Category — Food and Nutrition

Thanksgiving is – and has always been – my all-time favorite holiday.  And now I have another reason (actually 10 of them) to love this day.  And so do you.  Here are the Top Ten Reasons Thanksgiving is the Ultimate Anti-Aging Holiday:

10. Family gatherings where you spend time with people younger than you are helps you “think young,” which translates into real biological benefits like lower blood pressure.

9. Cleaning the house before the guests arrive is good exercise.  Integrating functional physical activity into your life is probably the single most successful long-term anti-aging strategy there is.

8. Cooking turkey is one of the least anxiety-producing culinary activities you can engage in and still call yourself a cook.  Lower anxiety is linked to longer telomeres.  Longer telomeres are linked to a healthier, longer life.

7. Eating your largest meal mid-day is a proven weight-control strategy.  Maintaining a healthy weight is an important part of avoiding chronic illnesses (diabetes, heart disease) that decrease quality of life and shorten lifespan.

6. Turkey (breast) is a high-quality, super-lean source of protein.  Protein helps build muscle.  A favorable fat-to-lean ratio is a biomarker of youthfulness.

5.  Pine nuts or hazelnuts in the dressing (made with celery, mushrooms, tons of garlic and onions sautéed in olive oil, mixed with toasted multi-grain bread crumbs).  Oh yes! A study from researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School reported that people who regular consumed nuts were less likely to die from a variety of diseases, most significantly cancer, heart disease and respiratory diseases. Nut eaters also tended to be leaner.  (I am guessing their nut-eating did not include slabs of pecan pie… so cross that off your list for tomorrow’s dessert.)

4.  Cranberries have powerful anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory – and perhaps even anti-cancer – properties.

3. The Center for Science in the Public Interest rates sweet potatoes as the number one most nutritious vegetable.  One cup of sweet potatoes (no, not carpeted in brown sugar and dotted with marshmallows) contains 65% of RDA of Vitamin C – a powerful anti-oxidant — and a walloping dose of beta-carotene (which converts to vitamin A in the body) that equals 700% of RDA. Vitamin A is key for good vision and a healthy immune system.

2. Giving thanks and being thankful are signs of self-efficacy and optimism, traits that are associated with greater health and well-being, and a longer lifespan.

…And the #1 reason Thanksgiving is the ultimate anti-aging holiday:

1. It’s a holiday that demands no gift-giving!  No gift-giving means less stress.  Less stress means less cortisol. Less cortisol means less inflammation. Chronic inflammation is linked to just about everything you don’t want to happen to you.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.

Fall – the season of soups and boots – is my favorite time of year because of, well, the soups and boots thing. Not to mention glorious foliage. Also: TEA, steaming mugs of fragrant tea sipped on chilly November mornings. So, this being a chilly November morning, let’s talk tea: herbal tea, health and wellness.

Herbal tea isn’t really made from tea—which is a specific kind of plant. Herbal tea an infusion of leaves, seeds, roots and bark extracted in hot water. I have nothing against tea tea. In fact, I drink quite a bit of green tea, but herbals do have specific properties that are believed to be health-promoting. I say “believed to be” because, if you’re looking for large-scale, placebo-controlled, double-blind clinical trails on herbal tea and its health benefits, you ain’t gonna find them. (Those kind of studies cost tens of millions to mount and are generally financed by pharmaceutical companies.) But you will find enthusiastic endorsements by herbal tea drinkers, naturopaths, herbalists and others. And you will find centuries of use in cultures that value herbal remedies. Here are a few commonly available, potentially health-promoting, counterclockwise herbal teas to consider this fall:

Peppermint is believed to be a stress-reducer. It’s also known for its ability to ease nausea, abdominal discomfort and bloating (holiday overindulgence, anyone?), relieve sinus pain and maybe even clear the skin. Personally, I find this tea peps me up. (I mean mood elevation not energy boost.)

Lemon Balm tea is thought to lift the spirits, ease digestion and help with sleep. And there is some science behind the sleep claim. Yes, clinical trails. Researchers have investigated lemon balm’s use in treating insomnia and anxiety, but most of these studies used a combination of lemon balm and other herbs like valerian, hops and chamomile. The University of Michigan Health System cites a preliminary clinical trial that compared the effects of a product containing lemon balm and valerian root with the insomnia medication triazolam, or Halcion. The study found that the herbal combination was just as effective as Halcion at improving the participants’ ability to fall asleep and quality of sleep.

