Are frozen vegetables processed food?

The answer is Yes.

Frozen vegetables are processed through the following steps (Ref 1):

Harvest - Factory receiving and quality checks - Sifting and Washing - Blanching - Freezing - Weighing and Bagging - Quality Control - Delivery

The current industry standard of blanching is set at 86ºC. Take an example of broccoli. Blanching practically kills enzyme myrosinase, which is necessary to form sulforaphane, one of the powerful cancer-preventive compounds in broccoli.

However, Illinois scientists (Ref 2) suggest either lowering the temperature to 76ºC or adding 0.25 percent of Daikon radish on the frozen broccoli. The first remedy help preserve 82% of the enzyme. And the second one works by adding the enzyme myrosinase from Daikon radish onto the frozen broccoli to form sulforaphane.

In addition to Daikon radish, cabbage, arugula, watercress, horseradish also contain myrosinase. So sprinkle a tiny amount of these raw vegetables to frozen cooked broccoli and you will still get the cancer fighting phytochemical sulforaphane.

Purslane, weed, food or medicine?

I have tried to grow a garden in Salinas of Santa Elena in Ecuador recently. It never occurred to me that it would be that difficult. The temperature is perfect for growing things, around 25 degree Celsius and I water them everyday. However, the ground is extremely salty, as the house sits ocean front. In addition, Salinas, meaning saltworks in Spanish, has been farming salt for many years, thus making it even more salty than other ocean front places.

However, there is one weed that grows extremely well. Even though I plug out some everyday, I just cannot keep up with their growth.

Now I am back in Canada, spending too much time on the internet. I came across some articles regarding edible weeds. Voila, the weed that bothered me so much is called purslane (Verdolaga in Spanish, Portulaca oleracea in Latin) and packed with nutrition. So next time I am in my house in Salinas, instead of trying to eliminate them, I will just eat the weed.

Nutrients and medicinal properties:

1. Purslane contains more omega 3 fatty acids (in the form of alpha-linolenic acid) than any other leafy plant.

2. The two types of betalain alkaloid pigments, the reddish betacyanins (visible in the coloration of the stems) and the yellow betananthins (noticeable in the flowers and the slight yellowish tint of the leaves), have been found to have antimutagenic properties in laboratory studies (a good review of natural antimutagenes can be found here).

3. It is a good source of vitamins and dietary minerals, especially vitamin A, C, E and magnesium, calcium, potassium and iron.

4. Could be a good candidate for anti-aging research, as it contains dopamine and DOPA. Betacyanins isolated from Purslane improved cognition in aged mice.

Harvesting:

The last inch or two of the leafy stem will be the most tender. When stressed by drought, which is where they are in my garden under normal circumstance, purslane switches to a different photosynthesis pathway: the leaves trap carbon dioxide at night and convert them into malic acid (the sour taste of the apple). Under the sun, malic acid is converted into glucose. So when you harvest early in the morning, the leaves are significantly more tangy than harvest in the late afternoon, which have more glucose.

How to eat purslane?

1. Add them in salads

2. Stir fry them with chicken, pork or shrimp

3.Use them as garnish in ceviche

4. Cook them in a soup

I cannot wait to try them.

Interesting Articles recently

1. Herbal extract from Rhodiola rosea boosts fruit fly lifespan by nearly 25% and it promotes longevity separately from dietary restriction. (here)
2. Testosterone improves verbal learning and memory in postmenopausal woman. The test was done using LibiGel, BioSante Pharmaceuticals or a placebo applied to the upper arm for 26 weeks. (here) 
3.  Osteoporosis drug stops growth of breast cancer cells, even in resistant tumors. (here)
4. Blocking overactive receptor in Alzheimer’s recovers memory loss and more. (here)
5.  Artificial Sweetener "mannitol" a Potential Treatment for Parkinson's Disease. (here)
6. Ten breakthrough technologies of 2013 according to MIT Technology review. (here)

Is a Calorie a Calorie?

