Recent Longevity News for the seven days ending 6/5/02:

Understanding Anxiety - Time Magazine (cover story), 6/10/02 - "A new group of antidepressants, known as serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors, may be even more effective in treating anxiety disorders than the SSRIs are. As the name implies, the SNRIs target a second neurotransmitter called norepinephrine" - Note:  St. John's wort is believed to increase all three of the primary brain chemicals (serotonin, norepinephrine and dopamine)

Your Health,  Endometriosis News - Time Magazine, 6/10/02 - "A fascinating though preliminary study suggests that women who use tampons or who have sex when they are menstruating significantly reduce their risk of getting the disease"

Effexor (Venlafaxine) More Effective In Reducing Depression - Doctor's Guide, 6/5/02 - "In a large analysis comparing selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and tricyclics (TCAs) to Effexor® (venlafaxine), a serotonin noradrenaline reuptake inhibitor (SNRI), the antidepressant Effexor was found to be more effective than 10 other medications, including all the SSRIs studied"

Low Vitamin B Status Prevalent In Alzheimer Patients - Doctor's Guide, 6/4/02 - "low vitamin B6 status is prevalent in patients with AD"

Women Unaware of Folic Acid Benefits - WebMD, 6/4/02 - "only 31% of women between the ages of 18 and 45 take a folic acid supplement every day, despite the fact that the vitamin has been shown to dramatically reduce the risk of serious birth defects ... In fact, only 10% of women realize that the B vitamin folic acid must be taken prior to pregnancy to prevent birth defects of the brain and spine known as neural tube defects ... it takes about a month for the vitamin to provide the maximum benefit"

Statins Reduce Risk of Heart Disease And Possibly Death in Women on HRT - Medscape, 6/4/02 - "women taking statins had a 21% lower risk of nonfatal MI and death related to heart disease, a 33% lower risk of all-cause mortality, and a 55% lower risk of venous thromboembolism than women not taking statins ... Additionally, HRT was associated with a 75% increase in risk for primary cardiac events during the first year of use compared with placebo. However, women on HRT and a statin during the first year of HERS had the same risk of coronary events as the placebo group" - Note:  Red yeast rice is a non-prescription statin.  See VitaminShoppe red yeast rice products.

AMA Journal Reports on Itself - ABC News, 6/4/02 - "published studies are sometimes misleading and frequently fail to mention weaknesses ... Some problems can be traced to biases and conflicts of interest among peer reviewers ... problems are most likely to occur in research funded by drug companies, which have a vested interest in findings that make their products look good" - Reminds me of the St. John's wort study funded by Pfizer and the National Institute of Health SJW study where the head of the study owned stock in Pfizer (the maker of Zoloft, evaluated in the same study).  Taxpayers paid $4.3 million for that NIH study that was biased from the start.  See my NIH letter.  If an over the counter anti-depressant were to be proven more effective than any other anti-depressant, it would be devastating for the psychiatry business.  That's why I feel they used a dose so low that they knew it wouldn't work for major depression and they didn't use the (Ze 117) extract that was shown most effective in previous trials.  Just had to vent that. - Ben

Missed Periods in Young Women an Osteoporosis Risk - ABC News, 6/3/02 - "Young women who repeatedly miss their periods, and are not pregnant, may be developing premature ovarian failure ... Premature ovarian failure occurs when a woman's ovaries stop producing hormones at an abnormally early age--usually before age 40. Women with this condition stop menstruating and face increased bone loss over time, leading to a higher risk of the bone-thinning disease osteoporosis and an increased risk of bone fractures"

Drastic Dieting Could Extend Lifespan - ABC News, 6/3/02 - "Nobody is sure just why calorie restriction lengthens animals' lives in the lab. It may be that if one eats less, something happens on the genetic level — fewer particles known as "free radicals" are produced. It is believed that free radicals, which are chemically unstable, can damage DNA and various proteins in a body's cells" - If the mechanism is reduced free radicals, it seems like anti-oxidants would have the same effect. - Ben

