We are living longer yet growing less healthy. That is the paradoxical conclusion reached by researchers who have found successive generations building up medical problems worse than those faced by their forbears.

“The prevalence of obesity in our youngest generation of men and women at the age of 40 is similar to that of our oldest generation at the age of 55. This means that the younger generation is 15 years ahead of the older generation and will be exposed to their obesity for a longer time.”

Poor diet and lack of exercise blamed for increase in

obesity, blood pressure and diabetes.

Life expectancy has grown dramatically in recent decades as a result of improved nutrition, housing and medical care. But today’s 40-year-olds are experiencing problems of excess weight, high blood pressure and diabetes similar to those now in their mid-fifties.

The younger generation is thus 15 years ahead of the older generation on the pathway to increasing frailty, disability and ill health. Ultimately, the effect is likely to be a slowing of the increase in life expectancy or even a reversal, experts say.

For more than a decade health practitioners have warned that our existing way of life is killing us softly, due to an excess of fat, sugar and salt – and inactivity. Two-thirds of the population are overweight or obese and, on present trends, that will rise to 90 per cent by 2050.

Obesity already causes an estimated 9,000 premature deaths a year, and health practitioners fear its relentless rise could mean the current generation will be the first to die before their parents.

Researchers who followed 6,000 individuals for up to 16 years have charted the consequences of the calorie-rich lifestyle and found the adults of today are less “metabolically” healthy than in the past.

The study was conducted in the town of Doetinchem in the Netherlands beginning in 1987. The researchers compared the health of those in their twenties, thirties, forties and fifties and then followed up each group to find out how one generation compared with another born a decade earlier.

At the start of the study, 40 per cent of men in their thirties were overweight. But 11 years later, the proportion had grown to 52 per cent among the next generation of men in their thirties. Among women, their weight did not change until the most recent generations when the proportion who were obese doubled in a decade. These “generation shifts” were also seen in high blood pressure, with the prevalence of the condition increasing in each generation for both men and women. The only exceptions were the two most recent generations of men. A similar increase was seen in diabetes in succeeding generations of men, though not of women.

There was no generation shift in high cholesterol, but levels of “good” HDL cholesterol did rise in the oldest two generations. Gerben Hulsegge, of the Dutch National Institute for Public Health, who led the study published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, said the impact of obesity in youth was a critical factor.

As smoking has declined in recent decades, there is also likely to be a shift from smoking-related illnesses such as lung cancer to obesity-related diseases such as diabetes.

Dr Hulsegge said: “The decrease in smoking and improved healthcare are important driving forces behind greater life expectancy of younger generations. But it is also possible in the distant future, as a result of current trends in obesity, that the rate of increase in life expectancy may well slow down.”

Oestrogen is essential for healthy female reproductive function.This hormone plays a part in every stage of a female’s life – from early childhood development to puberty, throughout the menstrual cycle, pregnancy, childbirth and finally, through the menopausal years. Too many women suffer from symptoms related to having either too much or not enough oestrogen and accept it as a normal part of being a women. However, it is not only females that are affected by oestrogen; men also have conditions which are influenced by imbalances in oestrogen metabolism, such as benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). The good news is that you can manage this master hormone and no longer be at the mercy of your hormones.

Oestrogen: the “Good” vs. the “Bad”
Oestrogen exists in different forms within the body in both men and women. One of these oestrogen forms is good for the body and is essential to reproductive health; the other is less favourable and is associated with PMS and other hormonal issues. To stay in a healthy hormonal state, your body needs more of the “good” oestrogen and less of the “bad” oestrogen. When the body does not keep these two forms in the correct balance, the body can develop an oestrogen imbalance, which may be associated with conditions such as BPH and breast enlargement in men, or endometriosis and uterine fibroids in women. The following symptoms may also indicate imbalances in oestrogen:

• Bloating or fluid retention                                 • Heavy, or irregular periods
• Fatigue or lack of energy                                  • Sugar cravings
• Weight gain                                                   • Mood swings and irritability
• Sleep disturbances                                          • Night sweats
• Headaches                                                     • Loss of libido

Herbs and Nutrients – Our Hormone Heroes
Supporting healthy oestrogen metabolism can ensure we have the correct ratios of “good” oestrogen and lower amounts of the “bad” oestrogen. It is also important to assist in the detoxification of less favourable oestrogen to create a healthy balance. Particular herbs and nutrients have been shown to support healthy oestrogen metabolism, including:
• Indole-3-Carbinol: is found in broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage and brussels sprouts. Indole-3-carbinol is a powerful ingredient that supports oestrogen detoxification to maintain a healthy oestrogen balance.
• Soy isoflavones: have been found to have an oestrogen modulating effect, increasing beneficial oestrogen levels and decreasing the “bad” oestrogens.
• Curcumin: is the active component in the herb, turmeric, which has been used traditionally for the management of period pain. It offers potent antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity and also supports liver detoxification.
• Broccoli sprouts: contain two active ingredients, glucosinolates and sulphoraphane which have antioxidant properties and the ability to activate the body’s natural detoxification system, aiding in the elimination of oestrogens and toxins from the body.

