Recent Longevity News for the seven days ending 3/20/02:

Supplements Boost Sperm Count - WebMD, 3/20/02 - "Researchers found that the men with fertility problems who took 5 mg of folic acid a day and 66 mg of zinc sulfate a day for 26 weeks had a 74% increase in total normal sperm count" - Note: Taking folic acid without vitamin B12 can mast a B12 deficency.  Also, taking large amounts of zinc can interfere with copper and magnesium absorption.  I'd got with formulas that have a balance.  See:

• Elderly Need More Folic Acid-- UK Health Study - ABC News, 3/6/02 - "The authors warn that adding too much folic acid causes people with a deficiency of vitamin B12 to develop irreversible nerve damage ... But they said elderly people could avoid this risk by taking supplements of both vitamins"
• Inhibitory effects of zinc on magnesium balance and magnesium absorption in man - Medline, 10/94 - "the overall effect of the high Zn intake of the three groups combined, regardless of the Ca intake, was a highly significant decrease of Mg absorption and of the Mg balance"
• Increasing the Good Cholesterol - Health & Nutrition Breakthrough, 1/99 - "Low copper levels, which can be induced by taking more than 25 mg/day of zinc, may increase triglycerides as well as reduce HDL levels.25 Zinc/copper ratios should be monitored."
• Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme (ACE) Inhibitors - Healthwell.com - "it now appears that chronic use of the ACE inhibitor captopril may lead to a zinc deficiency ... Supplements containing zinc should also contain copper, to protect against a zinc-induced copper deficiency"

Men More Prone to Oxidative Stress Than Women - ABC News, 3/20/02 - "Oxidative stress is involved in atherogenesis, the fatty build-up on arterial linings that increases heart attack and stroke risk, and may also play a role in cancer and a number of other chronic disorders. It is caused by free radicals, byproducts of the body's normal processes that can damage tissue ... However, taking supplements of vitamins C and E for 4 weeks reduced levels of these compounds in men but not in women, possibly because the effects of antioxidants can be greater in people with more oxidative stress"

Got Pheromones? Get Affection - WebMD, 3/20/02 - "lacing a woman's perfume with a synthetic pheromone dramatically increases a woman's sex appeal to the opposite sex ... 74% of women who wore their regular perfume with the added pheromone saw a significant increase ... Only 23% of women who had a placebo added to their perfume reported an increase in these factors"

Does High Intake of Vitamin A Pose a Risk for Osteoporotic Fracture? - JAMA, 3/20/02 - "the evidence relating to a possible relationship between moderately high retinol intake and possible adverse effects on bone health remains inconclusive" - I feel that the Body Wise AM/PMs are right on with 5,000 IU of vitamin A.  The way I understand it is that your body will convert the beta-carotene (from the Dunaliella salina algae in the AM formula) to vitamin A (retinol) in the gut (depending on the body’s needs).  But then you have to wonder if your body is as efficient at doing that as you get older.  That's my argument for including both. - Ben

Estrogen May Protect Against Form of Heart Damage - ABC News, 3/20/02 - "In a surprise finding, scientists have discovered that estrogen appears to protect female mice from heart enlargement even when they have a genetic defect that impairs the muscle's normal functioning"

Hike in eye disease predicted for U.S. - MSNBC, 3/20/02 - "The number of blind or visually impaired Americans is likely to double over the next 30 years as the giant baby boom generation ages" - See my pages on glaucoma, cataracts and macular degeneration for possible prevention measures.

