In my pre-pandemic life, I had the opportunity to take a few working vacations to Rancho La Puerta in Mexico.
In my pre-pandemic life, I had the opportunity to take a few working vacations to Rancho La Puerta in Mexico. During these visits, I get to teach health-minded guests about the relationship between dietary choices, gut health and inflammation, while getting to experience idyllic healthy living conditions: uninterrupted access to extensive daily physical activity; easy availability of a diverse, plant-based diet; and no internet access in my room to distract me from going to bed early. By the end of a week there, I feel physically strong and mentally sharp.
If these are the effects of a single week of full-circle healthy living, I find myself wondering, imagine the effect of such consistent adherence to these healthy habits year-round. Indeed, perhaps the most inspiring thing I observe during my visits to Mexico is the radiant vitality of the exercise class instructors employed there a number of whom are in their 50s and 60s, and a few of whom Im told may even be flirting with 70.
These long-time staff members display the strength, agility, rapid reflexes and endurance of fit people in their 20s. During my most recent stay, I was blown away by the explosive movements of a 60-something hip-hop dance instructor. I was also left in the dust by the complex choreography and rapid transitions of a different 60-something disco class instructor, reduced to rubble by the endurance of a barre teacher who I suspect had a good ten years on me and trailed far behind the spritely 50-something guide of a 4-mile mountainous hike I took at dawn.
I left with the sense that these instructors have simply decided that aging and age-related frailty is purely optional. And they had opted out.
[See: 14 Ways Alcohol Affects the Aging Process.]
What Is Age-Related Frailty?
In medical settings, frailty is typically defined by some combination of:
Muscle wasting and an associated loss of strength.
Reduced tolerance for physical exertion and feelings of excess tiredness/exhaustion.
Low levels of physical activity.
A slower pace of walking.
Unintended weight loss.
A decline in cognitive function.
Available data strongly suggest that higher levels of physical activity and fitness are protective against developing frailty, whereas more sedentary lifestyles and lower levels of fitness are associated with increased risk of frailty. But promising new research suggests there may be another, complementary way we can protect ourselves against frailty, and it has to do with our dietary choices and how they affect the gut microbiome.
The Gut Microbiom
The gut microbiome is a trillions-strong ecosystem of microorganisms inhabiting our digestive tracts. In large part, these organisms are nourished by the foods we eat, particularly complex carbohydrates like starches and fibers. When gut microbes metabolize some of the nutrients we eat, they produce byproducts. These byproducts are called metabolites. Collectively, we refer to them as the gut metabolome. Some of these metabolites seem to have a health-promoting effect for us as their hosts. Others can have an inflammatory effect.
Prior research has identified certain signature shifts in both the gut microbiome which critters we tend to harbor and the gut metabolome what types of metabolites they produce as people age. In large part, these shifts are attributed to a tendency to eat less-diverse, lower-fiber diets as we age whether due to loss of motivation for cooking diverse meals, dental problems that render chewing more difficult, institutional food served at long-term care facilities and other psychosocial factors.
[SEE: 4 Diet Changes That Are Better Than Botox.]
Effect of Less Diverse Diets
Less diverse diets nourish a less diverse cast of microbial characters, and the loss of beneficial bacterial species often opens up ecological niches for other species that can cause disease when not kept in check. Harboring higher levels of specific organisms such as Faecalibacterium prausnitzii for example has even been associated with reduced risk of developing frailty among the elderly. In contrast, harboring higher levels of other organisms has been associated with inflammation in general and increased risk of many chronic diseases.
A recent yearlong study, involving over 600 individuals aged 65-79 and published in the journal Gut, offers compelling evidence that older adults can modify the composition of their gut microbiome in a manner that may protect against frailty and chronic diseases that impair quality of life and increase risk of death simply by adhering closely to a Mediterranean diet.
A Mediterranean diet pattern is one rich in fiber from a variety of plant-based foods, including whole grains, beans/legumes, fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds. Its also rich in heart-healthy fats from foods like olive oil, fish, nuts and avocados. Conversely, the Mediterranean diet is low in saturated fats from meat, dairy and coconut oil. Its also very low in added sugar and refined carbohydrates, which are common in processed food.
The study included non-frail, older adults from five European countries who were split into an intervention group and a control group: The intervention group was given dietary advice on following a Mediterranean diet, whereas the control group followed their usual diet. Researchers took stool samples from them all at the start of the study, and then again after one year. They analyzed both the type and amounts of organisms they were harboring in their guts. They also profiled the types and levels of inflammatory and anti-inflammatory metabolites present in the participants stool.
After one year, researchers found that close adherence to the Mediterranean diet protected participants from loss of gut microbial diversity over time compared to people with less stringent adherence to the Mediterranean diet and the control group. Furthermore, beneficial bacterial species and metabolites became increased in the guts of hard-core Mediterranean dieters compared to their representation in the guts of those who didnt follow a Mediterranean diet closely or at all.
Mediterranean Diet and Health
The majority of these species have previously been associated with anti-inflammatory benefits, reduced risk of frailty, improved cognitive functioning and reduced risk of developing Type 2 diabetes and colon cancer. In parallel, the gut microbiomes of participants who adhered to stricter Mediterranean diets also experienced a reduction in the ranks of species and their metabolites whose presence is associated with a variety of inflammatory conditions, cardiovascular diseases and colorectal cancer.
Of note, a larger group of people participated in a different arm of this same yearlong study. Those results demonstrated that increased adherence to the Mediterranean diet was also associated with greater improvements in cognition and episodic memory after one year compared to people who did not follow this diet as closely or at all.
The researchers concluded that the gut microbiome is never too old to change for the better, and that age-related decline in gut microbiome diversity is both optional and reversible. Even among older adults, adopting and maintaining a Mediterranean dietary pattern can modify the gut microbiome in a manner that may promote not just more years to your life, but more life to your years!
More from U.S. News
Mediterranean Diet Snacks
Anti-inflammatory Diet: Foods to Eat and Avoid or at Least Limit
4 Foods Besides Brown Rice That Help Prevent or Manage Type 2 Diabetes
Gut Health, Aging and the Mediterranean Diet originally appeared on usnews.com
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Gut Health, Aging and the Mediterranean Diet - WTOP
