The Drug Discovery For Neurodegeneration Conference was held in Washing DC February 2-3d 2009. The conference was presented by the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation,* with the mission to “rapidly accelerate the discovery and development of drugs to prevent, treat, and cure Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias of cognitive aging.”
Folks, you may recall a while back regarding the LEF cruise I was
part of in 2007. The LEF is having another cruise.
Be you an LEF member or not, this is a great way to have a vacation and be involved
in important info to your health and longevity.
I will be giving a talk (topic of which has yet to be determined) and it’s on one of the
newest and largest ships in the world. Hope to see you there! Dates
and info follow:
September 12-19, 2009
Fountain of Life 7-night Eastern Carribean Cruise
Round trip from Miami, Florida
www.LEVacations.com
Let’s face it, getting old sucks! Hell I’m only 27 and sometimes I feel old. You get injured more easily, have less energy, and your metabolism slows down. Furthermore, metabolically speaking you become less insulin sensitive, less able to tolerate carbohydrates, and you also become less sensitive to amino acids. Several studies have demonstrated that elderly people require a greater amount of amino acids to maximize the anabolic response to a meal as compared to young people (1,2).
There seems to be some good news however! A recent study by Marzani et al. demonstrated that the defective anabolic response to a meal could be restored in elderly people taking an antioxidant mixture containing rutin, vitamin E, vitamin A, zinc, and selenium (3). Not only is this a big deal for helping to maintain muscle and maximize anabolism, but anti-oxidants have also been shown to increase insulin sensitivity (4). Therefore, anti-oxidants may have multi-faceted uses in preventing metabolic dysfunction associated with aging.
Some Thoughts On Calorie Restriction (CR)
Calorie Restriction (CR) is getting a great deal of media attention due to studies that find animals raised on restricted calories live longer and suffer from fewer diseases. That advice may seem counter to the “bodybuilding/fitness lifestyle” we all follow.
How To Prevent Age Related Muscle Mass
Is a loss of strength, mobility, and functionality an inevitable part of aging? No, it’s not. It’s a consequence of disuse, suboptimal hormone levels, dietary and nutrient considerations and other variables, all of which are compounded by aging. One of the greatest threats to an aging adult’s ability to stay healthy and functional is the steady loss of lean body mass – muscle and bone in particular.
The medical term for the loss of muscle is sarcopenia, and it’s starting to get the recognition it deserves by the medical and scientific community. For decades, that community has focused on the loss of bone mass (osteoporosis), but paid little attention to the loss of muscle mass commonly seen in aging populations. Sarcopenia is a serious healthcare and social problem that affects millions of aging adults. This is no exaggeration. As one researcher recently stated:
The Facts About Your Blood Work
A down and dirty primer and intro to understanding the value of regular blood work with some strategies and pointers for optimizing hormones and other things that negatively or positively impact your health and ability to add lean body mass and minimize bodyfat levels
One topic that seems to be a never-ending source of confusion is blood, or more precisely, understanding blood work and which tests to get and why. It never fails to amaze me that the vast majority of bodybuilders and other athletes have no issue spending literally thousands of dollars on supplements (some of which have virtually no science behind them to justify their use) and gym memberships each year, but won’t spend a penny on blood tests to see what’s really going on with their hormones and other indicators of health (e.g., cholesterol, liver function, etc.).
