Body Fat and Aging: One and The Same? by Jerry Brainum 6/25

 

 

As people age, they begin to pay more attention to aging. Specifically, many people seek ways to slow the aging process. More importantly, they want to live longer and healthier lives. No one in their right mind would want to experience senior years that are marked by constant illness and pain, yet that is often the fate of many people. Whether the autumn of your life is experienced with vigor and zest for life or misery is largely under personal control. While genetics can predispose a person to diseases that can show up late in life and shorten the lifespan, such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer, the good news is that such miserable fates aren't inevitable and can be controlled to a large extent by how a person lives their life. For example, those who don't engage in regular exercise will be doomed to live lives that are marked by immobility and mental deterioration to the point that they often have to be institutionalized or placed in nursing homes because they can't care for themselves. The body is a machine; like other machines, it must be moved to continue working or deteriorate. Those who never engage in habitual resistance training will gradually lose muscle mass as they age, a condition called sarcopenia. The loss of muscle mass not only limits their enjoyment of life but also increases all-cause mortality.

Nutrition also plays a dominant role in how long and healthy you live. While health authorities extoll the benefits of a "balanced diet" that encompasses all major food groups, such suggestions are often ignored in the real world. The problem is that those same health "experts" tell people to avoid food supplements and get all their essential nutrients from consuming a "balanced diet." The inevitable lack of essential nutrients when people don't replace them results in diseases that could have been easily prevented. This effect is widespread. Some people note that food supplements didn't exist in the past, so people had to rely exclusively on food sources to obtain essential nutrients. That is true, but foods were also far less processed in the past and naturally contained far more nutrients compared with modern, often highly processed foods that many rely on.

Regarding longevity, people also lived far shorter lives in the past. In 1900, the average lifespan was only 47; today, it's 81.7 for men and 85.1 for women in the United States. The longer lifespan today primarily results from improved medical treatment, such as the advent of antibiotic therapy. In the 1800s, the leading cause of premature death was consumption, today known as tuberculosis. With the aging of the "Baby Boom Generation," or those born between 1946 and 1964, interest in methods that will extend a healthy lifespan has significantly increased. No one wants to die decrepit and sick. Research on aging has risen exponentially in recent . . .