I came upon an interesting article "Is a Calorie a Calorie?" written by Malden Nesheim and Marion Nestle today. I agree with everything they say except their conclusion. To me, a calorie is not a calorie if the source of the calorie differs. A calorie from plant-based whole food might be less or more than a calorie as compared to a calorie from processed food.

Plant based whole foods (whole grains, fruits, nuts, legumes and vegetables) all contain cellulose, a structural component of the primary cell wall, often referred to as dietary fiber. The energy (carbohydrate, fat and protein) is contained inside the cell wall. Cooking breaks down most cell walls and releases the energy we consume. We also digest cellulose with the aid of gut microflora, and the extent of digestion varies from one individual to the next (here). The energy produced are shared between us and our gut flora and not counted as Calorie. Most of the cellulose, or dietary fiber, acts as a hydrophilic bulking agent for feces. In other words, most cellulose is not digested, therefore, not counted as Calorie.

On the other hand, as argued in the above mentioned article, "But certain foods, again, retain some of their calories as they pass through our gut. For example, the fat in almonds and certain other nuts is incompletely digested. In a 2012 study, USDA scientist Janet Novotny and her colleagues found that the measured energy content of a 28-gram serving of almonds was actually 32 percent less than the Atwater values estimate." Is it because of the cellulose in almonds that makes it difficult for us to get all the energy content or is it because it costs a lot of energy to digest almonds? I do not know. I agree with the above author and a calorie is a calorie if you compare low carb diet to low fat diet and strictly in relation to weight gain or loss. But I do believe there is a huge difference between 1000 Calorie from refined pure starch and 1000 Calorie from mixed portion of whole grains, fruits and vegetables. We are still comparing carbohydrates to carbohydrates. If you want to compare fat, 1000 Calorie from pure fat/ oil is very different from 1000 Calorie taken from nuts. Whole foods are harder to digest, therefore, either we lose some Calorie because we could not get at them or because it costs more energy to digest them. In addition, whole foods contain vitamins/ minerals/ phytochemicals and fiber etc. that are beneficial to our health.

Obesity in itself is not a disease. As a matter of fact, about25% of obese people are healthy. Eating less is good, but eating well is better. Since we have to teach people how to eat healthy, we might as well teach the whole shebang.

Telling people including myself to eat less never works. We have such abundance of food available to us and a good appetite is healthy. It is only human to want to eat. But we can slowly trick ourselves into eating habits in a way that even though we are eating a large volume, we actually do not consume excessive Calorie. So in our house, we eat vegetable soups often. We snack on raw fruits and nuts. We never consume sugary drinks (including fruit juices). I personally believe there is nothing healthy about processed fruit juices. Once you get used to eating healthy, your body no longer craves for junk food.

Teresa Amabile on Track Your Small Wins to Motivte Big Accomplishments

Watched Teresa Amabile on "Track Your Small Wins to Motivate Big Accomplishments" today via 99u.com



Not only her advice is sound and useful. I am re-posting this video mostly for using her as an inspiration for physical and mental fitness to look forward to when women progress with age. According to wiki, she was born in 1949/1950, so she is in her early 60s.

Another excuse to be a beach bum

Research carried out at The University of Manchester has found hypertonic solution, which is a solution with an elevated concentration of salt, can ease inflammation purely through bathing in it (read the abstract here). Of course, the ocean is a perfect hypertonic solution. Another excuse to be a beach bum.

Drinking cranberry juice may help lower blood pressure

In this article, researchers demonstrate that drinking low-calorie cranberry juice may help lower your blood pressure. There are two issues I would like to point out in this study.

One, the subjects are all healthy, i.e. they do not suffer hypertension.

Two,  I would not call dropping of blood pressure values from an average of 121/73 mmHg to 118/70 mmHg significant. I can do better than that with only 10 minutes meditation. With one hour gardening, I can almost always drop my blood pressure from borderline high (just below 140/90 to below 130/85).

