by Robert Gary

Created on: February 15, 2009   Last Updated: June 29, 2009

Clearly the best foods to fight ageing are the ones you share at meals with your over 90 year old parents or over 100 year old grandparents. Genetics determines when most people die and how fast they age. Specifically somatic genes called telomeres which are built in to our cells. There are also genetic propensities, and learned-from-parents behaviors, that have a huge impact on how long we can expect to live. Eating fatty foods, sugars, alcohol etc., with little exercise are things many of us learn from our parental ancestors. We see, we do, and we die at about the same age they did, and for the same reasons.

That said, here are some food ingredients that can make a difference. Docosahexanoic acid, which can be refined from fish oils, and which can be eaten in foods such as salmon or cod may be helpful in prolonging active brain function. Folic acid, which is a miracle vitamin, seems to protect against a vast array of bad things including breakdown of cells due to oxidation. Red wine contains resveratrol, which a very large study in Japan has confirmed may play a role in soaking up free radicals (O-two-minus) in the body. Finally, for the brain, there is a supplement called PS, (phosphatidylserine) which is a derivative of soy lecithin. My own experience with this material is that it makes me less absent minded, and I can think a bit faster.

Moving on from brain benefit foods to heart benefit foods. Aspirin is the main heart helper. It's not really a food, unless you want to chew a certain tree bark which contains it. But a little aspirin every day, before going to bed, gives your heart a better rest at night. Then to keep the fat off and the muscles toned, you may want to try conjugated linolenic acid, which you can get as a supplement, or which is also contained is safflower oil in high concentrations. One part of heart health is easy sleep and anger management. Both of these are helped by Kava Kava (root), which is a food in Hawai'i, and a beverage. Finally for the heart, red wine, in moderate amounts one to three small glasses per day. It's good to cook with wine. Sometimes you can even put it in the food! The resveratrol appears to be the active ingredient, but there are also other antioxidants. Skim milk, or 2% milk is much better for your heart than whole milk. It also lets the flavor of good coffee or good tea come through much better. Cholesterol is no joke. It build up over the course of a lifetime, and doesn't hurt at all until the moment it kills

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