Recent Longevity News for the seven days ending 4/6/05

A Deficiency of D? -  WshingtonPost.com, 4/5/05 - "most adults, especially those over 50, fall short on recommended daily levels of vitamin D, an essential nutrient long known to preserve bones and now increasingly tied to protection against ailments from cancer to rheumatoid arthritis ... the most practical way to increase our vitamin D levels is from supplements ... a growing number of scientists believe that vitamin D intake should be at least 1,000 IU or higher" - See iHerb vitamin D products (15% discount code "qc")

Water Pill Works Best for High Blood Pressure - WebMD, 4/5/05 - "thiazide-type diuretics, known as water pills, which cost just pennies a pill, are a better choice for the initial treatment of high blood pressure than the newer drugs, known as ACE inhibitors and calcium-channel blockers" - Yeah but what about compliance.  If people aren't taking them because of the side effects they aren't doing much good:

• Patient Compliance with Antihypertensive Therapy Appears Longer for Those Taking Angiotensin II Antagonists - Doctor's Guide, 7/18/02 - "One of the most challenging problems in the care of patients with high blood pressure is patient noncompliance with antihypertensive therapy ... Angiotensin II antagonists had the highest rate of persistence followed by ACE inhibitors, calcium channel blockers, beta-blockers, and diuretics"

Breast Cancer, Hormone Type May Be Linked - ABC News, 4/5/05 - "One trial, called HABITS, was halted in 2003, after women receiving the hormones estrogen and progestogen showed an increased risk of breast cancer recurring ... But a second study, the Stockholm trial, using a different therapy concentrating on estrogen, had no increase in breast cancers" - [WebMD]

Tea Ingredient Fights Leukemia - WebMD, 4/4/05 - "Tea extracts shut down leukemia cells but help normal cells fight cancer and infection" - See iHerb green tea products (15% discount code "qc").

Zinc May Help Middle School Students' Thinking - WebMD, 4/4/05 - "The seventh-graders who took 20 milligrams of zinc fared best. Their reaction times on a visual memory test became 12% quicker, their scores on a word recognition test improved by 9%, and their results on a task requiring sustained attention rose by 6%"

Folic acid: It's not just for your baby’s health - MSNBC, 4/4/05 - "The younger group of women (ages 25 to 42) who consumed 1000 micrograms of folic acid through foods and supplements had a 46 percent decrease in their risk of developing hypertension as compared to those women who consumed less than 200 micrograms ... older group of women (ages 30 to 55) 1000 micrograms of folic acid was found to decrease risk of developing hypertension to a lesser extent — 18 percent" - See iHerb folic acid products (15% discount code "qc").

Can 2 Garlic Cloves a Day Keep the Doc Away? - WebMD, 4/4/05 - "Ku's team recently found that allicin -- a compound found in garlic -- prevents a mild form of pulmonary hypertension in rats. Now they find that the garlic compound prevents a much more severe form of pulmonary hypertension in rats"

Ionizing Air Cleaners May Pose Health Hazard - WebMD, 4/4/05 - "five of the best-selling models tested emitted relatively high levels of ozone ... Ozone exposure can aggravate allergies and decrease lung function" [MSNBC]

Cranberries May Help Keep Arteries Clear - HealthDay, 4/3/05 - "In a study in pigs, cranberry juice helped relax blood vessels clogged with high blood cholesterol and narrowed by atherosclerosis"

Statins Do More Than Lower Cholesterol - HealthDay, 4/2/05 - "A new study in diabetic rats suggests that statin treatment also prevents or reverses damage to the delicate endothelial cells that line arteries"

Is chocolate good for you? - MSNBC, 4/1/05 - "One study that compared the total antioxidant activity in single servings of cocoa, green tea, black tea and red wine scored cocoa markedly higher than the rest"

Supplement Shows Promise for Body Fat Loss - WebMD, 4/1/05 - "The group that had already been taking CLA lost no more weight or body fat, but they maintained the body fat losses seen in the previous year. People who began taking the supplement during year two of the study lost an average of 3.5 pounds and also saw reductions in overall body fat" - See iHerb CLA products (15% discount code "qc")

Preventing Age-Related Cognitive Decline - Life Extension Magazine, 4/05 - "Free radicals are a significant culprit, interfering with energy metabolism, blood flow, and nerve structure and function. Mitochondrial energy boosters, vitamins, hormones, and other antioxidants are effective weapons in the war against oxidative stress, safely enhancing energy production and blood flow, suppressing inflammation, maintaining the structural integrity of nerve cell components, and facilitating neuronal activity"

Grapes May Stop Cancer Cells - WebMD, 3/31/05 - "We are getting direct evidence that these components in grapes work synergistically in fighting cancer"

Inflammation Key to Belly Fat 's Unhealthy Effects - HealthDay, 3/31/05 - "Inflammation may be the reason why that "spare tire" around the waist raises a person's risk of heart disease ... They checked each woman's abdominal fat for two proteins that promote inflammation -- interleukin 6 and tumor necrosis factor alpha -- and for a third protein that encourages blood clots, called plasminogen activator inhibitor 1 ... These three proteins are all manufactured by fat tissue"