High Oxidative Stress, Low Antioxidant Status In Alzheimer Disease - Doctor's Guide, 6/3/02 - "Lymphocyte DNA 8-OHdG content in people AD may thus reflect a condition of increased oxidative stress related to a poor antioxidant status ... researchers also noted a significant inverse relationship between lymphocyte DNA 8-OHdG content [a marker of oxidative damage to DNA] and plasma levels of lycopene, lutein, a-carotene and b-carotene, respectively"

Staving off the effects of aging with natural remedies - US News & World Report, 6/3/02 - "Yet earlier this year, when frequent hot flashes began disturbing Botti's sleep at her home in Sellersville, Pa., she eschewed a visit to the doctor and turned instead to soy. Headlines claimed extracts of the much-touted bean could ease menopausal symptoms, so Botti figured, "Why not try it?" In the nearly two months since, she has felt just one hot flash"

Link Found Between Vitamin E Intake and Immunoglobulin E In Treatment Of Atopic Dermatitis - Doctor's Guide, 5/31/02 - "Dietary vitamin E (VE) could be an excellent tool in treating atopic dermatitis"

Toxins pose risks for many in U.S. - MSNBC, 5/31/02 - "At least two-thirds of Americans live in areas where toxic chemicals pose an elevated cancer risk ... Among the study’s conclusions is that automobiles and trucks contribute substantially to the public’s exposure to cancer-causing air toxins"

Michael Janson, M.D.: Newsletters - Dr. Janson, 6/02 - "Dietary supplements are critical to the treatment of metal overload. They not only promote excretion, but they decrease the damaging effects. Extra selenium and sulfur (in the form of methylsulfonyl methane, or MSM, 2 to 6 gms), may be essential in addition to food sources. Alpha lipoic acid (200 to 1000 mg) is both a sulfur source and an excellent antioxidant for the brain, protecting against degenerative brain disorders ... Vitamin C (2 to 6 gms) is not only an antioxidant, but it is also a metal chelator, binding with metals and removing them from the system and decreasing free-radical damage. Magnesium and calcium in food or supplements help to block toxic metal accumulation"

New Drug Lowers Blood Pressure Better - WebMD, 5/30/02 - "An exciting new hypertension drug may actually help reverse what was once thought permanent: the blood-vessel stiffening that occurs with age ... omapatrilat lowers blood pressure by inhibiting the action of the angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE), which causes blood vessels to constrict. But unlike other drugs, omapatrilat also inhibits another enzyme known as neutral endopeptidase (NEP), which helps blood vessels relax"

Experts Question Safety of Arthritis Drug - WebMD, 5/30/02 - "The published report of the Celebrex Long Term Arthritis Safety Study (CLASS), sponsored by the drug's manufacturer, concluded that people taking Celebrex for six months had lower rates of stomach and intestinal ulcers than those taking two older arthritis drugs - diclofenac and ibuprofen. But the study actually lasted for a year, and the summary ignored later data showing no safety advantage for the newer drug"

Antioxidant Vitamins Associated with Reduced Risk of Ovarian Cancer - New Hope Natural Media, 5/23/02 - "Women taking the most supplemental vitamin C (over 90 mg per day) had a 60% lower risk of ovarian cancer, compared with women not taking vitamin C ... women taking amounts of vitamin E above 30 mg per day (this would be approximately 30 IU of synthetic or 45 IU of natural vitamin E per day) had a 67% reduction in ovarian cancer risk, compared with women not taking vitamin E ... antioxidants from the diet were not found to offer significant protection against ovarian cancer"

Do Anti-aging Supplements Really Work? - Life Extension Magazine, 6/02 - "The National Academy of Sciences has published three new reports showing that aging may be partially reversible with currently available supplements" - see acetyl-l-carnitine and alpha lipoic acid.  I take 500 mg of Jarrow ALC and 100 mg of Jarrow ALA three times per day.  I doubt if you'd find a better price.  (discount code "qc")

Cover Story: DHEA and Anti-aging Medicine - Life Extension Magazine, 6/02 - "The aging process is inextricably tied to a decrease in beneficial hormones, such as growth hormone, thyroid and DHEA, and an increase in hormones whose elevated levels are clearly harmful, such as insulin and cortisol"

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