Continuing diet trends in men: the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging (1961-1987)
Article Abstract:
The Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging (BLSA) is one of the few research efforts to study the effects of nutrition and changes in nutrition over several decades. Nutrition is increasingly recognized as a major factor in health and disease, but little is known about who has made changes in nutrition, and who is willing to change, especially among older people. This study was largely limited to well-educated, white males. These men have returned to the center regularly since the 1960s, for two and one half days of physical, biochemical, and psychological tests. These men are now consuming fewer calories, but their weights have increased because their basal energy expenditure and activity levels are lower. The level of protein eaten remained fairly constant. They are eating more carbohydrates than before, but the picture is complicated by whether or not alcohol is included. Alcohol consumption increased only among the young men, but was high throughout for the middle-aged men, and was lower for the older men. Fat consumption for the BLSA men, whose average age was by then 69, was 34 percent of calories in the 1980s. All age groups, even men aged 68 to 78, reduced the amount of fat in their diets, either because of changes in the food supply or because of public education. However, fat consumption is still above the recommended 30 percent of total calories. Because of the amount of time it takes to develop hardening of the arteries, or to prevent or reverse the consequences of poor diet, the effects of these changes will not be apparent for some time. Cholesterol intake also declined, but it could not be related to a decline in serum cholesterol. The ratio of polyunsaturated fat to saturated fat may be more important in determining development of cardiovascular vascular disease than cholesterol, and this ratio has been rising, presumably lowering the risk. These beneficial changes reflect changes in the country as a whole. Most important, the study refutes the belief that older people will not change their habits and life styles. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)
Publication Name: Journals of Gerontology
Subject: Seniors
ISSN: 0022-1422
Year: 1990
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Food restriction suppresses an age-dependent increase in the exhalation rate of pentane from rats: a longitudinal study
Article Abstract:
A study of pentane and ethane exhalation by food-restricted and free-dining (ad libitum) rats indicates that food restriction suppresses the usual age-related increase in lipid peroxidation. This may partially explain why food restriction extends the life span of rats and mice. All ad libitum rats showed a greater rate of ethane and pentane exhalation at 28-30 months than at six-nine or 22 months. Food restricted older rats exhaled pentane at a rate comparable to that of young ad libitum rats. They also exhaled ethane at a rate lower than ad libitum older rats but higher than ad libitum young rats.
Publication Name: Journals of Gerontology
Subject: Seniors
ISSN: 0022-1422
Year: 1993
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Diet restriction prevents aging-induced deficits in brain phosphoinositide metabolism
Article Abstract:
Effects of calorie restriction on aging-induced changes in phosphoinositol second messenger formation were evaluated in brain slices of 6-month-old and 24-month-old F344 rats. Carbachol and dopamine receptor agonist, SKF38393, significantly lowered the accumulation of (3H)inositol-labeled phosphoinositides in the older rat brain as compared to the younger rat brain, suggesting a decreased capacity of the aged brain to respond to receptor-activated phosphoinositide hydrolysis. Moreover, the aging effect in the diet restricted animals can be prevented up to at least 24 months of age.
Publication Name: Journals of Gerontology
Subject: Seniors
ISSN: 0022-1422
Year: 1993
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