By Dr. Robert Goldman & Dr. Ronald Klatz

Longevity News and Review provides readers with the latest information in breakthroughs pertaining to the extension of the healthy human lifespan.  These news summaries are compiled by the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine (A4M; www.worldhealth.net), a non-profit medical society composed of 26,000 physician and scientist members from 120 nations, united in a mission to advance biomedical technologies to detect, prevent, and treat aging related disease and to promote research into methods to retard and optimize the human aging process.   Dr. Ronald Klatz, M.D., D.O., A4M President, and Dr. Robert Goldman, M.D., Ph.D., D.O., FAASP, A4M Chairman, physician co-founders of the anti-aging medical movement, distill these headlines and provide their insightful commentary.

Look to Nature to Lower Inflammation
Jennifer Stellar, from, University of California/Berkeley (UCB; California, USA), and colleagues completed two separate experiments, enrolling over 200 young adults.  Subjects reported on a given day the extent to which they had experienced such positive emotions as amusement, awe, compassion, contentment, joy, love and pride. Samples of gum and cheek tissue, known as oral mucosal transudate, taken that same day showed that those who experienced more of these positive emotions, especially awe, wonder and amazement, had the lowest levels of the cytokine, Interleukin 6, a marker of inflammation.  Observing that: “awe … was the strongest predictor of lower levels of proinflammatory cytokines. These effects held when controlling for relevant personality and health variables,” the study authors submit that: “This work suggests a potential biological pathway between positive emotions and health through proinflammatory cytokines.”

Dr. Klatz observes: “Excess inflammation is linked to a range of medical disorders, from heart disease to irritable bowel syndrome to cognitive decline.   Cytokines are proteins that prompt for increased activity of the immune system, a process necessary to combat infection.  However, when the mechanism goes into overdrive, it may contribute to heart disease, type-2 diabetes, autoimmune diseases, mood disorders and more. This team finds that the ‘feel good emotions’ triggered by enjoying nature’s great wonders may lower a person’s cytokines.”

Wide-Ranging Health Benefits of Walking Groups
Sarah Hanson, from the University of East Anglia (United Kingdom), and colleagues completed a meta-analysis of 42 studies of outdoor walking group interventions in adults.  Identifying data on more than 1,800 outdoor walkers in 14 countries, the researchers found that, on average, participants who joined walking groups experienced meaningful improvements in lung power, overall physical functioning and general fitness, in addition to the changes in blood pressure, body mass index and other important risk factor measures. The participants also tended to be less depressed after joining the walking groups.  The study authors write that: “Walking groups are effective and safe with good adherence and wide-ranging health benefits. They could be a promising intervention as an adjunct to other healthcare or as a proactive health-promoting activity.”

Remarks Dr. Goldman: “ Among the various modes of group fitness activities, this study suggests that  joining an organized outdoor walking group  may improve a person’s cardiovascular profile, respiratory health, and mental disposition.”

Large-Scale Study Affirms Daily  Multivitamin-Mineral for Women
Researchers from the Office of Dietary Supplements at the US National Institutes of Health (Maryland, USA) analyzed data collected on 8.678 adults, ages 40 years and older, enrolled in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III).

Comments Dr. Klatz: “This US team reaffirms the importance of a daily multivitamin-mineral supplement for women, finding that it may reduce the risk of heart disease by 35%, when taken for 3 years or more.”

Anti-aging medicine is the fastest-growing medical specialty throughout the world and is founded on the application of advanced scientific and medical technologies for the early detection, prevention, treatment, and reversal of age-related dysfunction, disorders, and diseases.  It is a healthcare model promoting innovative science and research to prolong the healthy lifespan in humans.  As such, anti-aging medicine is based on solid scientific principles of responsible medical care that are consistent with those applied in other preventive health specialties.  The goal of anti-aging medicine is not to merely prolong the total years of an individual’s life, but to ensure that those years are enjoyed in a productive and vital fashion.  Visit the A4M’s World Health Network website, at www.worldhealth.net, to learn more about the A4M and its educational endeavors and to sign-up for your free subscription o Longevity Magazine™ e-Journal.