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Zone of Interest

The Zone of Interest, a new film written and directed by Jonathan Glazer, envisions the Hösses’ everyday lives, rarely venturing beyond the villa’s borders to acknowledge the atrocities unfolding next door. By emphasizing the mundane, the acclaimed British filmmaker hoped to expose Rudolf (played by Christian Friedel) and his wife, Hedwig (Sandra Hüller), as undeniably human. “I wanted to dismantle the idea of them as anomalies, as almost supernatural,” Glazer tells the New York Times. “You know, the idea that they came from the skies and ran amok, but thank God that’s not us and it’s never going to happen again. I wanted to show that these were crimes committed by Mr. and Mrs. Smith at No. 26.” Unlike Schindler’s List, The Pianist and other staples of Holocaust cinema, The Zone of Interest never explicitly depicts the horrors of life and death inflicted by the Nazis. Instead, the film relies on the power of suggestion, alluding to mass murder through brief glimpses of crematoria chimneys and an ambient soundtrack punctuated by gunshots and screams. The story is less about the Nazis than the broader question of human nature, “the thing in us that drives it all, the capacity for violence that we all have,” Glazer tells the Guardian. “For me, this is not a film about the past. It’s trying to be about now, and about us and our similarity to the perpetrators, not our similarity to the victims.” A central conflict in the film is Hedwig’s objection to her husband’s pending promotion, which will take him to Berlin and her away from her beloved home outside the camp. (According to the Times, this argument is based on testimony recently found in the archives of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, which consulted on The Zone of Interest and makes an appearance in its closing moments.) At his wife’s request, Rudolf convinces his superiors to let the rest of the family stay behind while he relocates. The Hösses are only reunited when Rudolf is put in charge of an enormous undertaking: the deportation and murder of more than 400,000 Hungarian Jews, all in the span of less than two months in 1944. The question of what the Höss family knows—and to what extent they can be held responsible—looms over The Zone of Interest. Hedwig and her children aren’t directly involved in Auschwitz’s administration. But the movie suggests complicity in one way or another. At one point, Hedwig tries on a luxurious fur coat stolen from a murdered woman. In another scene, the couple’s oldest son, Klaus, uses a flashlight to examine false teeth pried from the mouths of Jews killed in the gas chambers. When Rudolf and his children go swimming in a river, the commandant stumbles onto a human jawbone—a macabre find that prompts him to hurry home for a bath.

We don’t see the camp, but the sounds of it are all-encompassing, blaring just beneath the everyday sounds in the rest of the movie. They’re like a thick fog that permeates the family’s weightless domestic concerns, making the evil they’re complicit in inescapable. Death and its noises are ever-present but never acknowledged, shrouding the nearly meaningless events on the screen.

Between 1934 and 1940, Rudolf worked at the Dachau and Sachsenhausen concentration camps, which at the time housed mainly political prisoners. He impressed his superiors so much that they appointed him commandant of the newly created Auschwitz. In this role, he transformed the camp into the Nazis’ chief killing center, settling on Zyklon B as the most efficient method of gassing. As he later said, gassing was preferable to shooting because the latter “would have placed too heavy a burden on the SS men who had to carry it out, especially because of the women and children among the victims.” Rudolf approached the prospect of mass murder with systematic, detached precision. As historian Laurence Rees wrote for History Extra in 2020, “Höss was no mere robot, blindly following orders, but an innovator in the way he organized the killing.” At the camp’s peak, Auschwitz’s gas chambers were capable of murdering 2,000 people an hour.

It was about people ignoring terrible things right where they live. A film to make us unsafe in the cinema. As we should be. We should ask: is this also us? Do we do this, too? Do we do this every single day?

#zone of interest #film

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How not to age

Slowing pathways of ageing

Only about 15-30% of our lifespan appears determined by our genes, which means how we live our lives may determine the bulk of our destiny.

AMPK

Autophagy is a housekeeping process by which defective cellular components are broken down and scrapped for spare parts. AMPK induces autophagy. The most reliable way to extend lifespan may be long term food reduction. AMPK activation is thought to be one of the mechanisms for this longevity boost. Exercise increases the AMPK activity. To help boost AMPK a) reduce consumption of saturated fat (concentrated in meat, dairy and desserts)b) increase consumption of fibre, c) 2 teaspoons of barberries, d) a dash of black cumin, e) hibiscus and/or lemon verbena tea, f) 2 teaspoons of vinegar

Autophagy

To boost this anti-aging pathway, consider a) 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous aerobic activity, b) minimise your intake of fried food, c) consume at least 20mg of spermidine by incorporating foods such as tempeh, mushrooms, peas and wheat germ into your diet, Wheat germ has 2.5mg per tbsp, mushrooms 9.2mg per 100g, tempeh 9.7mg per 100g d) drink three cups of regular or decaffeinated coffee.

