AoA March eNewsletter

The latest edition of the AoA eNewsletter is posted online. Below is the Table of Contents.  You can read the March eNews in its entirety by clicking on:  http://www.aoa.gov/AoARoot/Press_Room/Enews/index.aspx.

While you are there, please check out AoA’s new website (www.aoa.gov) – tell us what you think! After reviewing our website please scroll down to the Feedback Section at the bottom of the home page to leave your comments.

Table of Contents

AoA News

    Older Americans Month 2011 Materials Now Available
               
    Profile of Older Americans: 2010 Now Available
               
    AoA’s March Widget Highlights AoA’s Nutrition Program
               
    SMP Recent Events and Upcoming Activities
               
Other HHS News
   
    Webinar on Healthy Eating Advice:  The New Dietary Guidelines for
    Americans, 2010
               
    HHS and DOJ to Convene Fraud Prevention Summit in Detroit
               
    New Report Details Affordable Care Act Resources and Flexibility for
    States
               
    New NIH Cookbook Encourages Families to Eat Healthfully
               
    Medicare Part D Benefit Update
               
Funding Opportunity
   
    AoA and NIA Joint Initiative to Improve the Health and Well-Being of Older
    Americans by Translating Research into Practice
               
More News
   
    FinCEN Advisory Warns of Elder Financial Exploitation
   
    USCIS Expands Outreach to the Aging Network for Help in Dissemination of
    Information
               
    KCMU Release New Resources on Medicaid Long-Term Services and Supports
   
    Free Webinar to Help Nursing Homes Prepare to be Clinical Placement Sites
    for Nursing Students
               
    National Observances

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Conferences   

Scientists Demonstrate That Environmental Lithium Uptake Promotes Longevity

Professor Dr. Michael Ristow's team along with Japanese colleagues from universities in Oita and Hiroshima have demonstrated by two independent approaches that even a low concentration of lithium leads to an increased life expectancy in humans as well as in a model organism, the roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans. The research team presents its results in the online edition of the scientific publication European Journal of Nutrition which is now online.

Lithium is one of many nutritional trace elements and is ingested mainly through vegetables and drinking water. "The scientific community doesn't know much about the physiological function of lithium", project manager Ristow says. According to an earlier study from the US, highly concentrated lithium showed to be life-prolonging in C. elegans, the Professor of Nutrition in Jena continues. "The dosage that was analyzed back then, however, is clearly beyond the physiologically relevant range and may be poisonous for human beings", explains Ristow. To find out if lithium has a life-prolonging impact at much lower concentrations, the scientists then examined the impact of lithium in a concentration that is regularly found in ordinary tap water.

In a collaborative effort with Japanese colleagues, the Jena scientists analyzed the mortality rate in 18 adjacent Japanese municipalities in relation to the amount of lithium contained in tap water from the respective regions. "We found that the mortality rate was considerably lower in those municipalities with more lithium in the drinking water", Ristow explains the key finding. In a second experiment, the Jena scientists examined exactly this range of concentration in the model organism C. elegans. The result was confirmed: "The average longevity of the worms is higher after they have been treated with lithium at this dosage", Ristow says.

Even though the underlying mechanisms still needs to be clarified, the scientists assume that the higher longevity they observed in humans as well as in nematodes C. elegans can be induced by the trace element lithium.

Moreover, the scientists speculate about using low-dose lithium as a potential dietary supplement in the future. "From previous studies we know already that a higher uptake of lithium through drinking water is associated with an improvement of psychological well-being and with decreased suicide rates", Professor Ristow explains. While low-dose lithium uptake on the basis of the new data is clearly thought to be beneficial, more studies will be necessary to thoroughly recommend such a supplementation, the scientists conclude.

Original Publication:
Zarse K., Terao T., Tian J., Iwata N., Ishii N., Ristow M. Low-dose lithium uptake promotes longevity in humans and metazoans. Eur J Nutr 2011, DOI: 10.1007/s00394-011-0171-x

Source:
Ute Schoenfelder
Friedrich-Schiller-Universitaet Jena

Diet Guidelines Tweaked -- No Big Changes from MedPage Today

By John Gever, Senior Editor, MedPage Today

The federal government has issued the first update in five years of its "Dietary Guidelines for Americans" -- but despite broad recognition of the U.S. obesity crisis, the update left the major cornerstones of the guidelines largely intact.

