Good diet helps the body function
well in old age, new study finds
March 04, 2005
Older people whose diets are rich in fruits and vegetables
have less risk of becoming disabled, a Wake Forest University
study says. The researchers found that, of the 9,000
people they tracked, those who reported eating the most
fruits and vegetables, along with two dairy product
services each day, did the best at routine tasks such
as dressing, cooking, and walking a quarter-mile. The
study attributes the better performance to antioxidants
(see related ebook on antioxidants) in the foods.
News summary:
Eating a diet rich in fruits, vegetables and dairy
products appears to help maintain your ability to function
normally as you age, a new study reports.
Older people who consumed more of these foods had less
risk of physical limitations, such as the inability
to walk a quarter mile or climb 10 steps, which are
often the first signs of disability.
And those who ate the most fruits and vegetables had
a lower risk of functional limitations nine years after
they were initially evaluated, said study author Denise
Houston, a research associate at Wake Forest University.
The results are published in the February issue of
the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
In their study, Houston and her team initially collected
data on 9,404 healthy black and white men and women,
45 to 64 years of age.
Those eating the highest amounts of dairy products
and fruits and vegetables consumed two servings of dairy,
three servings of fruit and three servings of vegetables
a day.
Houston believes that because fruits and vegetables
contain high levels of antioxidants, they can help to
prevent cellular damage associated with aging.
"A diet that's higher in fruit and vegetables
and dairy products does have effects other than on chronic
conditions like cardiovascular disease and cancer,"
Houston added.
Katz noted that living a healthy lifestyle may have
influenced not just diet, but other practices related
to risk of disability.
"People who take care of themselves in one way
tend to be people who take care of themselves in other
ways, although attempts were made [by the researchers]
to control for this," he said.
Source:www.newstarget.com
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