Generations of children and spouses had it drilled into them to turn off the lights when they leave a room, whether to preserve the lifespan of the bulb, reduce the energy bill, or … both?
Here’s what Wirecutter experts say: The practice may have held merit for incandescent bulbs, which were terribly inefficient. But modern bulbs use so little energy that leaving them on doesn’t make a meaningful difference on bills. And, depending on the bulb, turning them off regularly won’t affect their lifespan, either. So don’t worry about flipping that switch on your way out.
Humans have searched for the secret to immortality for thousands of years. For some people today, that quest includes things like sleeping in a hyperbaric chamber, experimenting with cryotherapy or blasting oneself with infrared light.
Most aging experts are skeptical that these actions will meaningfully extend the upper limits of the human life span. What they do believe is that by practicing a few simple behaviors, many people can live healthier for longer, reaching 80, 90 and even 100 in good physical and mental shape. The interventions just aren’t as exotic as transfusing yourself with a young person’s blood.
“People are looking for the magic pill,” said Dr. Luigi Ferrucci, the scientific director of the National Institute on Aging, “and the magic pill is already here.”
Below are seven tips from geriatricians on how to add more good years to your life.
1. Move more.
The number one thing experts recommended was to keep your body active. That’s because study after study has shown that exercise reduces the risk of premature death.
Physical activity keeps the heart and circulatory system healthy and provides protection against numerous chronic diseases that affect the body and mind. It also strengthens muscles, which can reduce older people’s risk of falls.
“If we spend some of our adult years building up our muscle mass, our strength, our balance, our cardiovascular endurance, then as the body ages, you’re starting from a stronger place for whatever is to come,” said Dr. Anna Chang, a professor of medicine specializing in geriatrics at the University of California, San Francisco.
The best exercise is any activity you enjoy doing and will stick with. You don’t have to do a lot, either — the American Heart Association recommends 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise per week, meaning just walking a little more than 20 minutes a day is beneficial.
2. Eat more fruits and vegetables.
The experts didn’t recommend one specific diet over another, but they generally advised eating in moderation and aiming for more fruits and vegetables and fewer processed foods. The Mediterranean diet — which prioritizes fresh produce in addition to whole grains, legumes, nuts, fish and olive oil — is a good model for healthy eating, and it’s been shown to lower the risk of heart disease, cancer, diabetes and dementia.
Some experts say that maintaining a healthy weight is important for longevity, but to Dr. John Rowe, a professor of health policy and aging at Columbia University, that’s less of a concern, especially as people enter old age. “I was always more worried about my patients who lost weight than my patients who gained weight,” Dr. Rowe said.
3. Get enough sleep.
Sleep is sometimes overlooked, but it plays a major role in healthy aging. Research has found that the amount of sleep a person averages each night is correlated with their risk of death from any cause, and that consistently getting good quality sleep can add several years to a person’s life. Sleep appears to be especially important for brain health: A 2021 study found that people who slept less than five hours a night had double the risk of developing dementia.
“As people get older, they need more sleep rather than less,” said Dr. Alison Moore, a professor of medicine and the chief of geriatrics, gerontology and palliative care at the University of California, San Diego. Seven to nine hours is generally recommended, she added.
4. Don’t smoke, and don’t drink too much either.
This goes without saying, but smoking cigarettes raises your risk for all kinds of deadly diseases. “There is no dose of cigarette smoke that is good for you,” Dr. Rowe said.
We’re starting to understand how bad excessive alcohol use is, too. More than one drink per day for women and two for men — and possibly even less than that — raises the risk for heart disease and atrial fibrillation, liver disease, and seven types of cancer.
5. Manage your chronic conditions.
Nearly half of American adults have hypertension, 40 percent have high cholesterol and more than one-third have pre-diabetes. All the healthy behaviors mentioned above will help manage these conditions and prevent them from developing into even more serious diseases, but sometimes lifestyle interventions aren’t enough. That’s why experts say it’s critical to follow your doctor’s advice to keep things under control.