The revision, a joint effort of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), was released today -- although it carries a 2010 date. USDA and HHS last updated the guidelines in 2005.
Full Article

QuickStats: Age-Adjusted Daily Kilocalorie Intake Among Adults Aged 20--74 Years, by Sex --- National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, United States, 1971--2008*

The figure above shows age-adjusted daily kilocalorie intake among adults aged 20-74 years, by sex, in the United States, during 1971-2008. The average daily kilocalorie intake for men increased from the period 1971-1974 to 1988-1994 and then leveled off through 2007-2008. For women, the average daily kilocalorie intake increased from the period 1971-1974 to 1999-2000 and remained relatively stable through 2007-2008. Throughout the period 1971-1974 through 2007-2008, men consumed more kilocalorie on a daily basis than women. 

Fish May Explain Notches in Stroke Belt

By Todd Neale, Staff Writer, MedPage Today

Differences in fish consumption may help explain the existence of the so-called Stroke Belt covering eight states in the southeastern U.S., a cross-sectional study showed.

Residents of those states ate fewer servings of fish overall (2.01 versus a national average of 2.11 per week), and when they do consume fish, it is most often fried (0.68 servings of fried fish versus 0.62 servings nationwide per week), Fadi Nahab, MD, of Emory University in Atlanta, and colleagues reported online ahead of the Jan. 11 print issue of Neurology.

Living in the Stroke Belt -- which includes North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Arkansas, and Louisiana -- was independently associated with eating less than the recommended minimum of two servings of nonfried fish per week, even after adjustment for potential confounders (OR 1.32, 95% CI 1.17 to 1.50).
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ADA Encourages Less-Restrictive Diet Options for Older Adults in Health Care Communities

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by John Davy on October 7, 2010

“Food nourishes the spirit as well as the body.” That might sound like something you’d hear from your favorite, and not quite diet-friendly, restaurant, but it’s actually part of a paired Practice Paper/Position Paper from the American Dietetic Association (Dorner et al 2010b). While the ADA is perhaps more commonly thought of as the agency who tells us things we don’t want to hear about our favorite foods, the newly-released companion papers emphasize the importance of providing older adults with food options that fit their desires, tastes, and rights.

The papers present this new emphasis on enjoyable foods in a culture change/person-centered care framework. (See our previous post on the topic.) The position paper states that “[c]are for individuals who reside in health care communities must meet two goals: maintain health and preserve quality of life,” and that while these two goals can conflict, food must also “enhance quality of life” (Dorner et al 2010a). Person-centered care, the paper argues, has reminded us that individual dignity, autonomy and choice should guide caregiving.

Such reminders, however, often sound like obvious platitudes without any clear means of implementation. Fortunately, the position paper also presents more specific arguments for tasty food. It reminds us that, due to changes in health and sensory ability, food can be less appetizing as we age. For individuals in care facility, the very desire to eat is often a victory. As most of us have experienced, diet foods restrict our range of food choices and our food pleasure. Citing a literature review on the high rate of malnutrition and undernutrition in older adults, the paper stresses weight maintenance as a pragmatic measure of adequate nutrition, and states that restrictive diets tend to lower food intake, while “more liberal diets are associated with increased food and beverage intake.”

Full Article

Age-Related Memory Deficits Reduced By Compound In Celery, Peppers

A diet rich in the plant compound luteolin reduces age-related inflammation in the brain and related memory deficits by directly inhibiting the release of inflammatory molecules in the brain, researchers report.

Luteolin (LOOT-ee-oh-lin) is found in many plants, including carrots, peppers, celery, olive oil, peppermint, rosemary and chamomile.

The new study, which examined the effects of dietary luteolin in a mouse model of aging, appears in the Journal of Nutrition.

The researchers focused on microglial cells, specialized immune cells that reside in the brain and spinal cord. Infections stimulate microglia to produce signaling molecules, called cytokines, which spur a cascade of chemical changes in the brain. Some of these signaling molecules, the inflammatory cytokines, induce "sickness behavior": the sleepiness, loss of appetite, memory deficits and depressive behaviors that often accompany illness.

Inflammation in the brain also appears to be a key contributor to age-related memory problems, said University of Illinois animal sciences professor Rodney Johnson, who led the new study. Johnson directs the Division of Nutritional Sciences at Illinois.

"We found previously that during normal aging, microglial cells become dysregulated and begin producing excessive levels of inflammatory cytokines," he said.

