The power of healthy nutrition in old age - staying or becoming top fit
Nutrition causes people more problems than benefits these days. One increasingly looks in vain for really fresh foods or those with a high nutrient content. Various guides are only aimed at supporting the pharmaceutical manufacturers who cooperate with them. As a result, there is no valuable advice, but rather the wrong approach, which causes disease and malnutrition in the population over a lifetime. Here you will learn what the current problems are and how to give useful advice to people around you about nutrition in old age.
Effects on the body
Nutrition probably has the most direct and detectable effects on the body and how it functions. Here we talk about physiological effects. Here are a few examples of how changes in diet can help seniors: (cf. Petzold, 2018):
- Strengthening the immune system
- Maintaining fitness and mobility
- Preservation of nerve and memory functions
- Protection against infections
- Improved vision and eye health
- Stronger cardiovascular system
- Improved kidney function
You may now notice that the above points weaken with age or become serious problems and diseases. This is by no means a coincidence, because the body is a marvel that depends on an optimal supply of nutrients for all its physiological work. If this supply is not guaranteed, there will be serious consequences. These consequences occur with increasing age in seniors or even earlier.
However, your advantage is that you are now here and informing yourself. This means that you have recognised the problem. Fortunately, for very few things in life, it is too late, which means that a focus on a healthy diet can save you and those you influence from illness and possibly even eliminate existing dietary problems. Don't you think? However, a healthy diet can be the solution to physiological problems!
How to prevent heart disease and improve blood circulation
A statistic from a study by the Robert Koch Institute in 2013 shows that cardiovascular diseases were the most common cause of death at that time, with alarming figures:
- Among seniors aged 60 to 69, just under 12% of women and almost 20% of men had serious heart disease.
- In the 70-79 age group, as many as 16 % of women and just over 30 % of men were affected.
- In the age groups below that, the figures were largely below the 10 % mark.
Up to now, the statistics have improved, but many people still die or have to cope with a lower quality of life.
Of course, the problem is not only related to an unhealthy diet. Genetic predispositions and medication can also play a supporting role. Now genetics and perhaps medication are a factor; but it is a factor we can certainly work on. What this means is that you can neutralise bad genes to a large extent by strengthening your body through healthy eating.
For example, the vitamin beta-carotene helps you to prevent heart disease in old age. Studies have shown that it counteracts the narrowing of blood vessels. This happens because the carotenoids it contains fight harmful substances, especially LDL cholesterol.
The consumption of omega-3 fatty acids is also promising if you want to prevent heart disease. Famous in this context is the "Mediterranean diet", which is rich in fish and thus in omega-3 fatty acids. The American Ancel Keys found that the rate of heart attacks in Crete and the surrounding regions was surprisingly low.
Dementia - Preventing the fear factor
Dementia is the physiological disease in which brain cells perish. Both for relatives and the affected persons themselves, the disease is a very great burden. All in all, dementia has now become the horror of old age.
On the one hand, people want to prevent dementia. On the other hand, it may be that a person already has dementia and you want to make their life as quality as possible. In both cases, you can help with healthy nutrition in old age (cf. wegweiser-demenz):
- Vitamins fight particles in the blood called free radicals that damage cell structures in the brain.
- Folic acid lowers the homocysteine level, which, if too high, promotes dementia as well as depression.
- According to new research, even green tea is helpful because of its active ingredient EGCG, which even reduces the formation of free radicals.
This is some advice, but it is foreshadowing: both those already affected and people who want to prevent the development of dementia are on the right track with healthy eating in old age.
Movement makes everything a functioning overall construct
What should always complement nutrition in old age is exercise. Especially if the exercise is done in a social setting, seniors are provided with several benefits at once. For social activities are rituals. Such rituals, i.e. regularly practised things in the company of other people, take away the often existing loneliness for seniors and create more free space for the family. In addition, interaction with other people keeps the brain constantly challenged and buoyant. Because you have to remember things, explain facts and think about what you are saying. This activates many areas of the brain.
In addition, exercise has the following further benefits for seniors (cf. Exercise in old age):
- Effective against diabetes
- Prevents joint diseases
- Promotes blood circulation
- Reduces the risk of cancer
Conclusion
Eating healthy and incorporating exercise into everyday life not only increases the physiological well-being of older people, but also their psychological well-being. With very simple changes, you can positively influence your quality of life and that of other people in the long term.
