The key to ageing gracefully is simple – eat healthy. So make changes in your diet instead of going for Botox for wrinkle treatment, say experts.

Tanu Arora, Head Of Department – Clinical Nutrition and Dietetics, Aakash Healthcare Super Speciality Hospital, and Zodi, senior dietician, Indian Spinal Injuries Centre, have a few suggestions:

* Include certain foods in diet which are rich in vitamins like riboflavin, niacin and cyanocobalamin. Exclude poor quality of food which causes inflammation and ultimately affects skin.

* Hydrate the body so as to remove the toxins from the body.

* Skin collagen gets damaged when there is high consumption of sugar and processed carbohydrates, while foods like fruits and vegetables are good for skin.

* Deep fried food can add to inflammation. On the other hand, vegetables, fruits, whole grains, low fat dairy and lean protein can help fight inflammation.

* Lettuce, broccoli, spinach, tomato, watermelon, grapefruit, guava, salmon, chickpea, oatmeal and brown rice help in curbing inflammation.

* A long way to preventing wrinkles is to eat food items like carrots that are loaded with vitamins.

* Almonds and walnuts are rich in Vitamin E and help to fight skin problems.

* Green tea has powerful anti-oxidants to protect skin from damage.

* Yogurt has probiotics that nourish skin from inside and outside.

* Honey is hygroscopic in nature.

* All berries are healthy anti-oxidants. They kill radicals that are in bodies, damaging DNA and cells and causing premature ageing. Berries can fight damages caused by environmental pollutants and toxins.

* Turmeric acts as anti-oxidants.

* Alcohol should be avoided as it creates free radicals which damage cells and accelerates ageing.

Eating healthy can do wonders for your weight loss goals, hair and skin. But its benefits go beyond that. A recent research has found that eating a healthy diet can reduce the risk of hearing loss by 30%.

In the study, researchers from Brigham and Women’s Hospital examined the relation between three different diets and risk of developing hearing loss: The Alternate Mediterranean diet (AMED), Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH), and the Alternative Healthy Eating Index-2010 (AHEI-2010). They followed 70,966 women for 22 years and found that eating a healthy diet is associated with a lower risk of acquired hearing loss in women.

“Interestingly, we observed that those following an overall healthy diet had a lower risk of moderate or worse hearing loss,” said Sharon Curhan, first author of the study. “Eating well contributes to overall good health, and it may also be helpful in reducing the risk of hearing loss.”

In this longitudinal study, researchers collected detailed information on dietary intake every four years and found that women whose diets most closely resembled the AMED or DASH dietary patterns had an approximately 30% lower risk of moderate or worse hearing loss, compared with women whose diets resembled these dietary patterns the least.

Moreover, findings in a sub-cohort of over 33,000 women for whom detailed hearing-related information had been collected suggest that the magnitude of the reduced risk may be even greater than 30%, and may also pertain to the AHEI-2010. The AMED diet includes extra virgin olive oil, grains, legumes, vegetables, fruits, nuts, fish and moderate intake of alcohol. The DASH diet is high in fruits and vegetables and low-fat dairy, and low in sodium. The AHEI-2010 diet has common components with AMED and DASH.

Fitness, weight loss, dieting or a mix of these - can these help a person live a 100 years? Or at least have a reasonably long and healthy life? A study conducted among people over the age of 90 years in a few Italian villages showed they had certain traits in common, like stubbornness and resilience.

The study, published in International Psychogeriatrics, got the response of 29 villagers from Italy’s Cilento region on subjects such as migration, traumatic events and their beliefs.

But apart from these, there are lots of factors one needs to look into, to live a long life. Diet forms a very important part of the scheme.

With respect to diet, we spoke to a few experts and they gave us 4 dietary things we need to take note of:

Fat balance

“There are good and bad fats. We need a regular dose of good fats, also known as unsaturated fats, in order to burn more fat. These are natural energy capsules which help improve your energy levels,” said Dr Manoj Kutteri, wellness director at Atmantan, Pune.

If you are on a workout schedule, good fats pump more energy into your performance by increasing your endurance levels. To increase your consumption of good fats, have foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids including salmon, fish oil, olive oil and nuts.

More fresh food

The primary principle of living a healthier life is to eat fresh food. It will immediately reduce your body exposure to chemicals found in processed foods, some of which we are not even really aware of.

“By relying on a processed food diet, we risk our lives to chronic inflammation. In other words, we risk our immunity response, thus allowing inflammation, which increases the risk of diseases like cancer. So, you should eat fresh fruits and vegetables and drink plenty of water,” advises Dr Kutteri.

Fewer meals

Eating fewer meals promotes healthier ageing since it protects your body’s cells from any harmful effects or deterioration. It also reduces the risk of cancer, according to some medical studies.

“Eating less may not appeal to many people, but having fewer, smaller meals in a day might work perfectly by increasing the level of cell cycling and cellular repair mechanisms in your body. Through continuous cell recycling, nutrients are effectively fed and reused in your body, thus making for a healthier and longer life,” says Ramesh Gajria, founder of TranMe app.

