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Recent Longevity News for the week ending 11/19/14:

Trans fat consumption linked to diminished memory in working-aged adults - Science Daily, 11/18/14 - "From a health standpoint, trans fat consumption has been linked to higher body weight, more aggression and heart disease ... Among men under age 45, those who ate more trans fats showed notably worse performance on the word memory test ... Each additional gram a day of trans fats consumed was associated with an estimated 0.76 fewer words correctly recalled"

Is Vitamin K2 the New Vitamin D? - Medscape, 11/18/14 - "Deficiencies of vitamin K2 are now being reported in serious journals to be associated with—get this—all-cause mortality, cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, diabetes, many forms of cancer, dementia, and chronic inflammation" - See vitamin K at Amazon.com.

The 'dirty' side of soap: Triclosan, a common antimicrobial in personal hygiene products, causes liver fibrosis and cancer in mice - Science Daily, 11/17/14 - "Triclosan is an antimicrobial commonly found in soaps, shampoos, toothpastes and many other household items ... triclosan disrupted liver integrity and compromised liver function in mouse models. Mice exposed to triclosan for six months (roughly equivalent to 18 human years) were more susceptible to chemical-induced liver tumors. Their tumors were also larger and more frequent than in mice not exposed to triclosan ... Triclosan is perhaps the most ubiquitous consumer antibacterial. Studies have found traces in 97 percent of breast milk samples from lactating women and in the urine of nearly 75 percent of people tested. Triclosan is also common in the environment: It is one of the seven most frequently detected compounds in streams across the United States"

Secondhand Pot Smoke Can Give Your Heart an Unwelcome Buzz - WebMD, 11/17/14 - "That whiff of pot that drifts your way at a rock concert or outdoor event could damage your heart and blood vessels as much as secondhand cigarette smoke does ... Blood vessel function in laboratory rats dropped by 70 percent after a half-hour of exposure to secondhand marijuana smoke ... Reduced blood vessel function can increase a person's risk of developing hardened arteries"

What's in his kiss? 80 million bacteria, for starters - TODAY.com, 11/16/14 - "For the most part, unless you have a lot of cavities, the bacteria hanging around in your mouth aren’t doing much of anything ... all those loafing bacteria may help by taking up so much space that pathogenic bacteria have a hard time moving in ... exposure to someone else’s bacteria could help your immunity"

Chemical in coffee may help prevent obesity-related disease - Science Daily, 11/14/14 - "chlorogenic acid, or CGA, significantly reduced insulin resistance and accumulation of fat in the livers of mice who were fed a high-fat diet ... which is found in great abundance in coffee, but also in other fruits and vegetables like apples, pears, tomatoes and blueberries ... CGA was not only effective in preventing weight gain, but it also helped maintain normal blood sugar levels and healthy liver composition ... CGA is a powerful antioxidant that reduces inflammation" - See chlorogenic acid at Amazon.com.

Oxytocin helps to better overcome fear - Science Daily, 11/13/14 - "In the men under the influence of oxytocin, the amygdala, as the fear center in the brain, was overall far less active than in the control group, whereas fear-inhibiting regions were more stimulated" - See Oxy Pro (Oxytocin) Nasal Spray at International Anti-aging Systems.

Abstracts from this week:

An Alternative Treatment for Anxiety: A Systematic Review of Human Trial Results Reported for the Ayurvedic Herb Ashwagandha (Withania somnifera) - J Altern Complement Med. 2014 Nov 18 - "Withania somnifera (WS; common name, ashwagandha) ... All five studies concluded that WS intervention resulted in greater score improvements (significantly in most cases) than placebo in outcomes on anxiety or stress scales. Current evidence should be received with caution because of an assortment of study methods and cases of potential bias" - See ashwagandha at Amazon.com.

Dietary glycemic index and glycemic load and risk of colorectal cancer: Results from the EPIC-Italy study - Int J Cancer. 2014 Nov 18 - "The adjusted HR of colorectal cancer for highest vs. lowest GI quartile was 1.35; 95% CI 1.03-1.78; p trend 0.031. Increasing high GI carbohydrate intake was also significantly associated with increasing colorectal cancer risk (HR 1.45; 95% CI 1.04-2.03; p trend 0.034); while increasing low GI carbohydrate was associated with reducing risk (HR 0.73; 95% CI 0.54-0.98; p trend 0.033). High dietary GI, and high GI carbohydrate, were associated with increased risks of cancer at all colon sites (HR 1.37; 95% CI 1.00-1.88, HR 1.80;95% CI 1.22-2.65, respectively); whereas high GI carbohydrate and high GL, were associated with increased risk of proximal colon cancer (HR 1.94; 95% CI 1.18-3.16, HR 2.01; 95% CI 1.08-3.74, respectively)"

Glutathione redox imbalance in brain disorders - Curr Opin Clin Nutr Metab Care. 2014 Nov 15 - "we summarize current evidence on how GSH depletion and GSH-related enzyme deficit are involved in the pathology of brain disorders such as autism, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, Alzheimer's disease, and Parkinson's disease ... The potential therapeutic agents for brain disorders include N-acetylcysteine, liposomes encapsulated with GSH, and whey protein supplement, which can increase the GSH levels in the brain and alleviate oxidative stress-associated damage and may improve the behavior of individuals with brain diseases ... GSH plays an important role during the onset and progression of neuropsychiatric and neurodegenerative diseases. GSH redox imbalance may be a primary cause of these brain disorders and may be used as a biomarker for diagnosis of these diseases. N-acetylcysteine and other agents that can increase the concentration of GSH in the brain are promising approaches for the treatment of these brain disorders" - See n-acetyl cysteine at Amazon.com.

Dietary diindolylmethane suppresses inflammation-driven lung squamous cell carcinoma in mice - Cancer Prev Res (Phila). 2014 Nov 17 - "Dietary administration of DIM (10 µmol/g diet or 2460 ppm) to mice treated with NTCU plus LPS reduced the incidence of LSCC by 2-fold, suppressed activation/expression of proinflammatory and procarcinogenic proteins and NF-κB- and STAT3-DNA binding, but not the expression of cytokines and p53. This study highlights the potential significance of our mouse model to identify promising drugs or dietary agents for the chemoprevention of human LSCC and that DIM is a very good candidate for clinical lung cancer chemoprevention trials" - See diindolylmethane at Amazon.com.

Increasing Iron and Zinc in Pre-Menopausal Women and Its Effects on Mood and Cognition: A Systematic Review - Nutrients. 2014 Nov 14 - "iron insufficiency has been associated with impairments in mood and cognition ... Ten randomized controlled trials and one non-randomized controlled trial were found to meet the inclusion criteria. Seven studies found improvements in aspects of mood and cognition after iron supplementation. Iron supplementation appeared to improve memory and intellectual ability in participants aged between 12 and 55 years in seven studies, regardless of whether the participant was initially iron insufficient or iron-deficient with anaemia. The review also found three controlled studies providing evidence to suggest a role for zinc supplementation as a treatment for depressive symptoms, as both an adjunct to traditional antidepressant therapy for individuals with a diagnosis of major depressive disorder and as a therapy in its own right in pre-menopausal women with zinc deficiency. Overall, the current literature indicates a positive effect of improving zinc status on enhanced cognitive and emotional functioning" - See iron supplements at Amazon.com and Jarrow Zinc Balance at Amazon.com.

Dietary magnesium intake and risk of metabolic syndrome: a meta-analysis - Diabet Med. 2014 Nov;31(11):1301-9 - "reviewed the relevant literature in PubMed and EMBASE ... A weighted inverse association was found between dietary magnesium intake and the risk of metabolic syndrome (odds ratio 0.69, 95% CI 0.59, 0.81) comparing the highest with the lowest group. For every 100-mg/day increment in magnesium intake, the overall risk of having metabolic syndrome was lowered by 17%" - See Magtein at Amazon.com.

Long-term effects of marijuana use on the brain - Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2014 Nov 10 - "in 48 marijuana users and 62 age- and sex-matched nonusing controls. The results showed that compared with controls, marijuana users had significantly less bilateral orbitofrontal gyri volume, higher functional connectivity in the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) network, and higher structural connectivity in tracts that innervate the OFC (forceps minor) as measured by fractional anisotropy (FA). Increased OFC functional connectivity in marijuana users was associated with earlier age of onset. Lastly, a quadratic trend was observed suggesting that the FA of the forceps minor tract initially increased following regular marijuana use but decreased with protracted regular use. This pattern may indicate differential effects of initial and chronic marijuana use that may reflect complex neuroadaptive processes in response to marijuana use"

Tea consumption is inversely related to 5-year blood pressure change among adults in Jiangsu, China: a cross-sectional study - Nutr J. 2014 Oct 14;13(1):98 - "compared with no consumption of tea, those with daily total tea/green tea consumption of at least 10 g had 2.41 mmHg and 3.68 mmHg smaller increase of DBP respectively" - [Nutra USA] - See green tea extract at Amazon.com.

Neat Tech Stuff / "How To's":

Blossom ups the ante in the smart sprinkler controller market - TUAW11/18/14 - "Early in 2014, an app-connected "smart sprinkler controller" called the Rachio Iro made a splash when it arrived online and in Home Depot stores. By the end of the summer, a lot of people -- myself included -- were raving about the device and how much water and money we'd saved" - See Rachio IRO Smart Wifi Enabled Irrigation Controller 8 zones at Amazon.com.

Health Focus (Sytrinol):

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News & Research:

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