Healthy aging in the New Year: What AsAm seniors can learn

This story is made possible with the support of AARP

by David Hosley

There’s something about turning the pages from December to January that puts emphasis on changing for the better. It’s also the time of year when our attention often turns to healthy aging.

For many Asian Americans there may be extra motivation—in the last decade the Asian cohort of the U.S. population experienced larger increases in waist circumference and body fat percentage than other ethnic groups.

Dr. Deborah Kado, geriatrician and gerontologist, tracks trends in the health of aging Americans. She’s the co-director of the Stanford Longevity Center. Last fall, Kado shared her insights in a Stanford Medicine Center for Asian Health Research and Education community health talk.

Two key themes from Kado’s talk: “What you eat matters” and “Be physically active.”

Kado advises that the pathway to what she calls “healthy longevity” can begin with changes in diet, encouraging eating fewer processed foods while consuming more vegetables and fruit.

As for getting more active, Kado offers a benchmark: “Be sedentary less than 50% of your waking time.”

There are some especially concerning trends, notes Kado.

“Gout is a problem for Asian Americans and has been increasing recently. It is more prevalent in Asians than any other ethnic group in the U.S,” she said.

And South Asians, those whose ancestry links to the Indian subcontinent, are particularly affected.

Natasha Persaud expanded on the impacts of gout in an article for Renal and Urology News in 2023, noting thats higher risk for gout in South Asians is due to a genetic predisposition for higher uric acid. Persaud reported especially higher rates of gout among Asian American Medicare patients 65 and older.

Deborah Kado is also concerned about bone health for South Asian Americans, particularly hip problems for South Asian women in the U.S. Kado also says Filipino Americans, especially men, are at greater risk for cardiovascular deaths, citing Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data, adding that alcohol, smoking and salt intake are negative health factors for them.

On the positive side, Kado believes that the culture and beliefs of Asian societies have a carryover benefit, with five of the top 10 countries for long living being Asian.

“There is a lot in the culture of Asia that has thought about aging as a natural process” she says. “It’s in their religions and every day culture. And can carry over into Asian Americans. These beliefs about aging can impact your health psychologically, behaviorally, and biologically.”

Kado tells patients that changes in activity rates can improve your life at any point in one’s lifespan. “For those who want to be physically rigorous,” she says, “you get big bang for your buck.”

Kado adds that seniors as old as 95 can still benefit from making changes in what they eat and how active they are daily. Everyone can get on the longevity onramp and at any time.

Try a healthier diet

Need the discipline of going on a diet to pursue healthy aging in January? Go Asian and try the Okinawan Diet as an alternative to the Mediterranean one. Three researchers writing in the research journal Mechanism of Aging and Development, describe the benefits:

“The traditional diet in Okinawa is anchored by root vegetables (principally sweet potatoes), green and yellow vegetables, soybean-based foods, and medicinal plants. Marine foods, lean meats, fruit, medicinal garnishes and spices, tea, alcohol are also moderately consumed.”

Traditional Okinawan cuisine is low in calories, fat and sugar. And it has a lot of antioxidants, which can reduce risk of heart disease and diabetes. The paper concludes that adopting a lifestyle with the characteristics of the Okinawa diet “can reduce risk for chronic age-associated diseases and promote healthy aging and longevity.”

Like Dr. Kado, Harvard’s Frank Hu is a leading researcher on healthy aging, with a specialty in nutrition and diabetes. Dr. Hu and a handful of colleagues took the well-known Mediterranean diet and modified it to incorporate healthy foods common in India, Pakistan and other South Asian countries. The research team tested this South Asian Mediterranean (SAM) diet with about 900 South Asians living in the U.S. They wrote an article that noted positive benefits, including a lower likelihood of type 2 diabetes.

Hu emphasizes that “maintaining a healthy weight throughout life is pivotal for healthy aging and longevity.” And he has written an academic report on diet strategies for aging with a startling conclusion. When you add in other healthy practices to eating sensibly, such as regular exercise, Hu contends life expectancies could go up 8 to 10 years.