Note from Connie: Naturally, we all know that we should eat quality foods, exercise regularly and keep our weight in check, because doing so means that we’ll not only live longer but live more healthfully.
Sure enough, a recent study from Children’s Hospital Boston revealed that a healthy lifestyle — including, of course, a sensible diet, physical activity and weight control — could help you live a longer life.
Karen James tells you about the study in the journal Science, which we learned about from a story on News-Medical.net.
The study, led by a Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) investigator in the Children’s Division of Endocrinology, Morris F. White, Ph.D., sought to understand the brain’s insulin-like signaling pathway. That pathway governs growth and metabolic processes in cells throughout
the body, according to the institute.
Because our bodies become less sensitive to insulin as we age, the
body must produce more to regulate blood sugar and to avoid the
development of type 2 diabetes, the News-Medical.net story explained.
But too much insulin to the brain can be harmful.
The scientists knew that while reducing insulin signaling in worms
and fruit flies increased longevity, reducing insulin signaling in
humans and rodents could cause diabetes. They began to speculate about
the effects of insulin reduction only in the brain.
To test their theory, they genetically engineered a group of mice to
have only half the amount of the a protein that carries the insulin
signal inside the cell in every cell of the body. Two groups of mice
had half that same protein, known as lrs2, or almost all of the protein
removed only from brain cells. There was a fourth control group.
All the engineered mice lived longer than the control group, with
the mice missing lrs2 only in their brains living almost six months (18
percent) longer than the control. And while those mice were overweight
and had elevated insulin levels, they were more active and youthful
than the control group.
Until a drug is developed that specifically targets insulin in the
brain, White recommends a healthy diet and exercise because both help
reduce insulin levels in the brain as well as eating smaller meals to
insulin levels down so less reaches the brain.
"This
study provides a new explanation of why it’s good to exercise and not
eat too much," White told News-Medical.net. "It has less to do with how
we look, and more to do with a healthy brain, especially in old age."
Connie writes extensively about insulin production and the virtues of smaller, more frequent meals in her book SUGAR SHOCK!
She notes, in particular, the beatings our bodies take each time we eat
the sugars and other refined carbs . In fact, all these carbs send our blood sugar and
insulin levels soaring, plummeting and soaring again. Since this roller
coaster ride may be connected to the development of pre-diabetes and,
if left uncontrolled, ultimately lead to full-fledged type 2 diabetes, we’re
happy to learn about yet another study that stresses the value of eating right, exercising and keeping our weight down to keep our insulin at steady, healthy levels.
Karen James for the SUGAR SHOCK! Blog