Recent Longevity News (7/24/01):

Pitter-Patter Of Paws Is Time-Tested Remedy - Intelihealth, 7/24/01 - article about how pets help you "live longer, heal faster, lower blood pressure and cholesterol and have a better chance of surviving a heart attack"

News - New Compound Stimulates Growth Factors In Some Children - Doctor's Guide, 7/24/01 - "Short-term administration of the orally active nonpeptide growth hormone secretagogue ibutamoren mesylate (MK-0677) can increase growth hormone, insulin-like growth factor-I and insulin-like growth factor binding protein-3 levels in some children with growth hormone deficiency ... median increases from baseline on day 15 were: ... serum insulin-like growth factor-1: 12 µg/L" - Comparing an increase of IGF-1 of 12 to injectable hGH, a doctor that worked for Dr. Chein told me that the injectable raises IGF-1 by 50 per month.  So that would interpolate to 25 in 15 days or about double the secretagogue.  MK-0677 has had problems with increases in cortisol in the past [tested on dogs, see below].  It looks like they have solved that.  However, the question is will it maintain that increase in IGF-1 or with the pituitary gain a tolerance for it? - Ben

• Increases in circulating insulin-like growth factor I levels by the oral growth hormone secretagogue MK-0677 in the beagle are dependent upon pituitary mediation - Endocrinology 1999 Apr;140(4):1552-8 - "Cortisol was increased after MK-0677 administration 3.7-fold in the pre-sham, 3.6-fold in the post-sham, and 3.6-fold in the pre-hypox dogs"

Hormones May Not Prevent Heart Disease - ABC News, 7/23/01 - "women should not start hormone therapy just to treat cardiovascular disease ... Instead, the guidelines suggest using hormone replacement therapy to treat common post-menopausal symptoms such as hot flashes and insomnia, and to reduce the risk of brittle bones - in short, for the proven benefits of hormone replacement"

Cow's Milk May Cause Type 1 Diabetes in at-Risk Infants - WebMD, 7/23/01 - "Those fed the formula made without cow's milk were about 50% less likely to develop proteins that are associated with type 1 diabetes"

Menopause Relief: From Burgers to Buttercups - WebMD, 7/23/01 - "Today, in addition to the hormone medications available to help relieve menopausal symptoms, there are a wide range of so-called "alternative therapies," many of which are thousands of years old ... One of the best known of these is soy, which is found in products ranging from milk and yogurt to burgers"

Total Carotenoids Curb Lung Cancer Risk In Smokers - Doctor's Guide, 7/20/01 - "Higher pre-diagnostic serum levels of total carotenoids and beta-cryptoxanthin have been found to be linked with lower smoking-related lung cancer risk in middle-aged and older Chinese men" - it sort of confirms what I said a couple weeks ago [6/26/01] about going with mixed carotenoids instead of taking mega-doses of just one. - Ben

Calculate Your Risk - Time Magazine, 7/23/01 - Calculates your chance of a heart attack in the next ten years.

Add a Decade to Your Life - WebMD, 7/20/01 - "Compared with other Californians, we found that Adventist men lived about 7.3 years longer and women lived about 4.4 years longer," Fraser tells WebMD. "And for vegetarian Adventists who eat meat [no more than] once a month -- which accounts for about 30% Adventists -- the differences in life expectancy swell to 9.5 years in men and 6.1 years in women. Those are pretty big numbers."

Robert Culp spies arthritis relief - USA Today, 7/20/01 - "MSM — sometimes called DMSO2 — is similar, but has an additional oxygen molecule and a few advantages over DMSO ... Unlike its parent, MSM does not produce a sweet, garlic-like odor in the user. While DMSO was used primarily as a topical lotion, its ability to permeate tissue also brought contaminants with it. Impure industrial-grade DMSO, not of a pharmceutical quality, became common. Although MSM is available in lotion form, it is more commonly taken orally ... The most common theory is that MSM relieves arthritic pain through anti-inflammatory processes, perhaps through stimulating the circulation of oxygen-rich blood ... Other experts theorize that DMSO and MSM may both owe their efficacy to rich organic sulfur compounds"

Can a Cup a Day Keep Parkinson's Away? - WebMD, 7/19/01 - "The more men drink, the lower their risk of Parkinson's; women, however, only see their risk lowered when they drink in moderation -- 1-3 cups per day ... There is some biological experimental evidence that caffeine does protect against [brain cell death]"

Green Tea Linked to Reduced Breast Cancer Risk - ABC News, 7/18/01 - "rats who drank water containing green tea had reductions in the size and malignancy of breast tumors compared with rats that drank only water. Additionally, the tumors of tea-drinking rats developed later and were less invasive"

Regular Endurance Exercise Training Helpful in Men With Poor Lipid Profiles - Medscape, 7/18/01, user=benhess, pwd=asdfgh - "Regular endurance exercise training is beneficial for men with poor lipid profiles, particularly for those with high triglyceride (TG) and low HDL-cholesterol levels"

How Successful Dieters Keep Weight Off - Intelihealth, 7/18/01 - "High-carbohydrate, low-fat diet ... Although some low-carbohydrate, high-protein diets are popular, "we looked for people who were eating a low-carbohydrate diet in this group, and we couldn't find any," ... Self-monitoring ... Breakfast: "They eat breakfast, so they're spreading out their calories over the day." ... Exercise"

Moderate beer quaffers have less heart disease risk, study shows - Healthscout, 7/16/01 - "A moderate amount apparently improves the blood's balance of blood fats and reduces its tendency to clot ... To squeeze the best effects from wine, spirits or beer, men should drink between one and three one-ounce servings of alcohol a day -- or three drinks -- while women should consume half that amount. The reason for the disparity isn't body weight, but rather differences in the stomach's capacity to break down alcohol"

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