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Recent Longevity News for the seven days ending 4/2/08.  You should consult your doctor if you are taking any medications.

Statin Drug Crestor Slows Artery Plaque - WebMD, 4/1/08 - "A trial of the statin drug Crestor [rosuvastatin] has been halted early due to "unequivocal evidence" that it reduces heart attacks, strokes, and deaths due to cardiovascular disease in people with no signs of heart disease"

Mom's fish intake may boost child's brain power - MSMBC, 4/1/08 - "Preschoolers whose mothers regularly ate low-mercury fish during pregnancy may have sharper minds than their peers ... Oily fish such as tuna, salmon and sardines contain omega-3 fatty acids, which are important in fetal and child brain development. The problem is that fatty fish are more likely to be contaminated with mercury, a metal that is toxic to brain cells, particularly in fetuses and young children"

Elevated AST, ALT Linked to Higher Future Mortality Rate - Medscape, 4/1/08 - "An abnormal AST up to 2 times ULN was associated with a 32% increased risk of death, and more than 2 times ULN was linked to a 78% increase in risk ... An abnormal ALT up to 2 times ULN was associated with a 21% increase in mortality risk, and more than 2 times ULN was associated with a 59% increase in risk ... patients with normal AST or ALT had a lower than expected risk of death (SMR 0.95 for AST and 0.61 for ALT)" - Related study:

  • Elevated ALT Levels Predict Risk of Death From Liver Cancer - Medscape, 11/2/06 - "Upper limits of normal range from 30 IU/L to 60 IU/L, depending on the laboratory. "We want to reset it southward of 30 IU/L," ... ALT levels are a reflection of the general vascular condition ... If the level is above 30, then that person probably has a problem — fatty liver or some vascular disease, including occlusive coronary artery disease"

Whole Grains Shrink Belly Fat? - Dr. Weil, 3/31/08 - "the whole grains may have helped by stabilizing the dieters' blood sugar, which in turn may have had a beneficial effect on CRP levels"

New Blood Pressure Medication Has Fewer Side Effects, Global Study Suggests - Science Daily, 3/31/08 - "The study found a new drug telmisartan is as effective as the popular drug ramipril in reducing cardiovascular death in high risk patients and it has fewer side effects" - I've been plugging telmisartan for some time now.  Click here.  See telmisartan at OffshoreRx1.com.

ONTARGET: ARB Similar to ACE - Medscape, 3/31/08 - "The angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB) telmisartan (Micardis, Boehringer Ingelheim) was "noninferior" to the ACE inhibitor ramipril in patients with vascular disease or high-risk diabetes in the landmark ONTARGET trial"

2-drug Blood Pressure Therapy Dramatically Lowers Cardiovascular Risk - Science Daily, 3/31/08 - "One group received a tablet containing benazepril, which is a type of drug called an ACE inhibitor, and amlodipine, which belongs to a class of drugs known as calcium channel blockers or CCBs. The other pill combined benazepril and hydrochloro-thiazide, a type of diuretic or "water pill." The 20 percent reduction in cardiovascular events was observed with the ACE/CCB combination tablet"

Significant Reductions In Mortality Shown Using Blood Pressure-lowering Treatment In Very Elderly - Science Daily, 3/31/08 - "Lowering the blood pressure of elderly patients could cut their total mortality by a fifth and their rate of cardiovascular events by a third"

Mobile phones 'more dangerous than smoking' - The Independent, 3/30/08 - "using handsets for 10 years or more can double the risk of brain cancer. Cancers take at least a decade to develop, invalidating official safety assurances based on earlier studies which included few, if any, people who had used the phones for that long"

Green Tea Helps Beat Superbugs, Study Suggests - Science Daily, 3/30/08 - "drinking green tea helps the action of important antibiotics in their fight against resistant superbugs, making them up to three times more effective" - See green tea extract at Amazon.com.

