The 10 Secrets of Healthy Ageing book by Patrick Holford

On average, we are living longer than previous generations, but with fewer healthy years at the end. Leading nutrition expert and mental health specialist Patrick Holford and award-winning medical and health journalist Jerome Burne have written a book, The 10 Secrets of Healthy Ageing, in which they assert that we can stay healthy in old age.

Scientists have discovered that markers for how well we age  – found in every cell in your body – can be altered by the kind of exercise you do, the food you eat and the way you handle stress.

The 10 Secrets of Healthy Ageing uses those latest findings to provide a 10-step lifestyle programme and anti-ageing diet that can increase the chances of staying healthy for longer.

Below is a summary of Holford debunking some common wisdom beliefs:

1)It’s your genes that decide the diseases you’re going to get.

Some of the genes that increase your risk of various diseases can be changed. You can do genetic engineering on your kitchen table.

2) Cut out the fat from your diet

Even though today we are eating less fat, obesity and diabetes have soared. Instead you should keep sugar and refined carbs to a minimum with a low glycemic diet.

3) As you get older regular aerobic exercise will keep you in shape.

Muscle mass drops with age, so keeping it will boost your metabolism which means you burn more calories, bring down your blood sugar level

4) You can get all the vitamins and minerals you need from a health balanced diet.

As one gets older, one doesn’t absorb minerals and vitamins from food so well and topping up the levels makes a lot of sense. However good your diet, it’s impossible to get healthy levels of Vitamin D in Britain around the year. You also need very high levels of B vitamins to slow or stop memory loss in older people. A lack of B12, which is absorbed less well as you age, leads to both brain and bone shrinkage and it well worth supplementing.

5) Statins and blood pressure pills are good for you

The truth is that only a small percentage of the people who take these drugs for prevention actually benefit and the more drugs you take the greater the risk of damaging side effects.

The 10 Secrets

Secret 1: Stay smart as you age – and forget about Alzheimer’s

Secret 2: Keep your joints mobile and your bones strong

Secret 3: Beat the bulge, prevent diabetes and boost your energy

Secret 4: Switch off the stress factor and sleep for seven hours straight

Secret 5: Keep your skin youthful

Secret 6: Stay free from cancer

Secret 7: Keep your heart healthy and your blood pressure low

Secret 8: Improve your digestion without drugs

Secret 9: Stop your eyesight deteriorating

Secret 10: Discover the natural anti-ageing hormones