Healthy eating for older adults Archive

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New research may help explain why diets rich in animal-based foods are linked to a higher risk of heart attack.

The average American diet contains about 300 milligrams per day of choline, a nutrient found in meat, eggs, and milk. Earlier research found that when gut bacteria feed on choline, they make a compound called TMA. In the liver, TMA is converted to TMAO — a compound closely tied to heart disease risk.

On call

Q. I have heard that exercising on an empty stomach burns more fat and at a faster rate. Is this true?

A. When the body is in a fasting state, several backup mechanisms ensure your muscles and brain get the necessary sugar for fuel. During exercise, after your body's sugar stores are exhausted, the body then taps into stored fat and turns that into sugar or turns protein from muscle into sugar. This has led to the hypothesis that exercising when the body is already "sugar starved" will lead to more rapid fat burning.

Can curbing your usual daily calorie intake by 10% improve health and longevity?

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There is a saying: "The less you eat, the longer you live." The rising rates of obesity have shown that Americans consume more than necessary, and cutting back on calories may be a smart move.

"People naturally gain about a pound a year, on average, beginning in middle age, so healthy weight needs to be a goal for older men," says Vasanti Malik, a research scientist in the Department of Nutrition at Harvard's T.H. Chan School of Public Health. "That is why being mindful of how many calories you really need — and perhaps cutting back some, an approach called calorie restriction — may help some men stay healthy and maybe even live longer."

Building strength and power is key to healthy aging, both physically and mentally. It may be easier than you think.

We probably don't need to remind you that your body changes with age. Age-related muscle loss begins at around age 35 and progresses slowly — at about 1% per year. But after about age 60, muscle loses mass more rapidly, so that adults who don't do regular strength training may lose 4 to 6 pounds of muscle per decade. Moreover, the lost muscle is usually replaced by fat.

Studies show that strength training not only can slow muscle loss, it can also help prevent or control conditions as varied as heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, and osteoporosis. And recent research indicates that it can also improve cognitive function, especially when added to aerobic exercise. As we age, strength training helps to preserve mobility and reduce the risk of falling. "What has been shown is that if you're looking at mobility problems, the most beneficial exercises that are those that focus on progressive training for strength and power," says Dr. Jonathan Bean, an associate professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation at Harvard Medical School.

Research we're watching

Gluten, a storage protein in wheat, rye, and barley, triggers inflammation and intestinal damage in people with celiac disease. Due to concern that gluten may also increase the risk of obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease among healthy people, the number of people without celiac disease who have adopted a gluten-free diet grew more than threefold from 2009 to 2014.

A team led by researchers from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health used 20 to 30 years of data from the 64,714 women in the Nurses' Health Study and the 45,305 men in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study to examine the relationship of dietary gluten to the risk of chronic conditions such as coronary artery disease in people without celiac disease or heart disease. All the participants had completed questionnaires on their diet and health every four years from 1986 through 2010.

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a condition in which the macula, the part of the eye that's responsible for your sharpest and most detailed vision, begins to thin and break down, causing vision loss. If left untreated, it can lead to blindness.

There is no surefire way to prevent AMD. However, there are things you can do to delay its onset or reduce its severity. Here are 5 of our favorites: