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Recent Longevity News for the seven days ending 3/12/03:

Growth Hormone Increase Bone Content In Osteoporotic Postmenopausal Women - Doctor's Guide, 3/12/03 - "80 osteoporotic postmenopausal women, aged between 50 and 70, who were using oestrogen therapy (HRT), were randomised to receive either recombinant human growth hormone (GH), 1.0 U or 2.5 U/day, subcutaneous, or placebo. Calcium (750 mg) and vitamin D (400 U) were given to all patients as well ... At 3 years, when GH was discontinued, total body and femoral neck bone mineral content had increased in both GH-treated groups, and differences were not significant ... At the fourth year of follow-up, total body boner mineral content had increased 5% and lumbar spine bone mineral content increased 14% among women who received GH 2.5 U, and compared with placebo. Femoral neck bone mineral density increased 5% and bone mineral content 13% for women taking GH 2.5 U compared with those taking GH 1.0 U"

Vitamin C May Fight Colds After All - WebMD, 3/12/03 - "12 healthy subjects who took one gram of vitamin C a day for two weeks showed a boosted immune system response during that time ... in two of them, the response to vitamin C took place within five hours ... this might mean that taking a vitamin C tablet at the first sign of a cold could achieve an effect quickly enough to ward off that cold"

Folic Acid May Help Depression - Health Supplement Retailer, 3/12/03 - "folic acid supplementation may be key in recovering from depression" - See iHerb (5% discount code "qc") folic acid products.  Related articles:

• Folic Acid Aids Prozac - Delicious! Online, 4/02 - "Only 6.1 percent of the women in the folic acid group failed to respond (a greater than 50 percent symptom improvement), whereas 38.9 percent failed to respond when given fluoxetine alone ... The authors suggest that men were not given enough folic acid, supported by the fact that the marker for folic acid sufficiency—serum homocysteine—did not go down in men (indicating improvement in folic acid status), whereas in women it did"
• Mechanisms Differ Between Depression and Either Vitamin B12 Or Folate - Doctor's Guide, 12/10/02 - "hyperhomocysteinemia, vitamin B12 deficiency and, to a lesser extent, folate deficiency all were related to depressive disorders"
• 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"

Getting Help With Prescription Drugs - HealthScout News, 3/11/03 - "There's a new Web site [HelpingPatients.org] that gives people who don't have prescription drug coverage information on getting more than 1,400 medications free through patient assistance programs"

Vitamin E Protects Against Neurotoxicity From Cisplatin - Medscape, 3/10/03 - "Among 27 patients who completed six cycles of cisplatin chemotherapy, the incidence of neurotoxicity was 30.7% in the group receiving vitamin E compared with 85.7% in the unsupplemented group (P < .01), and the neurotoxicity that did occur in the supplemented group was less severe (P < .01)."

Hardened Heart Valves Cause Problems - HealthScout News, 3/10/03 - ""Hardening of the arteries" is a decidedly unscientific term for atherosclerosis, the buildup of deposits that narrow those blood vessels until a blockage causes a heart attack or stroke ... this mitral annular calcification (MAC), as it is called, increases the risk of heart ailments and stroke in direct proportion to the amount of buildup -- a 10 percent increase in risk for every millimeter of calcification ... Once detected, MAC can be controlled and even reversed ... If you treat high cholesterol with drugs, you reduce the progression of calcification. It can regress if cholesterol is well controlled with drugs" - Note:  Red yeast rice is a none prescription statin.

Better habits could slash cancer rates - MSNBC, 3/10/03 - "If people would quit smoking, eat more healthily and exercise, cancer deaths could be cut by nearly a third ... The American Cancer Society and other groups focused on cancer prevention recommend a diet based on plant food such as fruits and vegetables and whole grains ... Colon cancer, for example, which kills 57,000 Americans a year, is linked to a diet rich in fat and red meat, as well as to smoking"

Alpha-Lipoic Acid Helpful in Diabetic Neuropathy - Medscape, 3/7/03 - "Alpha-lipoic acid (ALA) rapidly and significantly reduces sensory symptoms and pain of diabetic neuropathy" - Note:  ALA and acetyl-l-carnitine were supplements discussed in the 2/19/02 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences indicating that it may slow or reversed aging in mice.  See iHerb (5% discount code "qc") or Vitacost ALA products.