Why The Flu Virus Is More Infectious In Cold Winter Temperatures - Science Daily, 3/30/08 - "At winter temperatures, the virus’s outer covering, or envelope, hardens to a rubbery gel that could shield the virus as it passes from person to person ... At warmer temperatures, however, the protective gel melts to a liquid phase. But this liquid phase apparently isn’t tough enough to protect the virus against the elements, and so the virus loses its ability to spread from person to person"

Autism: Amino acid DMG helps in 42 per cent of cases - HealthWorld Online, 3/29/08 - "organised by the Autism Research Institute ... 42 per cent of them reported major improvements in their condition after taking the supplement ... He recommends one to four 125 mg DMG tablets per day for an autistic child, and it should be taken with 800 micrograms of folic acid" - See Dimethylglycine at iHerb.

Type 2 Diabetes Is Linked to Increased Risk for Parkinson's Disease - Science Daily, 3/28/08 - "individuals who developed type 2 diabetes had an 83% increased risk for PD compared with the general population ... insulin may play a role in regulation of brain dopanergic activity"

Cholesterol Testing Not Enough for Some - WebMD, 3/27/08 - "once LDL cholesterol is lowered to recommended levels in high-risk patients, testing for the protein ApoB may more accurately identify those still at risk for cardiovascular events" - See my ApoB page fro ways to reduce it.

Brief, High Doses Of Folate -- B Vitamin -- Blunt Damage From Heart Attack - Science Daily, 3/27/08 - "Long known for its role in preventing anemia in expectant mothers and spinal birth defects in newborns, the B vitamin folate, found in leafy green vegetables, beans and nuts has now been shown to blunt the damaging effects of heart attack when given in short-term, high doses to test animals ... a high dose of folic acid for humans comparable to that given the rats would require an average-size adult to swallow more than 200 one-milligram pills per day, "an impractical and unrealistic regimen, even if the body excretes the excess."" - I debated whether to publish this.  It is a ridiculous amount.

Vitamin D Deficiency May Be To Blame For Soft Bones In Baby's Skull - Science Daily, 3/26/08 - "Softening of the skull bones in normal-looking babies might reflect vitamin D deficiency during pregnancy"

Thiazolidinediones May Act Against Psoriasis - Medscape, 3/26/08 - "The adjusted odds ratio for a first time diagnosis of psoriasis in current users of five or more prescriptions for thiazolidinediones was 0.33, as compared to no use. The adjusted odds ratio for metformin was 0.77" - See pioglitazone at OffshoreRx1.com.

Big Bellies Linked to Alzheimer's Disease - washingtonpost.com, 3/26/08 - "People who have big bellies in their 40s are much more likely to get Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia in their 70s" - [Science Daily]

Previously Unrecognized Testosterone Deficiency Common In Men With Type 1 Diabetes - Science Daily, 3/26/08 - "Testosterone deficiency, previously recognized as common in men with type 2 diabetes, is also common in men with type 1 diabetes"

Unwanted Bedmates: Your Pillow Could Make You Sick - cbs2chicago.com, 3/26/08 - "your pillow could be making you sick. Pillows are the perfect place for dust mites and fungi to grow and multiply ... One option is to stick it in a plastic bag and put it in the freezer to kill the mites and other germs ... you can also wash your pillows in very hot water to kill the germs and mites or buy special impermeable pillow cases to keep them out"

Vitamin B6 and Homocysteine Changes Seen in Women With Rheumatoid Arthritis - Medscape, 3/25/08 - "those with rheumatoid arthritis are deficient in vitamin B6 and have elevated levels of homocysteine ... The vitamin B6 deficit appears to be the result of altered metabolism, not reduced dietary intake ... dietary intake of B vitamins is not decreased in rheumatoid arthritis patients, yet they still show a deficit of vitamin B6. Consistent with this finding, rheumatoid arthritis was also associated with increased levels of homocysteine. None of the subjects in the study were using B vitamin supplements ... Individuals with rheumatoid arthritis may need to get more B vitamins through diet, supplements, or fortified foods"

Cell phone radiation chart - CNET reviews, 2/28/08 - "Motorola Razr V3x ... 0.14" - That was the second lowest.

