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Recent Longevity News for the seven days ending 10/15/08.  You should consult your doctor if you are taking any medications.

Marijuana Use Takes Toll On Adolescent Brain Function, Research Finds - Science Daily, 10/15/08 - "chronic, heavy marijuana use during adolescence – a critical period of ongoing brain development – is associated with poorer performance on thinking tasks, including slower psychomotor speed and poorer complex attention, verbal memory and planning ability"

Resveratrol Prevents Fat Accumulation In Livers Of 'Alcoholic' Mice - Science Daily, 10/14/08 - "The accumulation of fat in the liver as a result of chronic alcohol consumption could be prevented by consuming resveratrol, according to a new study with mice. The research found that resveratrol reduced the amount of fat produced in the liver of mice fed alcohol and, at the same time, increased the rate at which fat within the liver is broken down" - See resveratrol products at Amazon.com.

Surfing the Web Stimulates Older Brains - WebMD, 10/14/08 - "Middle-aged to older adults who know their way around the Internet had more stimulation of decision-making and complex reasoning areas of the brain than peers who were new to web surfing ... reading didn’t stimulate the same number of brain areas as Internet searching"

Vitamin D A Key Player In Overall Health Of Several Body Organs, Says Biochemist - Science Daily, 10/13/08 - "In a paper published in the August issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Norman identifies vitamin D's potential for contributions to good health in the adaptive and innate immune systems, the secretion and regulation of insulin by the pancreas, the heart and blood pressure regulation, muscle strength and brain activity. In addition, access to adequate amounts of vitamin D is believed to be beneficial towards reducing the risk of cancer ... Norman also lists 36 organ tissues in the body whose cells respond biologically to vitamin D. The list includes bone marrow, breast, colon, intestine, kidney, lung, prostate, retina, skin, stomach and the uterus ... deficiency of vitamin D can impact all 36 organs" - See vitamin D at Amazon.com.

Parkinson's Disease Linked to Vitamin D Insufficiency - WebMD, 10/13/08 - "Participants provided blood samples, which showed vitamin D insufficiency in 55% of the Parkinson's disease patients, compared to 41% of the Alzheimer's patients and 36% of the healthy participants" - See vitamin D at Amazon.com.

St. John's Wort Relieves Symptoms Of Major Depression, Study Shows - Science Daily, 10/13/08 - "Cochrane Researchers reviewed 29 trials which together included 5,489 patients with symptoms of major depression. All trials employed the commonly used Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression to assess the severity of depression. In trials comparing St. John's wort to other remedies, not only were the plant extracts considered to be equally effective, but fewer patients dropped out of trials due to adverse effects" - See St. John's wort at Amazon.com and St. John's wort at Amazon.com.

Caffeine Consumption Not Associated With Breast Cancer Risk In Most Women, Study Suggests - Science Daily, 10/13/08 - "Consumption of caffeine and caffeinated beverages and foods was not statistically significantly associated with overall risk of breast cancer"

Vitamin D Deficiency Common In Patients With IBD, Chronic Liver Disease - Science Daily, 10/13/08 - "analyzed vitamin D levels of 504 inflammatory bowel disease patients ... almost 50 percent of the patients were Vitamin D deficient at some point, with 11 percent being severely deficient ... 92.4 percent of chronic liver patients had some degree of vitamin D deficiency and at least one third were severely deficient. Severe vitamin D deficiency was more common among cirrhotics" - See vitamin D at Amazon.com.

Pediatrics Group Doubles Children's Recommended Daily Vitamin D Intake - WebMD, 10/13/08 - "The new guidelines are especially important for breastfed babies, since breast milk isn't rich in vitamin D ... I would have probably gone with 400 IU in the first year or two of life, and after that I would have increased it to at least 1,000 and also monitor the vitamin D [blood] level" - See vitamin D at Amazon.com.

Pectin Power: Why Fruits And Vegetables May Protect Against Cancer's Spread - Science Daily, 10/13/08 - "They have shown that a fragment released from pectin, found in all fruits and vegetables, binds to and is believed to inhibit galectin 3 (Gal3), a protein that plays a role in all stages of cancer progression" - See pectin supplements at Amazon.com.

Chicken Soup May Help Fight High Blood Pressure - Science Daily, 10/13/08 - "Saiga and colleagues extracted collagen from chicken legs and tested its ability to act as an ACE inhibitor in the laboratory studies. They identified four different proteins in the collagen mixture with high ACE-inhibitory activity. Given to rats used to model human high blood pressure, the proteins produced a significant and prolonged decrease in blood pressure"

Ginkgo Extract May Reduce Stroke Damage - Medscape, 10/10/08 - "They found that mice pretreated with EGb761 had smaller brain infarcts and less neurologic dysfunction than their untreated counterparts ... Treatment with EGb761 after the stroke (4.5 hours post-reperfusion) was also associated with a significant reduction in infarct size" - See Ginkgo biloba at Amazon.com.

