Cold and wet

The beginning of our hike has caused us to consider a very serious physical condition called hypothermia. This is a situation where the body temperature falls because of exposure to cold, wind, and moisture. Those are just the conditions we have faced for the first 3 days of our Walk, with winds between 10 and 15 mph daily, and Saturday peaking at 40 mph gust. Winds are a chilling influence that can sap the energy from the body as they continually remove the blanket of warm air that our body temperature creates.

It is also caused by wet with temperature conducted through the water. Rain at temperatures in the forties is notorious for reducing core body temps; so is immersion in water by crossing streams and being caught by wave wash. Water can transfer body heat away from you in a hurry and we had waves flowing across the sand, filling stream mouths, and even traveling up the beaches as the wind drove the water in front of it.

Finally the temperature is an influence. It does not need to be below zero, just below our bodies temperature. If it is and the air is moving, the body continually puts out heat to create warmth around you, but it has to work too hard when all the conditions above converge.

So what do we do? We need food to burn, the right calories, and we need rain coats that breathe so that we do not just sweat inside and soak our clothing and bodies. The skin layer must be one that holds warmth even when damp, not cotton!!

As we age we lose the ability to shiver and this is our first defense against cold, so we have to think more about the clothes we wear. They must wick away moisture, insulate even if wet, and finally be covered by layers that prevent the cold rain from reaching us, yet be breathable so that they take away excess heat and moisture we create by walking.

We are lucky that we have good gear, polypropylene as the skin layer, fleece shirt layer, and good rain coat that breathe as it protects. With a full day of trekking we cannot just “tough it out”.

Full Circle Superior - the beginning

My wife, Kate Crowley, and I begin our 1600 mile trek following the shoreline of Lake Superior on April 29. We have two days left before we leave and it is amazing to see the logistics playing out, the support vehicle loaded, the GPS routes mapped, and 2060 miles in training over the last year.

After careers in environmental education, Kate and I want to do something that focuses on the issues and ethics that drive us each day. We believe that fresh, clean water is one of the truly significant resources on earth, one of the basic two elements of life (along with air) and therefore something we take for granted as a society, but cannot live without as individuals.

So how do we make a difference? Our grandchildren entered our lives almost seven years ago and they brought with them not only the inspiration of their love and openness, but also the tangible connection between our lives, our grandparent's lives, and their future.

We knew we would not leave them with possessions or money, but we wanted to do something more important; we wanted to leave them a better planet to live on. So we chose our career capstone to be a walk around Lake Superior, with presentations and articles on fresh water, with research and activities that will leave a baseline of data at seven universities and with the knowledge that through sponsors like BeneVia, we can deliver a message to our generation and those who follow, that we begin to cure the health of the planet by taking care of the health of our bodies.

We make a difference for the future by living as well as we can, within the ethics we believe in, and we set a bar for the future to follow. We challenge the next generation to make a difference and fellow baby boomers to take up a cause.

Eat healthy, exercise, care about the planet and make decisions based on leaving a better world for the next generation.

"Even if you are on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there."

- Will Rogers

So get up and move today to start your week out right. Try Therapeutic Nutrition as you get up and move to make sure you get the protein and nutrient your body needs. BeneVia Strength and Energy is 4X better at building muscle vs. leading adult nutrition products.

The fantastic four? Sure! But go beyond… to the heavenly seven

By Dr. Franco


How to age healthily remains one of the most important and least answered questions for researchers and society in general. Many have dedicated entire careers to discover the secrets of eternal youth but have been unable to unearth them by wrongly searching for chimeras in “el dorado”.

Although eternal youth is perhaps as real as the existence of chimeras and hydras, ageing healthily is a realistic Ithaca to where we all can embark if we follow the adequate trajectory of a healthy lifestyle as demonstrated in a recent report published in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

A team of American and German investigators from the CDC in Atlanta and the German Institute of Human Nutrition in Potsdam gathered to evaluate factors that could help to permit a life free from major chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancer.

The authors identified four key factors that could substantially reduce the future risk of these deleterious conditions. These fantastic four included: I) never smoking, II) no obesity III) at least moderate levels of physical activity and IV) a healthy diet. Following these fantastic four could represent a 78% less chance of developing major chronic diseases.

Surely following the fantastic four is the adequate trajectory to a healthy life, but while following this path why conform with less, when adding three more factors could provide an even better route to our beloved Ithaca of ageing. Adequate sleep patterns, sufficient sun exposure, and no or low alcohol consumption, have also been shown to improve our chances of healthy ageing. Four might be fantastic, but seven is like heaven!

Reference:
Ford ES, Bergmann MM, Kröger J, Schienkiewitz A, Weikert C, Boeing H. Healthy living is the best revenge: findings from the European Prospective Investigation Into Cancer and Nutrition-Potsdam study. Arch Intern Med. 2009 Aug 10;169(15):1355-6

Marital Metamorphosis

By Dr. Franco,

In 2004 I found myself in a different continent and unexpectedly changing my marital status. I must confess that before this time I used to smoke, did not sleep more than 5 hours per day and had neglected my physical activities since I started my medical career. But with the unexpected changes came unforeseen - but very much needed!- transformations. My wife’s tender regime radically altered my lifestyle. Without noticing, my smoking habit, lack of sleep and absence of physical activity were eradicated.

