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American Morning

Paging Dr. Gupta: Keeping Mentally Active

Aired November 13, 2002 - 08:43   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: We have all heard about growing old gracefully. How to do it, though, that is the question. Some answers this morning in a new study which shows people can control how physically and mentally active they will be once they have reached the golden years. From Atlanta this morning in our "House Call," Dr. Sanjay Gupta has a look at this. Also some home fertility testing for men, which is a new deal.
Good to see you, Sanjay.

Take us through the mountain of youth here.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. I'll tell you, interesting thing, there are 50,000 people that are 100 years or older in the United States right now. I thought that was a very high number. People are certainly living longer. The question is, how do you do it gracefully, with dignity and with sharp minds? As you said, bill, that was the focus of a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association. It looked at 2,800 people, and they sort of stuck by the old adage, use it or lose it in terms of your cognitive, in terms of your thinking, training.

But they also came up with three separate ways of actually training the mind: speed processing training, reasoning skills training and memory training. You can see the numbers there. Speed processing is the best, Bill, 86 percent compared to 74 percent with reasoning training and 26 percent with improved memory.

If you're like me, you're asking, so what is speed processing training? And here are some examples. Just training over and over again, the mind to look up telephone numbers, and find food on grocery shelves, count out change, respond to traffic signs, pretty simple things, but these are considered activities of daily living, things that people need to do to live their lives independently. If you can continue to practice those things -- incidentally, they looked at people 65 or older, but if you continue to practice these things, you are more likely to stave off dementia and have a sharper mind as you get into your golden years -- Bill.

HEMMER: Very interesting. They say work things like crossword puzzles, play Trivia Pursuit and watch Jeopardy on TV, pretty easy stuff.

GUPTA: That's right. We have one of these word search puzzles, just timed word search puzzles seem to be a big help as well.

HEMMER: What do you make of the anti-aging supplements, growth hormones, etc? Have they been shown to be effective?

GUPTA: Not enough data on the actual supplements, Bill, and it's amazing, because it's a $4 billion a year industry, I'll say that. But there has been some data on the nutritious value of things like vitamin e, which shows a consistent improvement in staving off cognitive decline over time. But as far as a supplement, I would say probably save your money, do some of the exercises instead and keep your mind sharp -- Bill.

HEMMER: Good advice there. Home fertility testing for men. Women have it had it for years. What is happening for us?

GUPTA: Well, it's out there. And it's a home fertility test basically to try to analyze the quantity of sperm. Basically, that is looking at this one thing, the quantity of sperm. And, Bill, let me just say that 40 percent of the time with infertility problem, the problem is on the man side, 40 percent is on the woman's side, which leaves 20 percent, 10 percent is both of the problem and 10 percent, they just never figure it out. Look at the quantity of sperm is a important parameter. The problem with the home fertility test is many reproduction doctors are concerned about it. What you really need to know is not just the quantity, but also the quality, and in order to do that, you still need to see your doctor.

So a good preliminary test perhaps, but probably not the end-all.

HEMMER: Do you find that consumers buy them, that they even try to use them, or not?

GUPTA: Yes, people are curious about it. They have had some interesting comments about it. But they say a lot of times, women are actually buying these tests and using them surreptitiously on their partners, sort of a prenup was the term actually used. You are about to see a huge marketing campaign over the next few weeks on this particular product.

HEMMER: Interesting. We'll good luck on the fountain of youth. As they say in Atlanta, Ponce De Leon.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired November 13, 2002 - 08:43   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: We have all heard about growing old gracefully. How to do it, though, that is the question. Some answers this morning in a new study which shows people can control how physically and mentally active they will be once they have reached the golden years. From Atlanta this morning in our "House Call," Dr. Sanjay Gupta has a look at this. Also some home fertility testing for men, which is a new deal.
Good to see you, Sanjay.

Take us through the mountain of youth here.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. I'll tell you, interesting thing, there are 50,000 people that are 100 years or older in the United States right now. I thought that was a very high number. People are certainly living longer. The question is, how do you do it gracefully, with dignity and with sharp minds? As you said, bill, that was the focus of a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association. It looked at 2,800 people, and they sort of stuck by the old adage, use it or lose it in terms of your cognitive, in terms of your thinking, training.

But they also came up with three separate ways of actually training the mind: speed processing training, reasoning skills training and memory training. You can see the numbers there. Speed processing is the best, Bill, 86 percent compared to 74 percent with reasoning training and 26 percent with improved memory.

If you're like me, you're asking, so what is speed processing training? And here are some examples. Just training over and over again, the mind to look up telephone numbers, and find food on grocery shelves, count out change, respond to traffic signs, pretty simple things, but these are considered activities of daily living, things that people need to do to live their lives independently. If you can continue to practice those things -- incidentally, they looked at people 65 or older, but if you continue to practice these things, you are more likely to stave off dementia and have a sharper mind as you get into your golden years -- Bill.

HEMMER: Very interesting. They say work things like crossword puzzles, play Trivia Pursuit and watch Jeopardy on TV, pretty easy stuff.

GUPTA: That's right. We have one of these word search puzzles, just timed word search puzzles seem to be a big help as well.

HEMMER: What do you make of the anti-aging supplements, growth hormones, etc? Have they been shown to be effective?

GUPTA: Not enough data on the actual supplements, Bill, and it's amazing, because it's a $4 billion a year industry, I'll say that. But there has been some data on the nutritious value of things like vitamin e, which shows a consistent improvement in staving off cognitive decline over time. But as far as a supplement, I would say probably save your money, do some of the exercises instead and keep your mind sharp -- Bill.

HEMMER: Good advice there. Home fertility testing for men. Women have it had it for years. What is happening for us?

GUPTA: Well, it's out there. And it's a home fertility test basically to try to analyze the quantity of sperm. Basically, that is looking at this one thing, the quantity of sperm. And, Bill, let me just say that 40 percent of the time with infertility problem, the problem is on the man side, 40 percent is on the woman's side, which leaves 20 percent, 10 percent is both of the problem and 10 percent, they just never figure it out. Look at the quantity of sperm is a important parameter. The problem with the home fertility test is many reproduction doctors are concerned about it. What you really need to know is not just the quantity, but also the quality, and in order to do that, you still need to see your doctor.

So a good preliminary test perhaps, but probably not the end-all.

HEMMER: Do you find that consumers buy them, that they even try to use them, or not?

GUPTA: Yes, people are curious about it. They have had some interesting comments about it. But they say a lot of times, women are actually buying these tests and using them surreptitiously on their partners, sort of a prenup was the term actually used. You are about to see a huge marketing campaign over the next few weeks on this particular product.

HEMMER: Interesting. We'll good luck on the fountain of youth. As they say in Atlanta, Ponce De Leon.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com