Chamomile — wonderful, soothing, grandmotherly chamomile– is considered to have calming, sedative effects and muscle-relaxing properties. It may also be a boon to the immune system – the enduring strength of which is a key to a counterclockwise life — due to plant-derived compounds called phenolics. Plus, it smells wonderful.

Ginger tea is renown as a great digestive aid, used to curb nausea or settle an upset stomach caused by motion sickness. Ginger is rich in Vitamin C and Magnesium, as well as other healthy minerals, and is believed to improve blood circulation, reduce inflammation, fight respiratory issues and boost the immune system. And it grows in sidewalk cracks.

Rooibos tea – a tasty new favorite of mine – is high in vitamin C and has thus been touted for its antioxidant properties, which may protect against disease and mitigate signs of aging. I don’t know. I just love the taste of it. Rosehip tea, like rooibus, is a vitamin C powerhouse. I don’t like the taste, so it doesn’t get a separate listing. So there.

Nettle Tea is rich in B vitamins, iron and calcium. It is believed to have anti-inflammatory properties that make it beneficial in treating arthritis, diabetes and even heart disease.

The thing about these health and wellness claims is: maybe yes, maybe no. But there’s no downside to trying a cup.

Please write in with your go-to herbal teas.

Eat (mostly) plants!

Yes, you’ve heard it before, and here it is again. This is nutritionally sound, research-validated, high-level wellness, powerful anti-aging advice.

The healthiest, longest lived people on earth, the ones with scant heart disease, cancer and Alzheimer’s, the ones with keen hearing and sharp eyesight into their 9th decades, the lively, sprightly ones – those ones – are from different cultures and live in different corners of the world. But they have a few core habits in common, one of which is their mostly plant-based diets. This doesn’t mean that they consume no animal products. It means that their diets are built on vegetables, fruits. beans, seeds and nuts with animal protein as addendums.

What these so-called Blue Zone folks are doing is eating the way the best informed, least faddish, most anti-aging savvy nutritional researchers say we should all be eating: High nutrient density/ low energy density (aka caloric) foods packed with fiber and rich in phytochemicals. Veggies top this list. I don’t have to tell you what’s on the bottom, do I?

Just how good is a (mostly) plant-based diet? Let me count the ways.

An uncomplicated, whole foods, plant-based diet may reduce (or prevent) heart disease, coronary artery disease, high blood pressure, unhealthy cholesterol levels, type II diabetes, metabolic syndrome, obesity and a number of digestive ailments and illnesses. This is pretty much a laundry list of what ages us from the inside out. There is evidence that a plant-based diet may help prevent everything from gallstones to macular degeneration, may have a positive impact on oral health and allergies, and may be tied to improved cognition. One study suggests that this kind of clean eating devoid of processed foods and stingy with animal products can turn back the (biological) clock 14 years. Here are links to the research on all these studies.

And here’s a bit of the text of an article written for physicians about nutrition and health. These are researchers talking to doctors – not diet-of-the-month hucksters trying to sell books, not food faddists jumping on some bandwagon.

“Research shows that plant-based diets are cost-effective, low-risk interventions that may lower body mass index, blood pressure, blood sugar, and cholesterol levels. They may also reduce the number of medications needed to treat chronic diseases and lower ischemic heart disease mortality rates. Physicians should consider recommending a plant-based diet to all their patients.” (italics are mine)

And note this conclusion to the article: “The future of health care will involve an evolution toward a paradigm where the prevention and treatment of disease is centered, not on a pill or surgical procedure, but on another serving of fruits and vegetables.”

Or, as Hippocrates said almost 2500 years ago: Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.

But I want to add, although I really hope I don’t have to, that eating this way is not at all like taking medicine. It’s not about limiting options but expanding them. It’s not about deprivation but surfeit, about flavors and colors and textures that make counterclockwise eating-for-wellness also eating for pleasure.

My husband, daughter and I spent a few hours last Saturday picking blueberries in the cool of the morning, alternately intent on the task and zoning out to bird songs and soft breezes. Blueberry picking is a delightful activity. Quiet, contemplative, rewarding. Unlike strawberry picking, you get to stand up. Unlike blackberry picking you get to not bleed. And, of course, you get blueberries which, in my opinion, are the apex of deliciousness.

