A Healthy Diet May Help Women's Mobility In Later Life

According to a study conducted by researchers at Brigham and Woman's Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts and published in the Journal of Nutrition has linked how following a healthy diet can help reduce the risk of  developing  impaired mobility and physical function in women as they age.

The study looked at 54,762 women over a period of nearly 30 years from 1980 to 2008.  Every 4 years they got them to complete a questionnaire on their diet and every 4 years from 1992 to 2008 their physical function was also measured.

When the questionnaires were compared with the women's physical function, those who had followed a healthier diet over the years fared much better compared with those who had followed a poor diet.

Not really surprising the study showed that consuming a higher intake of fruit and vegetables, a lower intake of sugary drinks, salt, foods that contain trans fats, such as cakes and biscuits and a moderate intake of alcohol were each significantly associated with reduced rates of impaired mobility and physical function.

Researchers discovered that overall diet quality was more important than focusing on individual foods which have been found to help reduce the risk of developing impaired physical function, such as walnuts, oranges and romaine lettuce.

Kaitlin Hagan ScD MPH, the main author of the study said, "We think a lot about chronic diseases, cancer, heart disease and tend not to think of physical function.  Physical function is crucial as you age, it includes being able to get yourself dressed, walk around the block and could impact your ability to live independently."

The study concluded that further research had to be conducted in the future to better understand the dietary and lifestyle factors that impact on physical function and mobility.

Exercise Can Be Better Than Keyhole Surgery On Knee Injuries

A study published in the British Medical Journal has shown that patients with a meniscal tear at the knee joint can find a better improvement in reducing pain and improving knee function in middle-aged patients following an exercise programme rather than having key hole surgery at least in the short term. 

According to this study in the UK each year 150,000 knee operations are completed at a considerable expense to the NHS. 

The Meniscus is a piece of cartilage in the knee that cushions and stabilizes the knee joint, protecting the joint from wear and tear.  However all it takes is a good twist to cause an injury by tearing it.  In some cases a piece of the broken cartilage can break loose and catches in the knee joint, causing it to lock up!

Meniscal tears are one of the most frequently occurring cartilage injuries of the knee.  This type of injury is common in contact sports such as rugby as well as noncontact sports that involves jumping and changing direction quickly while running such as football.

Older athletes are at an increased risk of getting meniscal tears as the meniscus weakens with age.  It is believed that more than 40% of people 65 years and over have them.




The trial involved 140 adults and half were assigned a supervised 12 week exercise programme comprising of 2-3 sessions per week and the other half were given key hole knee surgery followed by simple exercises to be performed at home daily.  All patients were followed up on at 3 months and thigh muscle strength was assessed and self reported knee function was recorded after 2 years.

At the 3 month stage the exercise group showed an improved thigh strength over the key hole surgery group and at the 2 year stage there were no serious problems found such as deep vein thrombosis or infection in either group, meaning that both methods were equally safe among a population of this age.

The authors of this study concluded that, "Supervised exercise therapy showed positive effects over surgery in improving thigh muscle strength at least in the short term.  Our results should encourage clinicians and middle-aged patients with degenerative meniscal tear and no radiographic evidence of osteoarthritis to consider supervised structured exercise therapy as a treatment option."

Want to stay Young then Eat your Greens

According to a recent published study, eating plenty of foods high in a compound called Nicotinamide mononucleotide (NMN) such as broccoli, cabbage and avocado maybe able to slow down the aging process among older people. 

Studies on older mice that were given the compound slowed down physical aging and gave the mice increased metabolism.  It helped strengthen their muscles and bones, improving liver and eye sight function and reducing body weight and increasing their physical activity levels.

Health in humans depends on our ability to be able to manufacture and use energy but as we age our cells' ability to produce energy decreases.  Although scientists are unsure why this occurs they suspect the steady decline in the body's energy supply is a key driver of the aging process.

In this study it showed that NMN helped in compensating for this loss of energy production.

Mice of different ages were given NMN but only the older mice showed noticeable improvements.  This is because in young mice they still produce plenty of  NMN on their own so don't need anymore.  However in older mice as their body's ability to produce NMN declines then getting this important compound from another source becomes much more important and the benefits show up.

Dr Shin-ichiro Imai, of the Washington University School of Medicine in the U.S. said, "We have shown a way to slow the physiologic decline that we see in aging mice.  This means older mice have metabolism and energy levels resembling that of younger mice.  Since human cells rely on this same energy production process, we are hopeful this will translate into a method to help people remain healthier as they age."

The study also discovered that those mice given NMN gained less weight with aging even when consuming more food probably due to the increase in their metabolism which in turn gave them more energy to perform physical activity.

Those behind these findings hope that this will path the way to clinical trials for a human study and a stepping stone to help slow down or even halt the aging process.

The study was published in the journal Cell Metabolism.