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Recent Longevity News for the seven days ending 11/13/02:

How Much Tuna Can You Eat Each Week? [to prevent low-level mercury poisoning] - Time, 11/18/02 - "25 lbs. -- 1 oz. (1 tablespoon) / 50 lbs. -- 2 oz / 75 lbs. -- 3 oz / 100 lbs. -- 5 oz / 125 lbs. -- 6 oz. (1 can) / 150 lbs. -- 8 oz / 175 lbs. -- 9 oz / 200 lbs. -- 10 oz"

Inflammation triggers heart attacks - MSNBC, 11/13/02 - "A landmark study offers the strongest evidence yet that simmering, painless inflammation deep within the body is the single most powerful trigger of heart attacks, worse even than high cholesterol ... Inflammation can be measured with a test that checks for C-reactive protein ... Diet and exercise can lower CRP dramatically. Cholesterol-lowering drugs called statins also reduce CRP, as do aspirin and some other medicines" - See my inflammation page for other ways to reduce it.

Antioxidants and Risk of Alzheimer Disease - JAMA, 11/13/02 - "Dr Morris and colleagues1 and Dr Engelhart and colleagues2 found an inverse relationship between intake of vitamin E from food, but not from supplements, with risk of Alzheimer disease (AD).3  I would like to suggest a mechanism for this finding.  The predominant dietary form of vitamin E, gamma-tocopherol, but not the form found in supplements, alpha-tocopherol, has been demonstrated to inhibit cyclooxygenase 2 (COX-2) production of prostaglandin E₂ in macrophages and epithelial cells" - I've been stressing the gamma since the start of my web site and still feel that taking only the alpha causes more harm than good.  See:

• 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"

Health Group Urges Less Salt In Food - Intelihealth, 11/13/02 - "The nation's largest public health group is recommending a 50 percent decrease in salt in processed food and restaurant meals over the next 10 years ... Government guidelines already recommend limiting intake of sodium - which increases blood pressure - to no more than 2.4 grams daily, or the equivalent of about a teaspoon of table salt. But the average American adult consumes nearly 4 grams a day"

GH, Sex Steroids Should Be Confined to Controlled Trials - Medscape, 11/12/02 - "These drugs increase lean body mass and decrease fat mass, and increase cardiovascular endurance a little in older men, but there are significant adverse effects ... After 26 weeks of treatment, both men and women had significant increases in lean body mass and decreases in fat mass after treatment with hGH. Men treated with both hGH and testosterone had greater improvements in these measures than did those who were treated with either hormone alone ... Arthralgias occurred in 41% of the men taking hGH but in none of the women, and carpal tunnel symptoms occurred in 32% of the men taking hGH plus testosterone but in none of the women.  However, edema developed in none of the men, in 39% of the women taking hGH alone, and in 38% of the women taking hGH plus HRT" - Click here for the JAMA abstract.

Study Lifts A Glass To Health Of Elderly: Occasional Wine Helped Protect Against Dementia - Intelihealth, 11/12/02 - "An occasional glass of wine led to lowered odds of developing Alzheimer's disease and other types of age-related dementia ... Flavonoids, compounds found in fruits and vegetables rich in so-called antioxidant agents, have been linked to wine's protective effects"

Alcohol Consumption Increases Risk of Breast Cancer - Medscape, 11/12/02 - "One unit, or 10 grams of alcohol per day, raises a woman's chances of developing the malignancy by about 7% ... The more women drink, the higher their risk of breast cancer"

Silybin-Beta-Cyclodextrin Reduces Glucose, Triglyceride Levels In Diabetes With Liver Disease - Doctor's Guide, 11/12/02 - "Fasting blood glucose levels decreased by 14.7 percent from baseline in patients receiving silybin-beta-cyclodextrin ... Plasma triglycerides concentrations dropped from a mean 186 to 111 mg/dl at six months in those that received silybin-beta-cyclodextrin" - See iHerb (5% discount code "qc") and Vitacost silymarin products or Enzymatic Therapy Silybin Phytosome™.

Air Pollution-Medical Costs Linked - Intelihealth, 11/12/02 - "The study found air pollution significantly increases Medicare recipients' medical care needs, even after controlling for region, population size, education, income, cigarette use and obesity"

Flaxseed Might Block Prostate Cancer - WebMD, 11/11/02 - "A study of mice shows that flaxseed in the diet helped improve prostate tumors (reducing their size and severity), and even prevented some of the mice from developing the disease ... men who ate ground flaxseed for 34 days had a drop in levels of testosterone, which helps prostate cancers grow, and in prostate specific antigen (PSA) levels, a marker for prostate cancer"

Harvard Study Shows Zeaxanthin Good for AMD - Health Supplement Retailer, 11/11/02 - "Our studies showed that light damage was strongly influenced by the amount of zeaxanthin in the retina, and that significantly greater retinal protection was provided at dietary levels higher than those normally occurring in the diet" - Also, see my AMD page.

