Recent Longevity News for the seven days ending 5/8/02:

Adjunct Folinic Acid For Depressed Patients With Inadequate SSRI Response - Doctor's Guide, 5/8/02 - "Investigators report that patient folate levels rose. Hamilton Depression Rating Scale-17 (HAM-D-17) scores among 16 patients who completed the study decreased"

Primary-Care Treatment Choices Outlined For Non-Major Depression - Doctor's Guide, 5/8/02 - "They add that individual trials suggest significantly greater improvements in symptom scores with venlafaxine [Effexor]"

Drinking Water Linked to Lower Heart Disease Risk - ABC News, 5/8/02 - "women who drank more than five 8-ounce glasses of water each day were 41% less likely to die from heart attack during the study period than those who drank two or fewer glasses daily. In high-water consuming men, that risk decreased by 54% ... But when they looked at consumption of other fluids, including coffee, tea, juice, milk and alcohol, the risk was reversed, with heavy drinking women exhibiting a more than twofold higher risk of dying of heart attack. Heavy non-water drinking in men was associated with a 46% increase in the risk of heart attack death"

Organic Produce Has Pesticides, Too, But Far Less Than Conventional Food, Study Finds - Intelihealth, 5/8/02 - "A Consumers Union-led study of government data found pesticide residue on 23 percent of organic fruits and vegetables and on nearly 75 percent of conventionally grown produce"

Pharmacia Pill Matches Narcotic Combo - ABC News, 5/8/02 - "Pharmacia Corp's follow-up to the company's popular Celebrex arthritis drug [Bextra] lasts far longer and is safer than a popular combination of a narcotic and standard painkiller" - See my COX-2 inhibitor page or Bextra at Drugstore.com

Dietary Salt Can Cause Several Other Harmful Effects Apart From Hypertension - Doctor's Guide, 5/8/02 - "dietary salt has an effect on calcium and bone metabolism as well as on the cardiovascular system. They also say that dietary salt controls the incidence of carcinoma of the stomach ... There is also some evidence that it may be associated with the severity of asthma in male asthmatic subjects"

Study of Heart Transplant Patients Further Demonstrates Periodontitis May Be A Risk Factor For Heart Disease - Doctor's Guide, 5/8/02 - "This study adds one more piece of significant evidence that, along with high cholesterol and blood pressure, periodontal disease should be seen as a risk factor for cardiovascular disease ... It is now common practice for dentists to prescribe antibiotics prior to oral surgery or even advanced cleaning techniques for patients with particular heart health profiles. Among the newer methods for administering antibiotics is the product Arestin(TM), which uses patented microsphere technology to deliver the antibiotic minocycline beneath the gum, directly into the infected periodontal pocket, after deep cleaning of the teeth and gums with a common method of treatment known as scaling and root planing" - see Arestin.com

Transcript: Dr. Barry Sears on the Benefits of Fish Oil - ABC News, 5/8/02 - "A pharmaceutical-grade fish oil has at least 60 percent of the fatty acids consisting of Omega-3 fats ... Flaxseed oil contains short-chain Omega-3 fatty acids and the human body can convert these short-chain Omega-3 fatty acids with great difficulty into much lower levels of longer-chain Omega-3 fatty acids. The conversion rate is between one and five percent. It is only the long-chain Omega-3 fats that have the health benefits ... To get the minimum levels of Omega-3 fats that I recommend would require eating at least a half a pound of salmon every day or 5 pounds of flounder. This is simply unrealistic for most Americans" - The only fish oil that I know of that meets the 60% omega-3 criteria is TwinLab TwinEPA - Ben

Wine Drinkers Less Likely to Get Common Cold - ABC News, 5/8/02 - "men and women who drank more than 14 glasses of wine each week had a 40% reduction in colds compared with people who drank no alcohol ... The investigators speculate that substances called flavonoids--antioxidants found in grape skins--might have something to do with the drop in risk. Previous research has suggested that flavonoids have the ability to combat rhinoviruses, which are a major cause of colds"

US Feds Go After Belts Promising 'Washboard Abs' - ABC News, 5/8/02 - "Federal Trade Commission (FTC) officials announced that they have sued the marketers of three popular belts that promise weight loss and "six-pack abs" through direct electrical stimulation of muscles"

Hormone Replacement Therapy not Associated With Weight Gain - Doctor's Guide, 5/8/02 - "Low dose regimens of conjugated equine estrogens alone or with medroxyprogesterone acetate are not associated with greater weight gain than is placebo ... the largest weight increase occurred in the placebo group", where the average patient in the 332-women group showed a greater than two-pound weight gain. The difference was statistically significant when compared with women who were taking the conjugated equine estrogens alone, and approached significance in the women who were taking the combination of medications"

