Recent Longevity News for the seven days ending 12/3/03:

Diabetes, Are You at Risk? - Time Magazine Cover Story, 12/8/03 - "Now there are half a dozen studies confirming that if you measure markers of inflammation, and CRP in particular, you can do a good job of predicting who's going to get diabetes"

Calcium Intake Plus Vitamin D May Protect Against Colon Adenomas - Medscape, 12/2/03 - "Calcium supplementation reduces the rate of colon adenomas, but only if vitamin D levels are adequate"

An Orange a Day Can Keep Some Cancers Away, According to Study - Yahoo, 12/2/03 - "oranges have the highest level of antioxidants of all fruit, with more than 170 different phytochemicals, including more than 60 flavonoids shown to have anti-inflammatory, anti-tumor and blood clot inhibiting properties"

Elevated Systolic Blood Pressure And C-Reactive Protein Linked In Ischemic Stroke - Doctor's Guide, 12/1/03 - "increase of SBP, diastolic BP (DBP), mean arterial pressure (MAP), or pulse pressure (PP) was significantly associated with an increased odds of elevated CRP level ... Moreover, for each 10 mm Hg increase in SBP, DBP, MAP, or PP, the odds of having a high CRP level increased by 72%"

Intentional Weight Loss of 20 Pounds or More Linked to Decreased Cancer Risk - Doctor's Guide, 12/1/03 - "Compared with women who never had any weight loss episodes of 20 or more pounds, women who had ever experienced intentional weight loss of 20 or more pounds, but not unintentional weight loss, had an 11% reduced risk for any type of cnacer"

Omega-3 Fatty Acids Vital to a longer, healthier life - Life Extension Foundation, 12/03 - "While an omega-6 to omega-3 ratio of roughly 2:1 is optimal, most Americans consume far more omega-6s than omega-3s, yielding a ratio skewed at least 10:1 in favor of omega-6s. Some estimates put the ratio as high as 40:1 ... Because omega-6s break down into arachidonic acid in the body, and arachidonic acid is converted to highly inflammatory chemicals, a huge increase in the availability of arachidonic acid translates into a huge increase in the potential for inflammatory and autoimmune diseases"

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

Decreasing Dietary Sodium While Following a Self-Selected Potassium-Rich Diet Reduces Blood Pressure - J. Nutr. 133:4118-4123, December 2003 - "reducing Na+ intake from 140 to 60 mmol/d significantly decreased home SBP in subjects dwelling in a community setting who consumed a self-selected K+-rich diet, and this dietary modification could assist in lowering blood pressure in the general population"

Low Dose Betaine Supplementation Leads to Immediate and Long Term Lowering of Plasma Homocysteine in Healthy Men and Women - J. Nutr. 133:4135-4138, December 2003 - "doses of betaine in the range of dietary intake reduce fasting and postmethionine loading plasma homocysteine concentrations. A betaine-rich diet might therefore lower cardiovascular disease risk" - See iHerb or Vitacost betaine products.

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