Living Longer in Good Health

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August 26, 2008

PERSONAL HEALTH

Living Longer, in Good Health to the End

By JANE E. BRODY

Long-term studies have shown that how people live accounts for more

than half the difference in how hale and hearty they will remain

until very near the end.

Many studies have examined the factors that predict the length of

people's lives, with nearly universal agreement that about 35

percent is determined by genes over which we have little or no

control.

Scientists are searching for ways to extend healthy life spans by

manipulating " bad " genes, but the potential exists now for modifying

many of the environmental factors that account for the other 65

percent of longevity.

Dr. Richard S. Rivlin, an internist and director of the nutrition

and cancer prevention career development program at Weill Cornell

Medical College, said in an interview that it was never too late to

adopt habits that predict a healthy old age.

" While measures started early in life are most likely to have the

greatest health benefit, " he said, " older people should never feel

that turning over a new leaf at their age is anything but highly

effective. "

He said there was clear evidence that measures taken in one's 70s

could help prevent " several important categories of disease, such as

hypertension, heart disease, osteoporosis and even cancer. "

In The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition last year, Dr. Rivlin

noted that changes in body composition, like loss of bone and muscle

and accumulation of body fat, typically accompany aging and can

affect health in a variety of ways: poor posture that impairs

breathing; falls and fractures; loss of mobility; a reduced

metabolic rate; and weight gain that can lead to diabetes, heart and

blood vessel disease and some forms of cancer.

But these changes in body composition, he added, " are not an

invariable accompaniment of aging. " Much can be done to limit and

even reverse them, he said, including restricting calories and

following a diet of high-quality protein and limited saturated fat

and replacing simple sugars with whole grains rich in fiber.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/26/health/26brod.html?em