Cooking Tips May Help Diabetics - ABC News, 11/11/02 - "The component called advanced glycation end products or AGEs is created when foods are cooked for long periods of time at temperatures typical of baking or frying ... "AGEs attack virtually every part of the body," said Vlassara. "It is as if we have a low-grade infection. They tend to aggravate the immune cells." ... AGEs can be controlled by cooking foods differently ... At the end of six weeks, said Vlassara, the AGEs in the test group had declined by 33 to 40 percent ... The key to lowering AGEs, said Vlassara, is to cook for a short time in the presence of high humidity. This means either boiling or steaming meats for the minimum time required ... one of the worst AGE offenders is turkey cooked in the traditional American way ... coffee, cola and chocolate drinks also are loaded with AGEs" - Reducing AGEs is important for anti-aging also.  See my AGE page.

Running Delays Disability in Older Persons - Medscape, 11/11/02 - "Running and other aerobic exercise seem to help older people stave off disability and live longer ... In addition, those who exercised regularly lived longer and had lower rates of fatal cancers, heart disease and other conditions"

Cancer Researchers Keen on Tomatoes - WebMD, 11/11/02 - "For example, a five-year Japanese study shows daily use of a supplement that contained a combination of natural tomato extract, beta-carotene, and vitamin E might be an effective way to reduce the risk of liver cancer in those at risk. Researchers found that patients who received the supplement had a 50% suppression of liver cancer" - See iHerb (discount code "qc")  or Vitacost lycopene products.

New Antidepressant Works Faster - WebMD, 11/11/02 - "Cymbalta affects two different brain chemical messengers -- serotonin and norepinephrine"

Sperm Quality Low in Farming Region - ABC News, 11/11/02 - "A study has found the quality of semen significantly poorer in men from rural mid-Missouri than in males from urban areas, and its authors believe agricultural chemicals might explain the difference"

Iron Deficiency Harms Brain - WebMD, 11/8/02 - "Too little iron may be the cause of at least some cases of Alzheimer's disease ... As people age, their red blood cells have less of the stuff that makes them red. It's called heme, a cellular form of iron ... It's fairly common for people to get too little iron or vitamin B6 in their diets. Exposure to aluminum or other toxic metals is also quite common. All these things block heme in brain cells" - See iHerb (5% discount code "qc") and Vitacost iron products.

Transdermal Selegiline Effective for Depression Without Typical MAOI Side Effects - Medscape, 11/8/02 - "The study involved 177 adult outpatients who were randomized to receive a 20-mg selegiline patch or placebo patch daily for 6 weeks. Compared with placebo use, treatment with transdermal selegiline was associated with significant improvements in depressive symptoms. Furthermore, the benefits of selegiline use were often apparent after just 1 week of treatment" - Selegiline (deprenyl) has been around for years and has been taken for anti-aging.  Sounds like it might kill two birds with one stone (aging and depression).  I've been taking 5 mg about 7 years now.  Some claim that tyramine is not a problem below 15 mg/day.  See the following.  - Ben

• Deprenyl (smart drug) - article by James South - "At normally used clinical dosages (10-15 mg/day), deprenyl is a selective MAO-B inhibitor, so it doesn’t prevent intestinal MAO-A from digesting dietary tyramine. (1) In addition, deprenyl has the unique ability to prevent tyramine from getting into noradrenalin-using nerve calls, and it’s only when tyramine enters noradrenalin nerve cells that control arterial blood pressure that it triggers the “cheese effect.”"

Get the skinny on fatty foods - MSNBC, 11/8/02 - "Too much omega-6 fat can trigger the body’s production of substances that could increase blood clotting and blood vessel constriction, raising risk of heart disease and stroke. Omega-3 fats do just the opposite and may also help the immune system function properly ... Studies show that saturated fats, found mainly in full-fat dairy products and meat, can raise blood cholesterol levels substantially ... According to most studies, the effects of trans fats are similar" - See my essential fatty acids page for more information.

Java Reduces Type 2 Diabetes Risk - WebMD, 11/7/02 - "Caffeine is known to decrease the body's response to insulin. However, other ingredients found in coffee -- magnesium and chlorogenic acid -- may have beneficial effects ... researchers followed more than 17,000 Dutch adults. After several years of follow-up, those who drank seven or more cups a day were half as likely to develop type 2 diabetes compared with those who drank less than two cups a day ... The long-term effects of drinking too much caffeine are not known and other health issues could develop" - Note:  Chlorogenic acid is in artichoke extract.  If magnesium and chlorogenic acid are the reason for the 50% diabetes reduction, it would seem to be a better choice than drinking seven cups of coffee per day.  See iHerb (5% discount code "qc") artichoke products. - Ben

Artichokes As Powerful Medicine - Delicious! Online, 11/02 - "In a multicenter, placebo-controlled randomized trial, 143 patients with initial total cholesterol levels greater than 280 took either placebo tablets or 450 mg of artichoke dry extract four times a day. After six weeks, those taking the artichoke extract showed an 18.5 percent reduction in cholesterol, compared with 5.6 percent reduction in the placebo group"

