Authors: John Robbins
10. I am indebted to Michael Greger, M.D., for this phrase.
11. Anne Platt McGinn, “Blue Revolution—The Promises and Pitfalls of Fish Farming,”
World Watch
March/April 1998, pp. 9–10.
12. Juliet Eilperin, “Farmed Salmon Raise Concerns: Study cites high levels of chemical fire retardants,”
Washington Post
August 11, 2004.
13. Ronald Hites et al., “Global Assessment of Organic Contaminants in Farmed Salmon,”
Science
Jan. 2004 (303):9. See also Kenneth Weiss, “Farm-Raised Salmon Linked to Pollutants,”
Los Angeles Times
Jan. 8, 2004.
14. Michael Janofsky, “Report: Most fish in U.S. waters tainted by mercury,”
New York Times
August 4, 2004.
15. Jane Kay, “Rich folks eating fish feed on mercury too,”
San Francisco Chronicle
Nov. 5, 2002.
16. Ibid.
17. Sam Roe and Michael Hawthorne, “Toxic Risk on Your Plate,”
Chicago Tribune
Dec. 11, 2005.
18. Ibid.
19. R. A. Myers and B. Worm, “Rapid worldwide depletion of predatory fish communities,”
Nature
2003, (423):280–83.
20. C. Stripp et al., “Fish intake is positively associated with breast cancer incidence rise,”
Journal of Nutrition
2003, 133(11):3664–69.
21. J. T. Salonen et al., “Intake of mercury from fish, lipid peroxidation, and the risk of myocardial infarction and coronary, cardiovascular, and any death in Eastern Finnish Men,”
Circulation
1995, 91:937.
22. J. T. Salonen et al., “Fish intake and the risk of coronary disease,”
New England Journal of Medicine
1995, 333:937.
23. For recipes using flax oil and ground flax seed, I recommend
Flax: The Super Food
by Barb Bloomfield, Judy Brown, and Siegfried Gursche (The Book Publishing Company, Summertown, Tenn., 2000).
24. Thomas T. Perls and Margery Hutter Silver,
Living to 100: Lessons in Living to Your Maximum Potential at Any Age
(Basic Books, 1999), p. 97.
25. Ibid. p. 98.
1. J. E. Manson et al., “Walking compared with vigorous exercise for the prevention of cardiovascular events in women,”
New England Journal of Medicine
2002, 347(10):716–25; W. E. Kraus et al., “Effects of the amount and intensity of exercise on plasma lipoproteins,”
New England Journal of Medicine
2002, 347(19):1483–92; A. L. Dunn et al., “Comparison of lifestyle and structured interventions to increase physical activity and cardiorespiratory fitness: A randomized trial,”
Journal of the American Medical Association
1999, 281(4):327–34; S. N. Blair et al., “The fitness, obesity and health equation: Is physical activity the common denominator?”
Journal of the American Medical Association
2004, 292(10):1232–34; T. R. Wessel et al., “Relationship of physical fitness vs. body mass index with coronary artery disease and cardiovascular events in women,”
Journal of the American Medical Association
2004, 292(10):1179–87; A. L. Dunn et al., “Physical activity dose-response effects on outcomes of depression and anxiety,”
Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise
2001, 33(6 Supplement):S587–97.
2. Ralph S. Paffenbarger and Eric Olsen,
LifeFit: An Effective Program for Optimal Health and a Longer Life
(Human Kinetics, 1992), p. vii.
3. Walter M. Bortz,
We Live Too Short and Die Too Long: How to Achieve and Enjoy Your Natural 100–Year-Plus Life Span
(Bantam, 1991), pp. 135–36. See also Walter M. Bortz,
Dare to Be 100
(Simon & Schuster, 1996).
4. Walter M. Bortz,
We Live Too Short
, p. 200.
5. Geoffrey Cowley, “How to live to 100,”
Newsweek
June 30, 1997.
6. Ibid.
7. Diabetes Prevention Program Research Group, “Reduction in the incidence of type 2 diabetes with lifestyle intervention or metformin,”
New England Journal of Medicine
Feb. 7, 2002, 346(6):393–403.
8. A. C. King et al., “Moderate intensity exercise and self-rated quality of sleep in older adults: A randomized controlled trial,”
Journal of the American Medical Association
1997, 277(1):32–37.
9. Bradley J. Willcox, D. Craig Willcox, and Makoto Suzuki,
The Okinawa Program: Learn the Secrets to Health and Longevity
(Three Rivers Press, 2001), p. 180.
10. P. J. Wade, “Canadian Homeowner and Veteran Celebrates 103rd!”
Realty Times
Nov. 9, 1999.
