QualityCounts.com
To address the growing use of ad blockers we now use affiliate links to sites like Amazon.com, streaming services, and others. Affiliate links help sites like QualityCounts.com stay open. Affiliate links cost you nothing but help me support my family. We do not allow paid reviews on this site. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.  Also, you can donate  to ben@qualitycounts.com via Zelle or PayPal.  Click here for the PayPal QR.  Click here for Bitcoin QR code or Bitcoin address: 39muDw6WpQV8j6EdA8eUBvT5iFDiVpVpiE
Home ReliableRXPharmacy Past Newsletters Amazon.com Contact
 Sign-up for newsletter 
 Newsletter Archive
 Newsletter via RSS Feed
 Research on Supplements
 Health Conditions
 Anti-aging Recommendations
 Insulin and Aging
 QualityCounts.com in Time
 Longevity Affiliates:
 Amazon.com
 Coinbase
 

The Garmin 650 GPS has come way down because they came out with a new model (750). The last I checked, it was $386.12 with free shipping and no tax.  I bought one several years ago and can't believe I didn't buy one earlier.  Make sure it comes up as selling from Amazon.com and not one of their affiliates (usually shown on the right side bar). The only advantage that I could see in the 750 model was that if you were going to run a bunch of errands, you can enter them all and it will calculate the fastest route to complete all of them. The suction cup mount that comes with it is illegal in some state like CA. You’ll need to buy the bean bag mount or the air conditioner vent mount.  I got both and like the vent mount better but it was a little of a hassle to fasten it and it’s a hassle to get off so it is not really portable. There are slightly cheaper GPS systems but what you are paying for is the superior database and software (and probably a little for the brand name) plus I believe Garmin is the only one with yearly updates. I just updated my Garmin with the latest maps/store/restaurants/gas stations, etc. That’s something you can’t do with the built-in brand X units, which aren’t as easy to use either.

Recent Longevity News for the seven days ending 1/7/07.  You should consult your doctor if you are taking any medications.

Energy Drinks May Pose Risks For People With High Blood Pressure, Heart Disease - Science Daily, 11/6/07 - "Over the duration of the study, heart rates increased five to seven beats per minute and systolic blood pressure increased 10 millimeters of mercury (mmHg) after energy drink consumption, the researchers reported. No significant ECG changes were observed"

Type 2 Diabetes: Inflammation, Not Obesity, Cause Of Insulin Resistance - Science Daily, 11/6/07 - "If we can block or disarm this macrophage inflammatory pathway in humans, we could interrupt the cascade that leads to insulin resistance and diabetes"

13% of Americans Have Kidney Disease - WebMD, 11/6/07 - "Thirteen percent of Americans now have chronic kidney disease, up 3% over the last decade, mostly due to higher rates of diabetes and high blood pressure ... A recent CDC report on the same NHANES data suggested that 17% of Americans have chronic kidney disease. Coresh and colleagues came up with a lower number because the CDC analysis included people with earlier signs of kidney disease, while the Coresh team counted only those with persistent kidney disease"

Artery Plaque Risk From the Pill? - WebMD, 11/6/07 - "every decade of use was associated with a 42% increase in carotid plaque and a 34% increase in femoral plaque"

Diet Linked To Cognitive Decline And Dementia - WebMD, 11/6/07 - "An article published in Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences highlights information on the benefits of diets high in fruit, vegetables, cereals and fish and low in saturated fats in reducing dementia risk"

CORONA: Little Clinical Benefit Seen in First Major Statin Trial in HF - Medscape, 11/6/07 - "Over a median follow-up of 33 months, there were no significant differences in the primary end point or in all-cause mortality, the rate of coronary events (which included sudden death, fatal or nonfatal MI, percutaneous coronary intervention [PCI] or coronary arterial bypass graft [CABG], resuscitated cardiac arrest, and hospitalization for unstable angina), effects on NYHA class, or the rate of newly diagnosed diabetes ... Despite the lack of difference in the primary end point, there were significant reductions in levels of CRP; however, they were not decreased to what would be considered a low level ... This does bring into question whether higher doses of rosuvastatin could have additional clinical benefit" - Note:  Statins do little to increase HDL which some studies imply may be more important.  Also, statins have been shown to decrease co-enzyme Q10.  I would have liked to see the results if they had added niacin to increase HDL and co-enzyme Q10.

