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Recent Longevity News for the seven days ending 1/23/02:
Testosterone Supplementation Might Ward off Alzheimer's Disease - Medscape, 1/23/02, user=benhess, pwd=asdfgh - "Because of the increasing evidence implicating GSK-3-beta in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease, testosterone given alone to aging men and given combined with 17-beta-estradiol to postmenopausal women would probably prove beneficial in preventing and/or treating Alzheimer's disease"
Chelation Therapy Does Not Benefit Patients With Ischemic Heart Disease - Medscape, 1/23/02, user=benhess, pwd=asdfgh - "Chelation with EDTA, an alternative therapy touted as a treatment for ischemic heart disease, provides no more clinical benefit than does placebo"
Parkinson's Drugs Not to Blame - WebMD, 1/22/02 - "But people on Mirapex or Requip were not any more likely to have daytime sleepiness. And they were no more likely to fall asleep while driving compared with people not on these drugs. In fact, sleepiness was not associated with any particular type of Parkinson's drug" - Related Article:
Augmentation Strategy Aids Treatment-Resistant Depression - Clinical Psychiatry News, 11/01, user=benhess, pwd=asdfgh - "Pramipexole [Mirapex], a dopamine agonist, may be an effective augmentation agent for patients with treatment-resistant depression"
Scientists Examine Long-Term Risks And Gains Of Painkillers - Intelihealth, 1/22/02 - "The studies reflect scientists' growing interest in the idea that a common condition, inflammation, may underlie many chronic and debilitating diseases - like Alzheimer's, heart disease, osteoporosis and diabetes - and that drugs that fight inflammation may have a role in preventing or delaying those diseases, or at least slowing them down ... Originally, the effect was attributed to aspirin's ability to prevent blood clots, which can cause heart attacks or strokes. But now, researchers think part of the protective effect may come from aspirin's ability to quell inflammation in the arteries, helping to prevent blockages" - See my inflammation page for supplements that reduce inflammation.
Mix B-12 and Folic Acid for Heart Health - WebMD, 1/18/02 - "Folic acid alone reduces the level of a potentially harmful amino acid in the blood, called "homocysteine." When elevated, homocysteine has been shown to raise the risk of heart disease and stroke. In fact, some heart experts consider homocysteine to be a very important risk factor ... But adding vitamin B-12 to the mix "is likely to be much more effective in lowering homocysteine concentrations,"" - I take the Jarrow methylcobalamin. - Ben
Thyroid Disease Increases Birth Defects - WebMD, 1/18/02 - "The risk for heart defects was seen in women with an underactive thyroid but not in women with an overactive thyroid. And this was true even if the women were taking medication to bring their thyroid levels back to normal ... We already knew that there was an increased risk of problems, mostly intellectual or developmental ... but the link with birth defects is new and unexpected" - See my section on the T3 controversy, maybe that's the reason the meds didn't work. I'm 52 and I've experimented with thyroid hormones. I'm not a doctor and I wouldn't recommend other people try that because it can increase your metabolism and pulse and maybe cause a heart attack, plus it can cause osteoporosis and probably a lot of other problems I don't even know about. I've read everything from an article that said hypothyroidism is the underdiagnosed epidemic to articles that say it only affects 1% of the population and most of them are women. Personally, I find it hard to believe that thyroid hormones don't decrease with age and I find it hard to believe that that doesn't effect your well being. I also feel that as you age, the conversion from T4 to T3 may be hindered. Anyway, I started out with 60 mg of Armour (desiccated thyroid) and couldn't tell any difference. Them I tried .1 mg to Synthroid (T4). That made me feel great from about day two until day six then it stopped. I doubled the dose and that made me feel worse but I stuck it out for four weeks and had my TSH, T3 and T4 checked. My TSH came to .82 (normal .4 - 4.2), my T3 came to 106 (normal 60 - 181) and my T4 came to 1.71 (,74 - 2.1). I change the dosage to .1 mg of T4 plus 25 mcg of T3 (Cytomel®). I was amazed that in just one day there was a huge increase in energy, mood and feeling or well being. I haven't had the thyroid numbers rechecked yet but it kind of supports the only study that I know of combining T3 and T4, which says "among 15 visual-analogue scales used to indicate mood and physical status, the results for 10 were significantly better after treatment with thyroxine [T4] plus triiodothyronine [T3]". Like I said, I'm not a doctor but personally I'm going to try to keep my T4 and T3 in the upper two thirds of normal. I noticed that a recent CME course on depression management recommends that same exact combo (.1 mg T4 plus 25 mcg of T3) as an augmentation to antidepressants. See table 6. Most doctors won't even order the T4 or T3 checks. I had to argue for it and I'm glad I did. That dosage might be a little high for me. I've been monitoring my pulse and my morning body temperature (see next article) and have adjusted the dosage down a couple times. - Ben