11. Thomas T. Perls and Margery Hutter Silver,
Living to 100: Lessons in Living to Your Maximum Potential at Any Age
(Basic Books, 1999), pp. 109, 153.
12. Patricia Bragg, “A Cheerleader for Fitness,” in
Chicken Soup to Inspire the Body and Soul
(Health Communications, 2003), pp. 292–94.
13. Ibid.
14. Dennis Hughes, “Interview with Jack LaLanne: Legendary Fitness Expert, Health Pioneer, Diet and Nutrition Innovator,”
Share Guide
2003.
15. Ibid.
16. Ibid.
17. Ibid.
18. Ibid.
1. Margaret Morganroth Gullette,
Aged by Culture
(University of Chicago Press, 2004), pp. 3–6. See also “Secrets of Aging Explores the Science Behind the Universal Experience of Aging,”
Senior Journal
, Boston, Feb. 10, 2005; Abigail Trafford, “Aging: The View from Below,”
Washington Post
Nov. 23, 2004; Margaret Morganroth Gullette, “Trapped in Decline Culture,”
In These Times
Oct. 2, 2004.
2. Margaret Morganroth Gullette,
Aged by Culture
, p. 4.
3. William Evans and Irwin H. Rosenberg,
Biomarkers: The 10 Determinants of Aging You Can Control
(Simon & Schuster, 1991).
4. Ibid. p. 49–50.
5. Ibid. p. 50–51.
6. Ibid. p. 70.
7. Ibid. p. 53.
8. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who became governor of California in 2004, was a seven-time winner of bodybuilding’s top prize, the Mr. Olympia contest. When he underwent heart surgery at age forty-nine, he admitted using steroids during his career, but denied they had anything to do with his heart problems. In 1989, Schwarzenegger and a partner created the Arnold Classic, an annual bodybuilding competition in Columbus, Ohio, for elite bodybuilders. Only fourteen competitors are invited each year. In 2005, two of the invited competitors, Victor Martinez and Craig Titus, had served time in jail on steroid-related offenses, and Titus was indicted for murder in 2006. The following is only a partial list of the men who have competed in the Arnold Classic and suffered serious health problems:
Mohammed “Momo” Benaziza died in his hotel room in the Netherlands in Oct. 1992 after competing in the Holland Grand Prix contest.
Paul Dillett, a Canadian competitor, froze on stage while hitting a double-bicep pose at the Arnold Classic in 1994. It took several men to move Dillett into a horizontal position and carry him off stage.
Andreas Munzer, an Austrian like his idol, Schwarzenegger, died of multiple organ failure twelve days after competing in the 1996 Arnold Classic.
Kenny “Flex’’ Wheeler won the Arnold show four times. He underwent a kidney transplant in 2003.
Don Long, who competed in Schwarzenegger’s show in 1997 through 1999, also underwent a kidney transplant.
Mike Matarazzo, a three-time Arnold competitor who lives in Modesto, California, underwent a triple bypass heart operation at age thirty-nine.
9. William Evans and Irwin H. Rosenberg, op. cit., p. 15.
10. M. E. Nelson et al., “A One Year Walking Program and Increased Dietary Calcium in Postmenopausal Women: Effects on Bones,”
Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise
1990, 22(Supplement):377.
11. E. L. Smith et al., “Physical Activity and Calcium Modalities for Bone Mineral Increase in Aged Women,”
Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise
1981, 13:60–64.
12. Tom Lloyd et al., “Lifestyle factors and the development of bone mass and bone strength in young women,”
Pediatrics
2004, 144:786–82.
13. “Exercise More Critical Than Calcium,” press release from Penn State University. See also A. J. Lanou et al., “Calcium, dairy products, and bone health in children and young adults: A reevaluation of the evidence,”
Pediatrics
2005, 115(3):736–43. This study found “Neither increased consumption of dairy products, specifically, nor total dietary calcium consumption has shown even a modest consistent benefit for child or young adult bone health.”
14. Daniel Rudman et al., “Effects of Human Growth Hormone in Men over 60 Years Old,”
New England Journal of Medicine
1990, 323:1–6.
15. T. C. Welbourne, “Increased Plasma Bicarbonate and Growth Hormone After an Oral Glutamine Load,”
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
1995, 61(5):1058–61.
16. James F. Fixx,
The Complete Book of Running
(Random House, 1977).
17. Nathan Pritikin,
Diet for Runners
(Simon & Schuster, 1985), cited in Timothy J. Smith,
Renewal: The Anti-Aging Revolution
(Rodale Press, 1998), p. 459.