How wonderful, then, that they are also the apex of healthiness. Here are five reasons to enjoy blueberries – lots and lots of them – right now:

1. Blueberries protect against memory loss.
A 2012 study suggested that eating at least one serving of blueberries a week slowed cognitive decline by several years. These promising results came from work by Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School researchers which was published in the Annals of Neurology. (Read: high cred) It may be that blueberries protect the brain by clearing toxic proteins that accumulate there, which was the finding of a 2013 mouse study.

2. Blueberries are heart-friendly. Very friendly.
In repeated studies, blueberries (1-2 cups a day) have been found to lower total cholesterol, raise HDL (that’s the good one) and lower triglycerides. At the same time, blueberries have been shown to help protect LDL (the bad one) from damage that could lead to clogging of the arteries. Blueberries powerful antioxidant phytochemicals also help protect the cells lining the blood vessel walls. And the most recent research points to blueberries’ role in increasing the activity of an enzyme associated with better cardiovascular function. And then there’s blood pressure. In those with high blood pressure, blueberries have significantly reduced both systolic and diastolic blood pressures. In those with health blood pressure, blueberries have been shown to help maintain these healthy pressures.

3. Blueberries provide antioxidant support throughout the body.
Blueberries’ phytochemicals don’t just work wonders within the cardiovascular system. They provide support for virtually every body system studied to date. That includes muscles, nerves and the digestive tract. In preliminary animal studies, one of the powerful antioxidants in blueberries (anthocyanins) helped protect the retina from oxidative damage.

4. Blueberries help with blood sugar regulation.
A recent study that included blueberries along with other low Glycemic Index fruits, found the combination to have a favorable impact on blood sugar regulation in those already diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. Participants in the study who consumed at last 3 servings of low-GI fruits per day (including blueberries) saw significant improvement in their regulation of blood sugar over a three-month period of time.

5. Blueberries might have important anti-cancer benefits.
It’s too early to tell, but the studies done on human cells in the lab and on lab animals appear promising. So far breast cancer, colon cancer, esophageal cancer, and cancers of the small intestine have been studied. The hope is that blueberry consumption may lower the risk of these cancer types.

Unlike other foods that are packed with healthy benefits – like nuts, for example, or que lastima, chocolate — blueberries are not packed with calories. One cup has only 80-85 calories. That serving provides 30 percent of your vitamin K needs, 25 percent of manganese, 20 percent of vitamin C and a surprising 15 percent of daily fiber requirements. Such a deal.

And, new studies make it clear that we can freeze blueberries without doing damage to their delicate antioxidants. Which is a relief, as we picked about 35 quarts Saturday morning.

As part of my on-going anti-aging-lifestyle-can-be-fun campaign, I offer you the ultimate in counterclockwise pleasure, the indulgence with benefits, the no-no that is now a yes-yes. That’s’ right: Chocolate. No not candy (still a no-no).

Real chocolate.

Dark chocolate. At least 65 percent cacao chocolate.

Here some sweet results to ponder as you savor your square of chocolate:

The Mayo Clinic gives its highest rating of “strong” to the scientific evidence linking flavonols (the phytochemicals found in cacao) with decreases in blood pressure. (Remember that blood pressure is a biomarker for aging.) The University of Michigan Medical School has placed dark chocolate on its “Health Foods Pyramid”– a list that “emphasizes foods that nourish the body, sustain energy over time, contain healing qualities and essential nutrients” – because of evidence that it decreases LDL (“bad”) cholesterol, reduces the risk of blood clots and increases blood flow in arteries and the heart. Some research has linked chocolate consumption to reduced risks of diabetes, stroke and heart attack.

Also very promising, according to early research, is dark chocolate’s affect on chronic liver disease (due to decreased high blood pressure and improved blood flow in the liver. High blood pressure in the veins of the liver is commonly associated with cirrhosis.)

And there’s more: In early research, a drink with cocoa flavonols improved mental performance in people with mildly impaired mental abilities, so there’s now ongoing research about dark chocolate and dementia. We’ll have to wait to see about that. (I intend to wait while eating chocolate.) Also, to quote Mayo, “limited study suggests that chocolate may improve mood for a short period of time.” I’m not buying that. I think many of us have “studied” the mood-altering effects of chocolate over time – and found clinically defensible results.

