The ‘ever increasing’ life expectancy of men and women in the UK has come to a shuddering halt according to University College London expert Sir Michael Marmot.
Austerity measures got the blame, but I don’t think that’s so as analysis of the figures show that the decrease is down to the middle-classes. Now that is shocking; this after all is a demographic that is notoriously health-aware, a group that devours articles on diet, exercise and lifestyle. Worse is to come, the data show that deaths from dementia make up a significant portion of the decrease.
Alongside the above comes data that supports the age-related cognitive benefits of the Mediterranean diet and (trendily) the Nordic diet ( basically fish, berries and apples).
So what is going on?
I think it’s simple. Middle Class people over 60 tend to follow the advice from their Sunday Supplement style gurus and local GPs. This this means that they are: a) most likely to have reduced the fat and cholesterol in their diet, b) are most likely to take statin prophylactics to keep cholesterol down, c) most likely to take ‘precautionary’ medication for borderline ( usually systolic) hypertension and d) use sunscreen to block harmful UV rays.
This is to my way of thinking a ‘perfect storm’ of disastrous choices.
Good diets, by consensus, are very high in cholesterol or the progenitors of cholesterol: fish, olive oil and fungi topping the list. Good diets are high in fruit acids, citric (in citrus fruits) malic (apples) and both in tomatoes.
1)We need cholesterol for so many functions of our body but principally for electrical integrity in the nervous system and the mitochondrial energy generation systems. We need cholesterol to make Vitamin D, a well recognised vitamin important to nervous function, which is synthesised when its cholesterol-derived precursor is exposed to sunlight.
2) Citric acid and malic acid are well known stimulators of mitochondrial function.
3) Mild hypertension is an age-related adaptation needed to supply oxygen and nutrients ( see above) to the brain as the circulation system becomes more resistant to blood flow with time.
So here’s the deal. Let’s deprive the brain’s neurons and nerve fibres of their fatty raw materials, their mitochondrial energy stimulants and even oxygen … and do this deliberately by limiting them in the diet plus with the aid of chemicals such as statins, calcium channel blockers and sunscreen.
I’ve just read the UK pension age for the Generation Y has been raised to 68. I just hope they stay away from their GP!