Abstracts from this week's Doctor's Guide Nutrition/Dietetics plus abstracts from my RSS feeds (Click here for the journals, the PubMed ones at the top):

Letrozole suppresses plasma estradiol and estrone sulphate more completely than anastrozole in postmenopausal women with breast cancer - J Clin Oncol. 2008 Apr 1;26(10):1671-6 - "Letrozole reduces plasma E2 and E1S levels to a significantly greater extent than anastrozole" - See Femara (letrozole) at OffshoreRX.

ROSIGLITAZONE AND RISK OF CANCER. A META-ANALYSIS OF RANDOMIZED CLINICAL TRIALS - Diabetes Care. 2008 Mar 28 - "The incidence of malignancies was significantly lower in rosiglitazone-treated patients than in control groups (0.23[0.19-0.26] vs. 0.44[0.34-0.58] cases/100 patient*years" - Note:  I was taking rosiglitazone when I had my neck cancer.  Maybe that's one of the things that saved me.  I've since switched to pioglitazone (as an anti-aging measure to prevent AGEs, I don't have diabetes).

Effects of pioglitazone on major adverse cardiovascular events in high-risk patients with type 2 diabetes: Results from PROspective pioglitAzone Clinical Trial In macro Vascular Events (PROactive 10) - Am Heart J. 2008 Apr;155(4):712-717 - "major adverse cardiovascular events (MACEs) ... At final visit, 257 (9.9%) pioglitazone-treated and 313 (11.9%) placebo-treated patients had a first event that contributed to the MACE1 end point (hazard ratio 0.82, 95% CI 0.70-0.97, P = .0201). There were statistically significant differences in favor of pioglitazone in 5 of the other MACE end points (P < .05) and a trend to benefit in the sixth (P = .052), with hazard ratios of 0.79 to 0.83 ... In patients with advanced type 2 diabetes at high risk for cardiovascular events, pioglitazone treatment resulted in significant risk reductions in MACE composite end points to 3 years" - See pioglitazone at OffshoreRx1.com.  As opposed to Avandia (rosiglitazone):

Increased serum Advanced Glycation End products is a distinct finding in lean women with PCOS - Clin Endocrinol (Oxf). 2008 Mar 20 - "PCOS women exhibited statistically higher AGEs levels"

Cod liver oil (n-3 fatty acids) as an non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug sparing agent in rheumatoid arthritis - Rheumatology (Oxford). 2008 Mar 24 - "Out of 49 patients 19 (39%) in the cod liver oil group and out of 48 patients 5 (10%) in the placebo group were able to reduce their daily NSAID requirement by >30% ... This study suggests that cod liver oil supplements containing n-3 fatty acids can be used as NSAID-sparing agents in RA patients" - See Cod liver oil products at iHerb and Mega Twin EPA at iHerb.

Curcumin stimulates proliferation of embryonic neural progenitor cells and neurogenesis in the adult hippocampus - J Biol Chem. 2008 Mar 24 - "Administration of curcumin to adult mice resulted in a significant increase in the number of newly-generated cells in the dentate gyrus of hippocampus, indicating that curcumin enhances adult hippocampal neurogenesis" - See curcumin products at Amazon.com.

Omega-3 fatty acid containing diets decrease plasma triglyceride concentrations in mice by reducing endogenous triglyceride synthesis and enhancing the blood clearance of triglyceride-rich particles - Clin Nutr. 2008 Mar 22 - "Levels of hepatic TG and apoB synthesis were 30-50% and 42% lower in mice fed with the fish oil diet compared to the other three diets. In addition, compared to soy oil diet, fish oil feeding significantly increased blood clearance of chylomicron-like lipid emulsions by 21-26%" - See Mega Twin EPA at Amazon.com.

Health Focus (HbA1c):

Death Risk Rises With Blood Sugar - WebMD, 9/20/04 - "As your blood sugar level goes up, so does your risk of death and heart disease - even if you don't have diabetes ... every 1% increase in HbA1c ups the risk of death -- from all causes -- by 24% for men and 28% for women ... These are important studies because they show we should be concerned about blood glucose elevations even in people who do not have diabetes"

Alternative HbA1c News:

Other HbA1c News: