Recent Longevity News for the seven days ending 8/20/08.  You should consult your doctor if you are taking any medications.

Three Treatments Shown to Work Against Wrinkles - NYTimes.com, 8/18/08 - "A recent review in The Archives of Dermatology concludes that three anti-aging treatments are proven clinically effective: the topical application of retinol; carbon dioxide laser resurfacing; and injection of hyaluronic acid, a moisture-retaining acid that occurs naturally in the skin" - drugstore.com has retinol.  Also, see hyaluronic acid at iHerb.

HDL-C Tied to Lower Extremity Performance - Physician's Weekly, 8/18/08 - "Men with HDL-C levels that were greater than 55 mg/dL had, on average, a three times greater probability of having the highest performance indexes for lower extremities, including: ... 4-meter fast walking speed (odds ratio, 2.57) ... 400-meter walking speed (odds ratio, 3.74) Knee extension torque (odds ratio, 3.63)" - See niacin at Amazon.com (niacin increases HDL but that statement hasn't been approved by the FDA even thought I feel that having the government have to approve a statement is a violation of the First Amendment.  Don't mind me, I had nails for breakfast but it has been one of my pet peeves).

Blood Pressure Response To Daily Stress Provides Clues For Better Hypertension Treatment - Science Daily, 8/14/08 - "Research shows that two-thirds of patients’ high blood pressure is not controlled despite the best efforts of their doctors. That is terrible ... Studies will explore fundamentals such as why about 30 percent of young healthy blacks and 15 percent of whites can’t effectively excrete sodium, a problem that raises blood pressure by increasing the body’s fluid volume. “We think there is a defect in their kidneys, in the normal mechanisms that allow them to excrete salt,” ... America’s current obesity and type 2 diabetes epidemic also has them looking at insulin, glucose and cholesterol levels and whether fat exacerbates all the factors they are following, which they believe it does"

ACE Inhibitors Plus ARBs Reduce Proteinuria But Increase Kidney Damage - Doctor's Guide, 8/15/08 - "in people at high vascular risk, telmisartan's effects on major renal outcomes are similar to [those of] ramipril. Although combination therapy reduces proteinuria to a greater extent than monotherapy, overall it worsens major renal outcomes" - Click here and go to the bottom for research on combining ARBs and ACE inhibitors.

Belly Fat Linked to Stroke Risk - WebMD, 8/14/08 - "The BMI, however, was not independently associated with an increased risk of stroke ... The risk association for waist measurements was far more powerful. People with bigger waist circumferences (greater than 40 inches for men and 35 inches for women) had four times the stroke risk when compared with people with typical waistlines"

Moisturizers Up Skin Cancer in Mice - WebMD, 8/14/08 - "Five days a week, for 17 weeks, the researchers rubbed moisturizer into the animals' skin. The result: ... Dermabase increased the total number of tumors by 69% ... Dermovan increased the total number of tumors by 95% ... Eucerin increased the total number of tumors by 24% ... Vanicream increased the total number of tumors by 58%"

Air Pollution May Hurt the Heart - WebMD, 8/13/08 - "Air pollution -- even at levels deemed "acceptable" by the Environmental Protection Agency -- leads to short- and long-term injury to the heart and blood vessels, increases rates of heart disease-related hospitalizations, and can even cause death"

Caffeine Reduces Cognitive Decline in Women - Medscape, 8/9/08 - "French researchers report that women who drank more than 3 cups of coffee per day had less decline during 4 years of follow-up compared with those who drank a cup or less. However, no such effect was seen in men ... Risk for Decline on Cognitive Endpoints at 4 Years for Women Drinking More Than 3 Cups of Coffee Per Day at Baseline vs 1 or More Cups ... Verbal Retrieval ... 0.67 ... Visuospatial Memory ... 0.82"

Modafinil Reduces Severe Cancer Fatigue - Clinical Psychiatry News, 8/08 - "Among those with severe fatigue at baseline, patients on modafinil had significantly greater reductions in fatigue, compared with those on placebo" - See modafinil at International Anti-aging Systems.

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):

The angiotensin II receptor blocker telmisartan improves insulin resistance and has beneficial effects in hypertensive patients with type 2 diabetes and poor glycemic control - Diabetes Res Clin Pract. 2008 Aug 8 - "The telmisartan significantly improved HOMA-IR in hypertensive patients and also significantly decreased HbA1c in type 2 diabetic patients especially in the patients with poor glycemic control (HbA1c>==8.0%). These results indicate that telmisartan improves insulin resistance and gives beneficial effects in hypertensive patients with type 2 diabetes and a poor glycemic control" - Click here for why I feel telmisartan should be the first line treatment for hypertension.

Pioglitazone effects on blood pressure in patients with metabolic syndrome - Nippon Rinsho. 2008 Aug;66(8):1591-5 - "Although blood pressure lowering effect of pioglitazone is small, several clinical trials and a meta-analysis indicated that it decreases both systolic and diastolic blood pressure. Pioglitazone has favorable effects on important components of metabolic syndrome including blood pressure"

Effect of vitamin K supplementation on insulin resistance in older men and women - Diabetes Care. 2008 Aug 12 - "The effect of 36-month vitamin K supplementation on HOMA-IR differed by sex (sex-by-treatment interaction: P = 0.02). HOMA-IR was statistically significantly lower at the 36-month visit among men in the supplement group vs. the men in the control group (P = 0.01) after adjustment for baseline HOMA-IR, BMI, and body weight change. There were no statistically significant differences in outcome measures between intervention groups in women ... Vitamin K supplementation for 36 months at doses attainable in the diet may reduce progression of insulin resistance in older men" - See vitamin K at Amazon.com.