18. A version of Ruth Heidrich’s story appeared in Jack Canfield et al.,
Chicken Soup to Inspire the Body and Soul
(Health Communications, 2003), pp. 13–17. See also Ruth E. Heidrich,
Senior Fitness: The Diet and Exercise Program for Maximum Health and Longevity
(Lantern Books, 2005).
1. Bradley J. Willcox, D. Craig Willcox, and Makoto Suzuki,
The Okinawa Program: Learn the Secrets to Health and Longevity
(Three Rivers Press, 2001), p. 46. See also C. Ogura et al., “Prevalence of senile dementia in Okinawa, Japan,”
International Journal of Epidemiology
1995, 24:373–80.
2. John Fauber, “Huge Increase in Alzheimer’s Seen: Doctors warn that growing numbers threaten nation’s health care system,”
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
August 18, 2003.
3. Bobbie Wilkinson, “The Travelers,” in
Chicken Soup for the Caregiver’s Soul
(Health Communications, 2004), pp. 71–72.
4. Danielle Laurin et al., “Physical Activity and Risk of Cognitive Impairment and Dementia in Elderly Persons,”
Archives of Neurology
2001, 58:498–504.
5. Jennifer Weuve et al., “Physical Activity, Including Walking, and Cognitive Function in Older Women,”
Journal of the American Medical Association
2004, 292:1454–61.
6. Robert D. Abbott et al., “Walking and Dementia in Physically Capable Elderly Men,”
Journal of the American Medical Association
2004, 292:1447–53.
7. Shari Roan, “To sharpen the brain, first hone the body: Mental benefits include better memory and learning; dementia may be slowed,”
Los Angeles Times
Jan. 9, 2006.
8. P. P. Zandi et al., “Reduced Risk of Alzeimer’s disease in users of antioxidant vitamin supplements,”
Archives of Neurology
2004, 61:82–88.
9. The formula I take is called Renewal Antioxidants, and is manufactured by Source Naturals.
10. Miia Kivipelto, “Body Mass Index: Clustering of Vascular Risk Factors and the Risk of Dementia: A Longitudinal, Population-Based Study,” presented at the 9th International Conference on Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Disorders, Philadelphia, July 19, 2004.
11. G. Alfthan et al., “Homocysteine and cardiovascular disease mortality,”
The Lancet
1997, 349:397. See also B. J. Willcox et al., “Homocysteine levels in Okinawan-Japanese,”
Journal of Investigative Medicine
2000, 43(2):205A.
12. R. Clarke et al., “Folate, vitamin B
12
, and serum total homocysteine levels in confirmed Alzheimer disease,”
Archives of Neurology
1998, 55:1449–55.
13. Ibid.
14. H. X. Wang et al., Vitamin B
12
and folate in relation to the development of Alzheimer’s disease,”
Neurology
2001, 56(9):1188–94.
15. It was once thought that because plant-based diets are higher in folate and vitamin B
6
, they would produce lower homocysteine levels. And indeed, one 2000 study showed that subjects who adopted a vegan diet saw their homocysteine levels drop between 13 percent and 20 percent in just one week. D. J. DeRose et al., “Vegan diet–based lifestyle program rapidly lowers homocysteine levels,”
Preventive Medicine
2000, 30:225–33. Recently, however, a number of studies have found
long-term
vegans to have dangerously elevated blood homocysteine levels. This does not seem to occur in vegans or vegetarians whose intake of vitamin B
12
is adequate. In fact, vegans and vegetarians with a sufficient intake of B
12
typically have homocysteine levels that are
lower
than those of people eating the standard Western diet.
How much vitamin B
12
is needed? Government recommendations call for at least 1.5 mcg per day, an amount adequate to prevent classic B
12
deficiency symptoms but usually not sufficient to keep homocysteine levels low. Current research suggests that 5–10 mcg per day are needed to keep blood B
12
levels high enough to keep homocysteine in check. Since vitamin B
12
is not found in plant foods, vegetarians and vegans must often rely on supplementary forms of this vitamin. If the primary source of vitamin B
12
is a
daily
supplement, at least 10 mcg should be taken to ensure adequate absorption. If the primary source is a
weekly
supplement, at least 2,000 mcg should be taken, because at higher doses the absorption rate significantly decreases. See Stephen Walsh, “Homocysteine and Health,”
The Vegan
Winter 2002.
16. Jeff Nelson, “Losing Your Mind for the Sake of a Burger” (
www.vegsource.com/articles/alzheimers_homocysteine.htm
). A study of subjects who ate meat as their primary protein source found that they were nearly three times as likely to develop dementia as their vegetarian counterparts. See P. Giem et al., “The incidence of dementia and intake of animal products: Preliminary findings from the Adventist Health Study,”
Neuroepidemiology
1993, 12:28–36.