Whole Grains May Reduce Risk of Type 2 Diabetes - ABC News, 5/7/02 - "The study found that insulin sensitivity improved in a group of overweight and obese adults when they consumed a diet rich in whole-grain foods such as brown rice, oats, corn and barley ... He warned consumers to steer clear of products that do not list "whole grain" as the first ingredient"

Consumer Reports reveals successful diet tips - CNN, 5/6/02 - "an overwhelming majority of "successful losers" took a do-it-yourself approach and credited exercise -- not food deprivation -- as their top strategy"

Tea Prolongs Survival After Heart Attack - WebMD, 5/6/02 - "Researchers say the findings add to a growing notion that the antioxidant-rich flavonoids found in black and green teas prevent heart disease. But this is the first study to suggest that drinking tea can actually protect the heart after damage has already occurred" - See Nature's Way Green Tea Extract.

Low Dose DHEA Proves Effective in Treating Physical And Mental Conditions of Hypopituitarism - Doctor's Guide, 5/6/02 - "the women who took DHEA showed increased initiative, stamina, alertness and sexual relations. During the open treatment period, all of the women being treated with DHEA showed an increase in sexual interest and activity ... Women in the study also experienced several physical changes from the DHEA treatments. These changes included alterations in the skin's oiliness, moisture and elasticity (53 percent); increased perspiration during physical activity (63 percent); increases in axillary and/or pubic hair (76 percent); and increased handgrip strength"

The Best Foods For Energy - ABC News, 5/6/02 - "Headaches and fatigue are common side effects of dehydration, and so it's a good idea to make sure you are getting the recommended daily amount of water — typically 6 to 8 glasses ... Another cause of diet-related fatigue is iron-deficiency anemia, particularly for menstruating women ... taking in too much can be dangerous. Some research has associated excessive iron intake with cardiovascular disease and even cancer ... choosing complex carbs and fiber, like those found in whole grains and brown rice can ward off blood-sugar crashes"

Paxil in Pregnancy Linked to Baby's Complications - ABC News, 5/6/02 - "12 infants born to 55 women who took the drug [Paxil] late in pregnancy had complications that required prolonged hospitalization. Nine of the babies had respiratory distress, two had hypoglycemia (abnormally low blood sugar) and one had jaundice--a yellowing of the skin due to reduced liver function"

Black Raspberries Fight Cancer - WebMD, 5/3/02 - "Earlier studies have shown that blueberries and strawberries also have cancer-preventing properties. But black raspberries seem to work even better. Berries are chock full of antioxidants, chemicals that help block tumors from forming. Antioxidants sop up cancer-causing molecules called free radicals -- damaging substances produced from your body's everyday functions" - See Jarrow Berry High Powder.

Ancient Folk Remedy [guggul] Points Toward Possible New Way To Control Cholesterol - Intelihealth, 5/2/02 - "The sap from a tree known in India as guggul contains a compound that blocks the action of a cell receptor, called FXR, that helps regulate the level of cholesterol in the body ... This mechanism is completely different from the action of statin drugs ... finding a new way to reduce cholesterol could be very important for patients who cannot tolerate the side effects that some people experience with statin drugs" - See my guggul page.  If you are already taking a statin or red yeast rice (a non-prescription statin) it would seem like there would be less chance of liver damage if you cut the dose in half and added half a dose of guggul.  Jarrow already has a formula with both called Cholestame with Red Yeast Rice or with policosanol called Cholestame with Policosanol or just plain guggul called Opti-Guggul.  Use discount code "qc" for 5% off.

Ayurvedic Remedy Lowers Cholesterol - ABC News, 5/2/02 - "Guggul is not the first "natural" remedy found to lower cholesterol. In 1998 the U.S. Food and Drug Administration banned cholestin, made from fermented red rice and used in traditional Chinese medicine, saying it contained the prescription drug lovastatin" - Cholestin was a brand name distributed by the Pharmanex, Inc. branch of the multi-level marketing company NuSkin.  They forgot to capitalize the "C" in Cholestin.  I don't know how they are getting away with it but red yeast rice is still manufactured and sold.  Cholestame with Red Yeast Rice is one example.  Also see VitaminShoppe red yeast rice products.  Chinese cooks add red yeast rice to some dishes, such as Peking Duck and spareribs, to achieve a red color.