Continuation and long-term maintenance treatment with Hypericum extract WS((R)) 5570 after recovery from an acute episode of moderate depression - A double-blind, randomized, placebo controlled long-term trial - Eur Neuropsychopharmacol. 2008 Aug 9 - "3x300 mg/day WS((R)) 5570 or placebo for 26 weeks. 426 patients were evaluated for efficacy. Relapse rates during continuation treatment were 51/282 (18.1%) for WS((R)) 5570 and 37/144 (25.7%) for placebo. Average time to relapse was 177+/-2.8 and 163+/-4.4 days for WS((R)) 5570 and placebo, respectively (time-to-event analysis; p=0.034; alpha=0.025 one-sided). Patients treated with WS((R)) 5570 showed more favorable HAMD and Beck Depression Inventory time courses and greater over-all improvement (CGI) than those randomized to placebo. In long-term maintenance treatment a pronounced prophylactic effect of WS((R)) 5570 was observed in patients with an early onset of depression as well as in those with a high degree of chronicity. Adverse event rates under WS((R)) 5570 were comparable to placebo. WS((R)) 5570 showed a beneficial effect in preventing relapse after recovery from acute depression. Tolerability in continuation and long-term maintenance treatment was on the placebo level" - Note:  The 5570 extract is the Perika Brand.  See St. John's wort at Amazon.com.

Health Focus (Coffee/Caffeine):

Coffee/Caffeine News & Research:

• Caffeine Reduces Cognitive Decline in Women - Medscape, 8/9/08 - "French researchers report that women who drank more than 3 cups of coffee per day had less decline during 4 years of follow-up compared with those who drank a cup or less. However, no such effect was seen in men ... Risk for Decline on Cognitive Endpoints at 4 Years for Women Drinking More Than 3 Cups of Coffee Per Day at Baseline vs 1 or More Cups ... Verbal Retrieval ... 0.67 ... Visuospatial Memory ... 0.82"
• Post-exercise Caffeine Helps Muscles Refuel - Science Daily, 7/1/08 - "Recipe to recover more quickly from exercise: Finish workout, eat pasta, and wash down with five or six cups of strong coffee ... Athletes who ingested caffeine with carbohydrate had 66% more glycogen in their muscles four hours after finishing intense, glycogen-depleting exercise, compared to when they consumed carbohydrate alone" - Yeah, if you want to fell like crap for the rest of the day.  I drink by caffeine before the workout then again after a power nap. - Ben
• Could Caffeine Stop MS in Its Tracks? - WebMD, 6/30/08 - "When consumed in large amounts in a newly reported study, caffeine was found to protect against multiple sclerosis by blocking key steps in the development of the disease"
• Higher Coffee Consumption Associated With Lower Liver Cancer Risk - Science Daily, 6/26/08 - "0-1 cup, 2-3 cups, 4-5 cups, 6-7 cups, and 8 or more cups per day ... The researchers noted a significant inverse association between coffee drinking and the risk of primary liver cancer. They found that the multivariable hazards ratio of liver cancer dropped for each group that drank more coffee. It fell from 1.00, to .66, to .44, to .38 to .32 respectively"
• Drinking Coffee May Extend Life - WebMD, 6/16/08
• Drinking Large Amounts Of Coffee May Actually Extend One's Lifespan, Study Suggests - Science Daily, 6/16/08 - "Women consuming two to three cups of caffeinated coffee per day had a 25 percent lower risk of death from heart disease during the follow-up period (which lasted from 1980 to 2004 and involved 84,214 women) as compared with non-consumers, and an 18 percent lower risk of death caused by something other than cancer or heart disease as compared with non-consumers during follow-up. For men, this level of consumption was associated with neither a higher nor a lower risk of death during the follow-up period"
• Increased Coffee Consumption May Reduce Risk for Gout in Men - Medscape, 5/25/08 - "During the 12-year study, there were 757 confirmed incident cases of gout. Increasing coffee intake was inversely associated with the risk for gout, with multivariate relative risks (RRs) for incident gout of 1.00, 0.97, 0.92, 0.60 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.41 - 0.87), and 0.41 (95% CI, 0.19 - 0.88) for coffee consumption categories of 0, less than 1, 1 to 3, 4 to 5, and 6 or more cups per day, respectively ... For decaffeinated coffee, the multivariate RRs for 0, less than 1, 1 to 3, and 4 or more cups per day were 1.00, 0.83, 0.67 (95% CI, 0.54 - 0.82), and 0.73 (95% CI, 0.46 - 1.17), respectively"
• Coffee May Protect Against Breast Cancer, Study Shows - Science Daily, 4/24/08 - "Depending on which variant of a certain gene a woman has, a coffee consumption rate of at least two-three cups a day can either reduce the total risk of developing breast cancer or delay the onset of cancer"
• Cup Of Coffee A Day Could Help Protect Against Alzheimer's Disease, Study Suggests - Science Daily, 4/2/08 - "Caffeine appears to block several of the disruptive effects of cholesterol that make the blood-brain barrier leaky ... High levels of cholesterol are a risk factor for Alzheimer's disease, perhaps by compromising the protective nature of the blood-brain barrier. For the first time we have shown that chronic ingestion of caffeine protects the BBB from cholesterol-induced leakage"
• Caffeine Bad for Diabetes - WebMD, 1/28/08 - "On the days the patients took caffeine, their blood-sugar levels were 8% higher ... Caffeine increases blood glucose by as much as oral diabetes medications decrease it ... Lane warns against reading too much into this small, 10-patient study ... Several studies have found that coffee drinkers -- especially those who drink a lot of coffee -- have a lower risk of diabetes than do other people. So how can coffee both protect against diabetes and worsen diabetes? ... it is becoming increasingly clear it is not the caffeine that is beneficial. The picture is now evolving where we see that some other components of coffee besides caffeine may be beneficial in long-term in reduction of diabetes risk"
• Ovarian Cancer Risk Not Affected By Alcohol And Smoking, But Reduced By Caffeine, Study Finds - Science Daily, 1/22/08 - "they observed an inverse trend of risk with total caffeine and caffeinated coffee intake, but no association with decaffeinated coffee"
• Caffeine Is Linked To Miscarriage Risk, New Study Shows - Science Daily, 1/21/08
• Coffee, tea, caffeine and risk of breast cancer: A 22-year follow-up - Int J Cancer. 2008 - "our results suggested a weak inverse association between caffeine-containing beverages and risk of postmenopausal breast cancer"
• 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"
• Can Coffee Keep Your Mind Sharp? - Dr. Weil, 10/22/07
• Low/Moderate Coffee Intake Increases Risk for Antihypertensive Drug Therapy - Medscape, 8/31/07
• Drinking 4 or More Cups of Coffee a Day May Help Prevent Gout - Medscape, 8/23/07 - "the risk for developing gout decreased with increasing coffee consumption. The risk of gout was 40 percent lower for men who drank 4 to 5 cups a day and 59 percent lower for men who drank 6 or more cups a day than for men who never drank coffee"
• Coffee Consumption May Lower Uric Acid Levels - The Precursor of Gout - Medscape, 8/23/07 - "levels of uric acid in the blood significantly decreased with increasing coffee intake, but not with tea intake"