It is therefore with no surprise that I recently read the results of a report published in the American Journal of Epidemiology evaluating the effects of marital status on mortality. Scientists from Duke University (Durham, NC) followed US adults over more than ten years (1992 – 2006) to evaluate the impact of marital status on mortality.

Summarizing, the authors found that the number of years one is married was strongly related to survival. The study also showed that different marital trajectories can have very different effects, for example marrying as a teenager was actually related to a lower survival. The authors suggest further research to clarify the mechanisms that lead from specific marital status and family structure to mortality and other health outcomes over the life course,

Besides this paper a large body of work is available that shows that being married is related to better survival. In general I am not a friend of taking or giving advice, but in this case -based on my personal experience and scientific evidence- I can strongly advice anyone without a partner to find one, and if you already have one, make it last. We say faith can move mountains, but love can move continents… and it certainly made me move!

References:
Matthew E. Dupre, Audrey N. Beck, and Sarah O. Meadows. Marital Trajectories and Mortality Among US Adults . American Journal of Epidemiology Advance Access published on July 7, 2009. Am. J. Epidemiol. 2009 170: 546-555
Invited Commentary: Toward a More Comprehensive Social Epidemiology of Marital Trajectories and Mortality. Patrick M. Krueger. Am. J. Epidemiol. 2009 170: 556-558

Women under pressure

By Dr Franco

Happy new year from Colombia! Since ladies come always first, we start 2010 talking about women and the findings of the Nurses Health Study.

The Nurses Health Study is one of the largest and most influential epidemiological studies in the world. Conducted by investigators from Harvard University, this study started in 1976 with more than 120,000 nurses aged 30 to 55 years that have been followed every 2 years ever since. A second cohort, the Nurses Health Study II started in 1989 with over 110,000 registered nurses aged 27 to 44 years. These two studies have provided substantial information to improve the knowledge and understanding of women’s health and process of ageing.

Emanating from this second cohort, recent results have been published in the JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association) evaluating how hypertension develops in women and how dietary and lifestyle factors influence or prevent the appearance of hypertension in women.

Hypertension is a factor that generates great burden in women contributing to more excess deaths than any other preventable factor. Treatment of hypertension can be cumbersome as pharmacological interventions imply high investments and efforts and can have substantial adverse effects. Avoiding the appearance of hypertension is therefore an important strategy and dietary and lifestyle factors could hold the key to successful prevention as shown in this report.

The authors found that six lifestyle factors were important in lowering the risk of developing hypertension in women: not being overweight or obese, 30 minutes of daily physical activity, a healthy diet, modest alcohol intake, use of non-narcotic analgesics less than once per week, and intake of supplemental folic acid. Following these six factors could represent a 78% reduction in the risk of developing hypertension in the future while following 5 or just 4 factors a 72% or 58% lower risk.

The effects of healthy lifestyle (as indicated by this study) are not only of a large magnitude but also come with little adverse effects. Medicaments to treat hypertension on the other hand often come with deleterious side effects. Following a healthy lifestyle seems definitely the route to follow!

Reference:
Forman JP, Stampfer MJ, Curhan GC. Diet and lifestyle risk factors associated with incident hypertension in women. JAMA. 2009 Jul 22;302(4):401-11

There is more than one source of white in Christmas

By Dr. Franco


This year I was closer than ever before to a white Christmas, and in places like Belgium a white Christmas occurred for the first time after 23 years. However, In Leiden (the Netherlands) where we gathered this year with friends and family to celebrate Christmas, no snow fell on the 25th, and from the snow accumulated the previous days there was only just enough to throw a few last snowballs.

But besides celebrating, sharing and being able to express our artistic skills with anthropomorphic sculptures in the snow, this season is also marked by excesses of food and drink. Almost every evening in the last week I have been able to enjoy the fruits of culinary feasts that make of this season the kindest to our senses but one of the riskiest to our health. Behind the alcohol, pudding, turkey and fatty products that should be consumed in moderation, hides a darker source of white to this season: salt.

Salt is perhaps one of the finest and tastiest gifts that nature has provided us with. The spice of life surely, salt has been one of the greatest assets to humankind, but is also one of its greatest threats generally considered a silent killer. Salt increases our blood pressure, and the greater the amount of salt intake the higher the level of blood pressure, and the higher the risk of suffering a stroke and heart disease.

In a recent manuscript published in the British Medical Journal, a team of scientists from the University of Naples in Italy and the University of Warwick in the UK aimed to compile all the evidence available on the effect that high levels of salt consumption might have on the risk of suffering stroke or heart disease. They found that reducing the daily consumption of salt by approximately 5 grams (1 teaspoon of salt) could provide a 23% reduction in the risk of stroke and a 17% reduction in the risk of heart disease. Such a measure could avert about one and a quarter million deaths from stroke and almost three million deaths from heart disease each year!

But how can we reduce our salt intake? Here are some tips that you might want to use when making your New Year’s resolution(s):
- Increase the consumption of foods rich in potassium: fruits and vegetables
- Eat/cook at home more, and when eating out ask the chef to reduce the amount of salt
- Cook low in salt and add only small amounts at the end
- Try to have less than 6 grams a day of salt (a teaspoon)
- Use fewer sauces, mixes and canned products.
- Aim to progressively reduce your salt intake. Everyday a bit less and your palate wont notice it.



Reference:
Strazzullo P, D'Elia L, Kandala NB, Cappuccio FP. Salt intake, stroke, and cardiovascular disease: meta-analysis of prospective studies. BMJ. 2009 Nov 24;339:b4567.