Study: It's never too late to improve your health and prevent illness

A new study by a NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center physician-scientist has an important message even for those later in life: It's not too late to improve your health through diet and exercise--even if you've had an unhealthy lifestyle in the past. The study was published in the November issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition and surveyed scientific literature and found that adults, 65 and older, can have significant health improvements with "simple and realistic lifestyle changes." It found that risk can be reduced for many diseases -- including obesity, cancer, cardiovascular disease and osteoporosis.

This news is particularly relevant to those individuals (perhaps the majority of Americans) who feel that it is futile to try and improve their health after a lifetime of neglect. While you do not to put off improving healthy habits this study shows that significant gains can be made even if you start late.

Specific findings included:

* Lowering high blood pressure or hypertension -- a major risk for cardiovascular disease -- through improved diet and exercise had more dramatic health benefits for the elderly than for any other age group. Control of hypertension could potentially prevent one-fifth of coronary heart disease cases in men, and 30 percent in women.

* Older adults who adhered to a low-calorie diet with regular exercise had lower rates of cancer. In one study, risk was reduced by nearly 50 percent.

* Benefits of weight training include increased ability to burn calories and prevention of osteoporosis.

* Calcium and vitamin D supplements for seniors helped slow rates of bone loss and reduce the number of bone fractures.

Source: Press release from NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center via EurekAlert