• Caffeine May Help Women's Memory - WebMD, 8/6/07 - "Women who reported drinking at least three cups of coffee or tea per day at the study's start showed less of a drop in their test scores during the study, compared with women who reported consuming at most one daily cup of tea or coffee ... The biggest benefit was seen in the women's verbal memory"
• Coffee Drinking Related To Reduced Risk Of Liver Cancer - Science Daily, 8/1/07 - "hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) ... The results showed a 41 percent reduction of HCC risk among coffee drinkers compared to those who never drank coffee"
• How Coffee Raises Cholesterol - Science Daily, 6/15/07 - "Cafestol, a compound found in coffee, elevates cholesterol by hijacking a receptor in an intestinal pathway critical to its regulation ... consuming five cups of French press coffee per day (30 milligrams of cafestol) for four weeks raises cholesterol in the blood 6 to 8 percent"
• Drinking Four Or More Cups Of Coffee A Day May Help Prevent Gout - Science Daily, 5/25/07 - "the data revealed that the risk for developing gout decreased with increasing coffee consumption. The risk of gout was 40 percent lower for men who drank 4 to 5 cups a day and 59 percent lower for men who drank 6 or more cups a day than for men who never drank coffee"
• Coffee's Health Perks Get Attention - WebMD, 4/30/07
• Moderate Coffee Drinking Reduces Many Risks, Panel Says - Science Daily, 4/30/07 - "Some research in neuropharamacology suggests that one cup of coffee can halve the risk of Parkinson's disease. Other studies have found it reduces the risk of Alzheimer's disease, kidney stones, gallstones, depression and even suicide ... persons who were heavy coffee consumers had a lower risk of type 2 diabetes"
• Coffee: Aroma, Taste And Dietary Fiber - Science Daily, 2/26/07 - "soluble dietary fiber (SDF) ...brewed coffee contains a significant amount of SDF — 02.5 percent to 20.0 percent by weight of powdered coffee bean"
• Coffee May Protect Against Diabetes - WebMD, 2/23/07
• Is Coffee Good for You? - Dr. Weil, 2/19/07 - "Those who drank coffee had lower rates of age-related cognitive decline than those who didn't, with maximum protection seen in men who drank three cups of coffee a day ... both coffee and decaf can raise your blood pressure temporarily, but we still don't know whether this can lead to hypertension ... Coffee may reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes ... coffee may protect against Parkinson's disease"
• Get the diet scoop: 6 promising supplements, 6 to avoid - CNN, 2/16/07 - "promising ... Caffeine ... EGCG ... Chromium ... Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA) ... 5-HTP ... L-dopa or L-tyrosine"
• Caffeinated drinks may protect elderly against heart disease - Nutra USA, 2/9/07 - "Over-65s who drink four or more caffeinated beverages every day may reduce their risk of heart disease by a whopping 53 per cent"
• Coffee helps douse workout pain - MSNBC, 1/10/06 - "Those who consumed caffeine one hour before the maximum force test had a 48 percent reduction in pain compared with the placebo group"
• A cup of confusion: Is coffee healthy or not? - MSNBC, 11/24/06
• Can caffeine protect against Alzheimer's? - USA Today, 11/5/06 - "Lesko and others are betting on research suggesting that caffeine will offer protection not just against Alzheimer's, but also against Parkinson's ... Alzheimer-stricken mice that had guzzled caffeine could easily find their way through a maze. Mice that got just water had more signs of brain disease and got confused in the maze"
• Coffee May Protect Against Diabetes - WebMD, 10/25/06 - "After adjusting for other known diabetes risk factors, the researchers concluded that both past and current drinkers of caffeinated coffee had about a 60% reduction in diabetes risk, compared with study participants who never drank coffee ... A similar reduction in risk was seen among the roughly one-third of study participants with impaired glucose tolerance"
• Decaf Coffee Isn't Caffeine-Free - WebMD, 10/11/06
• 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"
• Coffee could slow mental decline in old men - Nutra USA, 8/17/06 - "men who had regular consumption of coffee had a lower rate of decline over the ten-year period than men who did not drink coffee (declines of 1.2 versus 2.6 points for drinkers and non-drinkers, respectively)"
• Coffee as a Health Drink? Studies Find Some Benefits - New York Times, 8/14/06
• Caffeine could protect against memory loss - Nutra USA, 7/12/06 - "caffeine concentrations in the brain resulting from a few cups of coffee could significantly increase gamma rhythm strength, which is likely to contribute to the cognitive beneficial effects"
• Coffee Might Curb Alcoholic Cirrhosis - WebMD, 6/12/06 - "For every daily cup of coffee that participants reported drinking, they were 22% less likely to have been diagnosed with alcoholic cirrhosis during the study ... Coffee drinkers were also less likely to have high blood levels of liver enzymes"
• Coffee May Help Postmenopausal Heart - WebMD, 5/30/06 - "Women who reported drinking one to three daily cups of coffee at the study's start were 24% less likely to die of heart disease during the study"
• Heavy Coffee Drinking Doesn't Hurt the Heart - Intelihealth, 4/24/06 - "Data on more than 120,000 participants in two U.S. studies that followed people for as long as two decades found no link between heart disease and a daily intake of six or more cups of coffee"
• Coffee May Not Up Heart Disease Risk - WebMD, 4/24/06
• Coffee May Up Heart Risks for Some - WebMD, 3/7/06
• More evidence of null link between coffee and colorectal cancer - Nutra USA, 2/7/06