Giving formula-fed infants a higher protein diet such as pureed meat can improve their early length growth, new research suggests. The findings, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, suggest that meat, such as pork, can be an important source of much-needed protein in an infant’s diet during the transition to solid foods. “Meat, such as pork, provides important micronutrients, is an excellent source of protein and can be an important complementary food for infants who are ready for solid foods,” said lead study author Minghua Tang, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at University of Colorado Denver-Anschutz, in the US.

“Our research suggests introducing higher amounts of protein and introducing meat, such as pork, into the diet at five months could be potentially beneficial for linear growth (length gain),” Tang said. In the study, a small group of healthy, formula-fed infants ate meat-based complementary foods, such as pureed ham and beef, or dairy-based complementary foods from ages five to 12 months old, increasing their protein intake from two grams of protein per kg each day before the study up to three grams per kg each day during the study period.

While the protein increased, both calories and fat intakes stayed the same between the meat and dairy groups, regardless of protein source. The researchers found the pureed meats promoted a greater rate of growth — with length of nearly one inch greater compared to the dairy-fed group at 12 months of age, with no increase in risk of being overweight at the completion of the seven-month study.

With the festive season on, most of us throw caution to the winds and indulge in all kinds of delicacies both sweet and savoury. But before you reach out for that tempting deep-fried, salt-laden plate of fries, be forewarned: a study has found that high salt intake is associated with increased risk of hypertension and heart failure.

How does it happen?
Senior cardiologist Dr Santosh Kumar Dora says, “Heart failure is when heart is unable to pump enough blood as per the need of the body. Sodium retains water, so high sodium in the blood will retain water and increase the blood volume. This puts stress on the heart and may lead to heart failure.”

What are the recommended levels of salt intake?
In patients who already are suffering from heart failure or those who have low pumping efficiency, increased salt intake puts the heart at a great risk say cardiologists. Dr Dora says, “In these cases the recommended salt intake is less than two to three gms per day. In patients who suffer from hypertension, the recommended salt intake is less than five gms per day.”

Our body needs sodium, it is a mineral that’s essential for life say doctors. It helps control our body’s fluid balance and also helps send nerve impulses and affects muscle function. Senior interventional cardiologist Dr Tilak Suvarna says, “While we do need some sodium in our diet to help regulate fluid in the body, the amount of salt we eat is far more than we require. It’s the excess of sodium that’s the problem in relation to blood pressure. When there's extra sodium in our bloodstream, it attracts water into our blood vessels, increasing the total amount of blood flowing inside our blood vessels, leading to increase in the blood pressure. There is very convincing evidence which has shown that regularly eating too much salt puts us at increased risk of developing high blood pressure. High blood pressure is the main cause of strokes and a major cause of heart attacks and heart failures, the most common causes of death and illness in the world.”

Foods that contain high sodium levels
In this age of fast living, most of us have packaged and or pre-prepared foods. What most do not know that about 77 per cent of the sodium we consume comes from there. Dr Suvarna says, “Since most of the sodium we eat, is in our food before we buy it, many people unfortunately don’t realise they are eating too much salt. Thus it makes it hard for people to limit how much sodium they are eating.” Nutritionists say that all kinds of processed and prepared foods contain high levels of sodium. Most packaged foods are high in sodium as it is used like a preservative. Avoiding excess sauces and seasonings can help say doctors. Pickles are also very rich in salt content. Apart from this, there are many foods that are actually swimming in salt but are not as obvious.

Here is a list…
Cottage cheese
Paneer or cottage cheese that is not homemade can have around 1,000 mg of sodium in one cup. And that is around 40 per cent of your entire day’s intake.

Cereal
It is touted to be a good breakfast but some packaged cereals are said to have 180 to 300 mg of sodium per serving.

Baked foods
Foods that are baked rely on sugar and sodium as a preservative. Some baked foods are known to have around 200 mg sodium

Soups
Most canned or restaurant soups have around 1,000 to 1,500 mg of sodium per bowl.

Burgers and hot dogs
Even the vegetarian versions of these foods are loaded with salt. The patties alone have around 500 mg of salt.

Hot chocolate and pancakes
If you are not have the homemade versions of hot chocolate drinks and pancakes, you might end up having around 1,500-200 mg of sodium. Avoiding ready-made mixes of these foods is a great idea.

Packaged raw chicken
Opting for packets of organic chicken will help because, chicken breasts sometimes have high-sodium flavouring solution injected in them.

Researchers say
According to a study, high salt intake is associated with a doubled risk of heart failure. The findings showed that people who consume more than 13.7 grams of salt daily may be at twice the higher risk of heart failure compared to those consuming less than 6.8 grams. The researchers said that this salt-related increase in heart failure risk was independent of blood pressure level — increased level of which is also a risk factor for cardiovascular diseases.