Recent Longevity News for the seven days ending 10/4/06.  You should consult your doctor if you are taking any medications.

Chemical Found In Curry May Help Immune System Clear Amyloid Plaques Found In Alzheimer's Disease - Science Daily, 10/3/06 - "curcumin -- a chemical found in curry and turmeric -- may help the immune system clear the brain of amyloid beta, which form the plaques found in Alzheimer's disease" - See iHerb or Vitacost curcumin products.

• Curry Spice May Fight Alzheimer's Disease - WebMD, 1/5/05 - "the curry pigment curcumin slows the formation of, and even destroys, accumulated plaque deposits in mouse brains"
• Curry May Protect Aging Brain - WebMD, 4/19/04 - "Small doses of curry could help protect the brain against Alzheimer's disease -- at least that's the effect in rats"

Antioxidant-rich Pecans Can Protect Against Unhealthy Oxidation - Science Daily, 10/3/06 - "adding just a handful of pecans to your diet each day may inhibit unwanted oxidation of blood lipids, thus helping reduce the risk of heart disease. Researchers suggest that this positive effect was in part due to the pecan's significant content of vitamin E ... Pecans are especially rich in one form of vitamin E -- gamma tocopherol"

U.S. not meeting folate targets - Reuters, 10/3/06 - "Only 39 percent of white women, 26 percent of black women, and 28 percent of Mexican American women have reached the 400 microgram per day target for folate intake" - See iHerb or Vitacost folic acid products.

CLA continues to offer possibilities for bone health - Nutra USA, 10/2/06 - "After 10 weeks of either diet, it was found that the CLA-fed mice had higher bone mineral density (BMD) in specific bone regions than corn oil (CO)-fed mice. This increased BMD was tied to a reduced activity of pro-inflammatory cytokines (such as tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha), and interleukin-6 (IL-6)) ... the CLA-fed mice also had significantly lower fat mass and increased muscle mass, compared to CO-fed mice" - See CLA products at iHerb or Vitacost.

Is Coffee or Tea Good for Your Liver? - Medscape, 10/2/06 - "The consumption of coffee and tea is associated with a reduced risk of CLD"

Aspirin May Be Newest Cancer Drug - WebMD, 10/2/06 - "In test-tube studies, the researchers find that aspirin does what some of the most cutting-edge new anticancer drugs do. It seems to keep newborn cancers from growing the blood vessels they need to become full-blown tumors -- a process called angiogenesis ... anticancer effect may not be due to blocking Cox enzymes at all" - See Drugstore.com aspirin products.

• Aspirin May Cut Enlarged Prostate Risk - WebMD, 8/30/06 - "Men who reported daily use of aspirin or other anti-inflammatory drugs, such as ibuprofen and naproxen, were 25% less likely to develop moderate to severe enlarged prostate symptoms"

Focal Cryoablation Effective in Destroying Prostate Cancer, Preserving Potency, Continence - Doctor's Guide, 9/28/06 - "At a mean follow-up of 70 months, 92.8% (26 of 28) remained biochemically disease-free and 96% (24 of 25) had no evidence of cancer on post-treatment biopsy ... Potency was completely maintained in 41.8% (13 of 27) of the patients and 40.7% of the others (11 of 27) were potent with erectile dysfunction drugs, for a total potency preservation rate of 88.9%. The patients experienced no other complications, such as incontinence"

Low-dose statin therapy reduces risk of CHD in Japanese subjects by 33% - Medscape, 9/28/06 - "the addition of pravastatin 10 mg to a low-fat diet rich in omega-3 fatty acids reduces the risk of CHD in Japanese individuals with moderately elevated cholesterol levels by 33%, approximately the same reduction observed in US and European primary-prevention trials that have used larger statin dose"

New Study Finds a Positive Association Between Periodontal Disease and Coronary Heart Disease - Doctor's Guide, 9/27/06 - "A number of pathways are suspected to be involved," said Geismar. "One way is that periodontal bacteria directly invade the arterial wall and another way is that bacterial products from the periodontal pocket exert a systemic effect on atherosclerosis development based on the immune system."

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

Improved insulin sensitivity with the angiotensin II-receptor blocker losartan in patients with hypertension and other cardiovascular risk factors - J Hum Hypertens. 2006 Sep 21 - "angiotensin II-receptor blockade with losartan improves glucose metabolism at the cellular level beyond what can be expected by the vasodilatation and blood pressure reduction alone" - Related study:

• Metabolic Effect of Telmisartan [Micardis] and Losartan [Cozaar] in Hypertensive Patients with Metabolic Syndrome - Cardiovasc Diabetol. 2005 May 15;4(1):6 - "Telmisartan, but not losartan, significantly (p < 0.05) reduced free plasma glucose, free plasma insulin, homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance and HbAic. Following treatment, plasma glucose and insulin were reduced during the oral glucose tolerance test by telmisartan, but not by losartan. Telmisartan also significantly reduced 24-hour mean systolic blood pressure (p < 0.05) and diastolic blood pressure (p < 0.05) compared with losartan"

Long-term Safety of Pioglitazone versus Glyburide in Patients with Recently Diagnosed Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus - Pharmacotherapy. 2006 Oct;26(10):1388-95 - "With long-term treatment, both glyburide and pioglitazone resulted in comparable glycemic control; however, pioglitazone was associated with less hypoglycemia and fewer withdrawals due to lack of efficacy or adverse events"

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