Recent Longevity News for the seven days ending 11/26/03:

Reason for concern? - Wellness Insider, 11/25/03 - "Dr. Golomb feels the potential side effects of statins, which include liver dysfunction, muscle pain (rhabdomyolysis), and potentially, muscle breakdown, have been significantly downplayed. She also feels that statins, especially at higher doses, contribute to memory loss and to the depletion of coenzyme Q10, a naturally occurring antioxidant-like nutrient vital to the production of energy" - It sounds like the people who don't wear their seat belts because they could get trapped in their car.  Heart disease is the number one killer, not liver disease.  Also, see Rxlist.com.  Most of the HDL rise with Zocor is with the first 5 to 10 mg (sold in 5, 10, 20, 40 and 80 mg).  True many could reduce their cholesterol via diet and exercise but I doubt if diet and exercise will ever be shown to reverse plaque progression as with Zocor.  See iHerb or Vitacost coenzyme Q10 products.

Get Hooked On Fish - Wellness Insider, 11/25/03 - "Fish is a good source of omega 3s. Elderly individuals who consume fish three times per week can almost cut their risk in half for developing Alzheimer's disease"

Eat Your B's - Wellness Insider, 11/25/03 - "In the elderly population, B12 deficiencies are not uncommon and can result in an impaired cognitive state that closely mimics Alzheimer's disease" - See iHerb B12 products.

HDL sometimes inflames immune system and increases heart risk - HealthDay, 11/24/03 - "sometimes HDL cholesterol suddenly triggers an inflammatory attack by the immune system that damages arteries and increases the risk of heart attack or stroke ... risk can be reduced by statin treatment, but many of these patients are not given statins because their HDL level seems protective"

Metabolic Markers May Help Identify Insulin Resistance in Overweight Individuals - Doctor's Guide, 11/24/03 - "the optimal cut-off values for identifying insulin resistance were 1.47 mmol/L for triglycerides, 1.8 in SI units for triglyceride-HDL ratio, and 109 pmol/L for insulin"

Inflammation Adds to Blood Pressure Risks - WebMD, 11/24/03 - "when both blood pressure and CRP levels are elevated, the risk of heart attack and stroke may be as much as eight times higher"

Fertility Supplement Looks Promising - WebMD, 11/24/03 - "includes ... Chasteberry ... Folic acid ... Green tea and vitamin E ... L-arginine ... Vitamins B-6 and B-12, iron, magnesium, selenium, and zinc"

Redefining Impaired Fasting Glucose - Physician's Weekly, 11/24/03 - "the cut point for IFG should be reduced to 100 mg/dl from the current 110 mg/dl"

Right Cooking Oil Key to Avoiding Trans Fats - Yahoo, 11/23/03 - "I would put olive and flaxseed oil toward the top, and going on down the list: canola, peanut, soybean, safflower, sunflower" - I noticed that Fleischmann's now has a margarine made with olive oil claiming no trans fats.

Does tea really fight cancer? - MSNBC, 11/21/03 - "A new study of the potential link of green tea consumption with lower risk of breast cancer does suggest a protective benefit. Asian-American women who averaged at least three six-ounce cups of green tea per week were about half as likely to develop breast cancer as those who drank none ... One of the strengths of this study is that researchers statistically adjusted for the effects of many other influences on breast cancer risk"  - See iHerb or Vitacost green tea products. - Ben

Could Too Little Sun Cause Cancer? - WebMD, 11/20/03 - "there's growing concern that this advice is contributing to another health problem -- a vitamin D deficiency ... This important nutrient is best known for building strong bones and teeth -- key to preventing osteoporosis -- but low levels have also been linked to an increased risk of type 1 diabetes, muscle and bone pain, and perhaps more frightening, a greater chance of cancers of the breast, colon, prostate, ovaries, esophagus, and lymphatic system"

Group Questions Safety of Atkins Diet - WebMD, 11/19/03 - "A heart scan conducted six months before he started the diet showed no evidence of the plaque or calcification routinely seen in people with heart problems. But after two years on the Atkins diet he had developed angina and had a 99% blockage in a major artery"

Is synthetic `good' cholesterol the harbinger of improved heart therapy? - US News, 11/17/03 - "The huge breakthroughs in treating lipids over the next one to two decades will be those that target HDLs"

Moving Beyond Margarine - Natural Foods Merchandiser, 11/03 - "plant-derived sterols are called phytosterols. The difference between sterols and stanols is that stanols are saturated ... Phytosterols, because of their molecular similarity to cholesterol, interfere with cholesterol absorption in the gut by competing for the intestinal spaces where cholesterol is transferred to the bloodstream ... When cholesterol is blocked in this way, it is excreted rather than absorbed, resulting in reduced serum cholesterol"

The Best Kept Secret in Heart Health - Natural Foods Merchandiser, 11/03 - "Most people do not realize that the heart obtains 70 percent of its energy from fat breakdown ... The fundamental role L-carnitine plays in energy metabolism, together with the dependence of the heart on fatty acid breakdown for energy production, make L-carnitine a crucial energy provider for the heart" - See iHerb or Vitacost l-carnitine products.

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

Impact of margarine enriched with plant sterols on blood lipids, platelet function, and fibrinogen level in young men - Metabolism. 2003 Nov;52(11):1373-8 - "The subjects consuming margarine with sterols showed a significant (11%) decrease in LDL-C (P <.001) ... After the consumption of margarine with sterols, the adhesion and aggregation time of blood platelets was significantly prolonged after collagen-epinephrine activation. Margarine with sterols, through its antiplatelet activity and the significant reduction of LDL-C, can play a vital role in the nonpharmacologic prevention of circulatory diseases"

Synthetic and tomato-based lycopene have identical bioavailability in humans - Eur J Nutr. 2003 Oct;42(5):272-8 - "synthetic and natural lycopene are equivalent sources of lycopene and that there is no interaction with other circulating carotenoids"

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