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Recent Longevity News for the seven days ending 7/30/03: Herbal Extract Kills Prostate Cancer Cells - Medline Plus, 7/29/03 - "Zyflamend, which is produced by New Chapter, Inc., in Brattleboro, Vermont, is composed of herbs with the ability to block an enzyme known as COX-2. Rofecoxib (Vioxx) and celecoxib (Celebrex) are two drugs commonly prescribed for arthritis pain that also block the COX-2 enzyme ... Katz's team added Zyflamend to culture dishes containing prostate cancer cells. Three days later, the researchers noted that the herbal extract had destroyed 78 percent of the cells. Further analysis revealed that the extract had triggered something in the cells that actually made them self-destruct" - See Zyflamend at iHerb. Farmed Salmon Heavy in Chemicals, Group Says - Yahoo, 7/30/03 - "They bought and tested farmed salmon filets from 10 grocery stores in Washington, San Francisco, and Portland, Oregon, and found seven were contaminated with high levels of polychlorinated biphenyls ... Often this fishmeal is heavily contaminated with PCBs" Take Green Algae With Your Flu Shot - HealthDay, 7/28/03 - "the people taking 400 milligrams per day of the algae extract had much greater antibody responses to the vaccine at seven and 21 days after vaccination" Fasting Benefits Glucose Metabolism, Nerve Cells - Physician's Weekly, 7/28/03 - "skipping meals frequently can help mice maintain healthier glucose and insulin levels ... when mice were given a neurotoxin mimicking the effects of Alzheimer's in humans, the subjects on the intermittent fasting diet were more resistant to nerve damage or death than mice with unlimited or reduced calorie diets ... mice on the fasting regimen were more likely to produce the protein BDNF, which protects the growth and health of nerve cells" Depression Liked to Alzheimer's Risk - Physician's Weekly, 7/28/03 - "People who have experienced depression are more likely to develop Alzheimer's disease than their relatives who have never shown signs of depression ... People who have experienced depression are more likely to develop Alzheimer's disease than their relatives who have never shown signs of depression" - Makes sense because depression is linked to high cortisol and high cortisol is linked to Alzheimer's. Ref. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 Tight Necktie May Boost Glaucoma Risk - WebMD, 7/28/03 - "a too-tight necktie may increase the risk of glaucoma by boosting blood pressure inside the eyes to dangerous levels" Breast Cancer Risk Increases with Consumption of Red Meat, Dairy Products - Doctor's Guide, 7/28/03 - "derived from the Nurses' Health Study (NHS) II ... total fat intake during premenopausal years was not associated with the risk of breast cancer. However, a significant association was found between animal fat intake and breast cancer risk"
Statins Help Ease Heart Failure - WebMD, 7/28/03 -
"People with heart failure may benefit from treatment with cholesterol-lowering
statin drugs even if their cholesterol levels are normal ... One group took 5 mg
of the statin Zocor for four weeks followed by 10 mg for 10 weeks ... standard
dose of Zocor in the U.S. to treat high cholesterol is 40 mg ... researchers
found significant improvements among the patients taking the statin. Their
average level of functional heart impairment dropped from 2.39 to 2.04 on a
scale of 1 to 4 ... left ventricular ejection fraction, a measure of heart
function, rose from 34% to 41%" [HealthDay]
- Note: Red yeast rice is a
non-prescription statin. See
iHerb
and
Vitacost
Osteoporosis Ails Males, Too - HealthDay, 7/28/03 -
"men over 50 are at greater risk of
osteoporosis-related fractures than they are of prostate cancer ...
mortality in men one year after a hip fracture is twice that of women ... Not
only testosterone but also estrogen may be important in men's bone health ...