Criticism aside, I still think it is a good idea to drink cranberry juice (only the ones you make yourself with a juicer). Nobody really knows how much antioxidant is left with processed juice (check out how orange juice is made). Processed means all of the ready-made juices bought from the store.

Tofu

Tofu is made by coagulating soymilk. It has been eaten for its high protein content for at least two thousand years in Asia. It is popular among vegetarians for the completeness of soy protein (it is the only plant protein that contains all the essential amino acid for humans).

Even though the health benefits of tofu consumption are controversial, researchers have shown that tofu intake reduces cancer risk. 

The amount of tofu necessary to protect against cancer

is <1 serving, or 228 g (1 cup)/day compared with infrequent

consumption.

The health benefit of eating tofu might be due to the presence of BBI (Bowman-Birk inhibitors) and their variants, which are a class of naturally-occurring protease inhibitors. BBI has shown to stop breast cancercells from dividing in a laboratory dish. It may also have anti-inflammatory properties.

In addition to soybeans, BBI and their variants are found in other legumes such as mung bean, lentil, pea and chickpea etc.

Gender differences in cancer risks

In this bbc report on cancer risks, women and men are put in different category:



I consider this a progress. Next level of differences are in different ethnic groups. And once we have all our genomes sequences, we shall know our risks by genome types.

However, everything is a leap of faith. So take the report as true if you are willing to believe in today's statistical method. Otherwise, disregard it and go on living your way of life, whatever it might be.

Garden Dwellers

I am a garden dweller. We have a very small city garden, which is good enough to do some gardening. The river front city park is 5 minutes walk from my home. We consider that a big garden to walk in.

It is known that we feel better and are more energized when we spend time outdoors.

Recent Science Daily News reports:

In recent years, numerous experimental psychology studies have linked exposure to nature with increased energy and heightened sense of well-being. For example, research has shown that people on wilderness excursions report feeling more alive and that just recalling outdoor experiences increases feelings of happiness and health. Other studies suggest that the very presence of nature helps to ward off feelings of exhaustion and that 90 percent of people report increased energy when placed in outdoor activities.

To read the article, click the link here.

I myself experience that gardening is by far the best way to lower blood pressure naturally. Whenever I have reading of bp 135/85, after spending one hour in the garden weeding or dead heading, the reading is almost guaranteed to go below 120/80. Hot and sunny days are the best.

Why do we feel better spending time outdoors? I think the sun, green plants and physical activity are the reasons.

Most people equate the sun to Vitamin D level in our body, but I think it is more than that. On a grey day, regardless how much Vitamin D we take, my mood always goes down.

Germaine Greer in her book "The Change" writes that a garden is the best alternative therapy for women going through change. "Though low back pain and gardening go together, gardeners feel much better for gardening, back pain and all. The effect is so like the "mental tonic" effect of HRT that we may be justified in suspecting that there are volatile estrogens in living plants that do not survive in treated plant material."

To improve the mood, walking outdoors is just as good.

Unfortunately, Montreal gets cold fast. By November I feel too cold to go out walking.  Creating an indoor garden with grow lights is to experiment whether we can experience some of the aliveness we feel outdoors. 

House plants that clean indoor air

Last year we had the goal to place more houseplants for the purpose of cleaning the indoor air. We had 13 in total and they are:

3 mother in law's tongue

1 English ivy (Hedera helix)
6 Money Plants (Epipremnum aureum)
1 peace lily
1 Christmas cactus
1 Madagascar jasmine

Unfortunately, after three months staying in a transparent plastic bag (the idea is to put the plants in a micro bio-dome so they recycle water, oxygen and carbon dioxide), only the following plants survived:

1 mother in law's tongue

1 English ivy
5 Money Plants
1 peace lily
1 Christmas cactus

 70% survival rate is not all that bad. However, the ones doing good are only English ivy and money plants.