Are These Cholesterol Busters For You? - CBS News, 3/6/03 - "People with high cholesterol may lower their levels by a surprising one-third with a vegetarian diet that combines a variety of trendy heart-healthy foods, including plenty of soy and soluble fiber ... the diet works about as well as the older statin drugs that are still first-line therapy for people with high cholesterol ... A typical breakfast included oat bran, fruit and soy milk, lunch might involve vegetarian chili, oat bran bread and tomato, and a typical dinner was vegetable curry, a soy burger, northern beans, barley, okra, eggplant, cauliflower, onions and red peppers. Volunteers also got Metamucil three times a day to provide soluble fiber from psyllium" - KFMB even called it the '"Metamucil diet"  Maybe it was the Metamucil (psyllium) alone.  See:

• Ispaghula Husk [psyllium] Nearly As Effective As Simvastatin For Hyperlipidemia - Doctor's Guide, 12/24/02 - "One group received 3.5 grams of ispaghula husk twice a day and the second group received 20 milligrams of simvastatin each day ... total cholesterol decreased by 15.8 percent and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol decreased by 22.97 percent among patients taking ispaghula husk ... Triglycerides decreased by 20.89 percent and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol increased by 10.69 percent in these patients ... Among patients taking simvastatin, total cholesterol decreased by 24.15 percent, LDL cholesterol decreased by 36.08 percent, triglycerides decreased by 20.47 percent and HDL cholesterol increased by 11.4 percent" - I've got that. See Drugstore.com psyllium products.  3.5 grams is about one wafer (3.4 grams psyllium/wafer).  Plus 24 wafers runs about $4.49 versus about $116 for 30 of the 20 mg simvastatin.

Breakfast Reduces Diabetes, Heart Disease - WebMD, 3/6/03 - "A daily breakfast may reduce the risk of becoming obese or developing signs that can lead to diabetes -- called insulin resistance syndrome -- by 35% to 50% compared with skipping the morning meal ... Their recommendation: A bowl of whole-grain cereal ... eating whole-grain cereal each day was associated with a 15% reduction in risk for the insulin resistance syndrome ... soluble fiber forms a gel-like material that prevents cholesterol and saturated fats from entering the bloodstream, where they can collect and form plaques on artery walls. The insoluble fiber in these cereals, meanwhile, helps keep bowel movement regular and may help reduce risk of colon problems"

Low Vitamin D May Contribute to Development of Congestive Heart Failure - Doctor's Guide, 3/6/03 - "Both groups of CHF patients had increased serum levels of N-terminal pro-atrial natriuretic peptide, a predictor of CHF severity (p < 0.001). They also had increased serum phosphorus levels, and reduced circulating levels of both 25-hydroxyvitamin D and calcitriol compared to controls"

Preventing Heart Disease Starts With Children - WebMD, 3/6/03 - "Parents should give their kids low-fat, low-sugar, and low-sodium foods after age 2"

Disease-Fighting Benefits of Organic Foods - WebMD, 3/6/03 - "Recent evidence suggests that these micronutrients play important roles in preventing cancer and heart disease ... organic berries and corn had significantly more flavonoids than those grown by conventional methods. And a third method -- called sustainable farming -- yielded even higher flavonoid levels"

Electroconvulsive Therapy More Effective Than Medication in Depression - Medscape, 3/6/03 - "ECT was significantly more effective than pharmacotherapy"

Effects of Obesity Reach Into Brain - WebMD, 3/5/03 - "obesity works independently -- as well as in conjunction with other risk factors -- to cause a decline in thinking ability, especially memory and learning ... participants may have suffered from heart disease risk factors that were undetectable 50 years ago ... other social and psychological factors associated with obesity and overeating, such as depression and anxiety, may have also affected the decline ... may damage brain function by making it harder for blood to reach the brain, similar to high blood pressure and heart disease"

CLA in combination with cellulite treatment produces "impresive" results - Life Extension Magazine, 3/03 - "60 women were assigned to three groups; one, taking an herbal anti-cellulite pill alone, and two other groups taking the herbal pill plus 400 mg and 800 mg of CLA, respectively ... of the women taking the combination treatment with the highest dosage of CLA, eleven showed improvement in cellulite, two displaying "marked improvement." The average loss in thigh circumference was nearly one inch" - See iHerb (5% discount code "qc") or Vitacost CLA products.