Spermidine plays a key role in regulating cell growth. Wheat germ can significantly improve dementia way beyond all available antidimentia treatments so far.

Cellular senescence

To prevent cellular senescence, avert DNA damage by following the recommendations in the oxidation chapter and to clear such cells of their SASP there are natural senolytic compounds in foods (quercetin, fisetin and piperlongumine). While it is not yet clear whether sufficien levels can be reached by eating foods rich in these compounds, the foods are healthful in their own right. To slow this aging pathway, consider a) consuming quercetin-rich foods, beverages and seasonings such as onions, apples, kale, tea and salt free capers, b) eating strawberries, c) seaoning meals with pippali.

Epigenetics

Exercise frequency and intensity are associated with a deceleration of aging. In 2018 an aging analysis was published of the CALERIE study, the first major randomised trial of calorie restriction in humans. The control group continued to age at a rate of about one year per year but in that time the dietary restriction group only aged by about one month. And they achieved this with only a 12% calorie restriction. Aging rates were slowed independent of weight loss.

The lifestyle factor most closely associating with slowing aging, even more than exercise, is a marker of fruit and vegetable intake, blood levels of carotenoid phytonutrients like beta-carotene. The food most consistently linked to accelerating aging is meat.

To help boost this anti-aging pathway, restrict calories by 12% which would be cutting about 250 calories out of a 2000 calorie diet, and b) meeting the 400μg recommended daily allowance of folate, which could be achieved with about a cup of cooked lentils or edamame, a cup and a half of cooked spinach or asparagus, or two and a half cups of broccoli.

Glycation

Advanced glycation end products (AGEs) are one of the main factors contributing to the aging process. As AGEs accumulate in our bones, joints and muscles, they may contribute to osteoporosis, arthritis and muscle asting, the weaking, shrinking and loss of muscle mass with age. AGEs are implicated in age related memory decline, impaired wound healing, skin aging, cataracts and Alzheimer's disease.

Eating an AGE less diet by emphasising lower AGE foods such as fruits and vegetables, cooking high protein foods using relatively low heat and high humidity methods such as boiling or steaming rather than broiling or frying, favouring raw nuts and seeds over roasted or toasted, choosing lower glycemic load foods. Steel cut oats are a low glycemic index food but instant oats are high.

IGF-1

The higher the IGF-1 in your bloodstream, the higher your risk for developing some cancers such as breast, colorectal and prostate.

Inflammation

Chronic inflammation is systemic, persistent and non-specific and appears to perpetuate disease. A marker is C-reactive protein. Immunity deteriorates with age in a process known as immunosenescence. There is also more inflammation. The progressive increase in pro-inflammatory status is a major feature of the aging process and is referred to as "inflammaging". Applying skin lotion twice daily may be a simple way to dampen systemic inflammation. Some causes of inflammation are the buildup of dietary advanced glycation end products, senescent cells spewing SASP and age related decline in autophagy machinery. Two years of modest caloric restriction cut inflammation markers such as CRP by 40%, which could have been due to a boost in autophagy that cleared out inflammatory cellular debris or simply as a consequence of their weight loss. Fatty tissue plays an active role in secreting inflammatory chemicals. Dietary cholesterol may contribute to inflammation. As we age, there is an increate in visceral fat which may contribute to inflammaging.

Dietary Inflammatory Index: generally components of animal products and processed foods like saturated fat, trans fat and cholesterol were found to be pro-inflammatory, while constituents of whole plant foods such as fiber and phytonutrients came up strongly anti-inflammatory. Eating a more inflammatory diet has been associated with 75% increased odds of having cancer and 67% increased risk of dying from it.

mTor

Suppression of mTOR may be a central mediator of the lifespan-extending effects of dietary restriction. Caloric restriction has been heralded as a fountain of youth but negative side effects may include dangerously low blood pressure, infertility, slower healing of wounds, menstrual irregularities, sensitivity to cold and loss of strength, bone and libido. You're also walking around starving all the time. However the benefits of eating less may not be coming from restricting calories but from restricting protein. Methionine and the three branch-chain amino acids (BCAA) isoleucine, leucine and valine are particularly important to restrict, and they are particularly concentrated in animal proteins. A compound called DIM, formed when the cruciferous vegetable compound indole-3-carbinol hits our stomach acid, has been shown to suppress mTOR activation. Sulforaphane, another product of consuming cruciferous vegetables, also suppresses mTOR. Also coffee and green tea. To slow this aging pathway, strive to stick to the recommended daily intake of protein, 0.8g per healthy kg of body weight which translates to about 45g a day for the average-height woman.