So we added 2 more English ivy (one with broader leaves) and Money plants respectively. We are trying new plants such as Spider plants (Chlorophytum comosum), Wandering Jew (Tradescantia zebrina/ Zebrina pendula), Money Tree plant (Pachira aquatica), Arabian Wax Cissus (Cissus rotundifolia), Angel Wing begonia and Silver spotted philodendron (Scindapsus picta 'Argyraeus')

3 English ivy

3 Wandering Jew

1 Spider plants
8 Money Plants
1 Money Tree plant

1 Arabian Wax Cissus

1 Angel Wing begonia

1 Silver spotted philodendron

1 mother in law's tongue

1 peace lily
1 Christmas cactus

All in all, we have 22 house plants in total, plus a few cuttings growing in water in jars. English Ivy, wandering Jew, angel wing begonia and money plant can all grow in the water.

This year we are not using humidifier. With more house plants and hang-drying the laundry, the air humidity seems to be quite balanced.

I breathe much better this fall/winter. Usually starting end of August until May, I have hard time breathing. This year, I gave in and started using Nasonex occasionally. So I am not sure whether the effect comes from Nasonex or from more house plants or both. One thing that is sure is that having green inside the house helps brighten up mood on a grey day.

What's for lunch?

What we ate for lunch this year has changed as compared to last year (here). We are now eating soup for lunch.

What typically in our soup is as follows:

Mung bean (pre-cooked)
Tofu

Potatoes (one medium or two small ones)

Carrots

Sweet potatoes (half of large or one small)

Green vegetables (variables among broccoli, zucchini, Chinese mustard green, sweet pepper).

Soup is cooked without any salt. Miso is added for flavour and to populate gut flora.

Soup is eaten with half of avocado each.

Memory crash in your brain?

A woman cannot remember where she parked her car at a Costco parking lot. That part of her memory has just crashed. She is now getting quite angry at herself. She has a cart full of stuff she bought. She knew that she came by car and she knew the look of her car. She is a middle aged woman.

My husband said that young people are not smarter. But they know that they are not smart enough to remember where they park so they use smart phones and their apps to find their parked cars.

Cruciferous Vegetables and Cancer

Cruciferous vegetables are considered to be healthy foods. There are numerous cultivars including broccoli, cauliflowers, bok choy, Chinese broccoli, kale, napa, brussels sprouts, radish, mustard, cress, rutabaga, cabbage etc. Basically all the vegetables a kid does not like. We have been told to eat them by our grandmothers, parents, scientists, pretty much everybody. I did not like any vegetables as a child and remember being forced to drink the juice of bok choy as a punishment because I refused to eat vegetables.

Green Tea

Where I come from long long time ago (China), everyone has a tea cup in their hand with green tea leaves in it. The hot water is in thermal bottles not far way from them. Everywhere you go, the bus station, the train station, the gas station all provide hot water.

I have a cousin, who told me that he spends about 600 us dollars a year in tea for a country that a lot of people's yearly income is only that. He values tea a lot, for a good reason.

Is it you or is it your dwellers in your gut?

Some days you are happy; some days you are sad. You think it is all in your head. You read positive thinking books in order to influence your mind. Now they say, those little buggers you cannot see in your gut also influence your mood, according to this article "That anxiety may be in your gut, not in your head"

It's that time already

Happy holidays to all!

Time flies. It's that time of year already to do a yearly review.

We continued to walk daily when weather permits, and we added a few kilometers a day from 8 to 12.

Richard continued to play pool every day and started rope skipping. He continued to lose weight. Now he weighs around 160 lbs. This is the weight he will maintain. We measured his height and turned out that he was 6'. At the above weight his BMI would be 21.7.

I added some stretching exercise, and 15 to 20 minutes meditation in the last three months of the year when walking became difficult due to the weather. I continued not smoking.

