Death link to too much red meat

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7959128.stm

Red meat can be high in saturated fat

Scientists have produced new evidence suggesting eating lots of red and processed meat damages health.

They found big meat eaters had a raised risk of death from all causes over a 10-year period.

In contrast, a higher intake of white meat was associated with a slightly reduced risk of death over the same period.

The US study, featured in Archives of Internal Medicine, was based on more than 500,000 people.

The need is for a major reduction in total meat intake Dr Barry Popkin University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

The researchers, from The US National Cancer Institute, found those whose diet contained the highest proportion of red or processed meat had a higher overall risk of death, and specifically a higher risk of cancer and heart disease than those who ate the least.

People eating the most meat were eating about 160g of red or processed meat per day - approximately a 6oz steak.

Those who ate the least were only getting about 25g per day - approximately a small rasher of bacon.

Conversely, those who ate the highest proportion of white meat had a lower risk of overall death, and a lower risk of fatal cancer or heart disease than those who ate the lowest proportion.

The researchers calculated that 11% of deaths in men and 16% of deaths in women during the study period could have been prevented if people had decreased their red meat consumption to the level of those in the lowest intake group.

Cancer compounds

The researchers said cancer-causing compounds were formed during high-temperature cooking of meat.

No one's saying that people should avoid bacon or burgers completely, but evidence tells us that cutting down on these foods can reduce the risk of dying from cancer and other diseases Ed Yong Cancer Research UK

Meat is a major source of saturated fat, which has been associated with breast and colorectal cancer.

In addition, lower meat intake has been linked to a reduction in risk factors for heart disease, including lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels.

The latest study adds to a growing body of research linking high red and processed meat consumption to an increased risk of ill health.

Recent UK research found one in ten people has tried to cut down on processed meats, such as bacon, in the wake of previous reports linking them to cancer.

Writing in the same journal, Dr Barry Popkin of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, stressed there were health benefits to eating some red meat.

But he added:

"The need is for a major reduction in total meat intake, an even larger reduction in processed meat and other highly processed and salted animal source food products and a reduction in total saturated fat."

Dr Mark Wahlqvist, a nutrition expert from Australia's Monash University, said

eating small amounts of red meat - around 30g a day - provided a good source of key nutrients.

He said: "Fresh, lean red meat of these amounts is likely to be of more benefit than harm."

Ed Yong, of the charity Cancer Research UK, said two large studies had now linked eating lots of red or processed meat to some cancers.

"No one's saying that people should avoid bacon or burgers completely, but evidence from large studies like this tells us that cutting down on these foods can reduce the risk of dying from cancer and other diseases."

Mprize - Longevity and Rejuvenation research

home page:  http://www.mprize.org/
reposted from: http://mfoundation.org/index.php?pagename=mj_mprize_overview

The Mprize competition is designed to encourage and advance longevity and rejuvenation research, marshaling the widest array of resources and using the broadest spectrum of biological techniques available. In addition to  its direct effects on accelerating the development life extension therapies, the Mprize is designed to capture the imagination of the public, providing ever more powerful evidence that we can healthy lifespan: that biological aging aging is a tractable biomedical challenge.

The Mprize consists of two separate prize competitions:

1. The Longevity Prize, awarded for the oldest-ever Mus musculus;
2. The Rejuvenation Prize, awarded for the best-ever late-onset intervention.

In the competition for the Longevity Prize, money is awarded to the producer of the world’s oldest ever mouse. This is restricted to the species used in virtually all laboratory work, Mus musculus, but no other restrictions should be placed on the way in which the mouse's lifespan is extended, provided that the methods used maintain cognitive and physical wellbeing.

The Rejuvenation Prize rewards successful late-onset interventions performed on an aged mouse and has been instituted to satisfy two shortcomings of the Longevity Prize: first, it is of limited scientific value to focus on a single mouse (a statistical outlier); and second, it is very likely that interventions applied throughout life (as they are during Longevity Prize research) will always be ahead of those initiated late, and thus would have an ongoing advantage in a simple competition structure. Our most important end goal is not merely to extend life, but to promote the development of interventions that restore youthful physiology. By seeking interventions that are effective when initiated at a late age, this prize encourages scientific research that is most likely to benefit those reading these guidelines today.

Details

A fund exists to provide the money for the Longevity and Rejuvenation prizes. This fund is open to contributions from anyone; donors can contribute to either or both prizes as they see fit. In addition, donors of amounts exceeding US$25,000 can choose to make their donation up front or as a pledge.

Longevity Prize

The Longevity Prize is won whenever the world record lifespan for a mouse of the species most commonly used in scientific work, Mus musculus, is exceeded.

The amount won by a winner of the Longevity Prize is in proportion to the size of the fund at that time, but also in proportion to the margin by which the previous record is broken. The precise formula is:

Previous record: X days
New record: X+Y days
Longevity Prize fund contains: $Z at noon GMT on day of death of record-breaker
Winner receives: $Z x (Y/(X+Y))

Thus, hypothetically, if the new record is twice the previous one, the winner receives half the fund. If the new record is 10% more than the old one, the winner receives 1/11 of the fund, and so on. The fund can thus never be exhausted, and the incentive to break the new record remains intact indefinitely. This is very different from a structure that specifies a particular mouse age at which the whole fund is awarded. We believe this to be a very important difference: public attention will be best engaged and maintained by a steady stream of record-breaking events that demonstrate how scientists are taking progressively better control of the aging process.