Bones Need Both Calcium and Phosphorus - WebMD, 3/20/02 - "taking a lot of calcium supplements without enough phosphorus could be a waste of money ... Rhodia, a major producer of calcium phosphates, partially funded this research" - I read an article on this several years ago and it said that the average American diet already gets too much phosphorus. - Ben

Drinking orange juice lowers blood pressure - MSNBC, 3/19/02 - "two dozen people who drank two glasses of orange juice a day for six weeks experienced an astonishing 10 mm Hg drop in systolic blood pressure ... Systolic refers to the top number in a blood pressure reading ... those with the highest blood levels of lycopene — the compound that gives tomatoes their red color — were about one-third less likely to develop heart disease over the course of seven years than those with those lowest levels ... {regarding blood pressure] It’s a probably the vitamin C and the potassium, but we really don’t know" - Related Orange Juice article:

• Orange Juice Raises "Good" Cholesterol - Intelihealth, 11/10/99 - "Dr. Elzbieta M. Kurowska told Reuters Health that once the subjects were drinking three glasses of orange juice a day, their HDL levels increased 21% and the LDL/HDL ratio dropped 16%. . . .  Kurowska attributes the effects of orange juice on cholesterol to the flavenoid hesperidin found in oranges."
• High Cholesterol Can Save Your Life - ABC News, 11/3/00 - "If you’re built like 25 Canadians at the University of Western Ontario, this [orange juice] will increase your HDL by 21 percent (or 10 to 20 points) within 4 weeks. “We’re not sure, but this effect may be due to a flavonoid in orange juice called hesperidin,”"

Risk of Fracture Reduced in Women Using Statins - Doctor's Guide, 3/19/02 - "Fracture risk is reduced by 60 percent in women using 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase inhibitors (statins) ... This substantial risk reduction is greater than might be anticipated from increases in bone mineral density (BMD) alone" - Note: Red yeast rice is a non-prescription statin

Calcium Intake May Be Associated With Reduced Risk Of Colon Cancer - Intelihealth, 3/19/02 - "Men and women who included more than 700 to 800 mg of calcium in their diets each day had a 40% to 50% lower risk of distal colon cancer compared with participants taking less than 500 mg of calcium each day"

Systolic, Not Diastolic, Blood Pressure Best For Assessing Cardiovascular Risk - Doctor's Guide, 3/19/02 - "Systolic blood pressure is a good predictor of cardiovascular disease and coronary heart disease in hypertensive men ... In contrast, measurements of diastolic blood pressure are of little value in predicting cardiovascular risk"

Patients Need More Education About Effects of Increased Systolic Blood Pressure - Doctor's Guide, 3/19/02 - "hypertensive patients were usually aware that they had high blood pressure, they frequently did not understand the importance of increased systolic blood pressure levels ... Improved recognition of the importance of systolic blood pressure is a major public health challenge in the prevention and treatment of hypertension ... Thirty-two percent of patients correctly identified systolic blood pressure as the "top" number of their reading"

Bad Heart Despite Good Cholesterol? - WebMD, 3/19/02 - ""Seventy percent of these patients were in the lowest risk categories," Schoenfeld says. "Only 25% would qualify for drug treatment." ... So why did these patients have heart attacks? One factor looms large: more than eight out of 10 of these patients were overweight or obese ... "Obesity is becoming an epidemic in and of itself and is a root cause of the continuing heart disease epidemic.""

Do Those Electrical Gadgets Really Flatten Abs? - Dr. Weil, 3/19/02 - "I suggest you do it the old fashioned way via a combination of diet and exercise. You'll save your money and get better results – and a great deal of personal satisfaction"

Weight-Loss Drug Safety Questioned - ABC News, 3/19/02 - "Meridia has been associated with 29 deaths and 397 serious adverse events such as arrhythmia and high blood pressure in the United States since its approval in 1998"

Statins May Preserve Brain Power - WebMD, 3/18/02 - "The study also found that statin use was associated with a lower risk of memory problems or dementia, regardless of total cholesterol level. The authors say more research is needed to understand exactly how statins seem to protect the brain, but they suspect that the drugs may work by improving muscle function and reducing inflammation" - Note:  Red yeast rice is a non-prescription statin.  Also, see policosanol for reducing cholesterol.

