Healthy aging and longevity Archive

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Figuring out all the factors that can affect your vitamin D level is complicated. Your body makes vitamin D when sunlight hits the skin. You can also get the vitamin from food (mainly because it's been added; few foods are natural sources of vitamin D) or by taking a supplement.

The process by which the body makes vitamin D is complex. It starts when the skin absorbs rays in the invisible ultraviolet B (UVB) part of the light spectrum. The liver and the kidneys also participate to make a form of the vitamin that the body can use.

Intestinal infection known as C. diff can spread through spores and cause diarrhea

Why would you get an intestinal infection, like C. diff, from treating a different illness with antibiotics?

When you're admitted to a hospital, you expect to receive tests and treatments that will make you feel better. When you get antibiotics in the hospital, you expect that the drugs will treat or prevent infection. But it doesn't always work that way. A distressing number of patients acquire infections while they are in the hospital. And antibiotic therapy can actually increase the odds of coming down with a hospital-acquired infection, particularly when the cause is a bacterium named Clostridium difficile. Although doctors are working hard to control intestinal infections caused by the bug commonly (if not fondly) known as C. diff, the problem is rapidly becoming more common, more serious, and harder to treat.

The nutrient appears to have modest prevention power.

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Vitamin C is often touted as a natural cold remedy. The nutrient is featured in supplements promising to boost the immune system. Nobel laureate Dr. Linus Pauling famously claimed that taking large doses of vitamin C helps thwart a cold. Is there something to these claims? "The data show that vitamin C is only marginally beneficial when it comes to the common cold," says Dr. Bruce Bistrian, chief of clinical nutrition at Harvard-affiliated Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.

About vitamin C

Our bodies don't make vitamin C, but we need it for immune function, bone structure, iron absorption, and healthy skin. We get vitamin C from our diet, usually in citrus fruits, strawberries, green vegetables, and tomatoes. The Recommended Dietary Allowance for men is 90 milligrams (mg) per day, and for women, it's 75 mg per day.

Fear of catching COVID-19 may keep you away from doctors' offices and emergency rooms. Will that hurt or help your health?

For many people, it's a daily debate: Do you risk getting COVID-19 by venturing outside your home and being around others — even if you wear a mask, observe social distancing, and use hand sanitizer? Or do you play it safe and stay inside? The answer is complicated, especially when the reason for leaving home is health-related.

People are understandably concerned about catching COVID while making a medical visit. But avoiding medical treatment because of this kind of thinking can be dangerous, and it appears to be taking a deadly toll.

Put the focus on food quality and healthy lifestyle practices to attain a healthy weight.

Most people have been taught that losing weight is a matter of simple math. Cut calories — specifically 3,500 calories, and you'll lose a pound. But as it turns out, experts are learning that this decades-old strategy is actually pretty misguided.

"This idea of 'a calorie in and a calorie out' when it comes to weight loss is not only antiquated, it's just wrong," says Dr. Fatima Cody Stanford, an obesity specialist and assistant professor of medicine and pediatrics at Harvard Medical School.

Switch the type of walking in your routine to stay motivated and active.

Putting one foot in front of the other is a simple way to trigger a cascade of health benefits. Regular brisk walks help lower LDL (bad) cholesterol; control blood sugar; and reduce the risk for high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, and diabetes. Brisk walks also strengthen muscles, burn calories, and lift mood.

Just one problem: some people find walking boring. Boredom may diminish your motivation and interest in exercising. Before that happens, mix up your regimen with different types of walking that maximize physical, mental, and emotional health benefits.

We don't yet have a vaccine to prevent COVID-19, but it's still important to get your regularly scheduled shots.

You're not alone if you're avoiding doctor visits because of concerns about COVID-19. But forgoing medical care means you may be skipping needed vaccinations. "That's a huge problem already. Possibly over a hundred million people the world over have missed their vaccinations because of the pandemic," says Dr. Shiv Pillai, an immunologist and professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School.

Going without vaccinations may increase your risk for illness, such as influenza. "We still are just as vulnerable to infection, and we need vaccines to be protected; COVID-19 doesn't change that," says Harvard Health Letter editor in chief Dr. Anthony Komaroff.

How can you protect yourself from both viruses?

With flu season here and the COVID-19 pandemic ongoing, what can people expect when these two illnesses meet?

It's anyone's guess.

"While we're in the midst of the COVID pandemic, there's a lot of uncertainty about what will happen when this collides with our yearly flu epidemic," says Dr. Mary Watson Montgomery, an infectious disease expert at Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women's Hospital.

Research we're watching

People with prediabetes — a condition in which blood sugar is elevated but not high enough to be considered diabetes — often go undiagnosed. That may put them at higher risk of cardiovascular disease and even early death, according to an analysis of 129 studies published in the July 18, 2020, issue of The BMJ.

The analysis, which combined data on some 10 million people, found that prediabetes raised the risk of dying from cardiovascular disease by 15% and from any cause by 13% over a median follow-up period of about 10 years. The mortality risk was even higher in people with prediabetes who also had coronary artery disease: they had nearly a 40% increased risk of dying within a median follow-up period of just three years. The study authors suggest that finding and addressing more cases of prediabetes could lead to a lower risk of future cardiovascular disease.