Remember, we’re talking DARK chocolate here. Not milk chocolate (Milk binds to antioxidants in chocolate making them unavailable) or so-called white chocolate (which isn’t chocolate at all and contains no cocoa solids). If you are accustomed to milk chocolate or “semi-sweet” chocolate, the 65 percent–plus stuff will at first taste strange because it is denser, harder and so much less sweet. It is, however, intensely, wonderfully, gloriously chocolaty. Once you try the dark stuff, milk chocolate begins to taste fake and sicky-sweet.

Several caveats before you run out to the story to stock up on bars of 65 percent-plus (I like 77 myself) organic, fair trade chocolate bars: There are measurable amounts of caffeine in dark chocolate – which I think is a good thing. But, if you are sensitive to caffeine, watch it. Also, if you know you’re prone to kidney stones, be careful. Chocolate contains a substance that increases the risk of kidney stone formation. And be aware that chocolate may be a trigger for some (but by no means all) people who suffer from migraines.

That said, the biggest caveat is probably this: The amount of (dark) chocolate studies have found to be most helpful, around 3 ounces (85 grams) a day, can provide up to 450 calories. As my dear friend Jenn Morton says: You can wear it, or you can work it off.

I am writing from Scandinavia where coffee consumption is the highest in the world: Four-plus cups a day compared to U.S.’s measly 1.5 cups (although undoubtedly higher in Portland and Seattle, #2 and #1, respectively, for the most java consumed per capita in our country). Let’s just say I am doing my part to maintain the Scandinavian average by enthusiastically partaking in the national pastime of Sweden, the fika, or coffee-and-bun break.

This activity can be enjoyed many – too many — times a day. Yesterday, I fika-ed at 10, 2:15 and 4:30, resisting the kanelbulle, the cardamom/ cinnamon buns that are the bun part of “coffee-and-bun break,” two out of three times. So not bad. But, with my coffee consumption suddenly way up, I became particularly interested in finding good news about coffee and health. I am happy to report that I found it.

It’s important to note that coffee has had a bad rap for a long time. When I was a kid, the word was that drinking coffee would stunt your growth. Then news came from scientific studies that coffee drinking was associated with heart disease, cancer and shorter life spans. It turns out that those dire stats were an artifact of the coffee-drinking lifestyle not coffee itself. Coffee drinkers – at least when these studies were being conducted years ago – tended to smoke more cigarettes, exercise less often and eat a less healthy diet than non-coffee drinkers. The early studies didn’t separate the beverage from the lifestyle.

Today, the news is much different. And far better. As Frank Hu, MD, MPH, PhD, nutrition and epidemiology professor at the Harvard School of Public Health, says, “There is certainly much more good news than bad news, in terms of coffee and health.”

First, the lack of bad news: Drinking up to six cups a day of coffee is not associated with increased risk of death from any cause, or death from cancer or cardiovascular disease.

Now, the actual good news: It may be that coffee drinkers have a somewhat lower risk of death from cardiovascular disease than those who rarely drink coffee, according to the latest research. Other research suggests that coffee consumption may protect against type 2 diabetes, Parkinson’s disease, liver cancer and liver cirrhosis. For women, coffee may mean a lower risk of stroke.

Coffee also appears to improve cognitive function and decrease the risk of depression. It has been linked to lower risk of dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease. A 2009 study from Finland and Sweden showed that, out of 1,400 people followed for about 20 years, those who reported drinking 3-5 cups of coffee daily were 65% less likely to develop dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, compared with nondrinkers or occasional coffee drinkers.

Okay then. Time for another fika. Now if only I could find good health news about pastry consumption.

Remember when chocolate was supposed to make your face break out, margarine was much healthier than butter, eggs were too high in cholesterol to eat more than once a week, milk was for “every body,” …and nuts were super-salty, super-fattening munchies to be avoided?

Oh so yesterday.

(Dark) chocolate has potent anti-aging and mood-enhancing qualities.  (Proof, right there, of the existence of God/dess.) Butter trumps margarine. Eggs are nutrition powerhouses.  Milk is not, in fact, for every body. (Far more people are lactose intolerant than gluten intolerant.)

And nuts. Wow. Nuts are in the midst of a major image make-over.