Flavonoids’ heart health benefits in the blood vessels: Study - Nutra USA, 10/10/08 - "A daily dose of quercetin or (-)-epicatechin led to improvements in endothelial function, a key marker of cardiovascular health" - [Abstract]

St. John’s Wort for Major Depression? - WebMD, 10/10/08 - "Can taking an herbal supplement be as good as a prescription medication for people who are severely depressed? ... Researchers in Germany think so" - See St. John's wort at Amazon.com and St. John's wort at Amazon.com.

Can SAM-e Hurt My Heart? - Dr. Weil, 10/10/08 - "Since SAM-e is ultimately converted in the body to homocysteine, it is theoretically possible that taking it could elevate homocysteine levels. But that doesn't happen. In fact, SAM-e actually appears to lower homocysteine by helping the body metabolize it"

Antioxidants Could Help Huntington’s Disease Sufferers, Study Suggests - Science Daily, 10/10/08 - "strategies to strengthen antioxidant defences could help to prevent the progression of Huntington’s Disease ... oxidative stress and damage to certain macromolecules are involved in the progression of Huntington’s Disease (HD)"

FDA Approves Silodosin for the Treatment of Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia - Doctor's Guide, 10/9/08 - "Results from both trials showed that silodosin 8 mg QD for 12 weeks resulted in significant and rapid relief of BPH symptoms, compared with placebo, as measured by the International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS). IPSS includes irritative and obstructive symptoms"

Coffee Drinking May Help Protect Against Type 2 Diabetes - Medscape, 10/9/08 - "Compared with participants who reported not drinking coffee daily, those who reported drinking 4 or more cups of coffee daily had a 30% reduction in the risk for diabetes ... Compared with participants who reported not drinking black tea daily, those who reported drinking 1 or more cups of black tea daily had a suggestive 14% reduction in the risk for diabetes ... There was no apparent association with green tea"

FDA OKs TMS Depression Device - WebMD, 10/8/08 - "TMS is much safer than ECT. Unlike ECT, TMS does not require sedation and is administered on an outpatient basis"

Chronic Kidney Disease Increased Sharply In The United States In Past Decade - Science Daily, 10/8/08 - "A 30 percent increase in chronic kidney disease over the past decade has prompted the U.S. Renal Data System (USRDS) to issue for the first time a separate report documenting the magnitude of the disease, which affects an estimated 27 million Americans and accounts for more than 24 percent of Medicare costs"

Vitamin D may protect skin from within: Study - Nutra USA, 10/8/08 - "Atopic dermatitis (AD) ... All of the participants were given daily vitamin D supplements of 4000 IUs for 21 days ... After supplementation, the skin of people with AD showed statistically significant increases in cathelicidin from 3.53 to 23.91 relative copy units (RCU). Moreover, normal skin showed a “modest increase”, said the researchers, from 1.0 to 1.78 RCU" - See vitamin D at Amazon.com.

Taking herb 'helps depression'  - BBC News, 10/8/08 - "Overall, the St John's Wort extracts tested in the trials were superior to placebo, similarly effective as standard anti-depressants, and had fewer side effects ... Doctors think it works because the herb keeps serotonin, a chemical which makes you happy, in the brain for longer" - See St. John's wort at Amazon.com and St. John's wort at Amazon.com.

Possibilities -- But No Proof -- To Prevent Alzheimer’s - Science Daily, 10/8/08 - "Physical activity and healthy living ... Diet ... Alzheimer’s vaccine ... Cardiovascular therapies ... Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) ... Estrogen ... Mental fitness"

Levels Of Key Hormone During First Trimester Of Pregnancy Could Lead To Earlier Diagnosis Of Gestational Diabetes - Science Daily, 10/7/08 - "New research shows women who develop diabetes during pregnancy (gestational diabetes mellitus) have reduced levels of an insulin-sensitive hormone, adiponectin, as early as nine weeks into the pregnancy"

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):