“It’s not fun to take the medications; it’s not fun to check your blood pressure and check your blood sugar,” Dr. Chang said. “But when we optimize all those things in a whole package, they also help us live longer, healthier, better lives.”
6. Prioritize your relationships.
Psychological health often takes a back seat to physical health, but Dr. Chang said it’s just as important. “Isolation and loneliness is as big a detriment to our health as smoking,” she said, adding that it puts us “at a higher risk of dementia, heart disease, stroke.”
Relationships are key to not only living healthier, but also happier. According to the Harvard Study of Adult Development, strong relationships are the biggest predictor of well-being.
Dr. Rowe tells the medical students he teaches that one of the best indicators of how well an elderly patient will be faring in six months is to ask him “how many friends or family he’s seen in the last week.”
7. Cultivate a positive mind-set.
Even thinking positively can help you live longer. Several studies have found that optimism is associated with a lower risk of heart disease, and people who score highly on tests of optimism live 5 to 15 percent longer than people who are more pessimistic. That may be because optimists tend to have healthier habits and lower rates of some chronic diseases, but even when accounting for those factors, the research shows that people who think positively still live longer.
If you had to pick one healthy practice for longevity, “do some version of physical activity,” Dr. Moore said. “If you can’t do that, then focus on being positive.”
“Stop eating processed food!” Have you heard that before from your favorite wellness guru? Usually in the next video, that same person is eating Greek yogurt with honey on top. However, did you know these are two processed foods?
Don’t be misled by people who view all processed foods as the same thing. Although they might mean well, the oversimplification can be dangerous. Not all processed foods are the same, and some are much healthier than a can of Pringles or TV dinners.
What is processed food?
By definition, this describes any food that has been altered in some manner. It could be as simple as freezing vegetables. This is not to be mixed up with the societal definition of “processed food,” which is more so referring to stuff like chips, cakes, and pies.
We tend to lump all processed food together as one thing, but in reality, there are levels of processing that are put in place in order to accurately distinguish between a vegetable and a slice of chocolate cake. The NOVA classification system is the most popular way to classify processed foods.
Group 1: Unprocessed and minimally processed foods
Unprocessed foods are the edible parts of fruits, vegetables, and other plant foods as well as animal foods like eggs. Minimally processed food describes the removal of inedible or undesirable parts of natural foods through means of crushing, roasting, filtering, boiling, pasteurizing (think about milk), etc.
Group 2: Processed culinary ingredients
This includes ingredients like oils, butter, lard, sugar, and salt. All are derived from group 1 foods and made into processed ingredients.
Group 3: Processed foods
Canned beans and vegetables, sardines in oil, fresh breads, bacon, and other similar meats are included in this category.
Group 4: Ultra-processed foods
Ultra-processed foods undergo the heaviest levels of processing. These are foods like sodas, high-fat snack foods, and desserts that we are all familiar with when we hear the phrase “processed food.” Colors, flavors, emulsifiers, and other food additives are typically used to make the final product tasty and keep you coming back for more.
After breaking down the classifications, it’s clear that even the milk in your fridge and the black beans in your pantry are considered “processed.” This does not negate their nutrition and so the assumption that all processed foods are unhealthy is flawed.
“Stop eating processed food,” being the most common thing pushed by health and wellness gurus also just isn’t realistic for the average person. It is barely realistic for the person saying it. Canned fish, neatly packaged cuts of meat, rolled oats, and chopped vegetables are all processed foods that are not only highly nutritious but convenient for people to include in their diets because they are processed. Who has the time and energy to go find and gut their own salmon for dinner? Not most people.
People with low incomes and living in food deserts may also struggle to buy anything else except for canned vegetables and fruits for their families. Are we to tell them that it all needs to be fresh and from the highest quality source even if it comes at a great expense?
