Recent Longevity News for the seven days ending 6/4/03:

Methyl-B12 Can Improve Alertness and Concentration - Dr. Murray's Natural Facts, 6/4/03 - "In people with low levels of B12, supplementation is very effective in improving mental function as well. In one large double-blind study, a complete recovery was observed in 61% of cases of these patients exhibiting significant mental impairment. It was thought the reason why the remaining 39% did not respond was due to irreversible damage to the brain as a result of long-term low levels of vitamin B12" - See methyl B12 at iHerb.

Night Time Aspirin Regimen Found to Reduce Blood Pressure - Doctor's Guide, 6/4/03 - "Researchers randomly assigned participants to 3 subgroups, which received a regimen of no aspirin, 100 mg aspirin after waking, or 100 mg aspirin before sleeping ... The subgroup following a regimen of evening aspirin administration showed a reduction in the 24 hour mean of 6.2 mm Hg in systolic blood pressure and 4.1 mm Hg in diastolic blood pressure ... the effect was not evident for the subgroups receiving no aspirin or morning administration" - See Drugstore.com aspirin products.

High Protein Diets More Effective At Maintaining Weight Loss - Doctor's Guide, 6/4/03 - "Despite no differences in attitudes to eating, a protein intake of 18% as energy versus 15% as energy resulted in improved weight maintenance, as well as improved fat distribution based on body waist circumference, and improved substrate oxidation and satiety" - They are calling 18% of total calories "high protein".  A Healthy Choice Steak with Zesty Sauce dinner is 29% protein.

Antioxidants May Protect Against Alcohol Damage - Intelihealth, 6/3/03 - "fed rats a liquid diet containing alcohol for six weeks ... They found a 66 percent decrease in the number of new cells in crucial parts of the brain and an increase in cell death of more than 227 percent ... But in rats that also received injections of the antioxidant ebselen, the damage to developing cells did not occur ... The antioxidant ebselen was used because it is known to have protective effects in the liver and digestive tract and has few side effects in humans"

Abortion Pill [RU-486] May Save Brain Cells - HealthScout News, 6/3/03 - "the chemical seems to protect mice brain cells in lab cultures from the effects of nerve damage. Why it has this effect is still an open question and the potential impact for humans isn't known ... mifepristone may also protect brain cells during traumatic brain injury and that it can relieve some symptoms of psychotic depression ... It could possibly be other steroid-related effects, or something else altogether" - RU-486 (mifepristone) protects against cortisol and cortisol shrinks the brain.  See: - Ben

• Researchers Explore New Meds for Mood Disorders - Clinical Psychiatry News, 10/01 - "Another approach being developed for patients with high levels of circulating cortisol involves the abortion pill mifepristone ... The findings, to be published this month in the Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology, suggest that a rapid antidepressant response (approximately 7 days) may occur in some patients"
• Researchers Hopeful Antidepressant Augmentation Will Improve Remission - Clinical Psychiatry News, 9/01 - "In psychotic depression, a corticosteroid antagonist looks most promising. Mifepristone, which is used to induce abortions but was originally designed as treatment for Cushing's disease, has achieved rapid reversal of symptoms in some 30 psychotically depressed patients, ostensibly by blocking cortisol receptors."
• Neuroscience finds foggy link between depression and memory loss - CNN, 4/18/00 - "Studies show that prolonged depression or stress leads to elevated levels of cortisol, a "stress" hormone produced by the adrenal glands. This in turn appears to shrink or atrophy the hippocampus, the sea-horse shaped part of the brain associated with many kinds of memory and learning."

Schizophrenia Drugs Linked to Diabetes - WebMD, 6/3/03 - "close to 25% of them developed high blood sugar levels while taking Clozaril, the first of these newer schizophrenia medications -- called "atypical antipsychotics." ... people with schizophrenia have a four- to six-fold risk of diabetes compared with the general population ... One possible explanation: Those with schizophrenia typically have higher levels of cortisol, known as the "stress hormone," because the body releases it during times of agitation. And high cortisol levels can cause problems in the way blood sugar is metabolized" - See my cortisol page for possible ways to reduce it.

Night Shifts May Raise Cancer Risk - WebMD, 6/3/03 - "Data from an ongoing study of almost 80,000 nurses already suggest that working nights increases a woman's risk of breast cancer ... a new analysis points to a similar association for colorectal cancer ... "The peak production of melatonin occurs at about 1 or 2 a.m." Exposure to light at night stops the production of melatonin" - See iHerb or Vitacost melatonin products.