Blood Pressure Drug Curbs Brain Damage From Alzheimer's, Depression And Schizophrenia - Science Daily, 11/6/07 - "Prazosin, also prescribed as an antipsychotic medication, appears to block the increase of steroid hormones known as glucocorticoids ... Scientists believe stress activates a neurochemical response in the brain that triggers the release of glucocorticoids in the brain, and that high levels of glucocorticoids in blood serum are associated with such psychiatric conditions as schizophrenia, depression, PTSD and Alzheimer's disease"

Folic Acid in Preconceptual Period May Have a Preventive Effect on Congenital Heart Disease - Doctor's Guide, 11/6/07 - "The recent increase in folic acid intake has resulted in a decrease in the prevalence of infants born with severe congenital heart disease (CHD), supporting the idea that folic acid taken preconceptually may prevent CHD"

Diet Of Walnuts, Blueberries Improve Cognition; May Help Maintain Brain Function - Science Daily, 11/6/07 - "Diets containing two percent, six percent, or nine percent walnuts, when given to old rats, were found to reverse several parameters of brain aging, as well as age-related motor and cognitive deficits"

Death Risk Lower for Overweight People - WebMD, 11/6/07 - "Compared with people who fell into the normal-weight category, being obese was associated with an increased risk of death from cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and cancers that have been linked to obesity, such as colon, breast, esophageal, uterine, and ovarian cancers ... Being underweight was linked to an increased risk of death from non-cancer and non-cardiovascular causes ... being slightly overweight, but not obese, was associated with a significant decrease in the risk of death from non-cancer and non-cardiovascular causes"

UCSD Researchers Discover Inflammation, Not Obesity, Cause of Insulin Resistance - Doctor's Guide, 11/6/07 - "The research also proved that obesity without inflammation does not result in insulin resistance ... when an animal or a human being becomes obese, they develop steatosis, or increased fat in the liver. The steatosis leads to liver inflammation and hepatic insulin resistance"

Combination Niacin-Laropiprant Plus Simvastatin Reduces Cholesterol by Almost 50% - Doctor's Guide, 11/6/07 - "When patients with dyslipidemia added simvastatin to their experimental combination of extended-release niacin and laropiprant -- a novel anti-flushing agent -- they reported reductions in low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) of as much as 48% from baseline ... high density liopoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) was increased by 28% and triglycerides decreased by 33%"

Maternal Link to Alzheimer's Disease Found - Doctor's Guide, 11/6/07 - "People who have a mother with Alzheimer's disease appear to be at higher risk for getting the disease than those individuals whose fathers are afflicted ... People with an affected parent have a 4- to 10-fold higher risk compared to individuals with no family history. It isn't known why people with a family history are more susceptible to the disease"

New Combination Drug Improves Multiple Cholesterol Disorders in Single Pill - Doctor's Guide, 11/5/07 - "Simcor combines prescription niacin and simvastatin, two FDA-approved medications with established safety profiles, to target good cholesterol (HDL), bad cholesterol (LDL), and triglycerides in a single pill" - Sounds stupid to me.  Why would you pay prescription drug prices for something that is dirt cheap like niacin.  It is the Niaspan form of niacin, which they claim has less flush.  I tried Niaspan and couldn't tell any difference in the flush plus the flush eventually stopped even with immediate release niacin.  Plus I worry about increased liver damage with Niaspan.  Click here for the study that concerns me which was sustained release niacin, not Niaspan but it would seem to be similar.  Plus immediate release niacin is about 20% more effective at raising HDL than Niaspan.  Click here and note where Niaspan is on the graph.  I'm just eye balling the 20%.

