What if I told you that there are ways to make your hair thicker, plump your skin, lose your middle-aged girth and even banish hot flashes, all of which cost less than a supermarket shopping basket?
I am a physician and best-selling author dedicated to finding and analyzing the latest science on aging at the deepest level. Over the past three years, my team and I have read more than 20,000 scientific papers to create the most comprehensive summary of how we can slow down or even stop the clock.
My new 600-page book, How Not To Age (with 995 pages of references I've posted online), offers a guide to what the best minds in the field have recently discovered – and you'll be surprised at how much You have control over the speed at which you appear to age.
Here, in the final part of my groundbreaking series, I'll show you not only how to feel healthier and more energetic as you age, but also how to look younger.
Michael Greger's new 600-page book, How Not To Age, offers a guide to what the best minds in the field have recently discovered—and you'll be surprised at how much control you have over the rate at which you appear to age
A daily cup of cocoa smoothes wrinkles
The skin is the most noticeable reflection of the aging process. But only three percent of skin aging can be attributed to genetic factors. The rest is due to our lifestyle, with 80-90% of facial aging in people with lighter skin tones being due to sun exposure. People with darker skin are also affected, although they are relatively protected due to their built-in melanin sunscreen.
For this reason, all studies and all dermatologists now agree that there is nothing more important to slow down the signs of aging than protecting the skin from the sun.
It should be a lifelong effort to include sunscreen, sun-protective clothing, hats and sunglasses, and avoid direct sunlight during peak hours of 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Don't sunbathe if you want to stay wrinkle-free, even with sunscreens that offer broad-spectrum protection against both UVA and UVB rays. We now know that other wavelengths not covered by sunscreen, such as near infrared, also contribute to skin aging.
A cutting-edge anti-wrinkle diet tip that might surprise you: hot cocoa. After drinking a cup containing about two and a half teaspoons of natural cocoa powder, the subjects noticed a significant increase in blood flow to the skin within two hours
Women who ate a spinach salad daily showed a significant increase in collagen production, accompanied by an increase in skin elasticity and a reduction in facial wrinkles
In scientific tests, people who use tanning beds appear significantly older than those who do not use tanning beds, and those who sunbathe appear years older than they actually are, comparable to what is seen when smoking.
Green foods can help. Women who ate a spinach salad daily showed a significant increase in collagen production, accompanied by an increase in skin elasticity and a reduction in facial wrinkles.
This could be partly due to an “inside-out” sun protection effect, as less DNA damage was found with the same level of UV radiation. Yes, Produce Protection builds up your skin's natural protection against sun damage through diet, although it only reaches around SPF 4 (but it's constantly there while the sunscreen comes off or you forget to apply it). Kale, apple, and a combination of rosemary and grapefruit extracts have similar effects.
The other cutting-edge anti-wrinkle diet tip might surprise you: hot cocoa. After drinking a cup containing about two and a half teaspoons of natural cocoa powder, the subjects noticed a significant increase in blood flow to the skin within two hours.
Drinking it every day for 12 weeks improved skin thickness, density and moisture compared to a placebo, and after 24 weeks, one study found a significant improvement in skin elasticity and a reduction in wrinkle depth – just by adding less than one tablespoon of cocoa powder in your daily diet.
What is important is that it is natural cocoa and not the variety that has undergone so-called Dutch processing.
You can buy both types in UK supermarkets – but if the words “Dutched”, “alkaline processed cocoa” or “alkalized” appear on the label, it's the wrong variety.
FOODS THAT WORK AS GOOD AS HOT
If you want to manage menopause symptoms naturally, study after study shows that the best strategy is – you guessed it – eating more plants and less meat. However, foods rich in phytoestrogens such as flax seeds have a particularly beneficial effect.
In fact, just two teaspoons of ground flaxseed daily can significantly relieve menopausal symptoms. In a comparison trial between flaxseed and HRT (typically bioidentical estrogen plus a form of progesterone), the flaxseed reduced menopausal symptoms to about the same extent as the hormone pills.
Just two teaspoons of ground flaxseed daily can significantly relieve menopausal symptoms
The soy in the Japanese diet, foods like tofu and edamame may explain why there is no term for “hot flash” in the Japanese language and why only 15 percent of women suffer from it, compared to 80-85 percent of women who eat it a western diet
The effectiveness of soy has also been proven time and again in research. The soy in the Japanese diet, foods like tofu and edamame may explain why there is no term for “hot flash” in the Japanese language and why only 15 percent of women suffer from it, compared to 80-85 percent of women who eat it a western diet.
The equivalent of about two servings of soy foods per day has been found to reduce the frequency of hot flashes by about 20 percent and their severity by about 25 percent.
The bottom line, a panel of experts wrote, is that soy can be considered the first-line treatment for the symptoms of menopausal hot flashes and night sweats.
Fennel seeds may improve symptoms more generally, including psychological and sexual symptoms. This also applies to fenugreek. One and a half teaspoons a day can relieve early menopause symptoms. Be sure to add the leaves or seeds to homemade curries.
HEALTHY WEIGHT MEANS LONGER LIFE
Unfortunately, we can't blame our age for weight gain. Resting metabolic rate (the calories we burn to stay alive) remains stable from 20 to 60 and then only decreases by about ten calories per day per year. Not enough to make a difference.
But we should definitely try to keep this weight down. Obesity is associated with accelerated cellular aging throughout the body, presumably due to the oxidative stress and systemic inflammation associated with excess body fat. It's bad for our brains, our joints and our hearts.
In fact, obesity after age 40 can shorten life expectancy by up to six or seven years.
What about the good news? The riskiest fat – the visceral fat that shows up around our waist – is the easiest to lose. Our bodies seem to prefer to excrete it first, and losing just five to ten percent of body weight leads to significant improvements in blood sugar, blood pressure, cholesterol and inflammation. It really is life-extending.
Studies show a whole-food, plant-based diet works best, probably because healthier foods simply contain fewer calories
So what is the best diet for losing weight?
Studies show a whole-food, plant-based diet works best, probably because healthier foods simply contain fewer calories.
Research shows that people who follow a plant-based diet tend to consume about 600 fewer calories per day than people who follow a high-fat ketogenic diet. However, not all fat is created equal. A calorie from one source is not always as fattening as a calorie from another.
So if you ate the same amount of calories and fat but replaced meat and butter with nuts, avocados, and olive oil, you could lose nearly six pounds more fat in just one month.
Why this? One reason saturated fats may be fattening is that they may be stored immediately rather than burned. Can we eat to improve our muscle tone and make our time in the gym more productive? Yes! Popeye was right to eat spinach.
If he had added blueberries and garlic, he might have gotten even more muscular.
Eat fruits and vegetables to keep your hair young
Why do we turn gray? The pigment-producing cells that give our hair color are located in the hair follicle. However, as we age, they become weakened by free radicals – the unstable, potentially harmful molecules we produce in response to poor diet, stress and pollution. When they stop working, we start to go gray – although the hair is not actually gray or even white, but the pale yellow shade of the keratin protein that composes it.
Like polar bears, it looks white because of the way light reflects off it. Can we do something to slow down the process? White hair begins to turn gray at about 35 to 40 years of age, and since a single hair grows for about three and a half years before falling out and being replaced by another, we have a cycle of about ten hairs before it becomes pigmented cells hear off to work.
Try to eat a variety of fruits, vegetables, and herbs with each meal
It's best to maximize the antioxidants you consume to fight free radicals, and you can boost them with a plant-based diet. High-antioxidant fruits and vegetables include broccoli and blueberries (low-antioxidant ones include bananas and iceberg lettuce), but there's no need to pick out individual foods. Just try to eat a variety of fruits, vegetables, and herbs with each meal.
Eyelashes don't turn gray at the same time because they have their own supply of antioxidants. Try not to gain too much weight: Overweight people tend to gray early – probably because excess weight increases inflammation and oxidative stress, which damages follicles. And if you don't eat meat or dairy, take a vitamin B12 supplement.
Hair loss is another deeply undesirable consequence of aging, affecting at least 50 percent of women by age 50 and 40 percent of men by age 35. Hair loss is not caused by washing or brushing your hair too frequently.
Today, population studies have shown that eating raw vegetables and fresh herbs has a protective effect, as does frequent intake of soy milk. Weekly consumption of soy drinks was associated with a 62 percent lower risk of moderate to severe hair loss.
Adapted from How Not To Age by Michael Greger (Pan Macmillan, £22). © Michael Greger 2023. To order a copy for £19.80 (offer valid until 9 March 2024; free UK delivery on orders over £25), go to mailshop.co.uk/books or call 020 3176 2937 at.
Breathe in the scent of the trees to avoid colds
It's cold and flu season – and Covid hasn't gone away either. Maintaining your immune system in middle age and beyond will help you avoid days in bed feeling miserable during the winter.
Fortunately, there are proven and scientifically proven ways to do this.
A nice option is a walk through the forest. So-called “forest bathing” – surrounding yourself with trees – lowers the stress hormone cortisol and increases the activity of natural killer cells. Trees produce aromatic volatile compounds called phytoncides, which in nature you breathe into your lungs.
Ironically, they are part of the tree's own immune system, which we seem to be able to control. Researchers suspect that these compounds may contribute to low mortality rates from breast and prostate cancer in heavily forested regions of Japan.
Take a walk through a forest. So-called “forest bathing” – surrounding yourself with trees – lowers the stress hormone cortisol and increases the activity of natural killer cells
Sleep is also important. In a very direct demonstration, Mayo Clinic researchers dropped cold viruses into people's noses, and those who slept less than seven hours a night were three times more likely to get a cold than those who slept eight hours or more .
While infection rates were the same, the well-rested participants cleared the virus quickly and were less likely to develop symptoms.
Sprinkle a few blueberries – or goji berries, if you're feeling fancy – on your porridge every morning to boost the efficiency of your immune system. Goji berries have been shown to increase the antibody response to the flu vaccine, making it more effective, while blueberries can increase the number of these crucial killer cells.
Broccoli is another booster. A study that sounds like something out of a science fiction novel found that broccoli activates an “execution” enzyme that self-destructs to wipe out virus-infected cells and cancer cells.
The researchers concluded that cruciferous vegetables (such as broccoli) could be a “low-cost, low-risk intervention” for relieving the effects of a cold.
Seaweed works too. Nori, the sheets used to make sushi rolls, is probably the most accessible form. The nutrient density is hard to beat, they make a quick and easy snack and each leaf only has a single calorie.
Study participants who ate seven leaves per day experienced a significant increase in killer cell activity and fought colds more easily. A perfect excuse for some sushi to go!