• Coffee May Decrease Risk of Developing Type 2 Diabetes in Women - Medscape, 2/6/06 - "The RR of type 2 diabetes was 0.87 for 1 cup per day, 0.58 for 2 to 3 cups per day, and 0.53 for 4 or more cups per day vs no coffee consumption"
• Caffeine: Sex Potion for Females? - WebMD, 1/13/06
• Caffeine Limits Blood Flow to Heart Muscle During Exercise - Doctor's Guide, 1/13/06 - "the blood flow measurements taken immediately after exercise were significantly lower after the participants had taken caffeine tablets ... Although caffeine is a stimulant, these results also indicate that coffee may not necessarily boost athletic performance"
• You thought coffee was bad for you? Actually, it seems to protect against all sorts of ills, from diabetes to liver cancer - US News, 12/19/05 - "a cup of joe--or a carafe--may chase away the blues; turn you into a better athlete; and protect against diabetes, Parkinson's disease, gallstones, and some cancers ... a two-cup-a-day habit can dramatically cut the risk of chronic liver disease in those at greatest risk"
• Coffee and Tea Can Reduce Risk of Chronic Liver Disease - Doctor's Guide, 12/2/05 - "people at high risk for liver injury may be able to reduce their risk for developing chronic liver disease significantly by drinking more than two cups of coffee or tea daily. This preventative effect was only seen in people at higher risk for liver disease due to heavy alcohol intake, being overweight or having diabetes or iron overload"
• Caffeine Boosts Short-Term Memory - WebMD, 11/30/05
• Decaf Coffee May Raise Heart Risks - WebMD, 11/16/05
• No Link Found Between Caffeine Intake and Development of Hypertension in Women - Doctor's Guide, 11/8/05 - "When studying individual classes of caffeinated beverages, habitual coffee consumption was not associated with increased risk of hypertension. By contrast, consumption of cola beverages was associated with an increased risk of hypertension, independent of whether it was sugared or diet cola"
• More evidence coffee may cut risk of liver cancer - Nutra USA, 8/4/05 - "those who drink coffee occasionally reduced their risk by almost 30 per cent, while those drinking one or more cups a day had a risk of just 0.58 compared with the non-drinkers"
• Coffee May Cut Type 2 Diabetes Risk - WebMD, 7/5/05 - "Those who drank four to six cups per day had a 28% lower risk of type 2 diabetes, compared with people who drank the least coffee"
• Research Links Coffee to Heart Risks for Some - WebMD, 6/17/05 - "coffee drinkers had more stiffness of the major blood vessel of the body than non-coffee drinkers. Decreased elasticity of major blood vessels is a risk factor for developing heart disease like heart attack and stroke"
• Cardiovascular Effects of Coffee: Is It a Risk Factor? - Medscape, 5/27/05 - "recent evidence suggests that moderate coffee intake does not represent a health hazard and may even be associated with beneficial effects"
• The Stay-Alert Secret of Caffeine - WebMD, 4/21/05
• Caffeine Tied to Blood Sugar Problems - WebMD, 3/9/05 - "caffeine reduced the men's ability to process blood sugar. It also interfered with insulin, the body's hormone that handles blood sugar ... But what about the studies that show that coffee may protect against type 2 diabetes ... Here's the catch. In the new study, caffeine came from a pill ... Coffee contains many other substances besides caffeine, such as potassium, antioxidants, and magnesium"
• Women and coffee: How many cups a day? - MSNBC, 3/1/05
• Studies Examine Coffee Drinking And Risk Of Liver And Colorectal Cancers - Science Daily, 2/23/05 - "People who drank coffee on a daily or almost daily basis had about half the risk of HCC [hepatocellular carcinoma] compared with those who never drank coffee"
• Can Coffee Protect Against Common Cancers? - WebMD, 2/15/05 - "Recent studies have shown that regular coffee consumption may lower the risk of developing diseases such as diabetes and Parkinson's ... people who drank coffee every day or almost daily had about half the liver cancer risk as those who never drank coffee. The more coffee people drank the lower their risk"
• More Americans Getting a Caffeine Buzz - WebMD, 12/28/04
• How much caffeine is too much? - MSNBC, 12/3/04 - "even two six-ounce cups of coffee a day may increase blood test values that measure inflammation ... two large American studies show no effect of coffee or caffeine on the incidence of heart disease ... caffeine increases the loss of calcium, raising the risk of osteoporosis ... two to three cups of coffee can raise blood pressure around 10 points"
• Caffeine May Reduce the Risk of Parkinson's Disease in Some Women - Medscape, 11/10/04
• Regular or Decaf, Coffee May Ward Off Diabetes - WebMD, 11/9/04 - "women who drank more than four cups of regular or decaffeinated coffee per day have significantly lower levels of a component of insulin than non-coffee drinkers ... This insulin component is called C-peptide"
• Coffee May Raise Heart Disease Risk - WebMD, 10/20/04 - "Participants who said they drank more than 200 mL of coffee a day (a little more than one cup, which was defined as moderate consumption) had higher levels of inflammatory markers than those who drank no coffee"
• Is Caffeine Withdrawal a Mental Disorder? - WebMD, 9/30/04
• Caffeine Adversely Affects Endothelial Function In Healthy People - Doctor's Guide, 5/24/04
• Caffeine Consumption Appears Protective Against Liver Injury in At-Risk Populations - Doctor's Guide, 5/19/04
• Food Can Have Powerful Effect on Health - WebMD, 5/17/04 - "people who drank more than two cups of coffee a day were about half as likely to have elevated liver enzyme blood tests compared with those who consumed less than a cup a day. And when divided into five groups according to the total amount of caffeine consumed, people in the highest group had about one-third the risk of liver damage than those in the lowest group"
• Most Use Caffeine Wrong, Study Suggests - WebMD, 5/11/04 - "it's better to take tiny amounts of caffeine -- about two ounces of coffee -- every hour, all day long"
• Body drinks up coffee antioxidants - Nutra USA, 4/7/04
• Increasing Daily Coffee Consumption Appears Associated with Lower Risk of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus - Doctor's Guide, 3/10/04
• Water good, coffee bad? Ain’t necessarily so - MSNBC, 2/23/04
• Coffee May Cut Type 2 Diabetes Risk - WebMD, 1/5/04 - "Those who drank six or more cups per day had the lowest risk of having type 2 diabetes compared with those who drank less coffee ... Caffeine may stimulate muscles to burn fat and sugar more efficiently and could trigger the breakdown of fat in other tissue as well"
• Coffee Drinkers Have Faster Sperm - Doctor's Guide, 10/23/03
• Should people with high cholesterol levels stop drinking coffee? - Natural Foods Merchandiser, 9/03
• Coffee May Help Prevent Diabetes - WebMD, 6/18/03
• Coffee May Cut Diabetes Risk - Medscape, 6/18/03 - "Men who drink six or more cups of coffee a day were less than half as likely to develop diabetes compared with nondrinkers. Drinking four to six cups helps too: Those men saw their risk cut by 29% ... Women who consume four cups or more a day also reduced their risk of developing the disease by about 30%. But in their case, six cups did not seem to be any more protective than four cups ... Decaf was associated with a "modest reduction" in risk for those who drank four cups or more a day"
• Caffeine-Ephedra Combo Stresses Heart - WebMD, 4/11/03
• More Migraine Relief Seen with Over-the-Counter Combination than with Sumatriptan - Doctor's Guide, 4/4/03 - "Patients are more likely to get relief from a migraine episode if they use an over-the-counter (OTC) treatment that combines acetaminophen, aspirin, and caffeine at the first sign of an attack than if they use 50 mg of sumatriptan (Imitrex) ... Among the OTC subjects, 87% had responded to treatment at 2 hours, compared to 75% of sumatriptan subjects (P=0.045). The differences seen 24 hours after treatment showed that 66% of the OTC subjects had sustained relief, compared to 49% of the sumatriptan group" - See drugstore.com acetaminophen products.
• Caffeine, HRT Affect Parkinson's Risk - WebMD, 3/12/03 - "caffeine reduces Parkinson's risk in women who don't take HRT -- but increases it in women who do take HRT"
• Coffee May Lower Risk of Gallstones in Women - New Hope Natural Media, 2/27/03
• Coffee Break Can Be Loaded With Calories - WebMD, 2/20/03 - "Depending on the kind of milk and ingredients used, a large latte can contain from 250 calories to as many as 570 calories"
• Caffeine Keeps Teens Awake at Night - WebMD, 1/6/03
• Coffee Packs More Than a Caffeine Buzz - WebMD, 11/18/02 - "it's not just the caffeine in coffee that gives your heart a buzz ... drinking a triple espresso, with or without caffeine, caused a blood pressure spike and an increase in nervous system activity among occasional coffee drinkers. Habitual coffee drinkers were immune to this immediate blood pressure-raising reaction, although their nervous system showed an increase in activity ... This demonstrates how little we know about the effects of one of our most popular beverages and the most abundantly consumed stimulant worldwide"
• High Coffee Intake May Lower Type 2 Diabetes Risk - Doctor's Guide, 11/7/02
• Java Reduces Type 2 Diabetes Risk - WebMD, 11/7/02 - "Caffeine is known to decrease the body's response to insulin. However, other ingredients found in coffee -- magnesium and chlorogenic acid -- may have beneficial effects ... researchers followed more than 17,000 Dutch adults. After several years of follow-up, those who drank seven or more cups a day were half as likely to develop type 2 diabetes compared with those who drank less than two cups a day ... The long-term effects of drinking too much caffeine are not known and other health issues could develop" - Note:  Chlorogenic acid is in artichoke extract.  If magnesium and chlorogenic acid are the reason for the 50% diabetes reduction, it would seem to be a better choice than drinking seven cups of coffee per day.  See artichoke extract at Amazon.com. - Ben
• The Science and Policy of Performance Enhancing Supplements - Life Extension Magazine, 9/02 - "Dr. Jacobs gave Canadian Special Forces soldiers between 0.8 to 1.0 mg per kilogram (mg/kg) of ephedrine and 3 mg to 5 mg/kg of caffeine 90 to 105 minutes prior to various exercise tests. These numbers translate to approximately 60 mg to 80 mg of ephedrine and 239 mg to 398 mg of caffeine for a 175 lb man-relatively high doses of ephedrine, especially when combined with the caffeine intake ... Time to exhaustion during a high intensity cycle ergometer test (at approx 85% maximal aerobic output) increased dramatically"
• Caffeine Said To Lower Cancer Risk - Intelihealth, 8/27/02
• Novel Method of Enhancing Anti-Fat Effects of CLA - Life Extension Magazine, 8/02 - "Guarana is an herb that contains a form of caffeine called guaranine, which is 2.5 times stronger than the caffeine found in coffee, tea and soft drinks ... Caffeine accelerates the effectiveness of CLA, thus making CLA a more potent fat burner" - See iHerb and Vitacost guarana products.
• Ephedra-Caffeine Combo Cleared - Natural Foods Merchandiser, 7/02 - "The combination of ephedra and caffeine is safe and effective for weight loss, according to research published in the May 2002 issue of the International Journal of Obesity."
• Caffeine May Worsen Glaucoma - Nutrition Science News, 6/27/02 - "Compared with decaffeinated coffee, regular coffee produced a statistically significant increase in IOP at both 60 and 90 minutes. The magnitude of the increase was approximately 2 to 3 mm Hg, an amount that, if sustained over the long term, could have an adverse effect on visual function" - Also see my glaucoma page.
• Caffeine Has Significant Impact On Electroencephalogram - Doctor's Guide, 6/14/02
• Ephedra Plus Caffeine Safely Lowers Weight in Controlled Trial - Medscape, 6/11/02
• Ephedra Safe for Healthy Dieters - WebMD, 6/6/02 - "With just diet and exercise, patients lost about 6 pounds. When ephedra/caffeine was added, they lost about 12 pounds ... While this study didn't show a lot of adverse effects, they didn't use an off-the-shelf supplement ... There are many, many other ingredients in these supplements. It is not the same as Metabolife or others. I really don't think you can use this as a study to invoke the safety of dietary supplements. This is just not what people out there are taking"
• Caffeine's Effect on Blood Pressure - WebMD, 5/17/02 - "Thirty minutes after the caffeine was given [250 mg of caffeine (the equivalent of 2-3 cups of coffee)], there was a big jump in the stiffness of their arteries, said Vlachopoulos. The effect peaked after 60 minutes and remained significant for at least three hours ... This led to an 11 point jump in systolic blood pressure -- the top number -- and an 8 point jump in diastolic blood pressure -- the bottom number"
• No Bladder Cancer Risk Associated With Use of Coffee, Tea - Doctor's Guide, 5/13/02
• Coffee Doesn't Cause High Blood Pressure - WebMD, 3/26/02
• Coffee Drinking Plays Small Role In Development Of Hypertension - Doctor's Guide, 3/26/02
• Caffeine Can Decrease Insulin Sensitivity - Doctor's Guide, 2/21/02
• Nothing Works Better Than a Nap - Healthscout, 2/18/02 - "With the caffeine, the likelihood of an accident dropped by 66 percent. But when the drivers took a 15-minute doze, even if they didn't really fall asleep, and then had the caffeine, the likelihood of a sleep-related accident dropped by 91 percent"
• Caffeine Disturbs Blood Sugar Hormone - WebMD, 2/6/02 - "When insulin sensitivity goes down, this indicates that your body is less able to take blood sugar into the cells to be used for energy ... Caffeine decreased insulin sensitivity by 15%, a significant decline compared to placebo. Plus, stress hormone levels in the blood increased with caffeine. Blood pressure increased to a small degree as well"
• Caffeine Sharpens the Mind - WebMD, 12/20/01 - "The researchers looked at 40 people over 65 and tested their memory in the morning and again in the afternoon a few days later. Each time, they drank a 12 oz. cup of coffee before going through a series of memory tests. Some drank decaffeinated coffee and some had the real thing but were not told which one they were getting ... those who drank decaffeinated coffee "showed a significant decline in memory performance from morning to afternoon," Ryan says. Those who drank the caffeine had no fall in their memory test scores"
• Higher Caffeine Consumption Accelerates Bone Loss in Post -Menopausal Women - Doctor's Guide, 11/1/01
• Caffeine Ingestion Decreases Glucose Disposal And Carbohydrate Storage - Doctor's Guide, 11/1/01
• Report: Caffeine Can Help Soldiers - Intelihealth, 10/26/01
• Framingham Study Finds No Correlations Between Coffee And Parkinson’s Disease - Doctor's Guide, 10/1/01
• Can a Cup a Day Keep Parkinson's Away? - WebMD, 7/19/01 - "The more men drink, the lower their risk of Parkinson's; women, however, only see their risk lowered when they drink in moderation -- 1-3 cups per day ... There is some biological experimental evidence that caffeine does protect against [brain cell death]"
• Drink Tea -- Your Skin May Thank You for It Later, Caffeine and Artificial Enzyme May Protect Against Skin Cancer - WebMD, 4/5/01 - "caffeine applied directly to the skin reversed sun-induced damage in mice ... green and black tea prevented sun-induced skin cancer when given orally to mice. The caffeine in the tea, they found, was the active component inhibiting cancer growth. Specifically, they found that caffeine increases skin cell death, suggesting injured skin cells die before cancer has a chance to develop in them ... Conney's team also found that oral caffeine increases levels of a special gene that is involved in suppressing tumor growth"
• For Pregnant Women, Even One Cup of Joe May Be Harmful, Study Shows Smoking to Be Key - WebMD, 12/20/00
• Study blames caffeine for some miscarriages - CNN, 12/20/00
• Caffeine-Miscarriages Link Studied - Intelihealth, 12/20/00
• Study Suggests Link Between Coffee Use And Lowered Parkinson's Risk - Doctor's Guide, 11/14/00
• Java Deters Parkinson's Disease - Nutrition Science News, 10/00
• Java Junkies Rejoice! Caffeine May Reduce Risk of Parkinson's - WebMD, 10/16/00
• No Bones About It: Drinking Coffee May Increase Arthritis Risk - WebMD, 7/26/00
• Watch the Lattes: Too Much Caffeine May Lead to Bladder Problems - WebMD, 7/21/00
• Coffee brews trouble for the naturally nervous - CNN, 7/7/00
• Higher Coffee And Caffeine Intake May Be Linked With Lower Incidence Of Parkinson Disease - Doctor's Guide, 5/23/00
• Does Coffee's Caffeine Protect Against Parkinson's Disease? - WebMD, 5/22/00
• Caffeine Enhances the Symptoms of Low Blood Sugar - WebMD, 4/12/00
• Caffeine Increases Effectiveness Of Headache Treatments - Doctor's Guide, 8/20/99
• Coffee May Help Prevent Gallstones - Intelihealth, 6/9/99
• Morning Coffee Boosts Blood Pressure, Stress Hormones Throughout The Day - Doctor's Guide, 3/4/99
• Moderate Caffeine Use Boosts Blood Pressure, Potential For Heart Disease - Doctor's Guide, 5/25/98
• Dangers Of Using Caffeine To Enhance Bodybuilding Performance - Doctor's Guide, 5/21/98
• Caffeine May Extend Life Of Cancer Cells - Doctor's Guide, 1/22/98
• High-Dose Caffeine May Be Effective Pain Reliever - Doctor's Guide, 11/7/97
• In Moderation, Coffee is Probably One of Life's Less Harmful Vices - Doctor's Guide, 6/13/97