Let’s change our language
Instead, it’s more appropriate to specify that limiting ultra-processed snacks, fast food, desserts, and sodas is what is important. Even still, “limit” is the keyword here. It is not within everybody’s social or financial means to completely cut out TV dinners if they have no time to feed their kids anything else. It is also not necessary nor realistic to tell people to never eat a donut again in their lives. Striking a healthy balance that prioritizes whole fruits, vegetables, proteins, and carb sources is what matters most.
Bottom Line
Not all processed food is the same. Processed food being called unhealthy and being demonized isn’t warranted considering nutritious foods like frozen blueberries are processed. There are different levels of processing. Foods like sweets, salty snacks, and meals are ultra-processed. By lumping all processed foods as one, it removes the necessary nuance and ignores the needs of vulnerable populations, such as those who live in food deserts and struggle with food insecurity.
I was happy to read that the Mediterranean diet, newly repurposed as the MIND diet, is said to help prevent dementia. To no one’s surprise, it emphasizes fresh fruit and veggies, whole grains, olive oil, fish, etc.
I can’t help wondering, though, why no one is touting the MINDLESS diet, which has been proven to help prevent depression.
This classic meal plan, first discovered during those critical, formative teenage years, is equally helpful in attaining mindless hedonism in adulthood. Its key components are:
1 bag of chips per day
1 pint of ice cream twice weekly (do not substitute ice milk or frozen yogurt); extra benefit from additions such as chocolate chips, fudge, and salted caramel
2 cocktails per evening
1 bottle of wine per dinner (serves 2)
French fries (actually, fried anything)
Include plenty of fresh bread, cookies, pies, cakes and pastries
Level up to vegetable stir fry or tempura – so much more festive than raw or steamed veggies
Remember the 3 P’s: Pasta, Potatoes, Pizza
At least monthly: savor an ample cheese board with brie, goat cheese, Stilton, cheddar (may substitute grilled cheese on buttered bread as desired)
Dessert twice daily, preferably with whipped cream
SINGAPORE — Move over carrots, grapes may also benefit your eyes as well, according to new research.
Researchers, supported by the California Table Grape Commission, say eating just a few handfuls of grapes daily for four months appears to enhance significant indicators of eye health. The reason? Eye degeneration is attributed to oxidative stress, and grapes are rich in antioxidants.
Researchers from the National University of Singapore conducted a study involving 34 adults. Participants were divided into two groups: one consuming one and a half cups of grapes daily, while the other ate a placebo over a span of 16 weeks.
The group that consumed grapes exhibited a notable increase in macular pigment optical density (MPOD), plasma antioxidant capacity, and total phenolic content, compared to the placebo group. Conversely, those who did not consume grapes witnessed a significant rise in damaging ocular advanced glycation end products (AGE) in their skin.
The study highlights that oxidative stress and elevated levels of AGE are primary risk factors for eye diseases. AGEs, in particular, can harm the retina’s vascular components, compromise cellular functions, and amplify oxidative stress.
Being a natural reservoir of antioxidants and polyphenols, grapes can curtail oxidative stress and obstruct the formation of AGEs. This could lead to potential benefits on the retina, such as an uplift in MPOD.
“Our study is the first to show that grape consumption beneficially impacts eye health in humans which is very exciting, especially with a growing aging population. Grapes are an easy, accessible fruit that studies have shown can have a beneficial impact in normal amounts of just 1 ½ cups per day,” says Dr. Jung Eun Kim, the study’s co-author, in a media release.
Q (me): So, what I want to know is, how many glasses of wine is that?!
A (Internet): Alas, there is no straightforward answer. It depends on everything from varietal to winemaking technique. This answer isn’t as satisfying as we’d like, however, so we’ll go with a safe average of about 80 grapes in a glass of wine and 400 grapes in each bottle.
This weekend I enjoyed watching the movie Jules starring Ben Kingsley, Jane Curtin and Harriet Sansom Harris. So when I saw the following article I had to share it. (Apologies for wonky formatting issues.)
Do you find the idea of “aliens” alarming, comforting, or just good fun??
