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Get Lean Diet for Men March 23, 2015, last updated June 18, 2016 By Joseph Strongoli, Contributing Columnist Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus, right? The differences between the genders are large enough and numerous enough to make such a statement sometimes seem less than hyperbole. While men may enjoy certain physical ‘advantages’ over women, such as generally being taller, stronger, and faster, one thing is for sure: it doesn’t help them in the long run. Women on average live far longer than men. The tortoise beats the hare every time. According to the National Institute on Aging, women live longer than men worldwide, by as much as 10 years in some places. In the U.S. the average life expectancy at birth for women is 79 years, and 72 for men. The maximum recorded lifespan in 2010 was 123 years for females, and 116 for males. This alarming statistic is reflected by the discrepancy in the elderly: among centenarians (people who are at least 100 years of age )worldwide, women outnumber men 9 to 1! Why Do Women Live Longer? Lifespan is the length of life of an organism. It is a straightforward measurement in aging research: its easy to measure, because either you’re alive or you’re dead. Age researchers typically study three factors that are key in determining an organism’s lifespan: genes, environment, and behavior (like risk averse vs. aggressive behavior, and diet). There are a number of theories postulating the reason for why women are built for the long run, and men are not. One of the first such studies was published by Dr. I. Waldron in 1976 in the Journal of Human Stress, in an attempt to explain the 60 percent higher mortality rate of males over females in the US at the time. Dr. Waldron concluded that 40 percent of this sex differential in mortality was due to a twofold elevation of arteriosclerotic heart disease among men, due to greater cigarette smoking among men, and a greater prevalence of the competitive, aggressive Coronary Prone Behavior Pattern among men, also known as Type A personality syndrome. In addition, Dr. Waldron noted that the higher prevalence of smoking in men led to higher rates of lung cancer and emphysema, and that other major causes of men’s higher death rates included accidents, suicide, and cirrhosis of the liver. Dr. Waldron concluded that “each of these is related to behaviors which are encouraged or accepted more in men than in women in our society—for example, using guns, being adventurous and acting unafraid, working at hazardous jobs and drinking alcohol. To reduce male mortality, we must change the social conditions which foster in men the behaviors that elevate their mortality.” Is Behavior the Only Reason Men Die Sooner? So the first attempt at explaining the gap between gender lifespans pegged behavior as the culprit: typical male behavior led to higher mortality, and the aggressive hare lost out to the slow but steady tortoise once again. However, in the years since we have seen that behavior is not the whole story. In fact, as the stereotypical, traditional gender roles in society become ever more blurred, blended, and intermixed, we have seen a decrease in the gap between male and female lifespans; as women smoke, drink, work, and behave more and more like men, their advantage in longevity diminishes more and more. Dr. Les Mayhew, a statistician at the City University in London notes that male behavior is also changing: “The shift away from the macho lifestyles towards the healthier approach more favored by women is bringing with it the gift of longer life.” Dr. Mayhew notes that because fewer men smoke, lung cancer rates have plummeted. So male and female behavior is meeting somewhere in the middle, and leveling out. But the decrease in the longevity discrepancy is not total, and this would seem to indicate that while behavioral traits do indeed play a role in determining lifespan, they are not the only players at work here. This is borne out in subsequent studies. A 2010 study at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute by Dr. Mikhail Blagosklonny emphasized a combination of evolutionary, environmental and behavioral factors in the higher incidence of younger male fatalities. He concludes that “young men are often engaged in competitive, reckless, and dangerous activities. Therefore, even in modern society, the accidental death rate is high in young men.” Moreover it is this type of behavior, combined with societal and environmental factors over generations that has contributed to an evolutionary disadvantage for men: “Historically, the accidental death rate in men was much higher even than it is now, due to a fierce competition for status and mates, and due to fights and wars. And, according to evolutionary theory, a high accidental death rate determines fast aging: if most men died young from accidental death, then they could not live long enough to experience aging. Then there was no natural selection to postpone aging. So accelerated aging in men is predictable from an evolutionary perspective.” The Role of the Mysterious mTOR Pathway in Men's Early Death Dr. Blagosklonny further illuminates the picture with a mechanical reason for accelerated aging in males. He cites the male "mTOR pathway", an intracellular signaling pathway that stimulates cellular growth, protein synthesis, and muscle growth. In males, muscle hypertrophy (over-growth) and a heavy body help to compete with other males, and in fact, men are generally larger than women, thanks to the over-stimulation of their mTOR pathway and the production of higher testosterone levels. But this over-growth in muscle mass comes at a cost. In fact, aging is a continuation of growth, both of which are driven by the mTOR pathway. In agreement, mTOR is involved in age-related diseases such as atherosclerosis, hypertension, heart failure, osteoporosis, type II diabetes, neurodegeneration, and cancer. Thus, over-activation of mTOR may provide advantages for males (such as muscle hypertrophy, high levels of testosterone, and high spermatogenesis) in early life, but at the cost of accelerated aging later in life. Think of it in the following analogy: the male burns like the firecracker; perhaps brighter, in terms of physicality, but ultimately the cost of this volatility is burning out quicker. Women, on the other hand, burn slower and steadier, less volatile, but for longer, like a candle. Dr. Blagosklonny confirms this analogy: “Those who age slower, are healthier.” Women Are Built for the Long Haul Not only are men ill-equipped to live longer, females are actually built for the long haul. A study in 1998 by Dr. Thomas Perls at Harvard University found that the female hormone estrogen lowers harmful cholesterol and raises good cholesterol. Moreover, Dr. Perls theorizes that menopause is an evolutionarily advantageous trait: “Women’s life span depends on the balance of two