Pill 'could lead to longer lives' - BBC News, 3/31/05 - "the mice with the highest metabolic rate lived around 25% longer than those with the lowest ... When mice were given thyroxine, they had increased metabolic rates and lived longer ... However, a leading specialist in human hormone disorders said the findings would "not be true for humans""

Sesame lignan may help control blood pressure - Nutra USA, 3/31/05 - "sesamin, one of the lignans most abundant in sesame seed and oil, helps to control high blood pressure"

• Sesame Oil Lowers Blood Pressure - HealthDay, 5/10/03 - "They consumed an average of 35 grams of sesame oil a day for 60 days ... using sesame oil as their sole cooking oil lowered their blood pressure levels from 166 mm Hg systolic to 134 mm Hg and from 101 mm Hg diastolic to 84.6 mm Hg ... The average dose of nifedipine taken by the people in the study was reduced from 22.7 milligrams per day to 7.45 milligrams per day"

Live Oral Bacteria Found In Arterial Plaque - Science Daily, 3/31/05 - "Gum disease has been linked to hardening of the arteries ... This report certainly provides a smoking gun that live bacteria have become seeded from the oral cavity to become inhabitants of the vessel wall ... The exciting implications focus on the known ability of these bacteria to destroy connective tissue in the mouth, suggesting that when infecting the vessel wall they may contribute to the instability of the atherosclerotic plaque — leading to acute events such as heart attack or stroke"

Simple Blood Test May Help To Predict Cardiovascular Risk In Older Women - Science Daily, 3/31/05 - "Increasing evidence supports a role for inflammation in the development of atherosclerosis, thickening and hardening of the arteries ... Women in the fourth quartile (highest WBC) had a doubled risk for coronary heart disease death compared with women in the first quartile (lowest WBC) ... the WBC count was an independent predictor of coronary heart disease risk, comparable in magnitude to C-reactive protein (CRP)"

Aspirin Beats Coumadin for Brain Blockage - WebMD, 3/30/05 - "Aspirin is safer and no less effective than Coumadin for treating dangerously blocked brain arteries ... many patients with blocked brain arteries may be able to avoid the expense and complications of treatment with Coumadin (also known by its generic name, warfarin)"

UC Davis Researchers Discover New Link Between C-reactive Protein, And Heart Disease And Stroke - Science Daily, 3/30/05 - "The cells that line the arteries are able to produce C-reactive protein ... The good news is that reducing the concentration of C-reactive protein with targeted drugs, such as statins, has been shown to reduce cardiovascular events"

• Low-dose Periostat (Doxycycline) Shows Benefits in Patients with Heart Failure - Doctor's Guide, 11/20/02 - "At six-month follow-up, sub-antimicrobial dose doxycyline significantly reduced CRP levels by 45.8 percent compared to baseline values"

Red Wine Protects The Heart - Science Daily, 3/30/05 - "His laboratory found polyphenols, minus the alcohol, are powerful anti–oxidants. Polyphenols also are found in fruit, particularly berries, as well as green tea and chocolate. Anti–oxidants slow cell deterioration. The polyphenols also help prevent the build up of plaque on the smooth muscle cells, as well as inhibit platelet formation, which can lead to blood clotting"

Flavonoids work together to inhibit cancer cells - Nutra USA, 3/30/05 - "Components in grapes, including some newly identified ones, work together to dramatically inhibit an enzyme crucial to the proliferation of cancer cells"

Answers to Common Questions on 5-Hydroxytryptophan - Dr. Murray's Natural Facts, 3/30/05 - "5-HTP is equal to or better than standard antidepressant drugs and the side effects are much less severe. The study with the most significance was one that compared to fluvoxamine, a “selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor” like Prozac, Paxil, and Zoloft. In the study, subjects received either 5-HTP (100 mg) or fluvoxamine (50 mg) three times daily for 6 weeks. 3 The percentage decrease in overall depression scores was slightly better in the 5-HTP group (60.7% vs. 56.1%)" - See 5-HTP products at iHerb (15% discount code "qc")

Abstracts from this week's Doctor's Guide Nutrition/Dietetics:

Effect of high protein vs high carbohydrate intake on insulin sensitivity, body weight, hemoglobin A1c, and blood pressure in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus - J Am Diet Assoc. 2005 Apr;105(4):573-80 - "Both the high-carbohydrate and high-protein groups lost weight (-2.2+/-0.9 kg, -2.5+/-1.6 kg, respectively, P <.05) and the difference between the groups was not significant ( P =.9). In the high-carbohydrate group, hemoglobin A1c decreased (from 8.2% to 6.9%, P <.03), fasting plasma glucose decreased (from 8.8 to 7.2 mmol/L, P <.02), and insulin sensitivity increased (from 12.8 to 17.2 mumol/kg/min, P <.03). No significant changes in these parameters occurred in the high-protein group, instead systolic and diastolic blood pressures decreased (-10.5+/-2.3 mm Hg, P =.003 and -18+/-9.0 mm Hg, P <.05, respectively)"

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