Over-the-counter Pain Medications May Reduce Risk Of Parkinson's Disease - Science Daily, 11/5/07 - "regular users of non-aspirin NSAIDs reduced their risk of Parkinson's disease by as much as 60 percent compared to non-regular users and non-users. Women who were regular users of aspirin reduced their risk of Parkinson's disease by 40 percent, especially among those who regularly used aspirin for more than two years"

High Blood Pressure Or Irregular Heartbeat Linked To Alzheimer's Disease Progression - Science Daily, 11/5/07 - "10 with high blood pressure (systolic pressure over 160) at the time of AD diagnosis showed a rate of memory loss roughly 100 percent faster than those with normal blood pressure ... 10 with atrial fibrillation at the time of the diagnosis showed a rate of memory decline that was 75 percent faster than those with normal heartbeats"

When Treating High Blood Pressure, Simplicity is Best, Study Suggests - Science Daily, 11/5/07 - "initiate therapy with ACE-inhibitor/diuretic or Angiotensin receptor blocker/diuretic combination ... up-titrate combination therapy to the highest does ... add a calcium channel blocker and up-titrate ... add one of the non-first line antihypertensive agents" - I'm not a doctor but still feel people should stay away from diuretics.  See my research on first line treatments.  Also see the Alternative News section of my hypertension page.

Breastfeeding May Prevent Heart Disease - WebMD, 11/5/07 - "babies who are nursed for one month or longer have a lower body mass index (BMI) and higher levels of "good" HDL cholesterol in mid-adulthood than their bottle-fed counterparts"

High Blood Pressure May Vary by Season - WebMD, 11/5/07 - "people with high blood pressure may need higher doses of medication or even different drugs in the winter months ... Blood pressure was nearly 8% less likely to return to normal in the winter than in the summer ... weight and exercise may play a role in the seasonal variations ... People gain weight in the winter and lose weight in the summer"

Dark Chocolate Fights Heart Woes - WebMD, 11/5/07 - "After two weeks, coronary circulation significantly improved in participants who ate dark chocolate. There was no change among those who ate white chocolate ... Cacao polyphenol contains four times as many disease-fighting flavonoids per serving than red wine or tea"

Modest Gain In Visceral Fat Causes Dysfunction Of Blood Vessel Lining In Lean, Healthy Humans - Science Daily, 11/5/07 - "There are three parts to the take-home message here: One is that in healthy people, modest weight gain results in impaired endothelial function -- even in the absence of changes in blood pressure. The second is the encouraging news: endothelial function recovers after weight loss. The third point is that it is visceral fat -- the abdominal fat that surrounds internal organs -- rather than fat deposited as subcutaneous fat, just under the skin, that predicts endothelial dysfunction"

Antioxidants Could Provide All-purpose Radiation Protection - Science Daily, 11/5/07 - "Inositol and inositol hexaphosphate (IP6) protected both human skin cells and a skin cancer-prone mouse from exposure to ultraviolet B (UVB) radiation, the damaging radiation found in sunlight ... Twenty-three percent of treated mice developed tumors, compared to 51 percent of untreated, or control mice, which developed tumors. Moreover, the mice in the treated group that did develop cancer had only half as many tumors as the control mice" - See IP-6 products at Amazon.com.  Note:  IP-6 was one of the supplements I took when they told me I only had a small chance of survival from neck cancer.  Click here for the full story.  I still take it.

Common Medications Provide Equal Blood Pressure Control - Doctor's Guide, 11/2/07 - "Two common classes of blood pressure medications – angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEIs) and angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) – are equally effective at controlling high blood pressure ... ACEIs are slightly more likely than ARBs to cause a harmless but persistent dry cough ... If left untreated, high blood pressure can cause catastrophic health problems: the heart may enlarge, which can lead to heart failure; small bulges --aneurysms -- may form in blood vessels, including the aorta (the main artery to the heart) and others in the brain, legs, and intestines; blood vessels in the kidney may narrow, causing kidney failure; blood vessels in the eyes may burst or bleed, possibly leading to blindness; and arteries throughout the body may "harden" faster, potentially leading to heart attack or stroke"

Coffee vs. Skin Cancer? - WebMD, 11/2/07 - "each daily cup of caffeinated coffee was associated with a 5% drop in the women's odds of reporting nonmelanoma skin cancer"

Antipsychotic Drug May Treat Depression - WebMD, 11/2/07 - "depression was in remission for about 24.5% of the Risperdal patients, compared with almost 11% of those taking the placebo"

