Death is Obsolete

Genes only count for 1/4 to 1/3 of longevity

“‘Genes account for one-fourth to one-third of longevity,’ estimated
Howard Friedman, a professor of psychology at the University of
California (Riverside) and the coauthor of The Longevity Project,
published this year. ‘That leaves well over half not accounted for.’

Most of the rest, for better or worse, is up to you. ‘The importance
of choices people make is in so many ways responsible for the quality
of life in old age,’ said Charles Reynolds III, a professor of
geriatric psychiatry, neurology, and neuroscience at the University of
Pittsburgh medical school. ‘Many people think they should be entitled
to a good-quality 25 years after age 60. Well, they’re not necessarily
entitled, but they can put the odds in their favor.’

One way – “the least speculative and the most obvious’ – is with exercise, according
to Simon Melov, a Buck Institute biochemist. ‘More activity is better
than no activity, and most people are not doing anything. They’re just
sitting there.’ Exercise, he said, reduces the risk of cardiovascular
disease and perhaps even a decline in cognition. One needn’t run a
marathon. Gardening, walking, swimming, woodworking – all of these are
more active than just sitting.”

Choline could help keep your brain sharp

Getting enough choline, a nutrient related to the B vitamins, may be important to keeping your brain sharp as you age.

Researchers at Tufts and other Boston-area universities analyzed data on nearly 1,400 participants, ages 36 to 83, in the long-running Framingham study. Participants completed dietary questionnaires and then took memory and cognitive tests and underwent MRI scans.

Those with high dietary choline intake did better on the tests and were less likely to show areas of “white-matter hypersensitivity” in the brain, possible signs of blood-vessel damage linked to dementia.

Scientists cautioned that the testing differences were small – not enough to notice in day-to-day activities – and that the results don’t prove that choline protects the brain. But people with lower choline intake were more likely to be on a “pathway” toward cognitive decline than those with more dietary choline.

Food sources of choline include egg yolks, chicken, milk, fish, peanut butter, potatoes, cauliflower, tomatoes, banana, oranges, some legumes, whole grains, sesame and flax seeds, along with the food additive lecithin. – American Journal of Clinical Nutrition

Gay marriage laws improve health of gay men

Gay men are able to lead healthier, less stress-filled lives when states offer legal protections to same-sex couples, according to a new study examining the effects of the legalization of same-sex marriage in Massachusetts. The study, “Effect of Same-Sex Marriage Laws on Health Care Use and Expenditures in Sexual Minority Men: A Quasi-Natural Experiment,” is online in the American Journal of Public Health.

“Our results suggest that removing these barriers improves the health of gay and bisexual men,” said Mark L. Hatzenbuehler, PhD, lead author of the study and a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health & Society Scholar at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health.

In the 12 months following the 2003 legalization of same-sex marriage in Massachusetts, gay and bisexual men had a significant decrease in medical care visits, mental health care visits, and mental health care costs, compared with the 12 months before the law change. This amounted to a 13-percent reduction in health care visits and a 14-percent reduction in health care costs. These health effects were similar for partnered and single gay men.

Among HIV-positive men, there was no reduction in HIV-related visits, suggesting that those in need of HIV/AIDS care continued to seek needed health care services.

For the study, researchers surveyed 1,211 patients from a large, community-based health clinic in Massachusetts that focuses on serving sexual minorities. Examining the clinic’s billing records in the wake of the approval of Massachusetts’ same-sex marriage law, researchers found a reduction in hypertension, depression, and adjustment disorders—all conditions associated with stress.

“These findings suggest that marriage equality may produce broad public health benefits by reducing the occurrence of stress-related health conditions in gay and bisexual men,” Dr. Hatzenbuehler said.

Previous studies have documented that excluding lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals from marriage has a stressful impact on this population. Dr. Hatzenbuehler’s study is the first study to examine whether same-sex marriage policies influence health care use and health care expenditures among sexual minorities. Lesbians were not included in the survey due to insufficient sample size among the patients who visit the clinic.

“This research makes important contributions to a growing body of evidence on the social, economic, and health benefits of marriage equality,” Dr. Hatzenbuehler said. The research findings presented here are those of the researcher and are not necessarily the views of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Gay marriage laws improve health of gay men