"We think this contributes to cognitive aging and is a predisposing factor for the development of neurodegenerative diseases."

Johnson has spent nearly a decade studying the anti-inflammatory properties of nutrients and various bioactive plant compounds, including luteolin. Previous studies - by Johnson's lab and others - have shown that luteolin has anti-inflammatory effects in the body. This is the first study to suggest, however, that luteolin improves cognitive health by acting directly on the microglial cells to reduce their production of inflammatory cytokines in the brain.

The researchers showed that microglial cells that were exposed to a bacterial toxin produced inflammatory cytokines that could kill neurons. When the microglia were exposed to luteolin before they encountered the toxin, however, the neurons lived.

The National Institutes of Health provided funding to support this research.

Source: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Full Article

Let's Kick It Off! - Residents' Rights Week

This year's theme aims to educate people about Residents' Rights and improved dining experiences for residents by highlighting residents' concerns and comments on this issue. Residents were encouraged to think about and respond to the following questions:

• 
  
  How can dining services be improved to make your meals more enjoyable?
• 
  
  What makes your meals and dining experience positive?
• 
  
  What is your favorite recipe? Why is it special to you?

Ms. Carolyn Higginbotham, a resident of the Milton Home in South Bend, Indiana, submitted two wonderful recipes for our Residents' Rights Week cookbook (learn more about purchasing the cookbook below). Carolyn also shared that her facility has recently improved meals by adding a salad bar to the regular menu. She says residents can also order al carte and that "this makes the meals and dining much more pleasant." Carolyn also shared that her favorite recipe is homemade noodles served over dressing and mashed potatoes.
More Information

 

 

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AoA Nutrition Services Deliver Healthy Meals to Older Adults

Older adults have distinct nutritional needs and the lack of a good diet can lead to and worsen health problems, such osteoporosis, high blood pressure and heart disease.

For these reasons, nutrition services are a critical component of AoA programs. These services promote the health and well-being of older individuals by delivering nutritious meals to older adults that are in greatest need. AoA nutrition services include congregate nutrition services and home-delivered nutrition services. Congregate meal services ensure that healthy meals are prepared and distributed to older individuals in congregate facilities, such as, senior centers. Volunteers also deliver healthy meals to older individuals in their homes.

Services are targeted to individuals in greatest need and special consideration is given to low income individuals, minority individuals, those in rural communities, those with limited English proficiency and those at risk of institutional care.

The following data for FY2008 highlight the impact of nutrition services:

• AoA Home-Delivered Nutrition Services provided 146.4 million meals to 909,913 seniors and
• AoA Congregate Nutrition Services provided over 94.2 million meals to more than 1.6 million older adults living in community settings.

Resources
To learn more about AoA nutrition services, visit the Nutrition Services section.

To learn more about the nutritional needs of older adults, check http://www.Nutrition.gov.

An Alternative to the Feeding Tube - The New Old Age Blog - NYTimes.com

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The Times reports today on a new option in palliative care called “comfort feeding only.”

At issue: Feeding tubes do not necessarily prolong life in patients with advanced dementia, and surveys indicate that a vast majority of nursing home residents say they would rather die than live with a feeding tube.

But medical orders like “no artificial hydration and nutrition” — used to indicate that the patient should not be given a feeding tube — are often interpreted as “do not feed.” And few people can tolerate the idea that a loved one may be starving to death.

Comfort feeding offers another alternative.

“Just imagine someone interacting with the patient, talking to them, cueing them into eating,” said Dr. Joan Teno, a professor of community health at Brown University’s medical school, “as opposed to someone walking to the bedside and pouring a bottle of Ensure down the feeding tube.”

Read the full article

More B Vitamins May Cut Risk of Elderly Depression from MedPage Today

By Kristina Fiore, Staff Writer, MedPage Today

Higher intakes of two B vitamins -- but not folate -- may help ward off depression among older people, particularly if they take supplements, according to a large population study.

The prospective study, which followed more than 3,000 people ages 65 and older, found that higher intakes of vitamins B-12 and B-6 were both associated with a slightly reduced risk of depression (P=0.01 and P=0.05, respectively) for up to 12 years of follow-up, reported Kimberly A. Skarupski, MD, of Rush University in Chicago, and colleagues.


