Do you know that every 3 second, there is an osteoporotic fracture worldwide? Our bones and joints are very important for our daily movement. As we age, the bone mineral density will decrease and the joint health will be affected which is causing many elderlies who experience joint pain or bone fracture in old age. According to the statistic, osteoporosis causes more than 8.9 million fractures worldwide and every 1 in 2 women above 40 years old which means approximately 50% of women above 40 years old are suffer from osteoporosis. So, how can we protect our bones and joints?

1.Healthy Diet

Maintaining healthy diet is a crucial step in protecting our bone health. Calcium is an important mineral which can improve the bone mineral density and therefore, reduce risk of osteoporosis. Our bones lose their density and become thinner as we age, it will then cause the porous bones and leads to higher risk of fracture. Increasing calcium intake could protect our bones from losing density. Besides Calcium mineral, Vitamin D, Magnesium and Zinc are good for our bone health too. Vitamin D could improve the Calcium absorption in our body. However, coffee is not advisable to take with your calcium source as caffeine will block the calcium absorption in our body. 

2.Exercise

There are many people who may be avoiding exercise or too much extra movement due to joint pain but sedentary physical activity can cause joint pain or even make it worse. Exercise helps to build muscle and muscles take the load off of our joints. If we do not have enough muscle to support our body weight, our joints will take the hit instead. For people who work in office, if you usually sit for long periods of time, try to get up and move around once every couple of hours. 

3.Weight management

Some people might be managing weight for better appearance, but weight management are also important for our bones and joints health. For underweight population, they are having higher risk of bone loss while for overweight population, their weight are causing extra stress on joints. Therefore, it will lead to higher risk of developing osteoarthritis. Therefore, it is important to maintain a healthy body weight to keep your bones and joints healthy.

4.Reduce smoking and drinking

Smoking and excessive alcohol consumption have many negative impacts towards health. Smoking has been proven to cause bone mass depletion and studies showed that smoking increase risk of osteoporosis and bone fracture. Besides, people with high alcohol consumption have been proven to have higher risk of having broken bones and brittle bones. Drinking interferes with the body’s ability to absorb vitamins and minerals. it also results in an increase in hormones that deplete bone density. Therefore, reduce alcohol intake and smoking could aid in reducing bone damage. 

5.Posture

Maintaining a right posture is important to prevent joint damage which could restrict our movement, incorrect posture can lead to extra burden on joints and causing joint pain. Slouching puts extra pressure on your joints which can lead to back pain, neck pain or shoulder pain.

Chevin nutritionist Ke Qi:

Bones and joints play an important role in our body to support our movement. Through the aging process, bone and joints might degenerate which might affect our movements. Therefore, taking care of our bones and joints health are very important. If you are worried about your bone health, you can get a bone mineral density test to have a better understanding on your bone condition. From our daily diet, you could increase the calcium intake from your daily diet from calcium rich food such as milk, cheese, broccoli, chia seed and almonds, collagen intake could also help with our joints health. Support your bones and joints today, they will support you tomorrow!

Blueberry

Blueberry is rich in Vitamin C, ellagic acid, lutein and anthocyanin. Blueberries protect our eye health by preventing damage from blue light or ultraviolet rays. With the advance technology, most of us uses at least one electronic device in our daily life. However, do you know that blue light from electronical devices damage our eye cells and increase the rate of visual fatigue. Blueberries exhibit strong antioxidant properties which can reduce oxidative stress and improve eye health.

Cranberry

Cranberry has been widely used for preventing or treating Urinary Tract Infection (UTI). Due to the busy schedule, there are many people who do not consume adequate amount of water everyday which could increase the risk of getting UTI. Cranberry is rich in A-Type Proanthocyanidins, it can help in preventing the adherence of bacteria, particularly E. coli to the walls of bladder.

