THE LAND (Iceland) THAT DEATH FORGOT

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THE LAND THAT DEATH FORGOT Type in the latitude and longitude for longevity, and you’ll arrive at Iceland. Here’s why.

BY JIM THORNTON

Note: The types of freshly organic milled grain\flour for bread and organic meats eaten, free of GMO’s, antibiotics and pesticides?

I’d never met a centenarian before, and I suppose it’s hackneyed to say so, but my first impression of Georg Breiðfjörð Ólafsson was that he didn’t look a day over 90.

Georg is a retired shipbuilder living in Stykkishólmur, Iceland, a fishing village on a fjord buffeted by the North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans.

With the help of his wrinkle-free son, Ágúst Ólafur Georgsson, 63, and boyishly charming grandson, Sigurdur “Siggi” Ágústsson, 29, I’ve just made the three-hour trek north from Reykjavik to meet the patriarch in person.

Upon our arrival, these three generations smile and hug, their bond palpable.

“I’m sorry I didn’t bring you a bottle of port wine,” I say, “but Siggi only told me about your affection for it on the drive up.” Siggi translates this into loud Icelandic beside his grandfather’s ear.

Despite declining hearing, Georg refuses to wear a hearing aid. I watch a smile slowly blossom on the old man’s face, and he answers in Icelandic, his voice unwavering and forceful.

“He says to tell you that’s okay,” Siggi translates. “He says, ‘I forgive you.’”

It’s impossible to miss how infectiously likable Georg Ólafsson is.

On the wall of his neatly kept bedroom hangs a key-to-the-city-style certificate signed by the mayor on Georg’s birthday last March. Ágúst tells me his dad loves this honor—not as a symbol of celebrity, but because it absolves him from paying property taxes. And who could begrudge him that?

As of this raw October afternoon, with temperatures in the upper 30s and winds gusting to 40 miles an hour, Georg has walked the earth for 106 years and 192 days.

In a country noted for its long-lived men, Georg is the oldest recorded Icelander ever in a history that dates back to 874 A.D., the year Viking chieftains settled this island at the top of the world.

Over the next hour, with Siggi translating, Georg graciously fields all my questions. I start with the obvious: Why does he think he’s lived so long?

Related: 17 Little Changes For a Longer Life

The United States may very well be, in the memorable words of the novelist Cormac McCarthy, no country for old men. But to the surprise of laymen and researchers alike, the tiny nation of Iceland has emerged as a haven for them.

When in 2014 the World Health Organization released its most recent report on life expectancy across the globe, Iceland’s 81.2 years topped the longevity rankings for men, beating out perennial contender Japan by more than 14 months.

American men came in 37th: Their average expiration date is a dispiriting 76, a full half-decade less of life.

Iceland, despite a population roughly equaling that of St. Louis, boasts a remarkable 30 to 50 centenarians at any given time, according to Ármann Jakobsson, Ph.D., a professor of early Icelandic literature at the University of Iceland who maintains an inventory of the country’s impressively old. …More

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The other reasons (ibid. Iceland) why adjustments from OMEGA 6 to OMEGA 3 blood serum ratios for Cold Thermogenesis CT

COMPARE ICELANDIC TO INUIT DIET & PHYSIOLOGY (find differences and make adjustments)

Inuit People

The Inuit are often cited as an example of a culture that has lived for hundreds of years on a low-carbohydrate diet.[39] However, in multiple studies the traditional Inuit diet has not been shown to be a ketogenic diet.[40][41][42][43] Not only have multiple researchers been unable to detect any evidence of ketosis resulting from the traditional Inuit diet, but the ratios of fatty-acid to glucose were observed at well below the generally accepted level of ketogenesis.[41][44][42][43] Furthermore, studies investigating the fat yields from fully dressed wild ungulates, and the dietary habits of the cultures who rely on them, suggest that they are too lean to support a ketogenic diet.[45][46] With limited access to fat and carbohydrates, cultures such as the Nunamiut Eskimos—who relied heavily on caribou for subsistence—annually traded for fat and seaweed with coastal-dwelling Taremiut.[45]

Some Inuit consume as much as 15–20% of their calories from carbohydrates, largely from the glycogen found in raw meats.[40][41][44][42][47] Furthermore, the blubber, organs, muscle and skin of the diving marine mammals that the Inuit eat have significant glycogen stores that are able to delay postmortem degradation, particularly in cold weather.[48][49][50][51][52][53]

Moreover, recent studies show that the Inuit have evolved a number of rare genetic adaptations that make them especially well suited to eat large amounts of omega-3 fat.[54][55][56] And earlier studies showed that the Inuit have a very high frequency—68% to 81% in certain arctic coastal populations—of an extremely rare autosomal recessive mutation of the CPT1A gene—a key regulator of mitochondrial long-chain fatty-acid oxidation[57][58]—which results in a rare metabolic disorder known as carnitine palmitoyltransferase 1A (CPT1A) deficiency and promotes hypoketotic hypoglycemia—low levels of ketones and low blood sugar.[59] The condition presents symptoms of a fatty acid and ketogenesis disorder.[59] However, it appears highly beneficial to the Inuit[57] as it shunts free fatty acids away from liver cells to brown fat, for thermogenesis.[60][61] Thus the mutation may help the Inuit stay warm by preferentially burning fatty acids for heat in brown fat cells.[61] In addition to promoting low ketone levels, this disorder also typically results in hepatic encephalopathy (enlarged liver) and high infant mortality.[62] Inuit have been observed to have enlarged livers with an increased capacity for gluconeogenesis, and have greater capacity for excreting urea to remove ammonia, a toxic byproduct of protein breakdown.[54][63][64][65] Ethnographic texts have documented the Inuit’s customary habit of snacking frequently [66] and this may well be a direct consequence of their high prevalence of the CPT1A mutation[67] as fasting, even for several hours, can be deleterious for individuals with that allele, particularly during strenuous exercise.[54][67] The high frequency of the CPT1A mutation in the Inuit therefore suggests that it is an important adaptation to their low carbohydrate diet and their extreme environment.[54][57][67]

In addition to the seaweed and glycogen carbohydrates mentioned above, the Inuit can access many plant sources. The stomach contents of caribou contain a large quantity of partially digested lichens and plants, which the Inuit once considered a delicacy. They also harvested reindeer moss and other lichens directly. The extended daylight of the arctic summer led to a profusion of plant life, and they harvested plant parts including berries, roots and stems, as well as mushrooms. They preserved some gathered plant life to eat during winter, often by dipping it in seal fat.[68]

Adaptation

While it is believed that carbohydrate intake after exercise is the most effective way of replacing depleted glycogen stores,[69][70] studies have shown that, after a period of 2–4 weeks of adaptation, physical endurance (as opposed to physical intensity) is unaffected by ketosis, as long as the diet contains high amounts of fat, relative to carbohydrates.[71] Some clinicians refer to this period of keto-adaptation as the “Schwatka imperative” after Frederick Schwatka, the explorer who first identified the transition period from glucose-adaptation to keto-adaptation.[72] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ketosis#Inuit%20People

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Japan’s high life expectancy linked to diet, study finds

Note: Consumption of, sea food, sea weed, green tea and hyaluronic acid in Japanese potatos and high cost of American made sweets (very expensive in Japan) and then their is McDonald’s…

The high life expectancy enjoyed in Japan is largely down to the nation’s healthy diet, according to a new study.

The population of the island nation, which has one of the lowest mortality rates in the world, eat diets high in certain carbohydrates, vegetables, fruits as well as fish and meat.

Such foods make for a diet low in saturated fats, processed foods and high in carbohydrates gained from both rice and vegetables. .…More