We continued to eat healthy, which to me is home prepared meal with plenty of vegetables and fruits. Our protein source is mostly from fish. Towards the end of the year, we added some tofu and a little bit of pork. Our carb. comes from pumpernickle bread, plantain and rice. Fat source is from cheese, avocado and walnut for Richard, and avocado and walnut for me. Of course, all nutrients overlap somewhat. there is fat in tofu and protein in cheese and walnut.

We cut off refined sugar in every format, except one chocolate cake (1kg) every two months on average.

We stopped drinking fruit juices all together after reading how fruit juices are processed (Orange juice: basic beverage isn't that simple).

Are we caloric restricted? Not by very much, anywhere between 0 to 20%. However, I have achieved my goal when BMI is concerned, which is at 18.8.

At the beginning of the year, we wanted to put in some house plants into the apartment. We started with 3 Mother in law's tongue (which survived three months without any care). Now we have 13. The ones we added include:

1 English ivy
6 Money Plants
1 peace lily
1 Christmas cactus
1 Madagascar jasmine

Out of all these, the Madagascar Jasmine was the most expensive and probably hardest to care for.

Richard continued his bible study.

I read and studied health and longevity related articles and becoming increasingly convinced that living till or beyond 100 is very achievable.

We started to host our own blog, which you can find at www.instead-of-wishing.com.

On the living space, we started the year by finishing Sanya home and just continued on. We started purely to beautify our living environment. However, this year seemed to have more weather related disasters on buildings than ever. We were one of its victims. So we fixed whatever damages done to us and tried our best to stay one step ahead; do what we could in order to prevent future disasters.

Why too much sugar is bad for us?

It seems that every one agrees that too much sugar is bad for us. However, nobody agrees how much is too much and why?

First of all, sugars are empty calories.

Secondly, we are not the only ones who like sugar. Some bacteria inhabiting our body but harmful to us seem to like sugar as well.

We all know the sugar causes tooth decay. After eating sugar, sticky glycol-proteins start to adhere to the teeth. At the same time, millions of bacteria known as Streptococcus mutans also adhere to the glycoprotein. In the next stage, the bacteria use the fructose in a metabolism process of glycolysis for energy. The end product of glycolysis under anaerobic conditions is lactic acid. The lactic acid creates extra acidity to decrease the pH to the extent of dissolving the calcium phosphate in the tooth enamel leading to the start of a cavity. That’s what sugar does to our teeth.

Helicobacter pylori, the bacteria that cause a chronic low-level inflammation of the stomach lining and are strongly linked to the development of duodenal and gastric ulcers and stomach cancer, seem to love glucose as well (see here).

Most importantly, sugar (which includes simple sugar, disaccharide and refined starch) raises the blood glucose level rapidly, which in turn triggers the release of insulin. Too much sugar intake means rapid fluctuations of blood sugar level, which is not healthy because of the stress they place on the body.

In addition our overall wellness and longevity seem to be closely connected to insulin signaling pathway. Metformin, a drug to treat type 2 diabetes, seems to show promise as a calorie restriction mimetic in the worm C. elegans (see here).

Now we have established that too much sugar is bad for us. How much is too much? I have already cut out processed mono- and disaccharides in my diet. If the sugar you eat comes from whole foods (fruits, vegetables and grains), can you still eat too much sugar (carbohydrates)? The answer is yes and very controversial. There exist two camps on the nutrition frontiers, one promotes low carb and another promotes low fats. There is practically no agreement between the two.

In the end, I decided to calculate backwards in order to find out how much carb. I should eat. I set my daily caloric intake at 1600. My protein intake I decided is 46 gram (1 g per kg of body weight) daily. My fat intake I set at 50 gram.

Fat 50g x 9 = 450 calorie ÷ 1600 = 28%
Protein 46g x 4 = 184 calorie ÷ 1600 = 12%

Therefore, my carbohydrates intake is 100% - 12% -28% = 60%
60% x 1600 = 966 calorie ÷ 4 = 242 gram of carbohydrates daily.

