Throw grandpa off the road?

The best argument I know for widely accessible, low cost mass transit is the danger of drivers as old as I want to be.

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Tags: longevity, senior drivers, old age, safety, Cuba, health, fitness

Mayo Clinic – Portion Control Slideshow

Expanding portions
Are you eating a variety of healthy foods, exercising and still struggling with your weight? You may need to pay closer attention to portion control — managing the amount of food that you eat — as your total calorie intake determines your weight.More

C is for Controversy

Vitamin C is a celebrity among vitamins. It is necessary for human life, and many people endow it with almost magical powers. The most casual search of the Internet or your local library will tell you that claims and controversy about vitamin C are never ending.

Some facts are not in dispute: Vitamin C prevents and cures scurvy, a disease that, because of improvements in diet worldwide, is hardly seen any more. It is a powerful antioxidant, meaning that it neutralizes potentially harmful free radicals in our bodies. (However, it may also, under some conditions, become a pro-oxidant, meaning it can promote the production of free radicals.) It is essential for healthy skin and connective tissue, and for the absorption of iron, as well as other functions. It is water-soluble, and the body can store only small amounts; excess C is eliminated by the kidneys. Thus, humans must consume vitamin C on a regular basis. Many fruits and vegetables are rich in it, especially citrus fruits, peppers, broccoli, strawberries, and cantaloupe. Meats and fish have none. Cooking and processing reduce vitamin C. (more)

Cuba’s secret to becoming a centenarian? Happiness

Published Date: May 28, 2007
By Silvia Ayuso

The music has barely begun when Flora Lopez jumps up on her feet and starts dancing – a scene not at all unusual in Cuba, but for the fact that Flora is 101 years old. “I even dance alone, music runs in my feet, in my head,” she says, very happy and very lucid. Beside her, María Alcala claps her hands following the rhythm. She’s the same age as Flora, and also shares what they regard as the secret to becoming a centenarian. Pure and simple, it’s “happiness.” “You have to laugh, you need a lot of laughs,” says a smiling Alcala. “I have always been very cheerful, when I was young, I used to dance and sing a lot.” Alcala and Lopez were kicking up a storm at the Fifth International Congress of Satisfactory Longevity that ended Friday in Havana.

‘World’s oldest man’ dies in Cuba

A Cuban man who claimed to be the oldest person in the world has died in hospital at what he believed was the age of 126.

Benito Martinez, whose age was never proved, was the star attraction of a Cuban government campaign to promote healthy lives for its oldest citizens.

He was absolutely certain that he was born in Haiti in 1880.

Mr Martinez had long enjoyed being living proof that it was possible to live happily to a very ripe old age.

Until his last months, he led a relatively active life, tending plants outside his one-bedroom house, visiting the local old people’s home and being more than happy to demonstrate that being 120-plus did not mean you could not dance. more

Cuba pursues a 120-year-old future

By Eric Sabo, Special for USA TODAY
HAVANA — There’s a good chance that Fidel Castro, who marks his 78th birthday Friday, could keep going for another 40 years, the Cuban leader’s personal physician says.
Fidel Castro’s doctor says he, and other Cubans, can live well into their 100s.
By Jorge Rey, Getty Images

“It is very possible to live to 120,” says Eugenio Selman Housein, the doctor closest to Castro. And Selman says reaching that remarkable age is something that even average Cubans can achieve. The key, he says, is preventive care and attitude. “If you think you can reach 120 years of age, then it’s possible,” he says. more