Elderberry

Elderberry exhibit strong antioxidant activity which is 20 times stronger than Vitamin C. It has been proven in clinical studies that the elderberry could significantly reduce the severity and accelerates the recovery of flu. Besides, elderberry aid in reducing the risk of osteoporosis and strengthen our cardiovascular health. 

Raspberry

Raspberry helps in delaying skin aging and repair skin cells, it possesses strong antioxidant properties which can enhance cardiovascular health and blood circulation, allowing the brain cells obtain sufficient amount of oxygen from the blood. Raspberry has also been proven to aid in improving memory and protect brain cells. 

Strawberry

Strawberry has been named as the king of Vitamin C in the berries family. Strawberry rejuvenates the skin cells, enhance the skin texture and minimise the pore size. Due to the rich nutrients content, strawberry has been widely used for beauty purposes where the vitamins, minerals and the Alpha Hydroxyl Acid (AHA) in strawberry can effectively increase skin elasticity and tighten the skin. It has also been proven in clinical studies that strawberry showed positive effects in brightening skin tone and skin hydration. 

Blackcurrant

Blackcurrant is rich in anthocyanins, it can help in enhancing eye health, improve visuals, and protect eye from blue light and ultraviolet ray damage. The blue light from electronic devises and the ultraviolet rays from the sun are causing huge damage towards our eyes which leads to the acceleration of visual cells aging.

Grape

Grapes help to strengthen cardiovascular health, it has been proven to significantly reduce risk of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. Besides, grape contains Vitamin B12 which is very rare in daily diet especially for vegetarian. Vitamin B12 are usually found in meat and internal organs of animals, resulting in many vegetarians are facing the problem of lacking of Vitamin B12.

CHEVIN Nutritionist Ke Qi:

In your daily diet, you could add in berries to boost your immunity and different types of berries contribute to different health benefits. Berries are rich in vitamins and minerals, which can provide our body cells with complete nutrients. Especially if you are always craving for snacks in between meals, you could also choose berry as a substitution with lower calories and higher nutritional values. Both fresh berries or freeze-dried berries have high nutrients retention, which can boost our overall wellbeing.

Urinary tract infection (UTI) is one of the most frequent bacteria infections among women. But does UTI only happen in women? No, men can also get UTI. However, due to the biological differences between men and women, women are at greater risk of developing a UTI than are men. According to statistics, around 50–60% of women will experience a UTI in their lifetime. 20–30% of them will have a recurrence of UTI. 

Symptoms of UTI: 

• Burning sensation during urination
• Frequent urination 
• Cloudy or pinkish urine
• Painful urination
• Strong-smelling urine

Ways to prevent or take care of UTI:

Drink plenty of water

Drinking plenty of water increase the urination frequency. By urinating, it can aid to flush the bacteria out of the urinary tract. Therefore, drinking adequate amount of water is an important step in preventing and relieving UTI.

Cranberries

Cranberry juice is commonly used for the prevention urinary tract infections. Cranberries are rich in A-type proanthocyanidins, which can prevent E. coli from attaching to the wall of urinary tract, prevent bacterial growth, and help to relieve UTI symptoms and reduce risks of recurrence of UTI.

React to the urge of urination

Not reacting to the urge of urination will increase the risk of UTI, urine contains high level of bacteria and by holding your urine could increase the risk of bacteria attachment on the wall of urinary tract which could further lead to the bacteria infection.

Taking care of hygiene after urination

As the bacteria is the main reasons of infections, poor hygiene could increase the risk of getting UTI. After urination, wiping from front to back can help in preventing bacteria from spreading to the urethra.

CHEVIN Nutritionist Ke Qi:

Many people might think that urinary tract infection is just one of the common bacterial infections. However, people who have experienced UTI will know the suffer of UTI. It will lead to a very uncomfortable experience which can even affect their work. Recurrence of UTI is even more troublesome, so if you have not experienced UTI, you should drink more water in your daily life and avoid holding back urine. For people who are experiencing recurrence of UTI, you can consume more cranberries or cranberries products to reduce the risk of UTI. If you notice symptoms of UTI, remember to seek medical advice.