Acetylcysteine Prevents Renal Problems After Angiography - Doctor's Guide, 3/18/02 - "Changes in creatinine mean values after 48 hours were -0.4 (+/-0.3) and +0.1 (+/-0.3) mg/dL for treatment and control groups, respectively (p<0.001). The benefit was larger in patients with baseline creatinine levels higher than 2 mg/dL, at -0.4 (+/-0.4) compared to +0.5 (+/-0.3) mg/dL (p<0.001)" - See my acetyl-l-cysteine page.

High blood pressure tied to low testosterone - Reuters, 3/18/02 - "the hypertensive men had about 12% less circulating testosterone ... it is unclear whether blood levels of testosterone influence blood pressure control, or whether high blood pressure changes hormone levels" - Related information:

• Newest Hypertension Drug, Losartan [Cozaar], May Improve Sexual Function - Doctor's Guide, 5/1/01
• New Hypertension Drug Beats Beta Blocker in Trial - ABC News, 3/20/02 - "No treatment for high blood pressure has ever proven better at preventing deaths, heart attacks and strokes than an old family of hypertension drugs called beta blockers--until now ... Both drugs substantially reduced blood pressure to similar levels in the trial, but patients taking Cozaar had a 13% lower combined incidence of heart attack, stroke and death caused by cardiovascular problems than those taking atenolol ... Moreover, Dahlof said 25% fewer patients in the Cozaar group went on to develop type II diabetes during the study, compared with those taking the beta blocker"

Study: Soy Diet Reduces Pain, Inflammation in Rats - ABC News, 3/15/02 - "rats on a soy-based diet experienced "significantly less" swelling and were able to tolerate more pain than another test group given a milk protein" - See my inflammation page.  Inflammation is associated with heart disease, stoke and diabetes.

A Story of Two Mothers: Hormone Replacement and Breast Cancer - ABC News, 3/15/02 - "But according to a recent study conducted at the University of Washington, not only do women with breast cancer have nothing to fear from hormone replacement therapy, they may have reason to believe that HRT could even lower their chances of a cancer recurrence"

Saunas Improve Heart Failure - WebMD, 3/15/02 - "After two weeks, nearly all of the people who'd taken daily saunas showed much better blood flow in their arteries, much lower levels of BNP, and what's more, they felt better. People in the other group had no changes at all." - I've even got a recommendation for that.  I put in a Kohler steam shower with Grohe faucets a couple years ago.

Salmon May Help Relieve Depression - WebMD, 3/15/02 - "Patients randomly received either the fish oil capsule or a sugar pill in addition to the antidepressant medication they were taking ... After four weeks, six of 10 patients receiving E-EPA -- but only one of 10 receiving placebo -- had significantly reduced symptoms of depression ... The effect of E-EPA was significant from week two of treatment ... Depressed mood, guilt feelings, worthlessness, and insomnia were all improved" - Note: One softgel of Twinlab TwinEPA contains 600 mg of EPA (Eicosapentaenoic Acid).

Formula With Supplements Boosts Infant-Brain Function - Doctor's Guide, 3/14/02 - "Despite a dietary supply of long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LCPs) from breast milk during the first six weeks of life, infants who were weaned to formula that did not provide long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids had significantly poorer visual acuity at 17, 26, and 52 weeks of age and significantly poorer steroacuity at 17 weeks of age than did infants who were weaned to LCP-supplemented formula ... She added that better acuity and steroacuity at 17 weeks was correlated with higher concentrations of docosahexaenoic acid in plasma. Better acuity at 52 weeks was correlated with higher concentrations of docosahexaenoic acid in plasma and red blood cells" - Note: One softgel of Twinlab TwinEPA contains 240 mg of docosahexaenoic acid.  Also, see my fatty acid page.