Of course, the ratios are there only as a goal to strive for. In reality, the total amount of calorie intakes varies from 1400 to 1800 a day. Fat intake varies from 20 to 35%, protein from 10 to 20% and carb from 45 to 60%.

Of the above numbers, most nutritionists will agree to the amount of protein I intake.

For the low fat camp, 50g of fat or 28% of total calorie is way too much. As for the low carb camp 242g of carb. or 60% of total calorie is a horror story.

However, growing up in a starving China, and having seen many women lived past 90 on mostly carb diet, it is very difficult for me to accept that high fat diet is healthy. In addition, how do you eat only the fat part without taking in too much protein? In addition, a lot of goodies such as fibers, vitamins and anti-inflammatory phyto-chemicals are associated with carbohydrates.

So I will eat carb, be it rice, pasta, bread, vegetables or fruits as long as non of them contains added sugar or vegetable oils.

Facts about Sugar

1. What Are Sugars

The followings are most commonly known sugars:

Glucose (dextrose): a simple sugar (monosaccharide)
Fructose: a simple sugar (monosaccharide)
Galactose: a simple sugar (monosaccharide)

Sucrose (saccharose): a disaccharide with glucose and fructose
Maltose: a disaccharide with two unit of glucose
Lactose: a disaccharide with galactose and glucose, mostly found in dairy products

The followings get turned into sugar (glucose) in our body:

Starch: a polysaccharide with a large number of glucose units joined together by glycosidic bonds. Depending on the plant, starch generally contains 20 to 25% amylose and 75 to 80% amylopectin.

Maltodextrin: a polysaccharide produced from starch by partial hydrolysis, which will break down to glucose

2. What Are Refined Sugars and What Are Natural Sugars

Sugar belongs to carbohydrates. Carbohydrates are divided into 4 groups, monosaccharides (one simple sugar), disaccharides (2 simple sugars), oligosaccharides (more than 3-9 simple sugars), polysaccarides (more than 10 simple sugars).

Table sugar is a refined sugar; it is sucrose extracted from sugar cane or beet. Brown sugar, raw sugar etc. are all refined sugar.

High fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is a refined sugar; it is 42% fructose and 58% glucose and manufactured from corn.

Manufactured galactose used in commercial bakeries is a refined sugar. It is also used to tone down overly acidic or tart flavors in foods.

Maltose found in high maltose corn syrup (HMCS), also referred to as maltodextrin, is a refined sugar. Maltose can also be made from barley, rice, potato etc.

Honey is almost a natural product and not considered refined sugar, but is mainly fructose (about 38.5%) and glucose (about 31.0%).

Maple syrup is also almost a natural product and not considered refined sugar; it is mainly sucrose and water.

Why do I consider honey and maple syrup almost natural rather than all natural? Because both products sold in the stores pass through some processing methods. The only true natural sugar is the sugar you get by eating whole fruits (fresh or frozen), such as apple, grapes, blue berries etc. Natural sugars also exist in sweet potatoes, corn and peas……

3. Is Sugar Good for You

Obviously, otherwise why would you be given intravenous glucose whenever you are in the hospital?

The reason why sugar gets such a bad rap is partly because we consume way too much (which leads to fatty acid and triglyceride synthesis)and partly because we consume refined sugar (empty calories with no nutrients). The latter is something like buying a pair of pliers from dollar store for a dollar and find out that it is a piece of junk so you throw it away and buy a pair of Stanley for $20.00. I still have my $20.00 pliers after I have used it for 10 years and it will probably last another 10. You can either drink a can of soda loaded with empty calories for $0.25 or getting the equivalent amount of sugar in frozen peas for 10 times the cost. The cheap soda makes you energized right away; and the latter just makes you full. I knew right away the pair of dollar store pliers was not good since it did not do a job required. We still do not know how to communicate with our bodies to find out what types of foods are good for us long term. We rely on scientists to find out. Often nutrition research is done through causality and we all know the chicken or the egg causality dilemma. We all love sugar through no fault of our own (evolution conditioned us to love sugar), and sugar is everywhere and cheap.