Is the Change of Life Ruining Your Life?
As women near the end of their reproductive years and head towards menopause, oestrogen levels start to drop as hormone production from the ovaries declines. Symptoms such as hot flushes, sweating, palpitations, low back pain, anxiety and insomnia occur in varying degrees during menopause and can greatly impact on many women’s quality of life. To help get the most out of life in these later years, the herbs rehmannia, Chinese yam, peony and zizyphyus have been found to enhance hormone production in peri-menopausal women and may help in the management of menopausal symptoms.

Diet and Lifestyle Tips
The following diet and lifestyle tips can help bring you and your hormones back into a state of balance:
• Include healthy, low-fat protein (e.g. fresh lean fish, lean beef, chicken, eggs, legumes) in your daily diet.
• Eat a rainbow of fresh fruit and vegetables daily.
• Enjoy nuts, seeds and oils daily. Eat fish on a regular basis to ensure you get plenty of good fats in your diet.
• Reduce caffeine and alcohol intake, as these can worsen hormonal symptoms.
• Get moving. Enjoy a minimum of 30 minutes of moderate exercise each day.
• Aim for eight hours of sleep every night and take time out to rest and relax.
• Drink at least two litres of purified water daily. Clean, fresh water is vital for all aspects of good health.

Healthy Hormone Balance
Don’t let your hormones rule your life. With the help of these herbal and nutritional hormone heroes and by making simple dietary and lifestyle changes, you really can help to manage your oestrogen levels to bring you back to a state of balance.

• Lightning can trigger migraines.
• The majority of fiber in fruit is found in the peel.
• Bananas can provide natural heartburn relief.
• Long-term use of zinc lozenges can suppress the immune system rather than bolster it.
• Stress can trigger the virus responsible for warts on the feet.
• Coffee, alcohol and nicotine all increase your risk for developing osteoporosis.
• More than 90 percent of all drugs in clinical trials never make it to the marketplace.
• Your body generates enough heat in half an hour to boil water.
• Men with hair on their chests are less likely to get cirrhosis of the liver than hairless men.
• Your nose can detect and remember 50,000 different aromas.
• You use 200 different muscles to take a single step.
• Your eyes are composed of more than two million working parts.
• The width of your arm span from fingertip to fingertip is the same length as your body from head to toe.
• One of the best exercises for maintaining healthy bones? Gardening.
• Excessive intake of alcohol (more than one to two drinks a day) can increase a woman’s risk of breast cancer.
• You can diminish allergic reactions by laughing.
• Insufficient sleep can reduce your body’s ability to fight infection.

The results of a trial described online on February 25, 2013 in the New England Journal of Medicine indicate a protective effect for a Mediterranean diet against the risk of experiencing heart attack, stroke or death from cardiovascular causes among older adults at high cardiovascular risk. A Mediterranean diet, which is high in fruit, vegetables, fish, legumes, nuts and olive oil, has been associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular disease and premature death in several studies of its adherents.

“In this primary prevention trial, we observed that an energy-unrestricted Mediterranean diet, supplemented with extra-virgin olive oil or nuts, resulted in a substantial reduction in the risk of major cardiovascular events among high-risk persons,” authors Ramón Estruch, MD, PhD and colleagues write. “The results support the benefits of the Mediterranean diet for the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease.”

The trial included 7,447 men and women with no cardiovascular disease upon enrollment who had at least three risk factors for the disease. Participants were randomized to a Mediterranean diet supplemented with extra-virgin olive oil, a Mediterranean diet supplemented with almonds, hazelnuts and walnuts, or a low-fat control diet. The trial was concluded after a median follow-up of 4.8 years, during which myocardial infarction, stroke or death from cardiovascular disease occurred among 288 subjects. In comparison with participants who adhered to the control diet, the adjusted risk of experiencing a cardiovascular event was 29 percent lower for those who followed a Mediterranean diet plan. The findings were similar when the two Mediterranean diets were separately evaluated. Heart attack and stroke risks were 23 percent and 39 percent lower in those who consumed a Mediterranean diet, and the risk of dying from cardiovascular disease over follow-up was 17 percent less.

 

Recent findings from Germany’s ESTHER study (an ongoing population-based cohort study) reveal a lower risk of dying from cardiovascular disease, cancer, respiratory disease or any cause in men and women with higher serum levels of vitamin D.

In comparison with sufficient levels, being deficient in vitamin D was associated with a 42 percent greater risk of dying of cancer, a 39 percent greater risk of dying of cardiovascular disease and a 250% greater risk of dying of respiratory disease.

Reporting online on February 27, 2013 in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Ben Schöttker and his colleagues at the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg describe the results of their study of 9,949 subjects between the ages of 50 to 74 upon enrollment in ESTHER. Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] levels were measured upon enrollment and at a five year follow-up visit. The subjects were followed for a median of 9.5 years, during which 1,083 deaths occurred.

Subjects whose serum vitamin D levels were between 12-20 ng/mL (30 to 50 nmol/L), which was classified as insufficient, had a 17 percent higher risk of dying from any cause in comparison with those whose levels were categorized as sufficient at greater than 20 ng/mL (50 nmol/L). For those with deficient levels of less than 12 ng/mL (30 nmol/L), the risk of dying increased to 71 percent higher than that experienced by subjects with sufficient levels.

“Our results support the importance of additional research on the potential of lowering mortality by ensuring an adequate vitamin D supply,” they conclude.