In my 1/29/03 newsletter, I had Dr. Murray's information on Anti-Ace Peptides™ for hypertension.  I see that Dr. Whitaker has come out with a formula called BP Essentials, which is based on the anti-ACE Peptides.  A quote from his web site: "My new BP Essentials is built around a vitally important breakthrough from Japan - a fish protein powder that's amazingly effective in helping maintain normal blood pressure. I'm sure it will soon become one of the most sought-after blood pressure solutions ..." - Six capsules of his formula contains 1500 mg of fish peptide extract, 500 mg of magnesium, 360 mg of hawthorn extract, 834 mg of stevia and 200 mg of vitamin C.

I was researching something and ran across the following Merck Manual article reemphasizing that the "dl" is the worst form of Vitamin E.  Yet, that's the form the NIH used in there most recent study.  It makes you wonder that if they aren't even reading the Merck Manual, whether they are doing any research at all before laying out millions of tax payers' money for a study.  The "dl" form is also used popular supplements like Centrum.  I still feel that at least 20% of Vitamin E supplementation should be the gamma form.  Personally, I take about 60% in the gamma form.  I noticed that the March 2003 issue of American Journal of Clinical Nutrition has a editorial titled "Gamma-Tocopherol, the new vitamin E?".  I ordered a copy from the library.  Cost $1.  Here are some highpoints: "most of the studies with negative results used all-rac-alpha-tocopherol and not RRR-alpha-tocopherol at doses that are not antiinflammatory (<800 IU/d) ... It is well know that alpha-tocopherol supplements decrease plasma gamma-tocopherol concentrations ... Serum gamma-tocopherol concentrations have been reported to be significantly lower in coronary heart disease then in healthy control subjects"

Vitamin E Deficiency - The Merck Manual - "the totally synthetic dl--tocopherol is completely racemic and has less biologic activity (1.1 IU/mg) than d--tocopherol" - Related articles:

• Which Form of Vitamin E Should I Take: Tocotrienols or Tocopherols? - Dr. Weil, 12/11/01 - "The least useful products are those that give you only synthetic dl-alpha tocopherol and nothing else"
• gamma-tocopherol, the major form of vitamin E in the US diet, deserves more attention - Am J Clin Nutr 2001 Dec;74(6):714-22 - "Both gamma-tocopherol and gamma-CEHC, but not alpha-tocopherol, inhibit cyclooxygenase activity and, thus, possess antiinflammatory properties. Some human and animal studies indicate that plasma concentrations of gamma-tocopherol are inversely associated with the incidence of cardiovascular disease and prostate cancer. These distinguishing features of gamma-tocopherol and its metabolite suggest that gamma-tocopherol may contribute significantly to human health in ways not recognized previously. This possibility should be further evaluated, especially considering that high doses of alpha-tocopherol deplete plasma and tissue gamma-tocopherol, in contrast with supplementation with gamma-tocopherol, which increases both"
• Newly Discovered Benefits of Gamma Tocopherol - Life Extension Magazine, 10/02 - "Since taking large doses of alpha tocopherol depletes plasma levels of gamma tocopherol, the health-conscious consumer who takes only alpha tocopherol supplements needs to seriously reconsider this practice ... Likewise, most vitamin E supplements provide only alpha tocopherol. New evidence strongly suggests that this is inadequate supplementation ... men with the highest plasma levels of gamma tocopherol (the top quintile) had only one-fifth the risk of prostate cancer compared with the men with the lowest plasma levels"

On a different note, I was getting swamped with about 200 spam or viruses per day.  A lot were in Chinese and I couldn't read them if I wanted to.  I researched the options in CNET and went with the spamcop.net service for $30 per year.  I felt that the software options just hid the problem and the viruses and spam never got reported.  So far it is great.  I should have done that years ago.  Some people might have trouble with the setup if you use it with your present email address and/or use it though Outlook.  I see where MSN 8 has something similar for $9.95 per month but it doesn't appear that it will work with your present email address.  I've got no affiliation but it's a life changing experience for me in that it saves me 8 to 10 hours per week sorting through and reporting spam and viruses.

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