Antioxidants May Fight Fat - WebMD, 11/2/07 - "Those antioxidants didn't kill fat cells or slash the number of fat cells in the test tubes. Instead, they made fat cells cut their production of triglycerides, which are a heart hazard. The antioxidants did that by curbing an enzyme needed to make triglycerides ... That particular enzyme was most effectively reduced by the phenolic acid o-coumaric acid and the flavonoid rutin"

Our Diet Must Change To Cut Cancer Risk - Science Daily, 11/1/07 - "obesity increases the risk of cancer of the oesophagus, colorectum, pancreas, breast, endometrium, and kidney. Its goal is for the average body mass index of the population to be between 21 and 23"

Abstracts from this week's Doctor's Guide Nutrition/Dietetics plus abstracts from my RSS feeds:

Decreased in vivo oxidative stress and decreased platelet activation following metformin treatment in newly diagnosed type 2 diabetic subjects - Diabetes Metab Res Rev. 2007 Oct 30 - "These data suggest that metformin could improve oxidative stress, preserve antioxidant function and restrain platelet activation in type 2 diabetes"

Dose-dependent effects of docosahexaenoic acid-rich fish oil on erythrocyte docosahexaenoic acid and blood lipid levels - Br J Nutr. 2007 Oct 31;:1-6 - "For every 1 g/d increase in DHA intake, there was a 23 % reduction in TAG (mean baseline concentration 1.9 (sem 0.1) mmol/l), 4.4 % increase in HDL-cholesterol and 7.1 % increase in LDL-cholesterol. Erythrocyte DHA content increased in proportion to the dose of DHA consumed (r 0.72, P < 0.001) and the increase after 12 weeks was linearly related to reductions in TAG (r - 0.38, P < 0.01) and increases in total cholesterol (r 0.39, P < 0.01), LDL-cholesterol (r 0.33, P < 0.01) and HDL-cholesterol"

Fish oil attenuates adrenergic overactivity without altering glucose metabolism during an oral glucose load in haemodialysis patients - Br J Nutr. 2007 Nov 1;:1-7 - "Fish oil decreases adrenal activation induced by mental stress and has an insulin sensitizing effect in healthy subjects ... Fish oil supplementation blunted both re-increase in thermogenic response and concomitant increase in plasma epinephrine, but not in plasma norepinephrine, over the last 2 h of the experiment. Fish oil did not alter either whole-body glucose metabolism or substrate oxidation. These data show that in haemodialysis patients, fish oil attenuates adrenal overactivity induced by oral glucose but does not modulate whole-body glucose metabolism and insulin sensitivity"

Radiographic joint damage in early rheumatoid arthritis is highly dependent on body mass index - Arthritis Rheum. 2007 Oct 29;56(11):3575-3582 - "Multivariate regression analyses in both serologic groups revealed significantly higher odds of RS >/=7 in RF-positive patients of normal weight than in RF-positive obese patients (odds ratio [OR] 3.3)"

Relationship between vitamin D and muscle size and strength in patients on hemodialysis - J Ren Nutr. 2007 Nov;17(6):397-407 - "Treatment with active vitamin D was associated with greater muscle size and strength in this cohort of HD patients"

Acute effect of metformin on exercise capacity in active males - Diabetes Obes Metab. 2007 Oct 29 - "A single dose of metformin does not acutely influence maximal oxygen consumption or ventilatory threshold in healthy active males. The lower lactate concentration observed during continuous exercise with metformin was an unexpected finding considering that, in the resting state, metformin has been previously associated with a modest increase in lactate concentrations"

Resveratrol inhibits TNF-alpha-induced changes of adipokines in 3T3-L1 adipocytes  - Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 2007 Oct 26 - "resveratrol may improve obesity-induced cardiovascular disease, particularly atherosclerosis, by attenuating the TNF-alpha-induced changes of adipokines" - See my favorite Jarrow Resveratrol 100 at iHerb.

Health Focus (Homocysteine):

Popular supplements to reduce homocysteine:

Alternative Homocysteine News:

Other Homocysteine News:

Affiliates (I could sure use some sales.  You can drag the links onto your desktop and use them so that I get credit for the sale.  Click here for more stores):