Tag Archive for: lifespan

Found: The Dietary Sweet Spot

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Did you have any hot dogs this week after considering the minutes you might lose? How about eating some salmon for what you might gain? If it at least gave you pause, that’s good. The researchers did this study because “research shows that the overconsumption of food detrimental to health and underconsumption of food beneficial for health are leading causes of the health burden in the U.S.” For me it’s a little simpler: finding the sweet spot of nutrition.

Consider the enormity of what the researchers did. They not only considered the health benefit of over 5,000 foods but also the environmental impact. They would not have been able to do the calculations without the use of today’s advanced computing power.

Before I go further, a couple of points: a reminder that this is a theoretical study limited by what we think we know about the nutritional contribution of food to health and disease. Some food-disease relationships may change as we learn more. Second, the results are based on today’s data. As more precise data are collected, the HENI scores may change.

The Sweet Spot

Based on the current study, the researchers concluded that changing nutritional intake by just 10% can benefit both our health and the environment. The change has to be targeted and amounts to an average of 190 calories per person. If we can substitute servings of nuts, vegetables, legumes, and some forms of seafood for about a serving of beef or processed meats, it can yield an increase of about 48 minutes per day for a person over the age of 25—not in longevity but in healthy life minutes.

That’s it. Wherever you’re starting from, change 10% of your calories from questionable choices to healthy ones and you can impact your health. You don’t have to become a vegetarian or switch to an all plant-based diet. Just make a few substitutions; order broiled seafood instead of a steak or burger. Have a handful of nuts instead of a candy bar. Get a baked potato, easy on the butter, instead of fries, and a side salad instead of the onion rings—not every time, but at least one out of ten. If you’re starting from a really poor diet, you’ll probably want to add another 10% after you get this one established, but you don’t have to make immediate radical changes to start improving your health. Opt for slow and steady changes that you can maintain.

One more point: this research didn’t examine weight loss. It’s simply a caloric substitution from poorer choices to better ones to improve your health. While eating better may result in losing weight, that wasn’t the point of the study.

The Bottom Line

This study is as close to finding that sweet spot of nutrition as we have right now. While it’s theoretical, it does attempt to quantify the benefits of something I’ve said for years now: eat better. Combine that with eating less and moving more, and you’re bound to see health benefits.

What are you prepared to do today?

        Dr. Chet

Reference: Nature Food. 2021. (2):616–627.

In Search of the Sweet Spot for What You Eat

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After studying nutrition and exercise for so many years, the one thing I’ve tried to find is the “sweet spot” when it comes to what we should eat. I don’t mean how much sugar or sugary foods can we eat; I mean what do we have to eat to be healthy, reduce our risk of degenerative disease, yet still enjoy all kinds of food. One more thing: it has to be something everyone can do. I think being a vegan is great, but I’m not going to do it and it’s more effort than many people are willing to put into eating—plus I don’t think it’s necessary to be healthy.

What I want to find is the sweet spot: how much good food do I have to eat to balance the food that’s not as good?

Researchers at the University of Michigan may have helped begin the process; although it’s a completely theoretical study, it may give us some guidance. The researchers identified each food’s effect on disease, whether beneficial or detrimental, for over 5,000 foods. They also estimated the same risk-benefit ratio associated with the cost to the environment to grow and manufacture the food. Ultimately, they came up with the number of minutes a serving of a particular food would add or subtract from your life. Needless to say it needed a snappy acronym so they call it HENI, the Healthy Nutritional Index.

Love that hot dog on a bun? You lose about 35 minutes. Eat a dish with seafood? Add 35 minutes. It’s theoretical but it gives us an indication of a sweet spot. I’ll let you know all about that on Saturday.

What are you prepared to do today?

        Dr. Chet

Reference: Nature Food. 2021. (2):616–627.

It’s All in the Dash

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In this Memo, we’re going to pretend the survey’s treatment options for high blood pressure are real. The choices were a pill, a cup of tea, exercise, and an injection once a month. If they were real, which one might be the best option for you? To me, it all comes down to The Dash.

You’ve probably heard about The Dash before. It’s a story about a person’s life such as yours. On your gravestone, there’s a dash between the day you were born and the day you died; your life is in the dash. How does this relate to the treatments offered in the survey, even though hypothetical?

What treatment option will give you the best potential quality of life? Not just adding a month, year, or even five years; what will those years be like? Will you just be alive or will you be really living?

It’s a no-brainer. Whether real or imaginary, the treatment that offers you the best chance to really live during those five years is exercise. A cup of tea may provide some good phytonutrients. A pill or an injection may affect an organ or a system to keep your blood pressure under control. But regular exercise will actually treat the systems involved in hypertension: the heart, blood vessels, muscles, nerves, and even hormone levels. Exercise is not a salve to make you feel better. It’s going to have profound effects and give you the best chance at a good quality of life during those extra five years.

I know the study was just a pilot survey and no treatment can guarantee you that you’ll live longer. But what I said about exercise is real. It gives you the best chance at having a better quality of life, not just during a potential extra five years, but all the years before then as well. What do you want your dash to be like? It just depends on the answer to one real question:

What are you prepared to do today?

Dr. Chet

 

Reference: AHA http://bit.ly/2uXd6qH

 

The Survey’s Most Surprising Results

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Before I get into what I found surprising, I want to point out that this was a survey about hypothetical treatment options. It was just a preliminary or pilot project just to see how people would answer; the head researcher said as much. The other factor was that subjects were 45 and younger. If an older population were asked the same questions, the results could be different. Or maybe not.

What surprised me was that even when asked about something as simple as drinking a cup of tea every day, less than 100% of the people said they would do it for an extra five years of life. The 7% who said they wouldn’t do anything stuns me. It’s a survey! You could misrepresent your answers—go ahead and lie!—who would know? Maybe it’s a function of the under-45 population surveyed; maybe they hadn’t yet started to be concerned about their limited lifespans.

What’s amazing is that most subjects already had high blood pressure according to the report. They knew the treatments were hypothetical, and yet some still couldn’t be bothered to try to add five more years of life. If they care that little about a hypothetical treatment, how are they approaching actual treatment?

On Saturday, I’ll focus on those who said they would do something to live five years longer and which option might be the best—assuming they were real. It all comes down to The Dash.

What are you prepared to do today?

Dr. Chet

 

Reference: AHA http://bit.ly/2uXd6qH