Epilepsy Drug [topiramate] Has Weight Loss Effect, But Adverse Events Stop Study - Doctor's Guide, 6/3/03 - "Patients on two of three higher doses used in the study (192 mg and 256 mg) had a mean weight loss of 12-13 kg [12.5 kg = 27.5 pounds] when the study was ended. At this time the patients had been taking the drug for between 60 and 76 weeks. By comparison, patients in the placebo arm lost a mean of 2.9 kg. These losses corresponded to a mean decrease of 12% to 13% from baseline for the two highest dose groups ... If further trials also show this [result], topiramate would be the first drug with such a long term weight loss effect ... 19% of patients withdrew because of side effects. Mild to moderate paresthesia was the most common" - See topiramate at #1 drugstore (no affiliation/check with your doctor first) or drugstore.com.

Cholesterol Drugs May Prevent Cancer - WebMD, 6/2/03 - "Overall, taking statins reduces risk of developing cancer by 20%, but that protection increases to 36% for people who take statins for four years or more ... But the benefit stops about six months after the patient stops taking the drug ... Statins offer the most protection against prostate and kidney cancer" - Note:  Red yeast rice is a non-prescription statin.  See iHerb and Vitacost red yeast products.

Bias in Drug-Company Studies? - WebMD, 6/2/03 - "When a drug company pays for a study of its product, it's four times more likely to be happy with the findings than when the study has independent funding"

BioMarker Pharmaceuticals Develops Anti-Aging Therapy - LE Magazine cover story, 6/03 - "The BioMarker scientists found that all the glucoregulatory agents reproduced some of the gene expression effects of CR [calorie restriction], but that metformin was the undisputed star of the group, being twice as effective as the others in reproducing the effects of CR" - See metformin at LowPriceMedicine.com (Glucophage) or USAMedicine.com but check with a doctor first.

Obesity drug cuts heart disease risk - MSNBC, 5/30/03 - "Nearly 14 percent of people in the diet group developed type 2 diabetes but only 9.8 percent taking the drug [Xenical (orlistat)] suffered from the disease ... In the study of 3,304 patients over four years, people taking the drug lost 14 pounds, compared to 6 pounds among those who were just dieting ... The drug group also reduced their waistlines by 2.44 inches, compared to 1.52 inches for the dieters, and had a greater reduction in blood pressure" - See online prescriptions and overseas pharmacies.

Telmisartan Improves Quality of Life Measurements in Hypertensive Patients - Doctor's Guide, 5/30/03 - "The angiotensin II receptor blocker telmisartan appears to enhance the quality of life for patients who are being treated for high blood pressure ... the scores increased from 77 at baseline to an average of 82.2"

Alendronate/Hormone Replacement Therapy Combination Safe, More Effective Treatment for Osteoporosis in Elderly Women - Doctor's Guide, 5/30/03 - "after 3 years total hip BMD increased an average 5.9% in the combinatorial group, 4.2% in the alendronate only group, 3.0% in the HRT only group and was maintained in the placebo group"

Policosanol more Effective than Lovastatin for Intermittent Claudication - New Hope Natural Media, 5/29/03 - "Those taking policosanol had a 34% increase in pain-free walking distance, while no change was observed in those taking lovastatin. Quality of life was also reported as being significantly better in the policosanol group compared with the lovastatin group. Both treatment groups had significant reductions in total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol. However, participants taking policosanol had a significant 32% increase in HDL cholesterol and a 6% decrease in fibrinogen, while these parameters remained unchanged in those receiving lovastatin" - See iHerb or Vitacost policosanol products.  Claudication gets my attention because my father has it and if there is a hereditary factor, I want to prevent it. - Ben

Weight Loss Benefits Of Low-Carbohydrate Diet May Be Temporary - Doctor's Guide, 5/29/03 - "At 3 months, the subjects on the low-carbohydrate diet had lost more weight than subjects on the conventional diet ... Similar results were seen at 6 months ... However, the difference at 12 months was not significant ... Throughout the study, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and triglyceride levels were improved among subjects on the low-carbohydrate diet, but total and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol concentrations were similar between the groups at 3 months ... The lack of a statistically significant difference (in weight loss) between the groups at one year is most likely due to greater weight regain in the low-carbohydrate group and the small sample size ... They note that adherence was poor and attrition was high in both groups" - [Abstract] - Some thoughts:

