Welcome to the positive corner of the internet. Every weekday, we make sense of the confusing world of wellness by analyzing the headlines, simplifying the latest research, and offering quick tips designed to make you healthier in less than 5 minutes. If you were forwarded this message, you can get the free daily email here.
Today’s Health Upgrade
Number you won’t forget
A surprise ally in the fight against Alzheimer’s
Weekly wisdom
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When aging really hits
Arnold’s Podcast
Want more stories from Arnold? Every day, Arnold’s Pump Club Podcast opens with a story, perspective, and wisdom from Arnold that you won’t find in the newsletter. And, you’ll hear a recap of the day’s items. You can subscribe on Apple, Spotify, Google, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
Health
Number You Won’t Forget: 30 Percent
Think fiber is just about digestion and staying regular? Think again.
Research suggests that for every 10 grams of fiber you eat, you could reduce your risk of heart disease by up to 30 percent.
And that’s just the beginning of the many benefits of fiber. A review of 185 studies found that people who eat a higher-fiber diet are nearly 20 percent less likely to develop diabetes and more than 30 percent less likely to die of coronary heart disease.
Despite those percentages, only about 4 percent of men and 12 percent of women eat enough fiber daily. The average person consumes about 15 grams of fiber daily, and you want to aim for 30 to 35 grams each day.
If you need to add more fiber to your diet, here are a few good places to start:
Fruits: berries, avocados, pears, oranges, bananas, kiwi, mango
Vegetables: Broccoli, asparagus, artichokes, squash, kale, Brussels sprouts, mushrooms, carrots, edamame
Grains and legumes: lentils, nuts, seeds, oats, popcorn
Supplemental options: psyllium husk, acacia, inulin
Together With Momentous
Can Creatine Help The Fight Against Alzheimer's?
Can a workout supplement hold the key to combating Alzheimer's? New research might reshape how we approach cognitive health.
A recent study found creatine — the popular supplement for strength and muscle — might play an important role in the battle against Alzheimer’s.
The fight against Alzheimer’s has focused on preventing plaques (amyloid-β, in particular) from building up in the brain. One potential way is to improve “brain energy metabolism,” which slows down before getting Alzheimer’s and is apparent in people with the disease.
Creatine supplies energy to your brain cells, aiding their proper functioning. As Alzheimer's progresses, brain cells struggle with energy production, and this is where creatine steps in, offering a potential lifeline. Two studies on mice showed creatine could help overcome this energy dysfunction to help prevent plaque build-up.
We don’t usually focus on animal studies, and it’s too soon to know how this will work in humans (animal models don’t always carry over), but creatine might be worth it. As we’ve previously discussed, creatine is one of the most studied supplements, and the past decade has revealed many promising cognitive benefits, such as improving learning and memory and fighting against cognitive decline.
And that doesn’t even include the performance benefits for strength and muscle. It’s becoming increasingly likely that creatine is a great foundational supplement for almost anyone.
If you want to add it to your routine, research suggests taking at least five grams of creatine monohydrate per day (and up to 10 grams might have the most cognitive benefits). We recommend Momentous Creatine, which is NSF Certified for Sport. Act now and get 20 percent OFF your order as a member of the village when you use the code “PUMPCLUB.”
Weekly Wisdom
On Our Radar
When Aging Really Hits
Does it ever feel like you wake up one day and feel dramatically older? It might not be in your head because a new study found that aging isn’t gradual.
Scientists found that your body undergoes two dramatic shifts at age 44 and again at 60, where you see significant changes to your cellular health, muscle, metabolism, and heart.
The researchers analyzed participants between the ages of 25 and 75 and measured molecular changes. They found that 81 percent of the markers of aging follow a non-linear pattern, meaning that aging appears to accelerate at certain moments and be slower at others.
In particular, when you hit your 40s, molecules linked to alcohol, caffeine, and lipid metabolism all change, as does the health of skin and muscle and your risk for cardiovascular disease. Then, in your 60s, you see additional changes to your skin and muscle, cardiovascular disease, and changes to your immune system and carbohydrate metabolism.
While interesting, there were some significant limitations. When studying longevity, it helps to take a longer view of the data, but they didn’t follow any participants for longer than 7 years. And everyone was from one region, and they didn’t control for lifestyle factors such as exercise, diet, and environment.
The idea that aging accelerates at specific times could help shift how we study longevity and help us better understand how to reduce disease risk. By identifying critical periods where aging accelerates and pinpointing molecular markers of aging, scientists can develop more targeted interventions to promote healthy aging and prevent age-related diseases.
For now, more research is needed, but it doesn’t change that healthy habits — such as exercise, nutrition, and sleep — will protect against natural shifts that happen as we age.
And that’s it for this week! Thanks for being a part of the positive corner of the internet. We hope you have a fantastic weekend!
-Arnold, Adam, and Daniel
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Publisher: Arnold Schwarzenegger
Editors-in-chief: Adam Bornstein and Daniel Ketchell
