In the previous Summer Olympic Games held in Paris — a hundred years ago, in 1924 — one celebrated distance runner won five gold medals. Paavo Nurmi, “the Flying Finn”, collected nine Olympic gold medals during the 1920s and even became a household name in the US. His record number of Olympic golds was not surpassed until 2008 by US swimmer Michael Phelps.
Nurmi apparently exercised a lot, was lean, a life-long non-smoker, and favoured a healthy vegetarian diet. Moreover, as a successful businessman in Helsinki after his years as an athlete, he was not easily stressed. Accordingly, in view of Jo Ellison’s report about anti-ageing (“The wisdoms of the longevity wackadoodles”, Opinion, Life & Arts, May 11), Nurmi should have easily lived to 100 years — perhaps even longer. But no, he experienced his first heart attack at the age of 61. A stroke left him handicapped, and he died, aged 76, in 1973.
Why is that? Nurmi’s blood pressure and cholesterol were reported to be “normal”, but during the 1960s cholesterol values below 7 mmol/L (millimoles per litre) were considered normal in Finland, But when comparing his condition with that of his peers in our studies, Nurmi apparently was hypercholesterolemic, or suffered from very high levels of cholesterol.
I don’t look down on a healthy lifestyle. But rather than adding 180 supplements like the biohacker Dave Asprey, who is featured in Ellison’s piece, I’d prefer adding a generic statin or antihypertensive as needed. Much much cheaper too.
Timo Strandberg
Professor of Geriatrics (emeritus), Helsinki University Hospital, Finland