Oxidation

Free radicals are unstable, violently reactive molecules with an unpaired electron. The unpaired electron steals electrons away from any molecule in their path. The resultant cellular damage causes aging. Mitochondria are the major source of cellular free radical formation. You can reduce mitochondrial free radical production rate through exercising and by lowering intake of the amino acid methionine. Methionine restriction is thought to account for about 50% of the lifespan extension attributed to full dietary restriction. Legumes have a comparably low methionine content. This is consistent with legume consumption being the most important dietary predictor of survival in older people around the world. Antioxidants can't seem to slow the rate of aging but they may be able to prevent age-related diseases linked to oxidative damage to the 99% of our DNA outside the mitochondria. Oxidative stress has been implicated in hair graying, the development of cataracts, arthritis, frailty and neurodegenerative, cardiovascular, kidney and pulmonary diseases, cognitive decline, age-related macular degeneration and muscle loss. Every meal is an opportunity to tip the balance in a pro-oxidant or antioxidant direction. Eating a single meal deficient in antioxidant-rich foods can leave us in a pro-oxidant state for hours. You can also experience increased oxidative stress due to illness, secondhand smoke, air pollution and sleep deprivation. Antioxidant levels can plummet within 2 hours of a stressful event and take up to 3 days to get back to normal. So healthier eating is especially important when we anticipate we'll be stressed, sick or tired. Kiwis, cooked carrots and green tea are particularly good at facilitating DNA repair. Red wine can improve blood antioxidant capacity. Nrf2 levels and signaling tend to decrease with age. 30 mins of cycling can boost them but the most potent natural Nrf2 inducer is sulfurophane (in cruciferous vegetables). B12 deficiency is associated with increased oxidative stress. To slow oxidation, consider daily exercising, restrict methionine intake by choosing plant based protein sources and reducing overall protein intake to recommended levels, activate Nrf2 defenses by eating green/ cruciferous vegetables and drinking green tea, eating berries and other naturally vibrantly coloured foods, using herbs and spices, avoiding added salt, sugar and saturated fat- and cholesterol-rich foods.

Telomeres

Telomeres are one of the aging pathways that have crept into the public consciousness. Increasing telomere length to slow or even prevent aging is a popular idea, though the science is controversial. Telomere elongation is possible through activation of the telomerase enzyme, but there is a constant battle between the forces hacking away at our telomeres such as aging, oxidative stress and inflammation and the lifestyle decisions that can help build them back up. To help boost this anti-aging pathway, on a daily basis consider: a) following the recommendations in the inflammation and oxidation chapters, b) eating a high-fibre diet centered around whole plant foods, drink tea and coffee, eat cruciferous vegetables, supplement with 800 to 1000 IU of vitamin D3 a day if your vitamind D blood level is under 20 ng/mL.

Lifestyle

Weight

BMI of 20 to 22 is the optimal weight for longevity (53-58kg for 5ft4).

Sleep

Sleep deprivation is no joke. The magnitude of impairment from a week of five-hour nights is similar to that reported in people who smoke, have diabetes or have coronary artery disease. There are some alarming contaminants in melatonin supplements. Pistachios are not just the most melatonin-rich nut, they are simply off-the-charts as the most melatonin-rich food ever recorded. To get a physiological dose of melatonin, all you have to eat is two pistachios.

Salt

Between 40 and 70 food intake drops by about a quarter due to a declining appetite. We also start losing our taste buds and sweet and salty tastes are often the first to slip, which can lead to diets particularly excessive in sugar and salt.

Preserving function

Bones

Inflammation and oxidative stress may play a role in osteoporosis. The intake of pro-inflammatory foods and an elevation of inflammatory markers in the blood such as C-reactive protein are both associated with osteoporotic fractures. A higher intake of fruits and vegetables is associated with lower fracture risk. The consumption of vitamin-C rich foods is associated with lower risk of bone loss, osteoporosis and hip fracture. Soy foods have been significantly associated with lower risk of fracture.

Nutritionally, soy milk is the best choice for replacing dairy milk in the human diet.

Bowel

Fibre.

Circulation

The capacity of our blood vessels to repair themselves is dependent on endothelial progenitor cells that emerge from stem cells in our bone marrow to patch up any holes in our endothelium, the innermost lining in our blood vessels that keeps our blood flowing smoothly. Reduce trans fat (mostly in meat and dairy), saturated fat (animal products and junk foods. also coconut oil palm oil) and dietary cholesterol (animal products, particularly eggs). Increase berries, onions, green tea. Eat plant based.