forces: One is the evolutionary drive to pass on her genes, the other is the need to stay healthy enough to rear as many children as possible. Menopause draws the line between the two. It protects older women from the risks of bearing children late in life, and lets them live long enough to take care of their children and grandchildren.” Dr. Perls states that longer life means survival of the fittest, and women are more fit than men. “The longer a women lives and the more slowly she ages, the more offspring she can produce and rear to adulthood. Therefore, evolution would naturally select the genes of such women over those who die young.” Historically, typical male behavior has given women the advantage in longevity. But even as male and female behavior converges and homogenizes, females have built in biological and evolutionary advantages. It's important to understand that when you will die is a probability, with various factors influencing it. Ultimately, humans do not die from ‘healthy aging’ but from age-related diseases. Because women age slower than men, age-related diseases are delayed in women, and they have built in advantages that decrease their probability of dying at a younger age. So how can men increase their probability for a longer life? The following are our top 7 suggestions to increase male longevity. It is important to note however the difference between lifespan, and healthspan. The latter measures an organism’s years of good health and bodily function. The former merely measures how long an organism is alive --- we all know that being alive does not necessitate good health. It’s an important distinction to make, as researchers at the NIA have found things that improve health without actually increasing lifespan (e.g., resveratrol, a compound found in wine). Imagine increasing lifespan only to increase years of physical decline and poor health --- not a pretty picture. It is important then to keep the difference between healthspan and lifespan in mind, while trying to improve and extend both. 1. Estrogen Treatment Dr. Perl’s 1998 study at Harvard suggested that estrogen treatment reduced the risk of dying from heart disease and stroke, as well as of dying in general. A 2002 study by Dr. M. Oettel at the Jenapharm Co. in Germany found that estrogen treatment prevented prostate cancer, improved cardiovascular parameters, bone density, and mental stress. All of these were major factors in male longevity. 2. Testosterone Reduction In Dr. Blagosklonny’s study above, he found that higher levels of testosterone led to accelerated aging. Could we slow aging in men by reducing their testosterone? Dr. Thomas Kirkwood, director of the Institute for Aging and Health at Newcastle University, says "yes". He notes that male castration led to longer life in animals, and one study found that castrated men in a Kansas rehabilitation institution were found to live on average 14 years longer than their uncastrated inmates. In other words, castrated men lived as long as women on average. While castration is extreme, there are other ways to lower testosterone, such as hormone replacement therapy. There are also foods that lower testosterone. 3. Get Married A 2007 study by Dr. Peter Gray at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas found that married men with one wife in the Ariaal tribes in northern Kenya had lower levels of testosterone than unmarried men, and that men who had 2 wives or more had the lowest levels of testosterone of all. Dr. Gray concludes that “testosterone levels are lower among married men probably because they are investing less in mating effort, male-male competition, and mate-seeking behavior.” So the best way to live long like a woman may be to be with a woman! 4. Sirtuin: Anti-Aging Protein A 2012 study at the Bar-Ilan University in Israel led by Dr. Y. Yanfiy et al., found that a protein called "Sirtuin" can make male mice live about 16 percent longer than average. This is exciting news because it’s the first time that the protein was shown to extend life span in mammals; until this study, it had been found to work for yeast, nematodes, and fruit flies. While there is still skepticism that sirtuin could work for more complex animals like humans, the fact that scientists got it to work in mice is a huge step in the right direction. 5. Eat Less A caloric restriction could add years to your life. A 2003 study by Dr. Eric Ravussin et al., at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Louisiana found that a calorie restriction extends lifespan and retards age-related chronic diseases. While scientists are still unclear on the exact mechanisms at play here, it is thought that a calorie restriction lowers metabolic rate, which causes the body to generate fewer damaging free radicals, which reduces oxidative stress, one of the principal causes of cellular wear in tear. In a nutshell, your body is built to metabolize food into energy; doing it more often causes more wear and tear, while doing it less keeps the body in more pristine shape and helps it to last longer. 6. Cellular Cleaning A 2011 study led by Dr. D.J. Baker at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine found that the body’s worn out cells, called senescent cells, send out chemical signals that have a profound impact on the cells around them, and that these chemicals can lead to age-related diseases. They found that by removing these senile cells in mice, sort of like a spring-cleaning, the mice had stronger muscles, fewer cataracts, and less wrinkled skin. This approach might be used to help develop a vaccine to prime the immune system to prune the body of its senescent cells. 7. The Straight and Narrow We’ve already seen how drinking, smoking, and aggressive, volatile, and stressful lifestyles can shorten your life. A new study takes this idea of the straight and narrow even further, in finding that hard-working, prudent types live the longest. Dr. Howard S. Friedman a psychologist at the University of California, Riverside, published these findings in his book, The Longevity Project in 2011. Dr. Friedman found that dependable, hard-working, and prudent people on average avoided risks and eventually entered into stable relationships, a major boost for health, happiness, and longevity. “If you want to improve your health, you shouldn’t just go on a joyride, but get involved in meaningful, productive kinds of things.” Related: 7 Tips to Reverse Manopause Soy Foods Reduce Sperm Count Male Breast Cancer? -Signs and Top 10 Ways to Prevent it Male Menopause- Symptoms and Top 10 Natural Remedies Osteoporosis in Men-5 Natural Remedies Snoring Affects Erections Build Up Your Arms-Ideal Rotation Routine Celebrity Workouts Foods That Strengthen Erectile Performance Prostate Cancer Linked to Fatty Diet |
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| Reducing your body weight by restricting calories or exercising can help extend your lifespan. |