Coffee/Caffeine Abstracts:

• Timing of Blood Pressure Measurement Related to Caffeine Consumption (January) - Ann Pharmacother. 2007 Dec 19 - "Reviews of caffeine's acute effect on blood pressure indicate changes of 3-15 mm Hg systolic and 4-13 mm Hg diastolic. Typically, blood pressure changes occur within 30 minutes, peak in 1-2 hours, and may persist for more than 4 hours"
• Coffee, caffeine, and coronary heart disease - Curr Opin Clin Nutr Metab Care. 2007 Nov;10(6):745-51 - "Diterpenes present in unfiltered coffee and caffeine each appear to increase risk of coronary heart disease. A lower risk of coronary heart disease among moderate coffee drinkers might be due to antioxidants found in coffee"
• Coffee consumption is associated with higher plasma adiponectin concentrations in women with and without type 2 diabetes: a prospective cohort study - Diabetes Care. 2007 Dec 10 - "High consumption of caffeine-containing coffee is associated with higher adiponectin and lower inflammatory marker concentrations"
• Coffee consumption and mortality in a 14-year follow-up of an elderly northern Finnish population - Br J Nutr. 2007 Dec 6;:1-8 - "The total mortality rate was inversely related to the number of cups (average volume, 125 ml) of coffee consumed daily. After adjustment for age, sub-period of follow-up, sex, marital status, basic educational level, previous occupational group, current smoking, BMI, history of myocardial infarction, self-rated health and presence of diabetes, cognitive impairment or physical disability, the estimated relative risk reduction of total mortality per an increment of one more cup of coffee per d reported at baseline was 4 (95 % CI 0, 8) % ... The present study provides evidence for daily (caffeine-containing) coffee intake being inversely associated with mortality in the elderly"
• Intakes of coffee, tea, milk, soda and juice and renal cell cancer in a pooled analysis of 13 prospective studies - Int J Cancer. 2007 Jun 21 - "Coffee consumption was associated with a modestly lower risk of renal cell cancer (pooled multivariate RR for 3 or more 8 oz (237 ml) cups/day versus less than one 8 oz (237 ml) cup/day = 0.84 ... Tea consumption was also inversely associated with renal cell cancer risk (pooled multivariate RR for 1 or more 8 oz (237 ml) cups/day versus nondrinkers = 0.85"
• Coffee consumption and risk of colorectal cancer in a population-based prospective cohort of Japanese men and women - Int J Cancer. 2007 Apr 20 - "We observed a significant inverse association between coffee consumption and the risk of developing invasive colon cancer among women. Compared with those who almost never consumed coffee, women who regularly consumed 3 or more cups of coffee per day had a RR of 0.44 ... In men, no significant decrease was observed in any colorectal cancer site"
• Coffee consumption and the risk of gestational diabetes mellitus - Acta Obstet Gynecol Scand. 2007;86(2):161-6 - "Women who reported moderate pre-pregnancy caffeinated coffee intake had a significantly reduced risk of GDM (adjusted RR 0.50; 95% CI 0.29-0.85) compared with non-consumers. No risk reduction was associated with decaffeinated coffee intake"
• Coffee intake and incidence of hypertension - Am J Clin Nutr. 2007 Mar;85(3):718-23 - "Women who drank >6 cups/d had a lower risk than did women who drank >0-3 cups/d ... Coffee abstinence is associated with a lower hypertension risk than is low coffee consumption. An inverse U-shaped relation between coffee intake and risk of hypertension was observed in the women"
• Effect of chronic coffee consumption on aortic stiffness and wave reflections in hypertensive patients - Eur J Clin Nutr. 2006 Dec 13 - "Coffee consumption is associated with increased wave reflections, but not aortic stiffness in never-treated hypertensive patients"
• Does coffee consumption reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes in individuals with impaired glucose? - Diabetes Care. 2006 Nov;29(11):2385-90 - "Past and current coffee drinkers had a reduced risk of incident diabetes (odds ratio 0.38 [95% CI 0.17-0.87] and 0.36 ... This study confirms a striking protective effect of caffeinated coffee against incident diabetes"
• Coffee consumption and markers of inflammation and endothelial dysfunction in healthy and diabetic women - Am J Clin Nutr. 2006 Oct;84(4):888-93 - "neither caffeinated nor decaffeinated filtered coffee has a detrimental effect on endothelial function. In contrast, the results suggest that coffee consumption is inversely associated with markers of inflammation and endothelial dysfunction"
• Coffee consumption is inversely associated with cognitive decline in elderly European men: the FINE Study - Eur J Clin Nutr. 2006 Aug 16 - "consuming coffee reduces cognitive decline in elderly men. An inverse and J-shaped association may exist between the number of cups of coffee consumed and cognitive decline, with the least cognitive decline for men consuming three cups of coffee per day"
• The relationship between green tea and total caffeine intake and risk for self-reported type 2 diabetes among Japanese adults - Ann Intern Med. 2006 Apr 18;144(8):554-62 - "Consumption of green tea and coffee was inversely associated with risk for diabetes after adjustment for age, sex, body mass index, and other risk factors. Multivariable odds ratios for diabetes among participants who frequently drank green tea and coffee (> or =6 cups of green tea per day and > or =3 cups of coffee per day) were 0.67 (95% CI, 0.47 to 0.94) and 0.58 (CI, 0.37 to 0.90), respectively, compared with those who drank less than 1 cup per week ... Total caffeine intake from these beverages was associated with a 33% reduced risk for diabetes"
• Consumption of coffee, but not black tea, is associated with decreased risk of premenopausal breast cancer - J Nutr. 2006 Jan;136(1):166-71 - "Among premenopausal women, consumption of regular coffee was associated with linear declines in breast cancer risk (P for trend = 0.03); consumers of >/=4 cups/d experienced a 40% risk reduction"
• Habitual caffeine intake and the risk of hypertension in women - JAMA. 2005 Nov 9;294(18):2330-5
• Coffee--poison or medicine? - Ther Umsch. 2005 Sep;62(9):629-33 - "Recent publications suggest that moderate coffee intake does not represent a health hazard, but may even be associated with beneficial effects on the cardiovascular system and diabetes"
• Effect of coffee intake on blood pressure in male habitual alcohol drinkers - Hypertens Res. 2005 Jun;28(6):521-7 - "coffee intake of more than 3 cups per day in hypertensive and prehypertensive men who regularly consume alcohol lowers blood pressure"
• Coffee consumption and risk of type 2 diabetes: a systematic review - JAMA. 2005 Jul 6;294(1):97-104 - "This systematic review supports the hypothesis that habitual coffee consumption is associated with a substantially lower risk of type 2 diabetes"
• Chronic coffee consumption has a detrimental effect on aortic stiffness and wave reflections - Am J Clin Nutr. 2005 Jun;81(6):1307-12 - "Chronic coffee consumption exerts a detrimental effect on aortic stiffness and wave reflections, which may increase the risk of cardiovascular disease"
• Coffee Intake and Risk of Hypertension: The Johns Hopkins Precursors Study - Archives of Internal Medicine, 3/26/02 - "After adjustment for the variables listed above, however, these associations were not statistically significant ... Conclusion  Over many years of follow-up, coffee drinking is associated with small increases in blood pressure, but appears to play a small role in the development of hypertension"