NASA can’t rule out ‘potential unknown alien technology’ in Earth’s atmosphere
But it says it prefers to call them UAPs – ‘unidentified anomalous phenomena’
NASA cannot rule out that ‘potential unknown alien technology’ is operating in the Earth’s atmosphere, a new report has concluded.
The study of flying saucers, UFOs, and claims alien spaceships are visiting the earth has long been the preserve of mavericks and the unhinged.
But yesterday, NASA said it wanted to dispel the ‘negative perception’ surrounding Unidentified Flying Objects and make it a scientifically respectable field of study.
As part of the effort to put the study of UFOs onto a more scientific footing, it said it preferred to call them UAPs – ‘unidentified anomalous phenomena’.
A NASA panel, comprising 16 experts in scientific fields and ranging from physics to astrobiology have compiled a report into UAPs which it called ‘one of our planet’s greatest mysteries.’
(Pictured: NASA Administrator Bill Nelsonspeaking recently.)
Above, a weather balloon careens through the air following its release from the Cape Canaveral weather station in Florida. NASA’s panel included this image in their report as an example of the striking, highly unusual objects that nevertheless have a terrestrial explanation.
The report said: ‘Observations of objects in our skies that cannot be identified as balloons, aircraft or natural known phenomena have been spotted worldwide, yet there are limited high-quality observations.
‘The nature of science is to explore the unknown, and data is the language scientists use to discover our universe’s secrets,’ the report said.
‘Despite numerous accounts and visuals, the absence of consistent, detailed, and curated observations means we do not presently have the body of data needed to make definitive, scientific conclusions about UAP,’ it added.
The report said there is ‘no reason’ to conclude existing UAP reports have an extraterrestrial source.
But it said if it is plausible that there are extra-terrestrial life forms in the galaxy, it is also plausible that there is ‘potential unknown alien technology operating in Earth’s atmosphere’.
NASA has previously revealed the characteristics of the typical UFO, including the colour and the shape, velocity, and flight level.
Two ‘aliens’ were officially unveiled at Mexico ‘s Congress (pictured) as politicians held their first ever hearing on UFOs, but was everything as it seemed?
The report was not a review of previous UFO incidents but a ‘road map’ of how to scientifically study and evaluate UAPs in the future.
It also only referred to unclassified reports – with the report’s authors acknowledging that the US Military also has secret images and reports of UAPs not available to the public.
NASA said it would make a ‘concerted effort’ to scientifically study UAPs, using its satellites, as well as commercial satellites, as well as using artificial intelligence to analyse data.
The public could help too, using smartphone apps to take pictures of potential UFOs.
NASA said it had appointed a new director of UAP research – who it is not naming – who will be in charge of creating a ‘robust database’ for evaluation of future UAP.’
The director will not be named as members of the panel had received ‘harassment’ and ‘threats’ while working on the report, NASA officials said.
The report added that it was important to get to the bottom of UAPs as ‘the threat to U.S. airspace safety posed by UAP is self-evident.’
At a news conference yesterday one of the report’s authors, Dr Dan Evans, was asked why the report had to rely on unclassified material – while the US Department of Defense holds onto classified images and videos.
Dr Evans said: ‘One of the reasons we restricted ourselves this study to unclassified data is because we can speak openly about it,’ Dr Evans said. ‘And in so doing, we’re aiming again to alter the discourse from sensationalism to science’.
Navy 2021 flyby video of an unidentified aerial phenomena
The scientists were asked by to comment on a recent claim by a UFO expert, Jaimie Maussan, that he had discovered two ancient ‘non human’ alien corpses in Cusco, Peru in 2017, which are 1800 years old and are claimed to have 30 per cent DNA of an ‘unknown’ type.’ Dr David Spergel, who chaired the panel, said samples from the corpses should be made available to the wider scientific community.
NASA issued a watershed report in 2021 compiled by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence in conjunction with a Navy-led task force encompassing numerous observations – mostly from military personnel of UAP.
The report included some UAP cases that previously came to light in the Pentagon’s release of video from naval aviators showing enigmatic aircraft off the U.S. East and West Coasts.