The developers of a record-breaking intervention will receive prize money every week from the point at which their oldest living mouse beat the previous record. The amount paid each week will be calculated as though their mouse had just died, and the total amount won so far by a living record-breaker will be prominently displayed on the Mprize web site.

Rejuvenation Prize

1. The Rejuvenation Prize is not awarded for the life extension of an individual mouse but for a published, peer-reviewed study. The study must satisfy the following criteria:
   1. The treated and control groups must have consisted of at least 20 mice each.
   2. The intervention must have commenced at an age at least half of the eventual mean age at death of the longest-lived 10% of the control group.
   3. The treated mice must have been assessed for at least five different markers that change significantly with age in the controls, and there must be a statistically significant reversal in the trajectory of those five markers in the treated mice at some time after treatment began versus some time before it began. The experimenters select the comparison times, both before and after. It is acceptable for other markers to fail to show this reversal.
2. The record that the next winner must beat is the mean age at death of the longest-lived 10% of the treated group.

Conveniently, the Rejuvenation Prize does not require the same rigorous validation procedures as the Longevity Prize, because the age involved is defined to be that reported in the publication of the study.

The amount won by a successful new Rejuvenation Prize record is calculated in the same way as for the Longevity Prize, but is only awarded upon publication of the study in question. Just as for the Longevity Prize, if the new record – the mean age at death of the longest-lived 10% of the treated group - is twice the previous one, the winner receives half the fund. Or if the new record is 10% more than the old one, the winner receives 1/11 of the fund, etc.

Aubrey de Grey video TED talk: Why we age and how we can avoid it

Aubrey de Grey (wikipedia)

Georgina Street weight

BMI calculator for children here.

In October 2007 Georgina BMI was 17.8, placing the BMI-for-age at the 36th percentile for girls aged 13 years 0 months. This teen has a healthy weight.

Age: 13 years 0 months	Sex: Girl
Birth Date: October 10, 1994	Height: 4 feet 11 inch(es)
Date of Measurement: October 28, 2007	Weight: 88 pounds

17 March 2009 Today Information Entered

Age: 14 years 5 months			Sex: Girl
Birth Date: October 10, 1994			Height: 5 feet 3 inch(es)
Date of Measurement: March 17, 2009			Weight: 96 pounds

	Results
	Based on the height and weight entered, the BMI is 17.0 , placing the BMI-for-age at the 14th percentile for girls aged 14 years 5 months. This teen has a healthy weight. Conclusion Trend is downwards. Care! Check weight / height / G factorise - replot in 3 months.

reposted from: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16671-lifestyle-changes-could-cut-cancers-by-a-third.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=online-news

Lifestyle changes could cut cancers by a third

• 16:11 26 February 2009 by Linda Geddes
• For similar stories, visit the Cancer Topic Guide

More than a third of the most common cancers in developed countries could be prevented by healthy eating and exercise, says a report by the World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF). In developing countries like China and Brazil, it estimates that a quarter of common cancers are preventable.

These figures do not include smoking, which alone accounts for about a third of cancers.

The report, thought to be the most comprehensive ever published on the subject, follows the 2007 release of 10 recommendations on how to avoid cancer. These include avoiding processed meats - including bacon and some sausages - eating less than 6 grams of salt per day, maintaining a healthy weight, and exercising every day.

"People think that somehow cancer comes from heaven, or Darwin, or from their parent's genes, but that's not always the case," says Michael Marmot, chair of the WCRF panel that produced the report. "A third are caused by smoking, and approximately a third are related to diet and physical activity."

Alcohol risk

To calculate the proportion of preventable cancers, the panel examined the biggest and most reliable studies to date on each of the 10 risk factors, and came up with a relative risk of developing cancer for each one, which would be applicable to people not following the recommendations' advice.

They then estimated the proportion of people in the US, UK, China and Brazil that indulge in this kind of "risky" behaviour.

When they combined the values for the 12 most common cancers, they estimated that 39% of UK cancers are preventable, while 34% of US cancers, 30% of Brazilian cancers, and 27% of Chinese cancers could be avoided.

This means "that there are more actions that could be taken in the UK to reduce cancer than in the US, China or Brazil," says Martin Wiseman, medical and scientific adviser to the WCRF, who adds that consumption of alcohol is a key problem in the UK.

Although a glass or two of wine each day is good for the heart, "over that you get no additional benefit," says Marmot.

The report urges governments across the world to make it easier for people to lose weight and eat healthily, by increasing access to sports facilities and making it safer to cycle to work, and by reducing the cost of healthy foods so people are more inclined to buy them.

"Individuals decide for themselves what to eat, but let's make it easier for individuals and their families to make healthy decisions," says Marmot.

Ten ways to avoid cancer

1. Body fat: aim for a body mass index (BMI) of 21 to 23 and avoid weight gain during adulthood

2. Physical activity: aim for 30 to 60 minutes of moderate physical activity, like brisk walking, every day

3. Junk food: avoid sugary drinks and energy-dense fast food

4. Meat: eat no more than 500 grams of red meat per week and avoid processed meats

5. Alcohol: limit daily intake to one drink for women, two drinks for men. Do not binge drink

6. Fruit and vegetables: eat five portions of fruit and non-starchy vegetables each day and limit refined starchy food

7. Preservatives: avoid salt-preserved foods. Limit salt intake to 6 grams per day

8. Dietary supplements: to be avoided, except in special cases – such as folic acid during pregnancy

9. Breastfeeding: new mums should try to breastfeed for six months

10. Cancer survivors: seek professional nutritional advice