"In the assessment and treatment of depressive symptoms in older adults, clinicians and other healthcare professionals should be mindful of the patient's nutritional status in general, and whether there are vitamin insufficiencies in these nutrients before treatment," they wrote in the August issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Recent data show that 6% of older people are deficient in vitamin B-12, and 20% may have marginal depletion, according to background information supplied by the authors. Vitamin B insufficiency among individuals over 65 can be caused by reduced absorption and by medical conditions.
The prevalence of depression in later life ranges from 7% to 49%, they further noted. Depression among older people is associated with adverse health outcomes (including risk of mortality) and increased health costs.

While B-vitamin deficiencies have been associated with depression, there's little prospective evidence on this association in population-based studies of older adults, the researchers added.
The researchers analyzed data from 3,503 participants in the ongoing Chicago Health and Aging Project. The average age of the study cohort was 73.5; 59% were African American, and 59% were female. One-third reported being widowed.

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Fructose Linked to High Blood Pressure from MedPage Today

By Todd Neale, Staff Writer, MedPage Today

People who consume the amount of fructose found in two-and-a-half regular soft drinks a day appear to have a higher risk of hypertension, a cross-sectional study showed.

Consumption of at least 74 grams per day was associated with 26% to 77% greater odds of crossing various thresholds of elevated blood pressure (P<0.05 for all), compared with lower levels of consumption, according to Diana Jalal, MD, of the University of Colorado Denver, and colleagues.

"Limiting fructose intake is readily feasible, and, in light of our results, prospective studies are needed to assess whether decreased intake of fructose from added sugars will reduce the incidence of hypertension and the burden of cardiovascular disease in the U.S. adult population," they wrote online in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.

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The Longevity Prescription - New Book by Robert Butler, MD

In The Longevity Prescription, The 8 Proven Keys to a Long, Healthy Life, ILC-CEO Dr. Robert Butler outlines eight essential facets of longevity: exercise, nutrition, mental vitality, sleep, relaxation, love and intimacy, community connections, and medical care. Based on proven discoveries, the strategies in each of these areas stretch the proceeds of the "three­decade dividend" while delaying or eliminating chronic illness. In The Longevity Prescription, readers will learn:

• why honing a center of balance is essential to physical health
• how to watch out for food additives and their damaging effects
• why it's important to establish a bedtime routine
• how starting a second career in retirement can be key to self- contentment, and more

With step-by-step guidance for formulating an action plan and adopting new habits and strategies, The Longevity Prescription also guides readers through special challenges, suchas diabetes and cancer. Emphasizing clear-cut research findings that balance physical health with emotional well­being, Butler and his colleagues offer a definitive path to whole-life happiness.

All author royalties will go to the International Longevity Center-USA

Sodium Intake Among Adults --- United States, 2005−2006 CDC

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In the United States, an estimated 77% of dietary sodium intake comes from processed and restaurant foods and approximately 10% comes from table salt and cooking (9). In this study, the majority of sodium came from the food categories from which the most calories were consumed, foods that might not taste salty. Grains contributed the largest amount of sodium and calories, followed by meats. Grains included foods that were highly processed and high in sodium (e.g., grain-based frozen meals and soups) and foods eaten frequently, such as breads. Intake of sodium from meats was higher than might be expected, likely because the category includes lunch meats and sausages. In contrast, fresh fruits and vegetables inherently contain little sodium. However, vegetables were the third largest contributor, partly because the vegetable category contained vegetable-based soups and sauces, white potatoes (including potato chips, fries, and salads), and canned vegetables. An analysis of persons aged ≥2 years that used the same data set but a more detailed categorization found similar results: yeast breads, chicken and mixed chicken dinners, pizza, pasta dishes, and cold cuts were the top five contributors of sodium (5). In the current study, total caloric intake appeared to account for most of the differences in sodium intake; overall sodium density for the ≤1,500 mg/day and the <2,300 mg/day groups did not differ, although small but significant differences were found in a couple of subcategories (i.e., grain mixtures and breads).

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Higher HDL Might Lower Cancer Risk

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By Crystal Phend, Senior Staff Writer, MedPage Today

Break out the niacin! Higher HDL cholesterol levels appear independently linked to lower cancer risk, a meta-analysis found.

The analysis of two dozen randomized, controlled lipid intervention trials found that each 10-mg/dl higher increment of HDL cholesterol was associated with a relative 36% lower risk of incident cancer (95% confidence interval 24% to 47%, P<0.001), according to Richard H. Karas, MD, PhD, of Tufts Medical Center in Boston, and colleagues.