The report said defence and intelligence analysts lacked sufficient data to determine the nature of some of the objects.
British astronomer Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell was the first person to discover a pulsar in 1967 when she spotted a radio pulsar.
Since then other types of pulsars that emit X-rays and gamma rays have also been spotted.
Pulsars are essentially rotating, highly magnetised neutron stars but when they were first discovered it was believed they could have come from aliens.
‘Wow!’ radio signal
In 1977, an astronomer looking for alien life in the night sky above Ohio spotted a radio signal so powerful that he excitedly wrote ‘Wow!’ next to his data.
The 72-second blast, spotted by Dr Jerry Ehman through a radio telescope, came from Sagittarius but matched no known celestial object.
Conspiracy theorists have since claimed that the ‘Wow! signal’, which was 30 times stronger than background radiation, was a message from intelligent extraterrestrials.
Fossilized Martian microbes
In 1996 Nasa and the White House made the explosive announcement that the rock contained traces of Martian bugs.
The meteorite, catalogued as Allen Hills (ALH) 84001, crashed onto the frozen wastes of Antarctica 13,000 years ago and was recovered in 1984.
Photographs were released showing elongated segmented objects that appeared strikingly lifelike.
However, the excitement did not last long. Other scientists questioned whether the meteorite samples were contaminated.
They also argued that heat generated when the rock was blasted into space may have created mineral structures that could be mistaken for microfossils.
Behaviour of Tabby’s Star in 2005
The star, otherwise known as KIC 8462852, is located 1,400 light years away and has baffled astronomers since being discovered in 2015.
It dims at a much faster rate than other stars, which some experts have suggested is a sign of aliens harnessing the energy of a star.
Recent studies have ‘eliminated the possibility of an alien megastructure’, and instead, suggests that a ring of dust could be causing the strange signals.
Exoplanets in the Goldilocks zone in 2017
In February 2017 astronomers announced they had spotted a star system with planets that could support life just 39 light years away.
Seven Earth-like planets were discovered orbiting nearby dwarf star ‘Trappist-1’, and all of them could have water at their surface, one of the key components of life.
Three of the planets have such good conditions, that scientists say life may have already evolved on them.
Researchers claim that they will know whether or not there is life on any of the planets within a decade, and said: ‘This is just the beginning.’
On a recent neighborhood walk with dear friends B and D, I was gently reminded that I hadn’t, ahem, posted anything in quite a long time.
These walks are especially lovely in the spring, when yards are bursting with colorful blooms and flowering trees, and we share the street with our local marauding wild turkeys (flock? rafter? gaggle? the Internet seems undecided.)
Neighborhood boys out for a stroll
Mixing metaphors, I headed down the turkey rabbit hole to uncover the following facts:
An adult wild turkey has about 5,500 feathers (did someone actually count them, and what kind of a job is that?), including the 18 tail feathers that make up the male’s distinct fan. Many of the feathers are iridescent.
Wild turkeys can fly and have a top flight speed of about 55 miles per hour.
Their powerful legs can run at speeds up to 25 miles per hour. (In our neighborhood, they never seem to move faster than a leisurely stroll.)
The average lifespan of a wild turkey is three to five years, and the oldest known wild turkey lived to be about 13 years old. They weigh from 5-20 pounds.
Wild turkeys see in color and have excellent daytime vision– three times better than a human’s eyesight. However, they have poor night vision and become warier as it grows darker.
Found any good grubs lately?
Most of their diet is grass and grain, but wild turkeys will also eat insects, nuts, berries, and small reptiles. Preferred feeding times are early morning and evening.
A wild turkey’s gobble can be heard up to one mile away and is a primary means for a tom to communicate with his harem of hens. The calls also warn other toms away from territory already claimed.
During the winter months, hens and toms live in separate flocks. As the weather warms up, males leave their winter flock and move to mating grounds to attract females. (Think spring break with feathers!)
Male turkeys will mate with as many female turkeys as possible. (Are hens just more selective?)
