Extra B vitamin may keep mind sharp in old age
[6 December 2003 - Reuters Health - By Alison McCook] Elderly people who get relatively low amounts of the B vitamin niacin in their diets may be more likely to develop Alzheimer's within the next few years than others, according to preliminary research. However, study author Dr. Martha Clare Morris of Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's Medical Center in Chicago, Illinois cautioned in an interview with Reuters Health that this is a very early finding, which needs to be confirmed by additional studies before the B vitamin can be linked to Alzheimer's.

Emory study finds most baby-boomers fall short of good health
[5 December 2002 - EurekAlert (American Association for the Advancement of Science)] Most baby-boomers are not aging well, and as they enter their golden years, the burden and cost of their health care will only increase according to a new Emory University study that found only one in five adults has good, comprehensive mental and physical health. Baby-boomers composed the largest demographic portion of the survey, and a majority of them fell within the "incompletely healthy" category, signaling that only a few are aging with their health intact, and many have the potential to develop serious illnesses, says Corey Lee Keyes, lead researcher and assistant professor of sociology at Emory. The study appears in the November/December issue of the "American Journal of Health Promotion."

MORI Poll shows why the Age Positive campaign is so important
[3 December 2002 - UK Department of Work and Pensions] New research from the MORI Social Research Institute reveals that ageism is the most common form of discrimination in the workplace. The research shows that 1 in 5 people have experienced some form of workplace discrimination and of those discriminated against, by far the biggest cause is age, which was cited by 38% of people. FINDINGS: One in five people (22%) have experienced some form of discrimination in the workplace. Of those almost two in five (38%) cite that it was due to their age - by far the biggest cause mentioned. Older workers are considered to be resistant to change and training and lacking technological skills, whilst younger workers are thought to be inexperienced, unreliable, irresponsible, more likely to throw 'sickies' and lacking organisational skills.

Job Search Behavior at the End of the Life Cycle
[December 2002 - Center for Retirement Research, Boston College - Hugo Benitez-Silva] This paper presents one of the first formal dynamic models of job search by older individuals. It also presents an empirical analysis of job search behavior among this population using the Health and Retirement Study. Several factors currently compound to make the topic of this research an important one in the agenda of the Economics of Aging: ongoing demographic, epidemiological, socio-economic, technological, and labor market trends indicate that older Americans are more likely to be labor force participants beyond traditional retirement ages. Increasing longevity, improving health, strong labor market conditions, increasing labor supply flexibility stemming from an increase in part-time work and self-employment and the use of technological advances to promote second careers, and increasing labor force participation, make the study of search behavior at the end of the life cycle, in a formal theoretical and empirical model, an important contribution. Our findings show that older Americans actively search for new jobs, both on the job and when out of work, and that previous work attachment and health limitations are key to understanding the different job search behavior of employed and non-employed individuals, as well as males and females.