• I graphed it out below. The results would be the opposite if you project the momentum of the last six months of the graph out to 15 months.
• I feel they should have addressed dehydration caused by high protein diets, as many critics claim and the percent of weight that would have accounted for.
• They should have addressed the weight of the fiber and the water that fiber holds in the gut of the carb people.  For example, apples weight six times as much per calorie as steak.  So a pound of steak would have the same calories as 6 pounds of apples. That’s a 5 pound difference on the scale (or 2.5% body weight for a 200 pound person) for the same amount of calories until those apples leave your system. The difference would be even greater for fat as with the a low-carbohydrate, high-protein, high-fat diet vs. a low-calorie, high-carbohydrate, low-fat (conventional) diets used in this study.
• Total body water is easy to measure with a body composition analyzer.  It's hard to believe it was out of the budget of this study.  Without knowing the total body water difference from baseline between the two groups the numbers are meaningless.  There seems to be so many flaws that I tried to find who funded the study but neither the abstract nor the media articles say.  I emailed the head of the study, Dr. Foster and he admitted that no body composition was taken but said that they were going to use DEXA in a future trial.  If the primary purpose of the study was to determine what weight loss regiment was more effective but the measurement of that effectiveness was meaningless without knowing the total body water, then why did they even have the study?
• High-carb has been known for some time to lower HDL (the good cholesterol).  Why not just go with a balanced diet, i.e., a low calorie, medium-carbohydrate, medium fat, medium protein diet? It seems so obvious.  Still not convinced?  See Dr. Atkins Products at Vitacost.
• I was reading up on DEXA and body composition in general.  It's an interesting area and I started a web page on it..  For example:
  • The DEXA Van - arizona.edu - "A woman doesn’t just lose bone, she tends to lose muscle at the same time, and then she’s more at risk for falling. If you lose muscle, that lowers your metabolic rate, and you can gain weight. So losing muscle can contribute to diabetes. All three are related."

Probiotic At Birth May Decrease Risk Of Atopic Eczema In Early Childhood - Doctor's Guide, 5/29/03 - "Children receiving the probiotic Lactobacillus rhamnosus around the time of birth have been found to be 40% less likely to develop atopic eczema at 4 years of age, compared with controls"

White House Pushes New Dietary Guidelines - Intelihealth, 5/29/03 - "The White House says new government nutrition guidelines should tell consumers to cut back on foods like french fries made with artery-clogging fats and eat more fish and other foods that contain healthy fats"

Probiotics: Bugs in the Belly? - ABC News, 5/28/03 - "The probiotics live together with the preexisting bacteria in our bodies, and counteract the negative effects of other bacteria. But probiotics only persist as long as they are continually ingested. So if you don't eat any foods or supplements containing probiotics, after about a month, they will be all gone ... Now we don't know if probiotics in small amounts — like just eating yogurt — have a beneficial effect; it's hard to prove ... Supplements are primarily used to help people with inflammatory bowel disease — Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis — or irritable bowel syndrome, "spastic colon."" - See iHerb or Vitacost probiotic products.

FTC Files Complaint Against Makers of Gero Vita, Theraceuticals - Health Supplement Retailer, 5/28/03 - "the agency alleges Braswell and other named defendants marketed dietary supplements via false and unsubstantiated claims in multi-page direct mail advertisements promoting products as "scientific breakthroughs" curing everything from diabetes to erectile dysfunction. The five products named in the complaint are Lung Support Formula, Antibetic Pancreas Tonic, Theraceuticals GH3 Romanian Youth Formula, Chitoplex and Testerex"

Free Testosterone Inversely Related to Carotid Atherosclerosis - Medscape, 5/23/03 - "Serum free testosterone is inversely related to carotid intima-media thickness (IMT) and plaque score (PS) ... There is evidence to suggest that low concentrations of testosterone are associated with an increased risk of CVD in men" - See testosterone at Sexual Health Doctor.

Abstracts from this week's Doctor's Guide Nutrition/Dietetics:

Safety of long-term consumption of plant sterol esters-enriched spread - Eur J Clin Nutr 2003 May;57(5):681-692 - "Consumption of a plant sterol esters-enriched spread is an effective way to consistently lower blood cholesterol concentrations and is safe to use over a long period of time"

Chitosan decreases total cholesterol in women: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial - Eur J Clin Nutr 2003 May;57(5):721-5 - "assigned to receive chitosan (1.2 g per day) or placebo ... Chitosan significantly (F=3.19, P=0.04) reduced total cholesterol compared to placebo. In a subgroup of subjects with over 60 y of age, chitosan group significantly reduced total and LDL cholesterol" - See iHerb chitosan products.

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