adults are limited to a slight increase in muscle mass (go to the gym instead)—not the erasure of the past 20 years from your body. The risks of hGH include diabetes, achy joints and muscles, and male breast development. “Adult animals who receive growth hormone die sooner rather than later—and usually of cancer,” Perls told me in an interview, adding that “these hGH distribution operations aren’t much different than narcotics rings.” Olshansky calls the anti-aging industry “the second-oldest profession,” noting that hucksters have been around for thousands of years, convincing ancient kings that they could gain immorality by drinking wine from gold cups and persuading old men in  early 20^th-century America that surgical grafting of goat testicles would restore sexual vigor. 

Jay Olshansky sums it up: “The only control we have over the duration of our life is to shorten it. So avoid the things that shorten life. Diet and exercise work. That’s proven.  It just takes effort. If you’ve stopped doing the things that will shorten your life and start doing the things that will enhance the quality of your life, you’ve got 90% of the battle done.” 

Yes, ab-solutely. This woman is 87 years old.

Take A Few Memory Tests

Visit author Sue Halpern's site and get access to several different types of memory tests.

Where Sarcasm Lives, and Why You Might be, Like, Demented If You Just Don't Get It

This is great stuff, as described in the New York Times. Researchers led by Dr. Kate Rankin at UC-SF have found the area in the brain, called the right parahippocampal gyrus, that allows you detect sarcasm in someone else, not that anyone would, like, lob a sarcastic comment in your direction or anything. The research is important because it contributes to the growing understanding of the subtleties of right-brain activity in language and communication, and also gives us a better understanding of the types of brain damage involved in certain dementia syndromes. In some forms of non-Alzheimer's dementia, people seem to lose the ability to get inside another person's head to detect sarcasm or anger. There's a video embedded in this NYT posting of a skit in which a couple discusses her sister and mother. Using the same script, the actors deliver a straight version and a totally sarcastic version. Most of us have no trouble hearing the difference.

One example of the diseases that makes it difficult for people to hear sarcasm is frontotemporal lobar dementia (FTLD), with which Senator Pete Domenici is afflicted. (I wrote about his on April 14th and included a video of a gentleman with this disorder.)

On a cheerier note, the article also tells us where your sense of humor lives:

So is it possible that Jon Stewart, who wields sarcasm like a machete on “The Daily Show,” has an unusually large right parahippocampal gyrus?

“His is probably just normal,” Dr. Rankin said. “The right parahippocampal gyrus is involved in detecting sarcasm, not being sarcastic.”

But, she quickly added, “I bet Jon Stewart has a huge right frontal lobe; that’s where the sense of humor is detected on M.R.I.”

How Long Will You Live?

Or asking the question another way, when will you die?
Get an estimate by completing the survey at Living to 100. I actually picked up some interesting information here. Go on!

That Man Lived to be 114? How Did He Do That?

Yes, he lived to be 114, and he had a 101-year-old brother, two daughters ages 81 and 77, and an 85-year-old nephew when he died. The family lived on the Spanish island of Menorca (I could relax here). Researchers writing in the Journal of Gerontology attribute their longevity to a temperate climate (I need to move), a Mediterranean diet, little stress, and lots of physical activity. When this guy was 102, he was still riding a bike and maintaining the family orchard. Also, he seems to have had excellent, strong bones. The article is summarized today at ScienceDaily.