Men with osteoporosis are also urged to increase calcium and vitamin D intake
and exercise regularly" - See
OS-Cal Plus at drugstore.com 45 Million Americans Classified as Pre-Hypertensive - Physician's Weekly, 7/28/03 - "The new guidelines, issued in late May, classify anyone with a systolic number of 120-139 or a diastolic number of 80-89 as high normal or pre-hypertensive ... individuals up to age 55 with the newly created pre-hypertensive blood pressure readings have a 90% chance of becoming hypertensive, therefore putting them at higher risk for heart attack and stroke" - See my page on anti-ACE peptides and celery seed extract. Common Drugs May Raise Alzheimer's Risk - Doctor's Guide, 7/25/03 - "The drugs -- called anticholinergic agents -- slow electrical impulses in nerve cells. They're used to help Parkinson's disease patients control unwanted movement such as tremors. These drugs also help with bladder control and dizziness. But other common drugs have anticholinergic activities, too. These include older allergy drugs and tricyclic antidepressants ... examined the brains of deceased Parkinson's patients for the plaques and tangles seen in the brains of Alzheimer's patients ... Those who took anticholinergic drugs for more than two years had significantly more plaque and tangles than those who never took the drugs" - See list of anticholinergic agents. ACE Inhibitors Prevent Diabetes and Cardiovascular Disease by Multiple Mechanisms - Doctor's Guide, 7/25/03 - "ACE inhibitors inhibit the conversion of angiotensin I to angiotensin II ... Angiotensin II increases the production of reactive oxygen species and has several vasoconstrictive effects, including opposition of the vasorelaxant actions of nitric oxide and stimulation of plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 ... Angiotensin II, furthermore, increases arterial stiffness by a variety of mechanisms ... fewer studies have evaluated the effects of angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs), although these agents may also exert beneficial effects and may act synergistically with ACE inhibitors ... The authors note that, regarding the role of ACE inhibitors in diabetic renal disease, with the exception of ARBs, ACE inhibitors "have been shown to be more effective in reducing proteinuria than any other antihypertensive agents." - See my page on anti-ACE peptides. Even Dr. Whitaker (no affiliation) has added anti-ACE peptides to his BP formula. Anemia in Elderly Linked to Declines - WebMD, 7/25/03 - "Elderly people with anemia have twice the risk of experiencing physical declines that can end up robbing them of their independence ... the findings should help call attention to a condition that is underdiagnosed and undertreated in elderly populations ... anemia can often be caused by an underlying disease such as cancer or kidney failure or by treatments for these diseases. Poor nutrition is a less common cause among the elderly, and no cause can be identified in about 30% of cases ... the diagnosis of anemia among elderly patients has not been a priority in the past because there were no effective treatments for the condition. That changed, however, with the introduction of epoetin alfa ... The injectable drug is marketed under the brand names Epogen and Procrit"
Male Master Cyclists at Potential High-Risk for Developing Osteoporosis
- Doctor's Guide, 7/24/03 - "Of the
master cyclists, 15% met the World Health
Organisation's criteria for
having osteoporosis and 52% for having
osteopaenia at either the spine
or hip or both. This compares to 0% of the non-athletes who met the criteria for
osteoporosis and 42% who met the criteria for
osteopaenia ... The authors
recommend that cyclists supplement their training with weight-bearing exercise,
receive periodic BMD screening, and include adequate levels of dietary calcium
and vitamin D" - See
OS-Cal Plus at drugstore.com DHEA May Fight Heart Disease, But How? - WebMD, 7/23/03 - "Endothelial dysfunction is known to contribute to atherosclerosis or hardening of the arteries ... men who received 25 mg per day of DHEA supplements for 12 weeks experienced significant improvement in endothelial function as well as insulin sensitivity compared with those who took a placebo" - The Reuters version didn't have the bias plus was more to the point but their links go dead in 30 days. See iHerb 7-Keto DHEA products. See my DHEA page for why the 7-Keto form may be better. For one thing, the increase in estrogen when men take DHEA:
Popular screening test may miss 82 percent of tumors - HealthDay, 7/23/03 - "A biopsy should be done when the PSA reading reaches 2.5" Abstracts from this week's Doctor's Guide Nutrition/Dietetics: Oral Antioxidant Therapy Improves Endothelial Function in Type 1 but not Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus - "subjects were randomized to oral vitamin C 1000 mg and vitamin E 800 IU daily or matching placebo for six months ... Oral antioxidant therapy improves EDV in T1 but not T2 diabetes" - The measurement of Vitamin E in IUs shows that they are still using d-alpha-tocopherol or worse, the dl-alpha-tocopherol instead of mixed tocopherols including the tocotrienols in studies. Just for starters, the d-alpha lowers gamma. See:
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