Eyes are the window to the soul, our eyes are the second most complex organ in our body after brain. Our eye cells gradually degenerate in our aging process which might leads to blurry vision, visual fatigue or even some eyes related health problems.  Nowadays, the use of electronic gadgets has been continuously increasing with the advanced technology, resulting in eyesight deterioration. Time to take care of your eyes and protect your eye cells. Do you know what are the nutrients that could improve our vision? 

Vitamin A

Vitamin A is very crucial to healthy vision because it has essential roles in photoreceptor cells in the retina. Vitamin A is an important factor affecting the dark adaptation of photoreceptor cells, therefore, vitamin A deficiency could leads to night blindness. 

Food rich in vitamin A includes carrot, pumpkin, tomato, broccoli, corn and papaya.

Anthocyanin

Anthocyanins have high antioxidant properties which can protect the retinal pigment epithelial cells from free radical damage. Anthocyanins improve ocular blood circulation, stimulate the regeneration of rhodopsin, reduce visual fatigue and also aid in reducing the risk of cataracts.

Food rich in anthocyanin includes cranberry, blueberry, eggplant, purple cabbage, purple potato and purple onion.

Vitamin C

Vitamin C possess high antioxidant properties, which can protect our eyes from UV light exposure. Vitamin C is important in enhancing the ocular blood flow and help delaying the aging of eye cells.

Food rich in vitamin C includes orange, lemon, kiwi, bell pepper and guava.

Lutein

Lutein is one of the important nutrients found in the macula and retina in human eyes. It helps in reducing eye dryness, relieving visual fatigue and light sensitivity problem. Lutein can protect the eyes from blue light damage, especially for people who are exposed to electronic devices all the time and some office workers who need to use computer on a daily basis. Blue light of electronic devices can penetrate through lens to the retina and cause retinal photochemical damage. Lutein helps to absorb blue visible light and protect the eye cells from UV damage.

Food rich in lutein includes spinach, peas, pumpkin, onion and papaya.

Omega-3 fatty acids

The eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) in Omega-3 are good for eye health, they can improve the health of the retina and help preserve our vision. DHA is found in high amounts in our retina, it can enhance vision and improve visual acuity. It has been proven in clinical studies that DHA in Omega-3 has positive effect on relieving dry eyes problem.

Food rich in Omega-3 includes salmon, avocado, tuna, walnuts and chia seed.

Chevin nutritionist Ke Qi’s words:

Don’t take your eyes for granted, our eyes are very complex but fragile. The risk of many eyes related health consequences increases with age, such as cataracts, glaucoma, and age-related macular degeneration (AMD), and some of serious eye diseases may even cause blindness. You can try to add more nutrients which are crucial for your eye health into your daily diet, such as carrots, purple cabbage, goji berries, or high-antioxidant fruits. Good eye health starts with the right nutrients on your plate.

What is aging?

Aging is a natural process of becoming older as we age and it occurs in all body cells. Cells are the basic unit of human body, therefore, our body health begins at the cellular level. Human body is composed of 40 trillion to 60 trillion cells. Every day, numerous cells are damaged, dead and regenerated. Cell damage causes the decline in cellular functions, and eventually leads to cell death. As the cellular aging process accelerates, organ function will be affected. Therefore, healthy organ begins with healthy cells.

Aging process

Cellular aging is closely related to telomeres, telomeres shorten as we age. Do you know what is telomeres? Telomeres are like protective caps which located at the end of the chromosomes to protect our DNA. As much as it might be difficult to imagine, you may visualize it as a shoelace where there is a plastic cap at the end to prevent the shoelace from being loosening. As the cell divides, telomeres gradually shrink, the length of telomeres indicates the cell’s ability to replicate. Telomeres are like a countdown timer of cells. As the telomeres shorten, the cells gradually age to the point of cell death.