Immune system

Vaccination is less effective for the elderly. For example, while flu shots can build up sufficient antibody protection in 50-70% of younger individuals, that proportion falls to as few as 10-30% of older adults who are among those who need the protection the most. Also, the immune cells of elderly produce significantly more pro-inflammatory signals. This suggests the worst of both worlds - a decline in the part of the immune system that fights specific infections and an aggravation of nonspecific overreactions that can lead to inflammation. Immunosenescence is the decline in immune defense with aging. Exercise helps to improve efficacy of flu and pneumonia vaccines. Sleep improves the ability to clear viruses more quickly so you're less likely to become symptomatic. Those who eat more fruits and vegetables have a lower risk of getting an upper respiratory tract infection like the common cold. Those eating five or more servings of fruits and vegetables had an 82% greater protective antibody response to a flu vaccine than those who didn't. Disappointing trial results for echinacea. Kiwifruits, broccoli significantly shorten flu duration. Maybe seaweed and soy milk. Mushrooms, particularly shiitake. Nutritional yeast. Green tea. Fibre.

Joints

Athletic injuries to the knees are a well established risk factor for osteoarthritis later in life. At the same time, physical inactivity can put your knees at risk, not only because weakened muscles make for less stable joints but because cartilage also has a "use it or lose it" characteristic. Exercise is consistently effective for pain relief if you have osteoarthritis.

Dietary factors associated with accelerated progression: higher saturated fat intake, dietary cholesterol, pro-inflammatory omega-6 fat, pro-inflammatory diets.

Reduced acceleration: anti-inflammatory diet, fibre, green tea, strawberries. Ginger, turmeric (1/2 tsp daily). No evidence for glucosamine, chondroitin or collagen.

Muscles

Muscle mass starts to decline after 30 and accelerates after 50 at a loss of 1-2% every year. Not just because people become less active with age. Frailty is comprised of weakness, unintentional weight loss, exhaustion, slow walking speed and low physical activity. The heritability of muscle mass and strength is around 50%. Use it or lose it applies to muscle. Eating high on the Dietary Inflammatory Index has been associated with frailty. The recommended dietary allowance of protein is 0.8g of protein per ideal kg of body weight per day. Extra protein or essential amino acid supplementation appears to have little or no effect on muscle mass, strength or performance when taken alone or added to an exercise regimen. Whey protein stimulates the greatest response in terms of short term muscle protein synthesis but there is no correlation between this and long term changes in muscle mass. Higher fruit and vegetable intake linked to lower frailty. Creatine is effective if combined with exercise.

Skin

The three main constituents that make up the bulk of our skin are collagen, hyaluronic acid and elastin. As we age, the synthesis of collagen and elastin decreases by about 1% a year as does skin thickness. Intrinsic aged skin loses elasticity and develops fine wrinkles but is generally otherwise smooth and unblemished but extrinsic skin becomes leathery, bumpy, blotchy and mottled with coarse wrinkles and furrows. Between 80-90% of facial aging of those with light skin is due to sun exposure.

Fibre for varicose veins. Minimise sun exposure and use sunscreen to prevent skin cancer. Sunscreen to prevent skin aging, retinol to reverse aging. Nicotinamide for wrinkles. Vitamin C for oxidative stress but shelf stable versions aren't effective so buy L-ascorbic acid and mix 3g into 30g water and use a few drops on face daily. Collagen supplements haven't been shown to be effective. Stimulate collagen synthesis by ensuring a daily vitamin C intake of at least 95mg (an orange or a cup of broccoli have 70mg). Foods which may be defensive against wrinkles are antioxidant rich foods, anti-inflammatory foods, anti-glycation foods, fibre rich foods and foods shown to block collagen- and elastin- destroying enzymes such as garlic, turmeric and ginger.

Teeth

Green tea as a mouthwash, with or without added amla? Sugar consumption is considered to be the one and only cause of cavities. Superior dental health among vegetarians may be due to eating fewer pro-inflammatory foods or more anti-inflammatory components like high fibre diets. But vegetarians do have an increased risk of dental enamel erosion due to the consumption of more acidic fruits and vegetables such as citrus and tomatoes. The solution is to rinse out your mouth with water after consuming sour foods or beverages and waiting 30-60 minutes after consumption to allow your teeth to first remineralise. Flossing before brushing is much better for plaque removal than after. Nitrates may play an important antimicrobial role in saliva which alleviates gum inflammation.

Vision

Prevent cataracts with spring greens, spinach and goji berries.

#how not to die #anti-aging #diet #plant based diet #longevity