The wild turkey’s bald head– red, pink, white or blue– and fleshy facial wattles can quickly change color with excitement or emotion. The flap of skin that hangs down over a turkey’s bill is called a snood and can also change color, shape, and size based on mood and activities.
Wild turkeys are very social, making sounds that communicate a range of meaning from calling in their young to mating calls. Sounds include gobble, yelp, cluck, chump, hum, purr, putt, cackle, and kee-kee.
Adult male turkeys are called toms, and females are called hens. Wild turkey babies are called poults, juvenile males are jakes, and juvenile females are jennies.
Still curious? Check outthespruce.com for more fun facts.
Planning ahead can pay serious dividends in many areas of life. Now, new research out of China suggests a little bit of forward thinking when it comes to bone health can help stave off osteoporosis years down the line. Researchers report taking calcium supplements between ages 20 and 35 can help improve bone mass at peak bone mass age.
Study authors believe this work points to a new, easy way adults can proactively protect their bones from a young age, setting the stage for more robust bone health during old age. On an even more general level, researchers add young adults should pay more attention to their bone health.
“Osteoporosis and fractures are important global public health problems, particularly in elderly women,” explains lead study author Yupeng Liu, a researcher at Wenzhou Medical University’s School of Public Health and Management, in a media release. “However, although calcium supplementation has been widely used in older age to increase bone mass, a number of studies suggest that it is unlikely to translate into clinically meaningful reductions in fractures.”
“On the other hand, intervention before young adults reach peak bone density might have a greater impact on bone health and prevent osteoporosis later. There has been considerable debate about whether calcium supplementation has effects on bone health among young people, so we conducted a comprehensive review of the evidence for calcium supplement effectiveness in people under the age of 35.”
Are supplements better than the real thing? The research team made use of previously conducted randomized controlled trials — seen as the gold standard for clinical research — to compile these findings. More specifically, they searched for trials comparing calcium or calcium plus vitamin D with a placebo or no treatment in participants under the age of 35. They also focused on results reported for bone mineral density (BMD) or bone mineral content (BMC).
In total, this project ended up encompassing 43 prior studies involving over 7,300 people. Among those 43 studies, 20 looked at dietary calcium while the other 23 focused on calcium supplementation. The team then combined all of the data to search for changes in BMD and BMC in the lumbar spine, femoral neck, total hip, and total body.
That investigation led to the conclusion that calcium supplements taken by people under 35 have significant potential to improve the BMD levels of both the total body and femoral neck. They also appear to slightly increase the BMC of the femoral neck, total body, and lumbar spine. In comparison to individuals younger than 20 (the pre–peak bone mass age), these benefits were more prominent among participants between 20 and 35 years-old (the peri–peak bone mass age when bone mass plateaus).
Importantly, both dietary sources of calcium and calcium supplements had a positive effect on femoral neck and total body BMD. However, BMC measurements of the femoral neck and lumbar spine only improved following calcium supplementation.
Vitamin D, meanwhile, was a bit of a mixed bag. A combination of calcium and vitamin D did prove more beneficial for the femoral neck bone mineral density and content, but researchers did not see the same robust benefits for BMCs of lumbar spine and total body, or total body BMD.
Moving up the ‘intervention window’ In summation, study authors believe calcium supplements have serious potential to improve both bone mineral density and content, especially in the neck, in a major way. Taking calcium supplements during peri–peak bone mass age (ages 20-35) appears to foster the strongest benefits in comparison to earlier or later in life.
“Although further trials will be needed to verify these findings, our review provides a new train of thought regarding calcium supplementation and the optimal timing of its effects,” concludes senior study author Shuran Wang, a professor at Wenzhou Medical University. “In terms of bone health and an individual’s full life cycle, the intervention window of calcium supplementation should be advanced to the age around the plateau of peak bone mass – namely at 20–35 years of age.”
Admittedly, it’s pretty difficult these days to think of any good news. My brain is consumed with thoughts of Ukraine, as I’m sure yours is as well.