Old news that food can be potent (anti-aging) medicine. Hippocrates wrote, Let food be your medicine, and your medicine be food about 2400 years before the invention of Krunchy Kale. But evidence that any particular food has a particular health and anti-aging effect has been hard to come by. Not that everyone-and-his-uncle (as my father used to say) hasn’t claimed the miraculous powers of one “superfood” or another.

The problem with research about a particular food – the heart-healthy effects of salmon, the anti-inflammatory power of blueberries – is that people who tend to eat these foods are the very people who tend to make other healthy decisions in their lives. It is thus quite challenging to tease out the effects of the singular behavior of eating a single food.

But now there’s new (better) research on nuts that is beginning to make a strong and believable case for their particular health benefits.  This randomized study – it randomly assigned some people (who may or may not practice other healthy behaviors) to eat nuts and others (who also may or may not have healthy habits) not to eat nuts — lessened the chance for nut-eating benefits to be conflated with other healthy behaviors. That study – a handful of nuts a day for the lucky who were chosen – found that consumption of nuts lowered bad cholesterol and triglycerides, and boosted good cholesterol. (This, presumably, would lead to better cardiovascular health, fewer heart attacks and strokes.)

In a large (almost 120,000 men and women) – but, alas, not randomized – study of nut-eaters published in the New England Journal of Medicine last year, greater nut consumption correlated with a decrease in mortality. (During the study, that is, as nut-eaters and non-nut-eaters both have a 100% chance of dying.) Again, the problem with the data was the overall health and broader healthy habits of nut-eaters. So actually, the take home message of that study was that nut-eaters turned out to be thinner, to exercise more, to eat more fruits and vegetables, and to smoke less than the nut-less.

So, yay for nuts.  Or modified yay. Nuts are “nutritionally dense” — but that’s a nice way of saying high-cal. That “handful” of almonds? Figure 200-300 calories depending on the size of your hand.  (And figure 30 seconds to consume.)  So, health benefits aside, it’s not like you want to be going back for that second handful. But certainly nuts (particularly almonds and walnuts) belong on the YES list along with dark chocolate. In fact, together!

As I write this, I am eating a dried cranberry and white chocolate chip cookie my daughter baked last night.  (It does have rolled oats, but I don’t think I get any points for that given the sugar/ butter/ white flour trifecta.)  Yesterday, in between mindfully healthy meals that included an admirable array of yummy superfoods , I found myself (unmindfully) eating hunks of Panettone , a traditional Italian Christmas sweet bread/ cake.

‘Tis the season…right.  I get that.  But I don’t understand why “enjoying the holidays” is synonymous (for me, apparently, as well as for millions of others) with sugar, butter and white flour. Last month I wrote about the amazing anti-aging qualities of the traditional Thanksgiving meal.  It’s harder to make the case for the Christmas season, with its emphasis on cookies, cakes and sweets.

If it were only as easy as sticking to the “everything in moderation” mantra.  But moderation and home-made brownies drizzled with melted dark chocolate don’t really go together. Or am I missing something here?  Is there someone out there who really can just eat just one almond/ raspberry thumb-print cookie (also baked by my daughter last night) or “take a few bites” of the aforementioned brownie?  If there is, don’t write in with a comment because I will not post it.  I will probably be too busy eating a lemon bar.  Also: I hate you.

If it were only this end-of-year Sugar Fest, I think we — and by “we” I mean overfat, undernourished North Americans — could handle it (and not be overfat and undernourished). Our amazing, forgiving bodies would forgive us. Especially if we lived active, counterclockwise lifestyles and, except for holiday overindulgences, ate to fuel our amazing bodies.  But many of us don’t.  Too many of us don’t.

Yes, we are wired to love and crave fat and sugar, our biochemistry not having caught up with the fact that we don’t have to hunt and gather anymore.  And we are surrounded by cues to consume.  Not just at holiday times, but every day.  Suppose we instead surround ourselves with cues to live well and live healthy?  That’s going against the tide.  But the vigorous swim is worth it, don’t you think?

Thanksgiving is – and has always been – my all-time favorite holiday.  And now I have another reason (actually 10 of them) to love this day.  And so do you.  Here are the Top Ten Reasons Thanksgiving is the Ultimate Anti-Aging Holiday:

10. Family gatherings where you spend time with people younger than you are helps you “think young,” which translates into real biological benefits like lower blood pressure.

9. Cleaning the house before the guests arrive is good exercise.  Integrating functional physical activity into your life is probably the single most successful long-term anti-aging strategy there is.