Social Ties May Be Key to Long, Healthy Life - ABC News, 5/2/02 - "Men who were more socially isolated, however, were nearly 20% more likely to die from any cause than their more socially integrated peers ... Socially isolated men were also 53% more likely to die from a heart-related cause than those who reported the highest number of social ties ... those with a moderately low number of social connections had a more than twofold greater risk of death from accidents and suicides than did their peers with the most social ties ... socially isolated men had an 82% higher risk of death from heart disease than their peers"

Folate Fights Stroke and Heart Disease - WebMD, 5/2/02 - "people who consumed at least 300 mcg of folate every day had a 20% lower risk of stroke and a 13% lower risk of cardiovascular disease than those consuming less than 136 mcg of folate per day ... Folate is also thought to offset risk of cardiovascular disease, by reducing levels of homocysteine in the blood. Homocysteine is linked with higher risk of atherosclerosis because it damages arteries, but vitamins B-6 and B-12, as well as folic acid, have been found to prevent that damage from occurring"

What's Wrong With Vitamin E? - Life Extension Magazine, 5/02 - "Most vitamin E supplements consist primarily of alpha tocopherol. Recent studies indicate that a lot more than alpha tocopherol is needed to protect against degenerative disease ... To obtain optimal health benefits from vitamin E, a mixture of tocopherols (alpha, beta, delta, and gamma) and tocotrienols (alpha, beta, delta, and gamma) are required ...In an animal model of aging, tocotrienols extended lifespan by 19% ... studies indicate that high dose alpha-tocopherol supplementation considerably decreases the absorption of gamma-tocopherol and reduces the effects of tocotrienols" - The Body Wise AM/PMs are the only multivitamin I know of that has mixed tocopherols (it's also got mixed carotenoids as Dunaliella salina algae).  I still feel that taking alpha-tocopherol along causes more harm than good.  Some other suggestions are TwinLab Super E-Complex, Jarrow Toco-3-Nols and Jarrow Total E.  Related articles:

• Which Form of Vitamin E Should I Take: Tocotrienols or Tocopherols? - Dr. Weil, 12/11/01 - "you should know that vitamin E is not a single compound. Instead, it is made up of eight different compounds, four tocopherols and four tocotrienols, (in both cases called alpha, beta, gamma, and delta). In other words, vitamin E, like vitamin B, is a complex. Until recently, most vitamin E supplements provided only one of these components, alpha-tocopherol ... Scientists now believe different components in vitamin E may be responsible for different actions. For example, gamma-tocotrienol appears to have the ability to lower serum cholesterol levels, while gamma-tocopherol may be better at helping prevent cancer, specifically prostate cancer ... I feel that the ideal vitamin E product should provide a daily dose of 80 mg of the whole complex, including mixed tocopherols and mixed tocotrienols in their natural forms, and at least 10 mg of that should be tocotrienols"
• Effect of oral supplementation with D-alpha-tocopherol on the vitamin E content of human low density lipoproteins and resistance to oxidation - Medline, 8/91 - "gamma-Tocopherol significantly decreased in plasma and LDL during vitamin E (alpha-tocopherol) supplementation"

Michael Janson, M.D.: Newsletters - Dr. Janson Newsletter, 5/02 - "The newspaper headlines blared the supposed ineffectiveness of SJW, but little mention was made of the uselessness of Zoloft. Perhaps they should have read "Zoloft no better than placebo for severe depression.""

Growth Hormone for CFS in Older Patients - Medscape, 5/02 - "Only 1 study was located in which patients with CFS were treated with GH therapy.[7] Twenty patients with CFS with peak serum GH levels below 10 mcL during sleep were randomized to receive either GH therapy (6.7 mcg/kg/day) for 12 weeks or placebo. When this treatment period ended, 17 individuals were given GH treatment at the previously identified dosage, leading to significant increases in IGF-1, fat-free body mass, and total body water at 12 months. However, quality of life (assessed by 2 measures) in this cohort did not improve during treatment, but 4 participants resumed work after an extended period of sick leave"

Does Vitamin E Prevent Breast Cancer? - Life Extension Magazine, 5/02 - "premenopausal women with a family history who consumed the highest quantity of vitamin E enjoyed a 43% reduction in breast cancer incidence compared to only a 16% risk reduction for women without a family history of breast cancer.[11] Based on this study, vitamin E appears to protect against genetic- predisposed breast cancer better than environmental-induced breast cancer. (Note that nutrients like indole-3-carbinol may specifically protect against environmental breast carcinogens.)"

Prostate Cancer and I3C - Life Extension Foundation, 5/02 - "Studies show that I3C changes not only estrogen metabolism, but testosterone and androsterone as well. Its hormone-altering action may help protect against hormone mimickers such as the drugs implanted in food animals. It has been confirmed that whether a hormone is the real thing, a drug facsimilie or a chemical, I3C will neutralize it" - See I3C at iHerb and also my prostate cancer page.

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