Recent Longevity News for the seven days ending 1/21/04:

Potential Use of Statins and Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme Inhibitors to Treat Cardiac Syndrome X - Doctor's Guide, 1/20/04 - "A significant reduction in the number of chest pain episodes was observed with treatment, from 14 to 4.4 episodes after 6 months of therapy ... Exercise duration was 23.5% greater after atorvastatin plus ramipril treatment"

Erectile Dysfunction May Be Warning Sign - WebMD, 1/20/04 - "erectile dysfunction affects about 52% of men between ages 40 and 70 years, and the majority of cases are caused by conditions that affect blood flow to the penis, such as atherosclerosis and diabetes"

Now, Reduce Your Risk of Alzheimer's - Newsweek, 1/19/04 - "senior citizens who ate fish at least once a week reduced their risk of Alzheimer's four years later by 60 percent. It's way too early to say why, but Morris noted a particular correlation between intake of DHA—one of the omega-3 fatty acids in fish—and reductions in Alzheimer's. "DHA is the primary lipid in the brain," she noted" - See Mega Twin EPA at Vitacost or iHerb.

Source Naturals(R) First National Brand To Offer Sytrinol(TM) - NPI Center, 1/19/04 - "Sytrinol, a patented proprietary formula derived from citrus and palm fruit extracts, is composed of polymethoxylated flavones and tocotrienols. Multiple clinical trials have demonstrated Sytrinol acts synergistically to significantly reduce total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol and triglycerides by 23%, 21% and 26% respectively. Unlike other cholesterol supplements, Sytrinol is not diet specific and has no known side effects" - See Cholestame at iHerb.

Vitamins E and C May Fend Off Alzheimer's - HealthDay, 1/19/04 - "those who took extra vitamin E and C were about 60 percent less likely to develop dementia and other memory and thinking problems linked with Alzheimer's as those who didn't use the two supplements ... The effect appeared only in people who combined the two vitamins"

Melatonin May Cut Hypertension Risk - HealthDay, 1/19/04 - "The men were randomly assigned to receive either a placebo, a single dose of melatonin or 2.5 milligrams of melatonin one hour before bedtime for three weeks ... those taking the hormone each night throughout the three weeks had lower nighttime systolic and diastolic blood pressure. Systolic blood pressure (the top number in the reading) decreased by an average of six millimeters of mercury while the diastolic blood pressure (the bottom number) decreased by an average of four millimeters of mercury" - See iHerb or Vitacost melatonin products melatonin products.

Growth Hormone Helps the Failing Heart - Yahoo, 1/19/04 - "Growth hormone therapy led to a significant reduction in blood levels of various inflammatory factors and a rise in an anti-inflammatory compound ... There was also a significant improvement heart function and a better uptake of oxygen during exercise testing"- See Hormone Prescriptions Online.

Eating Chicken May Boost Arsenic Exposure - HealthDay, 1/19/04 - "Arsenic is an approved feed supplement that farmers use to control intestinal parasites in chickens, particularly young chickens"

Hot Flashes Treatment: Try Lifestyle Change - WebMD, 1/16/04 - "Try lifestyle changes first. These include adding soy, gobble black cohosh tablets, and/or take vitamin E supplements to your diet"

Arm Position Is Key to Blood Pressure Reading - HealthDay, 1/16/04 - "the American Heart Association (AHA) recommends bending your elbow at a 45-degree angle during a blood pressure reading ... While the cutoff used to be 140/90, cardiologists now consider rates higher than 115/75 to be unhealthy"

Combination Blood Pressure Therapy Provides More Benefit Than Monotherapy - Doctor's Guide, 1/16/04 - "Combined treatment with angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors and calcium channel blockers (CCBs) appears to be more effective in reducing left ventricular mass than are high doses of individual agents"

Is Stress Making You Fat? - Dr. Weil, 1/16/04 - "In addition to the link to weight gain, elevated cortisol levels can have adverse effects on the immune system, memory, and sugar metabolism ... women with a high waist-to-hip ratio, whether they were overweight or slim, secreted more cortisol under stress and also reported more stress in their daily lives than women with low waist-to-hip ratios ... caffeine can elevate levels of cortisol"

Testosterone Therapy: No Prostate Cancer Link - WebMD, 1/15/04 - "One of doctors' greatest fears about testosterone therapy is that it may cause prostate cancer. But a new study shows that it won't increase a man's risk of prostate cancer -- even if he has precancerous prostate cells"

Samaritan Collaborating Scientists Expand Understanding of Procaine and Suggest Inhibitory Effect on Stress-Induced Cortisol Due to Reduced Synthesis of Cholesterol - samaritanpharma.com, 1/15/04 - "procaine may provide a pharmacological means for the control of hormone-induced HMG-CoA reductase mRNA expression and hypercortisolemia" [Abstract]

Thick Waist Predicts Blood Pressure Risk - Yahoo, 1/15/04 - "Based on BMI, obesity tended to predict the development of high blood pressure in women, but not in men ... But obesity based on waist circumference was an accurate predictor of future high blood pressure in both women and men"

Antioxidants and Cardiovascular Disease - cedrugstorenews.com, (CME course), exp.11/14/05 - "Conclusions ... Off all of the antioxidants mentioned, the strongest evidence seems to be with the relationship of folate and perhaps B complex vitamins and their effect on lowering serum homocysteine, an independent risk factor for cardiac disease"

Abstracts from this week's Doctor's Guide Nutrition/Dietetics:

Reduced Risk of Alzheimer Disease in Users of Antioxidant Vitamin Supplements - Arch Neurol. 2004;61:82-88 - "Conclusions Use of vitamin E and vitamin C supplements in combination is associated with reduced prevalence and incidence of AD. Antioxidant supplements merit further study as agents for the primary prevention of AD"

Effects of calcium supplementation on circulating lipids : potential pharmacoeconomic implications - Drugs Aging. 2004; 21(1): 7-17 - "calcium and lipids bind to one another in the gut, each interfering with the other's absorption. Calcium also causes malabsorption of bile acids, which is likely to contribute further to malabsorption of fat ... The largest randomised controlled trial of calcium effects on lipids was carried out in 223 healthy postmenopausal women, and found that low density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C) decreased 6.3% and high density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C) increased by 7.3% at 1-year. The resultant 16.4% increase in HDL-C/LDL-C ratio would be predicted to reduce cardiovascular event rates by 20-30%, which is consistent with the available observational data"

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