8. Cooking turkey is one of the least anxiety-producing culinary activities you can engage in and still call yourself a cook.  Lower anxiety is linked to longer telomeres.  Longer telomeres are linked to a healthier, longer life.

7. Eating your largest meal mid-day is a proven weight-control strategy.  Maintaining a healthy weight is an important part of avoiding chronic illnesses (diabetes, heart disease) that decrease quality of life and shorten lifespan.

6. Turkey (breast) is a high-quality, super-lean source of protein.  Protein helps build muscle.  A favorable fat-to-lean ratio is a biomarker of youthfulness.

5.  Pine nuts or hazelnuts in the dressing (made with celery, mushrooms, tons of garlic and onions sautéed in olive oil, mixed with toasted multi-grain bread crumbs).  Oh yes! A new study from researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School reported that people who regular consumed nuts were less likely to die from a variety of diseases, most significantly cancer, heart disease and respiratory diseases. Nut eaters also tended to be leaner.  (I am guessing their nut-eating did not include slabs of pecan pie… so cross that off your list for tomorrow’s dessert.)

4.  Cranberries have powerful anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory – and perhaps even anti-cancer – properties.

3. The Center for Science in the Public Interest rates sweet potatoes as the number one most nutritious vegetable.  One cup of sweet potatoes (no, not carpeted in brown sugar and dotted with marshmallows) contains 65% of RDA of Vitamin C – a powerful anti-oxidant — and a walloping dose of beta-carotene (which converts to vitamin A in the body) that equals 700% of RDA. Vitamin A is key for good vision and a healthy immune system.

2. Giving thanks and being thankful are signs of self-efficacy and optimism, traits that are associated with greater health and well-being, and a longer lifespan.

…And the #1 reason Thanksgiving is the ultimate anti-aging holiday:

1. It’s a holiday that demands no gift-giving!  No gift-giving means less stress.  Less stress means less cortisol. Less cortisol means less inflammation. Chronic inflammation is linked to just about everything you don’t want to happen to you.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.

In the wild wild west of supplements, the land of deer antler spray, lamb placenta and noni juice (yes, really) where we’re bombarded with claims and testimonials and celebrity endorsements, it’s a challenge to figure what is good (or at least promising) for those of us who want to tip the balance toward health and vitality as we age.

It’s a great day when real science supplants hucksterism, and we can learn something credible and useful about an anti-aging supplement,  Such is the most recent news about Omega-3s. This is a supplement I take, my decision based on persuasive research that Omega 3s (an essential fatty acid found in cold water fish like salmon) are powerful anti-inflammatory.  Inflammation is implicated in a host of chronic diseases that fast-forward the aging process.

Now there’s more evidence about the health and anti-aging benefits of omega-3s – this time about the link between this supplement and longer telomeres.

What are telomeres and why do we care if they’re long or short?  Glad you asked. Telomeres are the end-caps on our chromosomes that protect them from wear and tear (and death).  Long telomeres signal biological youth.  Shortened telomeres, not so much.  Or, in science speak: “It is becoming increasingly evident that damage specific to the telomeric ends of chromosomes is one of the most critical events that initiate genome instability leading to accelerated ageing, cognitive decline and neurodegenerative disease.”  Got that?  As I said:  Long telomeres, good.  Short telomeres, bad. (I had mine tested during my counterclockwise journey and wrote about it in the book.)

A new study from Australian researchers – a randomized clinical trail (the gold standard), albeit a small, pilot study — found that omega-3 supplementation was associated with “reduced shortening” of telomeres.  This echoes UC/ SF research that found links between omega-3s and slower cellular ageing in people with coronary disease as well as another study that linked omega-3s to improved cognitive ability. If you’re not taking this supplement, you should consider it.

Almost as interesting as the good news about omega-3s is the mirror-image bad news that emerged from the recent  Australian study.  The people who exhibited the greatest shortening of telomere length (remember, short=bad) were those with the highest intake of omega-6s.  While omega-3s are hard to get in our modern diet, omega-6s are way too easy.  Snack foods, fast foods, cookies, crackers and sweets often contain refined vegetable oils, a major source of omega-6s.  More proof – if we needed any more proof – that the American junk food diet is aging us from the inside out.

(Thanks to Dr. Andrew Elliot, the guy behind my telomere testing, for alerting me to this study.)