This relationship persisted even after adjusting for baseline LDL cholesterol, age, body mass index (BMI), diabetes, sex, and smoking status, Karas and colleagues reported in the June 22 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

Epidemiologic studies have suggested higher risk of incident cancer with lower total cholesterol levels, and a meta-analysis of statin trials by Kara's group showed the same is true for LDL cholesterol levels.

The researchers were quick to note that these association studies cannot prove cause and effect, although HDL may have anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties that could potentially fight cancer.

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Zinc Linked to Prostate Cancer Survival from MedPage Today

By Ed Susman, Contributing Writer, MedPage Today

Men diagnosed with early stage prostate cancer have an increased chance of surviving the disease if they have eaten a diet rich in zinc, researchers said here at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research.

"Those men with high zinc intake were 74% less likely to die of prostate cancer than those with the lowest zinc intake," Mara S. Meyer, MS, a doctoral candidate at the Harvard School of Public Health, said during a poster presentation (95% CI 0.10 to 0.68, P=0.005).

Researchers also reported a trend indicating that men who consumed high levels of marine omega-3 docosahexaenoic acid were 30% less likely to die of prostate cancer than men who consumed the lowest levels of the fatty acids (95% CI 0.47 to 1.03, P=0.26).
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DOMESTIC FOOD ASSISTANCE Complex System Benefits Millions, but Additional Efforts Could Address Potential Inefficiency and Overlap among Smaller Programs

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Why GAO Did This Study

The federal government spends billions of dollars every year on domestic food assistance programs. The U.S. Department of Agriculture administers most of these programs and monitors the prevalence of food insecurity—that is, the percentage of U.S. households that were unable to afford enough food sometime during the year. Other federal agencies also fund food assistance programs; however, comprehensive and consolidated information on the multiple programs is not readily available. Congress asked GAO to examine: 1) the prevalence of food insecurity in the United States, 2) spending on food assistance programs, 3) what is known about the effectiveness of these programs in meeting program goals, and 4) the implications of providing food assistance through multiple programs and agencies. GAO’s steps included analyzing food security and program spending data, analyzing studies on program effectiveness, analyzing relevant federal laws and regulations, conducting site visits, and interviewing relevant experts and officials.

What GAO Recommends

We recommend that the Secretary of Agriculture identify and develop methods for addressing potential inefficiencies and reducing unnecessary overlap among smaller programs while ensuring access to the programs for those who are eligible. USDA agreed to consider the value of examining potential inefficiencies and overlap among smaller programs.
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USDA Announces Grants to Expand Nutrition Help for Low-Income Seniors

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The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) will invest in pilot projects to increase access and participation in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly the Food Stamp Program, among low-income seniors. Award grants, totaling approximately $8 million, will allow State agencies to pursue innovative outreach and delivery pilot projects. Interested State agencies may obtain grant applications at http://www.grants.gov or http://www.fns.usda.gov/snap

USDA's Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) is encouraging State agencies to submit grant applications for programs designed to boost SNAP participation among Medicare's Extra Help population. Extra Help, also called Low Income Subsidy, is a program to help low-income individuals or couples with limited resources pay for their Medicare prescription drug plan costs. Under a new law, data from these applications is sent to State Medicaid agencies to enroll people in Medicare Savings Programs. FNS will provide funding to encourage the Extra Help population to participate in SNAP by using State Medicaid agency data from Medicare Savings Programs. FNS invites State agencies to submit applications that will implement outreach efforts, simplify eligibility, or standardize benefits for this population.

The deadline to submit grant proposal applications is June 30, 2010.

What's Good for the Heart May Be Good for the Brain -from MedPage Today

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By Todd Neale, Staff Writer, MedPage Today

A diet rich in fruits and vegetables as well as omega-3 fatty acids may reduce the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease, researchers found.

Analysis of data from more than 2,000 dementia-free adults ages 65 and older revealed that persons who consumed a Mediterranean-type diet regularly were 38% less likely to develop Alzheimer's disease over about a four-year follow-up (HR 0.62, 95% CI 0.43 to 0.89), according to Nikolaos Scarmeas, MD, of Columbia University in New York City, and colleagues.

The findings were published online in Archives of Neurology.

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High Fat Intake Ups Stroke Risk in Older Women - in Meeting Coverage, ASA from MedPage Today

By Todd Neale, Staff Writer, MedPage Today

Postmenopausal women who eat the most fat have an elevated risk of ischemic stroke, researchers found.

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