Page 75 - EatingWell Special Edition Superfoods 2019

A L I F E S T Y L E T H A T L A S T S

Sinclair believes that epigenetics may turn out body. Basically, these are atoms that have lost
to be a key way to prevent and reverse aging. He electrons that they need to remain stable, so they
estimates that life span is only 20% genetically bounce around, scavenging electrons from your
determined; the other 80% is epigenetic. “This cells and other tissues, weakening cell mem-
can be controlled by how we live our lives,” he branes and damaging DNA. If free-radical dam-
says. According to Sinclair, exercise, combined age outpaces your body’s ability to repair it, that

with eating the right foods, can have a major im- leads to “oxidative stress,” a condition that con-
pact on how healthy you are in your old age. tributes to aging skin and conditions like arthri-
tis, heart disease, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.
What Are Telomeres, and What Have Environmental toxins, air pollution, UV rays
They Got to Do with What You Eat? and many other external factors lead to oxida-
Telomeres are a bit like the plastic caps at the end tive stress as well.
of shoelaces—they sit on the end of your chro- Antioxidants are thought to neutralize over-

mosomes and help keep the DNA within them zealous free radicals by donating their own elec-
from being damaged. The passing of time natu- trons to the hungry little beasts. Our body makes
rally shortens those caps, says Elissa Epel, Ph.D., some of its own antioxidants, but the rest—things
director of the Aging, Metabolism and Emotion like vitamins C, E and beta carotene; selenium;
Center at the University of California, San Fran- co-enzyme Q10; and plant chemicals known as
cisco. But there’s evidence that telomeres may polyphenols and phyto-
be protected by what we eat. In a large study estrogens—we get from
published in the American Journal of Epidemiol- food, says Ansel. Perhaps Studies have
ogy in 2018, Epel and her colleagues found that unsurprisingly, famously linked blueberry

women who adhered most closely to four dif- healthy dietary patterns, intake, for
ferent high-quality diets—all generally high in like traditional Japanese, example,
plant proteins, fruits and vegetables and low in Mediterranean and other with better
sugar, salt and red meat—had longer telomeres. Blue Zone diets, are built cholesterol, lower
Another of Epel’s studies, this one published in on vegetables and whole blood pressure,
2013, linked longer telomere length with higher grains that are excellent and lower risk of

blood levels of omega-3 fatty acids like those from sources of antioxidants. heart disease.
fatty fish. Nutrition may influence the telomeres Vitamins that act as anti-
through multiple mechanisms, such as reducing oxidants—A, C and E—also
insulin resistance and calming inflammation in have key roles in keeping your skin healthy and
the body, she says. younger looking, says Ansel. “Vitamin A is crit-
Shorter telomeres are associated with an in- ical for overall skin health, while C helps pro-
creased risk of heart disease and many different duce collagen, the structural protein that keeps
cancers, from melanoma to kidney cancer. They skin strong, supple and reduces sagging,” she ex-
don’t necessarily cause aging or disease, but plains. “Vitamin E is the most abundant anti-

they act as a sort of throttle for how fast you’ll oxidant in your skin, helping to protect it from
get there, says Epel. You can be in the fast lane, the sun.”
headed toward illness and aging at a quicker pace, Another skin-friendly antioxidant: lycopene.
she says, or hang out in the slow lane and take “Tomatoes are our top source of lycopene, so I
your time. recommend eating them every day,” Ansel says.
“And they don’t need to be fresh either, since

The Antioxidant Answer to Aging cooking and processing breaks down lycopene
Breathing, breaking down calories into energy, to a form that makes it easier for the body to
walking down the street—these everyday actions absorb.” If you’re not a big fan of tomatoes, you
all create free radicals, volatile atoms that are can also find lycopene in pink grapefruit, guava
by-products of natural chemical processes in the and watermelon.

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