Healthy aging is a concern of almost everyone, considering barring any unforeseen circumstances, we all grow older. Metabolism is one focus of healthy aging researchers, with variations in metabolism
resulting in various ailments among the elderly. Additionally, outside factors that can influence metabolism, like diet and lifestyle choices, are of interest to researchers, as changes in these habits could lead to improved aging and reduced risk of disease and injury in the elderly.
A new study in the Journals of Gerontology: Medical Sciences looked at the effect of diet on the metabolic profile of elderly, by comparing the Mediterranean diet, the Mediterranean diet supplemented with Co-enzyme Q10, the Western diet rich in saturated fat, and a low-fat/high-carb diet rich in n-3 polyunsaturated fat.
This study followed 10 participants, with each participant consuming each of the four diets for a four week period each (16 weeks total).
Metabolic profile of urine of each participant was measured at the start of each diet, and again after a 12 hour fast at the completion of each diet.
Important Findings:
Comparing the Mediterranean & CO-Q (Med&CO-Q) diet with the Western/Saturated fat diet, women consuming the saturated fat diet had higher levels of phenylacteylglycine in their urine than those women consuming the Med&CO-Q diet.
The Med&CO-Q diet was positively associated with B-carotene plasma levels.
The Med&CO-Q diet was negatively associated with Nrf2, thioredoxin, superoxide dismutase 1, and the gp91phox subunit of NADPH oxidase gene expression.
The Western/Saturated fat diet was positively associated with isoprostane levels in urine.
The Western/Saturated fat diet was negatively associated with CO-Q plasma levels.
These results suggest that the Mediterranean Diet supplemented with Co-enzyme Q10 may be beneficial for healthy aging in elderly. The specific metabolic findings mentioned above indicate that the
Mediterranean Diet supplemented with Co-enzyme Q10 could reduce the risk of disease caused by chronic oxidative stress, cardiovascular diseases, and neurodegenerative diseases.
It is important to note the sample size in this study was very small (only 10 individuals), so more research is required to further support or refute these claims.
Olive oil has been implicated over and over again in prevention of
cardiovascular disease in many populations. Research has found that the oleic acid and other phenolics in the olive oil contributes to lowered cardiovascular disease risk, specifically interacting with low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and other urinary proteomic biomarkers.
A new study in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition aimed to evaluate whether or not supplementing a person’s diet with olive oil had any effect on various urinary proteomic biomarkers for coronary artery disease, chronic kidney disease, and diabetes. Additionally, two olive oil treatments were compared: one with low levels of phenolics or one with high levels of phenolics.
69 healthy people participated in this study and were randomly assigned supplementation with either high phenolic olive oil, or low phenolic olive oil. Supplementation occurred daily over a period of 6 weeks. Daily doses were 20mL.
Low phenolic olive oil was categorized as containing 18mg caffeic acid equivalents per kg, while high phenolic olive oil was categorized as containing 286mg caffeic acid equivalents per kg.
Urinary proteomic biomarkers, blood lipids, antioxidant capacity, and glycation markers were measured were measured at baseline, 3 weeks, and 6 weeks after daily olive oil supplementation.
Important Findings
Daily supplementation of both olive oils reduced biomarker levels for coronary artery disease.
Daily supplementation of both olive oils had no influence on biomarker levels of chronic kidney disease or diabetes.
There were no significant differences in reduction of disease biomarkers between olive oil with low levels of phenolics versus olive oil with high levels of phenolics.
The results of this study indicate that supplementation with olive oil improved coronary artery disease risk based on urinary proteomic
biomarkers in healthy adults. On the other hand, olive oil supplementation did not seem to influence chronic kidney disease or diabetes risk based on urinary proteomic biomarkers.
Finally, there were no significant differences between the high and low phenolic doses of olive oil supplements, indicating that low dose of 18mg caffeic acid/kg is just as good as a high dose of 286mg caffeic acid per kg in reducing coronary artery disease risk.