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Aging? Surprise, it's not about your age
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Age 60, 70, 80, or more? As a result, do you have all kinds of chronic ailments, disabilities, loss of function, pain, the pleasures of life petering out? Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Aging has very little to do with age. Most physicians can tell you about 40 year olds who look and act like 80, with the physical and mental status and outlook to match, and 80 year olds who have the vigor, life, interests and passions of 40 or younger. How does this happen?
An Editorial (Is Age Really a Non-Modifiable Risk Factor?) in The American Journal of Cardiology, by Drs. Kannel and Vasan, November 1, 2009, page 1307, spells out the answer.
They make it very clear that research* shows survival to age 85 (and beyond) depends on risk factors established by middle age. What are these risk factors? No well-kept secret only whispered about in medical conclaves. On the contrary, widely publicized to anyone who will listen: A diet high in saturated fat (fat from animal sources), high in rapidly metabolized carbohydrates (such as sugar and white flour), obesity and lack of exercise, leading to diabetes, hypertension, and high cholesterol. These lay the groundwork for heart attack and stroke and all the external appearance and internal disease associated (in error) with age.
In carefully objective language, the authors conclude that ".....data in this report challenges the prevalent notion that age is a non-modifiable risk factor. It may well be that age is to a large extent a reflection of.....exposure to the burden of risk factors."
*The Framingham Study, the Honolulu Heart Program, a 20 year study in China published in Lancet in 2008, and a recent viewpoint also in Lancet in 2008 by Sniderman and Furberg.