Vitamin B12 Plus Folic Acid Significantly Reduces Homocysteine Levels - Doctor's Guide, 1/17/02 - "This finding suggests that a fortification policy based on folic acid and vitamin B12, rather than folic acid alone, is likely to be much more effective in lowering homocysteine concentrations"
Folic Acid [deficiency] Linked to Parkinson's Disease - WebMD, 1/17/02 - "The latest research shows that mice on a low-folic-acid diet are much more likely to get Parkinson's disease than mice on a normal diet ... The researchers were able to finger homocysteine as the likely culprit behind the loss of brain cells"
Stress Takes Toll on Brain Cells - ABC News, 1/17/02 - "Soreq exposed mouse brain cells to AChE-affecting chemicals, including the stress hormone cortisol, and examined the brain tissue of mice stressed in such ways as forcing them to swim ... Within minutes, relatively short periods of stress caused the mice to produce a usually rare, abnormal version of AChE that doesn't provide the same help in neuronal signaling ... Many of these changes are not irreversible"
Metal-Plated Pipes Implicated in Water Contamination - Medscape, 1/17/02, user=benhess, pwd=asdfgh - "Water left standing for hours in nickel- or chrome-plated pipes, fittings and faucets can accumulate potentially dangerous levels of heavy metals ... We discovered that from chromium-plated brass and nickel-plated parts the release of nickel reaches very high levels, in some cases 50 times higher than the upper safe limit ... They advise that it is possible to lower the metal levels in water considerably by letting the water run for a few seconds"
Nodding Off? 'Wake-Up Pills' Available - WebMD, 1/16/02 - "Studies at the University of Chicago show that when college-aged men were allowed to sleep for just four hours a night for one week, their insulin reactions were that of "old diabetics," ... Despite feeling sleepy, those taking ENADAlert still performed better than those who took the placebo. "They performed better in terms of performance efficiency -- they had higher numbers of correct answers per minute," ... It's [Modafinil] a good wake promoter," Walsleben tells WebMD. "It takes two hours to get going but has a half-life of 10 hours, so it works all day long. By evening, there are no after-effects that affect overnight sleep. It allows the sleep rhythm to be normal." - I noticed that Modafinil is available on the Internet at www.modafinil.org (no affiliation).
Omega-3s, the Heart-Healthy Fats - HealthandAge, 1/11/02 - "It appears that omega-3s protect the heart in several ways. They may lower the risk of abnormal heart rhythms; reduce the "stickiness" of blood cells, which makes them less likely to form clots and block arteries; and lower high blood triglyceride levels. Most studies have centered on marine sources of omega-3 fatty acids; less is known about the vegetable sources" Related article:
Omega-3 Fatty Acids Safe for Pregnant Women With Mood Disorders - Clinical Psychiatry News, 11/01, user=benhess, pwd=asdfgh - "Calculating the dose of commercial preparations can be tricky. Front product panels should be ignored. “You'll see things all over the bottles, like ‘over 1,000 mg of omega-3 fatty acids,’ but they won't necessarily have it,” she said, advising consumers to turn the bottle on its side to add up the milligrams of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA)" - I think you'll find that Twinlab TwinEPA has the most bang per capsule. - Ben
Vioxx (Rofecoxib) Shows Osteoarthritis Pain Relief Superior to Celebrex (Celecoxib) or Acetaminophen - Doctor's Guide, 1/8/02 - "The first head-to-head study of its kind showed that Canadian-discovered Vioxx® (rofecoxib) 25 mg provided greater pain relief from osteoarthritis compared to Celebrex® (celecoxib) 200 mg or acetaminophen 4,000 mg"
The Ultimate Relaxant - Life Extension Magazine, 1/02 - "Theanine is an amino acid found in green tea. It helps to produce a calming effect in the brain and induces a feeling of relaxation and well-being. Best of all, it does all of this without causing drowsiness. In fact, studies have shown that theanine enhances the ability to learn and remember. One of the other benefits of this amino acid is that it helps to lower blood pressure naturally, by enhancing GABA in the brain"
I stumbled across the following article on trans fats and stuck it in because a lot of people don't recognize "partially hydrogenated" as being trans fats. With last week's newsletter quote "Researchers concluded that by substituting nonhydrogenated, polyunsaturated fats for trans fats, "the incidence of Type II diabetes could be reduced by 40 percent.", it's something to think about when serving most margarines and most peanut butters to your kids.
Trans Fats and Type II Diabetes - DrMirkin.com, 11/15/01 - "Until labeling laws are changed, the only way to know whether a food contains trans fats is to read the list of ingredients on any processed food. If you see the words "partially hydrogenated" in front of any vegetable oil, the food contains trans fats"
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