In the News

GQ quoted Valter Longo in an article on the healthiest time to eat dinner. “If you do have a bigger dinner, and you’re sleeping well, your cholesterol and blood pressure [are] fine, then you’re good,” Longo says. “But if you’re sleeping poorly, and you have [health] problems, maybe you should move to having a bigger breakfast, a bigger lunch and a smaller dinner, which usually seems to be the healthiest [pattern] of all.”

News-Medical featured a study led by Berenice Benayoun that investigated the mechanisms that govern male and female differences in cognitive resilience and decline to understand the influence of biological sex on aging.

Tech Explorist covered a study by Daniel Nation that explores the relationship between cerebrovascular reactivity (CVR) in the medial temporal lobe and memory function in older adults, particularly those with and without mild cognitive impairment (MCI). “We’re studying the ability of these very small vessels to respond to stimuli and to dilate, and they’re showing dysfunction in people who have memory problems. … It could implicate blood vessel dysfunction in a very early stage of memory loss. It happened whether or not people had Alzheimer ‘s-related brain changes. They still had this blood vessel problem if they had memory issues.”

Nature quoted Caleb Finch discussing a study about the effects of air pollution on the brain. Studies from his lab and others show that the genes that mediate inflammatory responses are switched on; messengers associated with inflammation become more abundant; there are signs of oxidative stress; and microglial cells that sense damage and protect neurons are activated. Every major class of brain cell is affected, says Finch.

Consumer Affairs quoted USC Leonard Davis alumnus and staff member Leon Watts on the benefits of walk-in bathtubs for older adults wishing to age in place.

Newsweek quoted Valter Longo on whether other former presidents will live as long as Jimmy Carter, who died at age 100, 43 years following the end of his presidency. “[The effect of] modern medicine will have only a limited effect and will be the same for all of them. The big difference will be the lifestyle choices they made in the past decades and the ones they will make in the future which could account for 15 to 20 years of biological age difference,” Longo said. “Also the heritability of making it to 100 is fairly high and the group is very small, so genetics and luck will also play big roles. Clinton for example made major improvements in lifestyle starting decades ago which have had and will have a major role in his chances to make it to 100. Those who stick to hamburgers and fries will need lots of luck and longevity genes to make it there.”

Science quoted Caleb Finch discussing a study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences which revealed that lead pollution from industrial-scale silver smelting during the Pax Romana likely contributed to cognitive decline in ancient Romans.

Jerusalem Post included comments from Eileen Crimmins in a story on a new study suggesting that humanity may be approaching the biological limit of human lifespan. Crimmins, who was not involved in the study, supported the study’s findings and emphasized concerning trends in the United States.

NBC San Diego quoted Valter Longo in a story on researchers’ approaches to healthy lifestyles. Longo has a “big dinner, fairly late at night, and that’s probably not ideal, but [it] makes my life much easier to have no lunch,” he said. It would “probably be better to have a big lunch and a smaller dinner. [But] that’s the way my life is set up.” Mirror (UK) also quoted Longo on diet choices and longevity.

Men’s Health Italia cited research by Valter Longo of USC Leonard Davis School which examines the connection between nutrients, fasting, genes, and longevity.