Testosterone promises renewed vigor - MSNBC, 11/7/02 - "A quarter of American men in their 50s suffer from symptoms of low testosterone. At age 60, that number jumps to 50 percent" - Also see my aromatization page, which is my main concern with testosterone replacement.  I feel that doctors (and I'm not one) may be making a mistake in prescribing testosterone without something to prevent it from converting into estrogen.  See:

• Androgel prescribing information - androgel.com - "Serum estradiol (E2) concentrations increased significantly within 30 days of starting treatment with AndroGel® 5 or 10 G/day and remained elevated throughout the treatment period but remained within the normal range for eugonadal men" - Yeah, but is high normal good and what happens if you add something else like DHEA or prescription drugs that may also increase or act like estrogen?   See:
• Biotransformation of oral dehydroepiandrosterone in elderly men: significant increase in circulating estrogens - J Clin Endocrinol Metab 1999 Jun;84(6):2170-6 - "Serum testosterone and dihydrotestosterone remained unchanged after DHEA administration. In contrast, 17beta-estradiol and estrone significantly increased in a dose-dependent manner to concentrations still within the upper normal range for men [placebo vs. 50 mg DHEA vs. 100 mg DHEA; AUC 0-12 h for 17beta-estradiol, 510 +/- 198 vs. 635 +/- 156 vs. 700 +/- 209 pmol/L x h (P < 0.0001); AUC 0-12 h for estrone, 1443 +/- 269 vs. 2537 +/- 434 vs. 3254 +/- 671 pmol/L x h (P < 0.0001)]" - That's a 25% and 37% increase in estrogen with 50 mg and 100 mg of DHEA.  The 7-keto form of DHEA claims not of effect estrogen.
• Drugs and Medications that cause Gynecomastia - Big Male Breasts - plasticsurgery4u.com
• On 11/12/02 there was a segment on the San Diego Channel Ten News that claimed that the theory of why alcohol increases the chance of breast cancer was because estrogen is metabolized in the liver and alcohol impairs the liver, causing more estrogen to stay in the bloodstream.  Seems like that would apply to males also, which is just one more reason why I feel men should be careful about increasing estrogen even more via testosterone replacement and the resulting aromatization.  Lastly:
• Treatable (with Teslac®/testolactone) Endocrinopathy Linked to Severe Male Factor Infertility - Reuters, 3/12/01 - "Abnormal T/E [testosterone-to-estradiol] ratio is a correctable abnormality common in infertile men and may be of diagnostic value," co-author Dr. Marc Goldstein, from Cornell University, told Reuters Health. "Correcting the abnormality will increase testosterone levels and may enhance fertility, libido and sexual function."

Irritable Male Syndrome - Delicious! Online, 11/02 - "men of any age can experience a decline in testosterone levels when under stress. Mood swings, dubbed "irritable male syndrome," may accompany this hormone drop with varying symptoms, including nervousness, lethargy, ill temper, and depression ... men's hormones pulsate hourly and that dips in testosterone levels can occur any time in any male as a result of stress, environmental factors, and diet. The decline, then, can lead to mood swings ... In The Gladiator Diet, Gillespie suggests men keep hormonal mood swings in check by eating a diet that is 40 percent protein (but go easy on nonorganic steak and chicken, which tend to contain hormones), 35 percent low-glycemic carbs, and 25 percent fat (no more than 10 percent of which should be saturated fat)." - I'm not sure Gillespie is correct in recommending that much protein.  See the following.  The link went dead but Reuters will sell you the article for about $7.  Just copy and paste the title into Reuters search field:

• Dietary Fat Affects Testosterone Levels - Reuters, 6/26/97 - "Conversely, a greater protein consumption actually correlated with a lower resting testosterone level."

Diabetes Drugs May Help Cushing's Syndrome - Reuters, 11/7/02 - "Cushing's syndrome results from high levels of the hormone cortisol, and can cause fat accumulation in the upper body and face, and thinning of the arms and legs. Patients can experience high blood pressure and high blood sugar, along with depression, fatigue, irritability and weakened bones ... a protein called PPAR-gamma, which is found on pituitary gland tumor cells, appears to be linked to overproduction of ACTH ... researchers injected mice with ACTH-secreting pituitary tumor cells and then treated them with commonly used diabetes drugs, rosiglitazone (Avandia) and troglitazone, or an inactive placebo ... There was an 85% reduction in ACTH and a corresponding 96% reduction in their cortisol-like hormone" - Cortisol increases with age.  I'm not a doctor but it would seem that if Avandia also suppresses pituitary ACTH and not just tumor produced ACTH, it might be a solution.  However, a 96% reduction in cortisol would probably produce Addison's disease but you don't know what the equivalent human dose they used. - Ben

Creatine Helps Maintain Alertness - Natural Foods Merchandiser, 11/02 - "They received either 8 g of creatine or a placebo for five days.  The participants were tested to determine mental fatigue before and after supplementation ... In the group taking the creatine supplements, performance was substantially better after five days of supplementation than before ... Oxygenation studies showed a complex pattern that is consistent with increased brain oxygen consumption following supplementation" - See iHerb and Vitacost creatine products.

Making Sense of Menopause - US News & World Report, 11/18/02 - It's the cover story and looks like it's about a third of the articles for this issue. - Ben

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