Factors that cause aging

Besides the natural aging process, there are many external factors that could accelerate the aging process, such as stress, ultraviolet rays, smoking, alcohol consumption, sugar intake, and poor dietary choices. Tobacco contains hundreds of harmful substances that will damage the skin collagen and elastin. And nicotine in the tobacco could even leads to the constriction of blood vessels, affecting nutrients and oxygen flow to skin cells. Besides lifestyle habits, eating habits are also playing an important role on cellular aging. Food which are high in trans fats, sugar and carbohydrates have great influence in cellular aging. Sugar speeds up the shortening process of telomeres and accelerate the cellular aging process. From our daily diet, besides sweet food or beverages, carbohydrates that we consume daily such as bread, noodles and rice are also converted into sugar in the human body.

Chevin nutritionist Ke Qi:

There are many non-communicable diseases (NCD) such as stroke, heart disease and diabetes which are associated with aging. When the aging process accelerates, the risk of the NCDs will also increase. Dietary choices play an important role in cellular aging process, therefore, try to reduce the consumption of high fat, high sugar or high carbohydrate food. You may increase the consumption of high antioxidant  food in your diet such as citrus food, broccoli and legumes. Antioxidant could protect cells from free radicals attack and delay cellular aging process. Besides, it would be better if you could quit smoking and reduce alcohol consumption. Smoking and excessive alcohol consumption not only accelerate aging, but also affect our organ health. 

What is collagen?

Collagen is the most abundant protein in our body, found in many other parts of our body such as hair, teeth, blood vessels, joints and corneas. Over 30% of the total proteins in the human body are collagen. Collagen is an important building block that holds the body together and support many parts of our body, thereby maintaining the structure and function of skin , joints and bones.  

Why is collagen so important for our health?

Through the aging process, the body’s collagen will be constantly lost. Before the age of 25, you might not realize the aging signs due to the high collagen production in our body. However, starting from age of 25, the amount of collagen produced in the body has gradually decreased. The amount of collagen lost has exceeded the production of collagen in our body, therefore, it is unable to replenish the collagen needed in the body. Studies have shown that the body collagen decreases by approximately 1,000 grams every 10 years, and the aging process of women is faster than men. Based on clinical studies, women lose up to 30% of the body collagen during the first five years of menopause. When the process of collagen loss continues, symptoms of aging will begin to appear, such as fine lines or skin wrinkles, joint pain, brittle nails and hair fall problems.

Where can I get collagen?

Collagen can also be obtained from natural food sources, such as fish maw, pork skin, trotters, fish skin and chicken feet. However, the collagen molecules in natural food source are very large (> 100,000 Daltons), which would be difficult to be absorbed by the human body. Several high collagen food are high in calories or fat, which may lead to weight gain or increase in cholesterol level. Therefore, collagen supplement could be a better choice to replenish collagen needed by our body. 

Chevin nutritionist Ke Qi:

As the collagen production gradually declines with age, our collagen production is lesser than the collagen loss which leads to the lacking of collagen in our body. Therefore, proper intake of collagen can activate cells. However, there are different types of collagen supplements in the market, so how should we choose the right one for ourselves? The most important factor in choosing collagen supplements is the absorption of collagen in human body, because the effect will be insignificant if the absorption is low. Most of the collagen supplements in the market are derived from bovine, porcine or marine source, studies have shown that the absorption of marine collagen are highest in human body. The absorption of collagen derived from fish is 1.5 times higher than that of collagen from porcine source. Besides collagen source, the units size of the collagen is also very important. Collagen, collagen peptide, collagen dipeptide and collagen tripeptide have different unit sizes which collagen tripeptides are having the highest absorption. Collagen tripeptide (CTP) is the minimum collagen unit, which is 1/1000 size of collagen. Due to the extremely small unit size, the absorption rate of collagen tripeptide in human body is over 95% and can be absorbed within 10 to 30 minutes. Choosing the right collagen supplement allows you to achieve better skin condition in a shorter time.