Unlike essential amino acids I do not believe that there are any essential sugars, though some claim that there are 8 of them. As studies show that sub-maximal endurance performance can be sustained despite the virtual exclusion of carbohydrate from the human diet ( see here). The only one that comes closest to essential sugar is glucose, but our body can breakdown many carbohydrates into glucose.

4. How to Incorporate Sugar into Your Diet

I try to follow a role model in the family as genetic make-up along with energy needs probably affect how much sugar you need. My maternal grandmother lived till 91 years old in good health. She ate very little and was vegetarian. She sat a lot (doing low vocal Buddhist chanting), so her energy need was little. The sugar she used occasionally was the sugar fellow villagers made from sugar cane. Basically, the sugar was made by boiling the juice squeezed from the sugar cane until majority of the water was evaporated. The sugar we got from the villagers looked like dark brown chocolate truffles. I spent my year 1 to 6 in that village and loved sugar cane season. Farmers set up outdoor cooking pits to boil the juice and all the kids running around eating sugar canes. When it got dark in the evening, we were then given these dark sugar clumps to take home. Now I would call those clumps natural sugar. My grandmother also loved persimmons, both fresh and dried, so she ate them as much as they were available to her. She ate white rice every day and it was her main source of calories. White rice breaks down to glucose.

I think sugar boost on an emergency case is not unhealthy. Unfortunately, most of us think every day life is an emergency. That’s how I thought when I was working. I used to boost myself every two hours with coffee, milk and sugar. Now if I need a sugar boost, I either drink fruit juice without added sugar or take a spoon of honey.

With the exception of occasional honey and fruit juice, all the sugars I eat now are from whole foods. I eat quite a lot of fruits each day. Right now I eat one apple, one cup of grapes and half pint of blue berries. Other sugar related foods I eat are white rice, sweet potatoes, spaghetti and pumpernickel bread. The pumpernickel bread I eat is made in Germany since the North American ones use too many additives.

I would like to eat less quantity in every thing, not just sugar. I am in the processing of training my body to do so. In the meantime, I am taking one day at a time and each day is One Great Day.

Scientists urge global investment and action plan to avert impending aging crisis

via eurekalert

July 14, 2010 – (BRONX, NY) – Now that scientists have learned so much about aging through laboratory studies, it's time to translate those findings into medicines that can benefit our aging population. That was the message delivered by a panel of 10 preeminent aging experts that included Jan Vijg, Ph.D., chair of genetics and the Lola and Saul Kramer Chair in Molecular Genetics at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University.

The expert panel was convened by the LifeStar Institute, a nonprofit organization that educates the public about the consequences of global aging and supports medical research aimed at preventing and curing age-related diseases. Their report was published in the July 14 issue of the journal Science Translational Medicine.

The aging process results in significant social and medical costs that will rise rapidly in the coming decades as the number of elderly people increases. To prevent what it calls "a global aging crisis," the panel recommends that the U.S. and other countries collaborate in an international initiative that will translate laboratory findings about aging into new kinds of medicines.

More specifically, the panel urged countries to use their public health agencies to inform citizens about how they can improve their lifestyles so that they can live longer and healthier lives. In addition, the panel wrote, there is a need to develop regenerative therapies that could restore youthful structure and function in older people by repairing and neutralizing the cellular damage that occurs with aging.

"There is this misunderstanding that aging is something that just happens to you, like the weather, and cannot be influenced," said Dr. Vijg. "The big surprise of the last decades is that, in many different animals, we can increase healthy life span in various ways. A program of developing and testing similar interventions in humans would make both medical and economic sense."