But if drinking a little wine is helping the world seem a little less terrifying, apparently there’s a health benefit as well. Read on, and sip with impunity.
NEW ORLEANS — Enjoy a glass of vino with your meal every now and again? Turns out you might be doing your body good. Researchers from Tulane University report that drinking wine with dinner could help stave off diabetes.
Compounds in grape skin combat the metabolic disease by reducing blood sugar levels, say scientists. But drinking beer or liquor with food increases the risk.
The finding is based on data from 312,000 British residents who describe themselves as regular drinkers. Those who had a glass of wine or two — particularly red — at mealtimes were 14 percent less likely to develop the metabolic disease over the next decade.
“Drinking moderate amounts of wine with meals may prevent Type 2 diabetes if you do not have another health condition that may be negatively affected by moderate alcohol consumption and in consultation with your doctor,” says lead author Dr. Hao Ma, a biostatistical analyst at the Tulane University Obesity Research Center, in a statement.
Good news for wine drinkers
Wine is rich in healthy plant chemicals including resveratrol, which acts like an antioxidant. Red varieties are particularly abundant in the compound.
“The effects of alcohol consumption on health have been described as a double-edged sword because of its apparent abilities to cut deeply in either direction – harmful or helpful, depending on how it is consumed,” says Ma. “Previous studies have focused on how much people drink and have had mixed results. Very few studies have focused on other drinking details, such as the timing of alcohol intake.”
Moderate drinking is defined as a small glass of wine (150ml) or other alcoholic beverage daily for women, and up to two for men.
“Clinical trials have also found that moderate drinking may have some health benefits, including on glucose metabolism,” adds Ma. “However, it remains unclear whether glucose metabolism benefits translate into a reduction of type 2 diabetes. In our study, we sought to determine if the association between alcohol intake and risk of type 2 diabetes might differ by the timing of alcohol intake with respect to meals.”
The participants were tracked for about eleven years on average. They did not have diabetes, cardiovascular diseases or cancer at the outset. Their average age 56, slightly more than half were women and 95 percent were white. Those who reduced alcohol consumption due to illness, doctor’s advice or pregnancy were excluded.
During the follow-up period about 8,600 developed Type 2 diabetes. Those who drank with their meal — rather than without eating food — cut their risk by 14 percent. The potential benefit was evident only among the former group. Specific times were not collected. It was also mainly among those who drank wine rather than other types of alcohol.
Alcohol still raises risks of many other conditions
While the finding is good news for wine lovers, researchers still say consuming alcohol is best in moderation. That’s because it’s also linked to high blood pressure, obesity, stroke, breast cancer, liver disease, depression, suicide, accidents, alcohol abuse and alcoholism. The risks increase as the amount of alcohol an individual drinks rises. For some cancers and other health conditions, the risk increases even at very low levels of alcohol consumption – less than one drink daily.
The American Heart Association and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommend that adults who do not drink alcohol should not start. Among those who drink alcohol regularly, they should talk with their doctors about the benefits and risks of consuming alcohol in moderation.
Some people should not drink at all, including women who are pregnant or trying to get pregnant, people under the age of 21 and people with certain health conditions.
Professor Robert Eckel, of the University of Colorado, who was not involved in the study, says the relationship between alcohol and Type 2 diabetes remains controversial. Eckel is a former president of the American Heart Association. “These data suggest that it is not the alcohol with meals but other ingredients in wine, perhaps antioxidants, that may be the factor in potentially reducing new-onset type 2 diabetes,” he notes. “While the type of wine, red versus white, needs to be defined, and validation of these findings and mechanisms of benefit are needed, the results suggest that if you are consuming alcohol with meals, wine may be a better choice.”
The study was presented at the American Heart Association Epidemiology, Prevention, Lifestyle & Cardiometabolic Health Conference in Chicago.
South West News Service writer Mark Waghorn contributed to this report.
(Pictured: NASA Administrator Bill Nelson speaking recently.)
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