Wednesday, February 10, 2016

Apples and Tomatoes could be our saving grace!

Our population is getting older every day. People are living much longer than ever before. I remember in the 80’s Willard Scott would wish those who were turning 100 a happy birthday and usually that spot would last a few seconds, now there isn’t enough time to wish all who are turning 100 a happy birthday.
Seniors have started to go to gyms in droves because of the understanding that they want to slow their aging process down. Health insurance companies, such as Healthways, even pay for seniors, thru Silver Sneakers, to go and exercise and because of that 80 has become the new 60.
Now I read in a medical journal that there seems to have been a finding that could reverse the aging process in our muscles. As we get older our muscles and our strength seems to shrink. At University of Iowa scientist recently discovered a protein that is causes our muscles to get weaker as we get older. This protein is ATF4 which as we get older diminishes. In their research, using mice, they found that by adding apples and green tomatoes to their diets this ATF4 just didn’t slow the reduction process down, it reversed it. The Ursolic acid in the apples and the tomatidine found in green tomatoes regenerated the ATF4 in aged skeletal muscle. Their finding were published online Sept.3 in the Journal of Biological Chemistry.
According to this study, once these mice were given these foods in their diet, there was an increase of muscle mass by 10 percent but more importantly muscle quality or strength increased by 30 percent. I don’t believe the percentages, those could be made up, however if this study is valid, this could be an important step for the elderly and could actually lengthen the quality of many lives. Stay tune for more information on this study.

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