Cultured milk, yogurt, and dairy intake in relation to bladder cancer risk in a prospective study of Swedish women and men - Am J Clin Nutr. 2008 Oct;88(4):1083-7 - "Total dairy intake was not significantly associated with risk of bladder cancer [> or =7.0 servings/d compared with < 3.5 servings/d: multivariate rate ratio (RR) = 0.87; 95% CI: 0.66, 1.15; P for trend = 0.33]. However, a statistically significant inverse association was observed for the intake of cultured milk (sour milk and yogurt). The multivariate RRs for the highest category of cultured milk intake (> or =2 servings/d) compared with the lowest category (0 serving/d) were 0.62 (95% CI: 0.46, 0.85; P for trend = 0.006) in women and men combined, 0.55 (95% CI: 0.25, 1.22; P for trend = 0.06) in women, and 0.64 (95% CI: 0.46, 0.89; P for trend = 0.03) in men. The intake of milk or cheese was not associated with bladder cancer risk ... These findings suggest that a high intake of cultured milk may lower the risk of developing bladder cancer"

Correlation between simultaneous PSA and serum testosterone concentrations among eugonadal, untreated hypogonadal and hypogonadal men receiving testosterone replacement therapy - Int J Impot Res. 2008 Oct 9 - "testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) ... does not appear to significantly influence serum PSA expression and no significant correlation was identified between PSA and serum testosterone among eugonadal, untreated hypogonadal and hypogonadal men receiving TRT"

Dietary fiber intake in relation to coronary heart disease and all-cause mortality over 40 y: the Zutphen Study -  Am J Clin Nutr. 2008 Oct;88(4):1119-25 - "Every additional 10 g of recent dietary fiber intake per day reduced coronary heart disease mortality by 17% (95% CI: 2%, 30%) and all-cause mortality by 9% (0%, 18%). The strength of the association between long-term dietary fiber intake and all-cause mortality decreased from age 50 y (hazard ratio: 0.71; 95% CI: 0.55, 0.93) until age 80 y (0.99; 0.87, 1.12). We observed no clear associations for different types of dietary fiber. CONCLUSIONS: A higher recent dietary fiber intake was associated with a lower risk of both coronary heart disease and all-cause mortality. For long-term intake, the strength of the association between dietary fiber and all-cause mortality decreased with increasing age"

Intakes of long-chain n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids and fish in relation to measurements of subclinical atherosclerosis - Am J Clin Nutr. 2008 Oct;88(4):1111-8 - "After adjustment for potential confounders, intakes of long-chain n-3 PUFAs and nonfried (broiled, steamed, baked, or raw) fish were inversely related to subclinical atherosclerosis determined by cCIMT but not by iCIMT, CAC score, or ABI. The multivariate odds ratio comparing the highest to the lowest quartile of dietary exposures in relation to subclinical atherosclerosis determined by cCIMT was 0.69 (95% CI: 0.55, 0.86; P for trend < 0.01) for n-3 PUFA intake; 0.80 (95% CI: 0.64, 1.01; P = 0.054) for nonfried fish consumption; and 0.90 (95% CI: 0.73, 1.11; P = 0.38) for fried fish consumption" - See Mega Twin EPA at Amazon.com and Jarrow Max DHA at Amazon.com.

Dietary glycemic index and the risk of age-related macular degeneration - Am J Clin Nutr. 2008 Oct;88(4):1104-10 - "a higher mean dietary glycemic index was associated with an increased 10-y risk of early AMD in a comparison of quartiles 1 and 4 [relative risk (RR): 1.77; 95% CI: 1.13, 2.78; P for trend = 0.03]. Conversely, a greater consumption of cereal fiber (RR: 0.68; 95% CI: 0.44, 1.04; P for trend = 0.05) and breads and cereals (predominantly lower glycemic index foods such as oatmeal) (RR: 0.67; 95% CI: 0.44, 1.02; P for trend = 0.03) was associated with a reduced risk of incident early AMD ... A high-glycemic-index diet is a risk factor for early AMD-the recognized precursor of sight-threatening late AMD. Low-glycemic-index foods such as oatmeal may protect against early AMD"

Pure dietary flavonoids quercetin and (-)-epicatechin augment nitric oxide products and reduce endothelin-1 acutely in healthy men - Am J Clin Nutr. 2008 Oct;88(4):1018-25 - "Dietary flavonoids, such as quercetin and (-)-epicatechin, can augment nitric oxide status and reduce endothelin-1 concentrations and may thereby improve endothelial function"

Increasing dietary fish intake has contributed to decreasing mortality from CHD among the older population in Hong Kong - Public Health Nutr. 2008 Oct 7:1-6 - "The time trend of CHD mortality was inversely related to the trend of fish intake. The frequency of fish intake may have a substantial impact on the population for the prevention of CHD deaths in Hong Kong" - See Mega Twin EPA at Amazon.com and Jarrow Max DHA at Amazon.com.

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