Recent Longevity News for the seven days ending 9/3/03:

Only Half of Patients Receiving Statins Achieve Maximum Benefit - Medscape, 9/2/03 - "less than  than half of patients started on a statin are treated to goal, and thus the promise of statins for cardiovascular disease prevention may be largely unrealized ... the problem seems to be caused by poor physician follow-up ... Compliance is another problem" - Note:  Red yeast rice is a non-prescription statin.  See iHerb or Vitacost red yeast rice products.

Cessation of Hormone Replacement Results in Rapid Increase in Bone Turnover, Bone Loss - Doctor's Guide, 9/2/03 - "HRT withdrawal was followed by significant bone loss, with an annual rate ranging from -0.7 to -1.6% ... These findings have important implications for women who are given HRT for preventing the risk of osteoporosis"

Dietary Trans Fatty Acids Increase Small, Dense LDL Particles - Medscape, 9/2/03 - "Consumption of dietary trans fatty acids (FAs) is associated with a deleterious increase in small, dense low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol particles ... Accumulating evidence indicates that the size of LDL particles confers an independent risk, with small and dense particles being more atherogenic than are larger, less dense particles ... the diet enriched with saturated fat (butter) was associated with the highest plasma LDL-cholesterol concentrations but, paradoxically, the largest LDL particles ... These data reinforce the importance of promoting diets that are low in saturated fat and that contain a minimal quantity of trans fatty acids"

Teens' Vitamin D Deficiency Brings Worry - Intelihealth, 9/2/03 - "Often undetected and untreated, vitamin D deficiency puts them at risk for stunted growth and debilitating osteoporosis later in life ... There's even evidence that chronic deficiency may be linked with some cancers, diabetes and high blood pressure"

Green Tea Appears to Protect Against Breast Cancer - Medscape, 9/2/03 - "Both green tea and soy intake were significantly and independently protective against breast cancer. However, the beneficial effect of green tea was primarily observed among those who consumed low levels of soy, and the beneficial effect of soy were primarily observed among those who did not drink green tea ... In conclusion, our study shows that green tea may act as a chemopreventive agent against breast cancer development" - See iHerb or Vitacost green tea products or Revival Soy Products.

Patients on Perindopril Have 20% Reduced Mortality in EUROPA Trial - Doctor's Guide, 9/2/03 - "Patients with stable heart disease -- angina or a previous heart attack -- can reduce their relative risk of dying of heart disease by 20% if they take the angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor perindopril ... We now have sufficient evidence to show that perindopril should be used to treat all patients with angina pectoris, history of heart attacks and other evidence of coronary disease, regardless of their hypertensive status"

Cholesterol Drug May Ease Intermittent Claudication - WebMD, 9/2/03 - "Lipitor has the added benefit of improving walking ability in people with intermittent claudication, a condition caused by blocked leg arteries that leads to cramping and fatigue in the legs and buttocks during exercise, such as walking"

Dietary Experts Debate Carbohydrates - Intelihealth, 9/2/03 - "Blood sugar levels may shoot twice as high after a high-GI meal as after a low one, and that unleashes metabolic havoc: The body responds with a surge of insulin, which prompts it to quickly store the sugar in muscle and fat cells. The high sugar also inhibits another hormone, glucagon, which ordinarily tells the body to burn its stored fuel ... Blood sugar plunges. So much is stored so fast that within two or three hours, levels may be lower than they were before the meal. Suddenly, the body needs more fuel. But because glucagon is still in short supply, the body does not tap into its fat supply for energy. The inevitable result? Hunger ... After one year, the low-GI volunteers had dropped seven pounds of pure fat. The others had put on four"

FDA Approves Testosterone System - Physician's Weekly, 9/1/03 - "The FDA approved the testosterone buccal system (Striant), which slowly releases testosterone into mucous membranes in the mouth ... testosterone buccal system offers an alternative to testosterone delivered by transdermal patches, topical gels, or injection"

Eating Breakfast Strengthens Fight Against Obesity - Physician's Weekly, 9/1/03 - "people who regularly skip breakfast are 4.5 times more likely to be overweight and those who eat four or more meals per day are less likely to be overweight. The study also found that Americans who eat later during the day are no more likely to be overweight than those who do not"

Ginseng review - ConsumerLab.com, 8/29/03 - "A high amount of the pesticide hexachlorobenzene — a potential human carcinogen — was found in one of five products labeled as containing "Korean Ginseng." Levels of two other pesticides, quintozene and lindane — were also above acceptable levels. Another product that failed the new testing was a liquid "Chinese Ginseng" sold in single-dose bottles. Despite being labeled "EXTRA STRENGTH" this product contained less than 10% of the expected ginsenosides"

A Little Exercise Lowers Blood Pressure - WebMD, 8/29/03 - "The ability to lower blood pressure was greatest among those who exercised 61-90 minutes per week -- an average of 12 point drop in systolic and eight points in diastolic. But there were no further reductions in systolic blood pressure among those who exercised more than 90 minutes a week ... The researchers also found that how many times the participants exercised per week had no obvious effect on blood pressure -- just the total amount of time"

Chromium Supplements Appear to Improve Glucose Sensitivity in Diabetics - Medscape, 8/29/03 - "We think that chromium picolinate can influence a person's diabetic treatment so that levels of insulin required may be reduced ... HbA1c levels decreased from 9.5% to 9% during a six-month period in patients receiving a higher dose of the supplement, a difference that was statistically significant ... The study also showed a significant reduction in cholesterol levels and trends for improvement in triglycerides in both chromium picolinate groups as well as a reduction in blood pressure in all groups" - See iHerb or Vitacost chromium products.

High-Sugar Diets Increase Risk Of Chronic Disease Says World Health Organization - Intelihealth, 8/29/03 - "sugars should not exceed more than 6 to 10 percent of dietary intake"

Renin-Angiotensin System Blockers Offers Added Benefits Beyond Blood-Pressure Lowering For Hypertensives - Doctor's Guide, 8/28/03 - "Emerging data on newer drugs that block the renin-angiotensin system, such as the angiotension II type 1 receptor blockers (ARBs) and angiotension-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors, indicate added benefits such as reduced mortality, strokes, and myocardial infarction along with decreased blood pressure"

Herb Sage Improves Memory - WebMD, 8/28/03 - "44 healthy, young adults took either sage oil capsules or a placebo. The participants then took a series of word recall tests ... The people who had taken the sage oil consistently had better word recall -- a sign that sage may help improve memory ... sage's antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties could be valuable in Alzheimer's treatment" - See iHerb or Vitacost sage products.

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

Dietary supplementation with a natural carotenoid mixture decreases oxidative stress - Eur J Clin Nutr. 2003 Sep;57(9):1135-40 - "Consumption of the natural carotenoid mixture lowered the increase in oxidative stress induced by the fish oil ... The carotenoid mixture also enhanced the plasma triglyceride-lowering effect of the fish oil" - See my favorite, Nature's Way Protectamins Multi-Carotene Antioxidant Complex.

Effect of losartan on sudden cardiac death in people with diabetes: data from the LIFE study - Lancet. 2003 Aug 23;362(9384):619-20 - "In the losartan group, five (6%) of 86 patients with diabetes and atrial fibrillation during the trial died of sudden cardiac death compared with nine (2%) of 500 in those without atrial fibrillation. The respective figures for the atenolol group were 14 (13%) of 105 and 16 (3%) of 504. Our results suggest losartan affords better protection against cardiac death from arrhythmias for patients with diabetes mellitus than does atenolol"

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