PERFECT JOY, SUPPLEMENTS AND SARDINES

One of the books I read over the summer was a biography of Karen Blixen/Isak Dinesen, the Danish author best known for her memoir, Out of Africa.  She was more extraordinary as an older woman than as a younger women, blossoming in spite of the frequent pain that came from  syphilis (passed to her by her ex-husband, decades earlier).  At the age of 61 Blixen noted that there were three forms of ‘perfect joy’ in life:

• The ending of pain
• Feeling an excess of strength
• Feeling that one was fulfilling one’s destiny

These seem very prescient and wise words, reminding us that every moment without pain is worth celebrating and that a feeling of ‘destiny’ (which we typically call ‘purpose’ or ‘meaning’ at the Age-Well Project) and physical strength are vital elements in ageing well.

I’m also leaving you with a poem (scroll to the end) by the poet, Jane Kenyon, who wrote very beautifully about appreciating what we have – right now.  She wrote it shortly before she died of Leukaemia, aged 47.  I’ve returned to it many times over the summer for it’s simple and powerful message of gratitude and its lesson in how to revel in the everyday-ness of our own lives.

I’ve also had my nose in plenty of scientific papers. In particular I’ve been scrutinizing some of the new data on supplements. For a long time I didn’t take any supplements – numerous studies suggested that they had little or no effect other than on our pocket.  Doctors I’d met while researching our book, The Age-Well Project, pointed out that the data was conflicting and contradictory and that food was the best source of nutrients.

We still believe that food is the best source of nutrients.  But I now take a daily handful of vitamin pills. Why?  Because, seven years later, the data is starting to show a more nuanced picture. It appears that some supplements work for some conditions for some people – some of the time.

For instance, I take supplements that have been effective in studies of people with Inflammatory Bowel Disease, because that’s what I have. They may have no effect on anyone else, but in my auto-immune population they appear to nudge some people into remission and then help keep them there.  So it’s worth trawling through studies of whatever your condition is – and devising your own personal supplement plan or trying to get more of these particular nutrients into your diet.

The vitamins with more universal effects seem to be Vitamin D and a multi-vitamin  – perhaps because many of us are already deficient – so I take one of each. We’ve written about both here and here.

Over the summer, I looked more closely at some new Omega-3 studies.  Supplementing with Omega-3 has produced perhaps the most conflicting results of all, with some trials finding no benefits at all and others finding either small or medium effects for certain conditions, in certain people.

A reasonably convincing study published in the summer found that Omega-3 supplementation – alongside  key vitamins – can blunt low-grade inflammation in older adults, especially if they eat a less-than-ideal diet.  This study of 109 healthy older adults given supplements of folic acid, Omega-3s (500 mg of EPA and 500 mg of DHA), and vitamins B12 and D over 12 weeks found that their blood markers of all these nutrients increased (especially the Omega-3s), but – more importantly – their levels of inflammation fell.

The researchers at Examine.com – who pored over this study – noted that ‘the jump in omega-3 status hints that the fatty acids, not the vitamins, may be driving the change.’  As we age, we often experience chronic low-grade inflammation typically called inflammaging. Omega-3 supplementation or simply eating more oily fish might well help keep the almost-inevitable inflammaging at bay.  Walking 10,000 steps a day does the same thing: Prof Janet Lord discussed her research on step-count and inflammaging on the Zoe podcast where she explained that in people walking 10,000+ steps a day, inflammaging was eradicated. Keep walking!

Meanwhile another August study found that Omega-3 supplementation lead to improved cognition, with researchers concluding that ‘supplementation may lead to a modest improvement in cognitive function among adults.’

Both studies suggest – to me – that supplementation might be boosting diets that are deficient (or helping people with absorption issues) rather than adding any additional benefits.  We’ve long advocated eating oily fish (and we don’t mean farmed salmon – we’re big fans of sardines, anchovies, herrings and mackerel), as does Prof Michael Crawford, author of ‘The Shrinking Brain’, who believes our brains are shrinking because we don’t consume enough Omega-3s.  Prof Crawford is 95, razor-sharp and still working. His research suggests that lack of Omega-3 is reducing the size and capacity of our brains as well as damaging our mental health, leading to the epidemic of mental illness that we keep reading about.  You can hear him on the BBC Food Programme where you can also hear Rick Stein (yes, the fish chef) talking about an experiment he and his researcher brother carried out in a prison. And yes, an Omega-3 supplement proved beneficial to prisoners when compared to placebo.

Vitamin D supplements continue to perform well in studies, probably for the same reasons – our indoor lives make many of us sunlight-deficient. A large study, from Augusta University in the US, involving 1,031 people (average age 65) over five years, found that taking 2000 iu a day helped maintain telomeres – the tiny structures that act like plastic caps on shoelaces, protecting our DNA from damage every time cells divide. We wrote about telomeres in our book and here. Scientists have linked shorter telomeres to several diseases of ageing including cancer, heart disease and osteoarthritis. Incidentally, smoking, depression and stress appear to shorten telomeres.

Interestingly, Omega-3 had no effect on telomeres. Back to my point that some vitamins work on some things for some people.  So it’s Omega-3 for reducing inflammation (although this study was small) and Vitamin D for telomeres!

Creatine supplementation is also showing interesting results. I wrote about it first here, but in a recent study of 19 participants with Alzheimer’s, creatine supplementation improved cognitive function and increased brain creatine levels. Participants took 20 grams a day for eight weeks, with researchers noting ‘medium to large’ effects for: total cognition, mental flexibility and problem solving, working memory, concentration, attention and reading recognition.

Note: the creatine worked for people who already had Alzheimer’s. Back to my point – some vitamins work on some things for some people (possibly even only at some points in their lives).  None is a panacea.

Meanwhile an August meta analysis (that’s a study of studies, usually covering a very large number of participants) into garlic supplementation found that garlic powder tablets improved several heart disease risk factors, including high blood pressure and high (LDL) cholesterol. If you have a family history of heart disease, it might be worth flinging more garlic into your daily cooking or taking a supplement if you don’t like the stuff.

My point? Rather than throw down handfuls of supplements, do your research and look at what might work for you (and I include your future self here, so don’t forget bone health or any diseases you’re genetically predisposed to).

Take an inexpensive multi-vitamin to be on the safe side (I like Centrum 50+), a Vitamin D3 supplement if you can’t get out-in-the-sun every day, an Omega-3 supplement if you don’t eat oily fish at least once a week. Cook with olive oil (yet more studies appeared this year on the benefits of this liquid gold) and garlic.

For anyone, like me, with IBD, the following have had good results in studies: curcumin, B12, D3 and Omega-3s. I take them every day and have been in remission ever since.

For someone like Susan with a family history of dementia and the ApoE4 gene variant, the following have had good results in studies and Susan includes them in her own arsenal: Vitamin D3, Omega-3 (DHA and EPA), a methylated B vitamin and Magnesium L-Threonate.

There’s still time to get a ticket to my talk on the effects of landscape on our health and happiness at the Yorkshire Boots & Books Festival on September 23rd. I’ll also be leading an evening walk that night. Tickets here.

As promised, from supplements to joy: I leave you with the words of poet, Jane Kenyon.

Annabel

Otherwise

by Jane Kenyon

I got out of bed
on two strong legs.
It might have been
otherwise. I ate
cereal, sweet
milk, ripe, flawless
peach. It might
have been otherwise.
I took the dog uphill
to the birch wood.
All morning I did
the work I love.
At noon I lay down
with my mate. It might
have been otherwise.
We ate dinner together
at a table with silver
candlesticks. It might
have been otherwise.
I slept in a bed
in a room with paintings
on the walls, and
planned another day
just like this day.
But one day, I know,
it will be otherwise.