New Formulas May Help Infant Vision - WebMD, 3/18/02 - "babies fed formula containing a type of fatty acids known as long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LCP) have better vision than those who didn't receive the fortified formula, and babies must receive either the special formula or breast milk during the first three months"

Keeping Seniors Independent - WebMD, 3/14/02 - "the average three-year decline in walking speed among those women who used ACE inhibitors was 10 times lower than it was in the other groups ... Researchers think several factors may explain these drugs' beneficial effect on delaying disability: ACE inhibitors increase blood flow to the muscles, reduce inflammation, and promote healthy eating habits and better nutrition by inhibiting a substance known to reduce appetite"

High Cholesterol Dementia - ABC News, 3/14/02 - "Researchers now suggest that some women may have difficulty thinking clearly because what they eat causes high cholesterol ... women with cholesterol levels of 235 or higher had difficulty with mental testing ... Some scientists suspect cholesterol damages the brain in much the same way it damages the heart: It collects on the walls of tiny blood vessels, making them narrower and reducing the flow of blood. And without enough blood, the brain can no longer function properly" - Also see my Memory and Alzheimer's pages

Findings Conclude Sustained Caffeine Intake Over A Three Day Period Negates The Benefits Of Creatine Supplements - Intelihealth, 3/14/02 - "The purpose of creatine supplementation is to increase either total creatine stores or phosphocreatine (PCr) stores within muscle. Supplementation increases the rate of resynthesis of creatine phosphate following exercise ... for the athlete in training, the key finding is that sustained caffeine intake, over a three-day period, negates the benefits of creatine supplements"

Family History of Colon Cancer? Folate May Help - ABC News, 3/14/02 - "Consuming a folate-rich diet and reducing alcohol consumption may help cut the risk of colorectal cancer in half for those who have a family history of the disease ... Women with a family history of colorectal cancer who consumed more than 400 micrograms of folate each day were 52% less likely to develop colorectal cancer than women who consumed less than 200 micrograms a day"

Treadmill Test Seen As Good Gauge - Intelihealth, 3/14/02 - "A person's peak exercise capacity as measured on a treadmill test is a more powerful predictor of how long someone will live than risk factors such as heart disease, high blood pressure or smoking, a study says"

Study Links Weight, Diabetes in Kids - ABC News, 3/14/02 - "increased obesity among American children is leading to increased Type 2 diabetes, which was once almost unheard-of in children"

Sun May Protect Against Some Cancers - WebMD, 3/14/02 - "new findings from an independent researcher suggest that getting too little sun may increase the risk of dying from a host of other cancers ... Sunlight exposure increases the body's production of vitamin D. People who get lower amounts of sunlight exposure therefore manufacture lower amounts of vitamin D. Grant says vitamin D may have a protective effect and taking vitamin D supplements might offer adequate protection to people who get little natural sunlight"

Endogenous Estradiol in Elderly Individuals: Cognitive and Noncognitive Associations - Archives of Neurology, 3/02 - "Lower E₂ [estradiol] levels are correlated with poor cognitive, behavioral, and functional status in older individuals"

Early to bed, kids better handle stress - USA Today, 3/14/02 - "Prolonged output of cortisol can: Raise blood pressure and heart rate. Weaken immune response, so that colds and other viruses take hold more easily. Make it harder to concentrate when challenged"

I did a search to see if the FDA phase study on Anticort was published and ran across these two articles.  Procaine HCl is the active ingredient in GH-3.  See my cortisol page:

The fountain of youth mysteries revealed in the new millennium - Los Altos Town Crier, 2/14/01 - "However, one, known as cortisol, a hormone that rises significantly in the body each time adrenaline is released to provide the sudden bursts of energy necessary to counter stressful situations, appears to be playing a major role in destroying the immune system and shortening lifespan ... And the research is staggering. Published studies in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology have already concluded that high cortisol levels result in loss of muscle and bone mass - the first physical symptoms of aging. Others have shown that high cortisol levels are associated with cognitive impairment and dementia"

Georgetown Researchers Report Development of New Way to Control Excess Cortisol Levels - Georgetown University Medical Center, 6/12/00 - "Although more work is needed to understand how Anticort works, these results clearly indicate that we now have a powerful tool to control the stress response and its detrimental effects on the body"

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