Recent Longevity News for the seven days ending 3/3/04:

Folate May Protect Against Ovarian Cancer - WebMD, 3/2/04 - "women who drank about two drinks per week had a 74% lower risk of ovarian cancer if they also ate a folate-rich diet compared with women who got the least amount of folate from foods in their diet"

Intensive Statin Therapy Stops Plaque Buildup - WebMD, 3/2/04 - "compared the effects of intensive statin therapy using 80 mg daily of Lipitor vs. a more moderate approach using 40 mg of Pravachol ... the most significant finding was that plaque buildup within the arteries stalled among the patients on high-dose statin therapy and there was no progression of atherosclerosis in this group" - They talked about this study on the local news and they said that LDL had to be reduced to 79 to stop plaque regression.  See abstract.  In another study, plaque was reversed with 40 mg of Zocor (simvastatin) but Zocor is associated with impotence.  If it's ApoA1 and/or HDL responsible for regression, maybe Crestor (rosuvastatin) is the solution.  See:

• Intravascular Ultrasound Depicts Coronary Artery Plaque Regression With Simvastatin - Doctor's Guide, 11/12/03 - "Lipid-lowering therapy with simvastatin for 12 months is associated with a significant plaque regression ... the plaque regression -- about 6.3% from baseline"
• Simvastatin Increases HDL-C And Apo A-I More Than Atorvastatin in Patients With Hypercholesterolemia - Doctor's Guide, 11/10/03 - "Simvastatin appears to increase high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) and apolipoprotein (apo) A-I significantly more than does atorvastatin in patients with hypercholesterolaemia ... Liver toxicity occurred in significantly fewer patients treated with simvastatin compared to atorvastatin"
• Simvastatin and impotence - BMJ 1997;315:31 (5 July)
• Rosuvastatin Improves Apolipoprotein Levels - Doctor's Guide, 10/1/03
• Cholesterol Carriers May Offer Predict Second Heart Attack More Accurately -  Doctor's Guide, 5/17/99 - "ApoA-1 and apo B carry cholesterol in the bloodstream. Apo B is a cholesterol donor, while apoA-1 is a cholesterol scavenger"

Change in Prostate-Specific Antigen Level Over Time Not Useful for Prostate Cancer Screening in Men With Low Levels - Doctor's Guide, 3/1/04 - "Although the increase in risk of prostate cancer is highest among men with PSA levels greater than 4 ng/mL, about 40% of detectable cancers occur in men with levels below this cut-off"

NIH Asks Participants in Women's Health Initiative Estrogen-Alone Study to Stop Study Pills, Begin Follow-up Phase - Doctor's Guide, 3/2/04 - "estrogen alone does not appear to affect (either increase or decrease) heart disease, a key question of the study. At the same time, estrogen alone appears to increase the risk of stroke and decrease the risk of hip fracture. It has not increased the risk of breast cancer during the time period of the study"

Despite New Setback, HRT Has Its Place - HealthDay, 3/2/04 - "It's important for women, especially women who've been on hormones, not to panic because, in truth, there's a slight increase of stroke but it's not a huge increase"

Low carbs cause mood 'lows' - Nutra USA, 3/2/04 - "a lack of carbohydrates will reduce levels of the mood-regulating hormone seratonin"

Sterol-Packed O.J. a Cholesterol Buster - HealthDay, 2/27/04 - "two glasses a day of orange juice enriched with natural plant sterols can reduce blood levels of LDL -- the bad cholesterol -- by an average of 12 percent over 10 weeks ... brand name Minute Maid Heart Wise ... appeared to have no significant effect on levels of either HDL (good) cholesterol or unhealthy blood fats known as triglycerides"

Nutritional Boost Helps Elderly Ward Off Colds - Yahoo, 2/26/04 - "contained a variety of nutrients that previous studies have suggested may increase immune functioning in seniors, such as zinc and selenium ... is not yet commercially available ... people who received the formula experienced a total of 78 sick days, compared with more than 150 sick days among the un-supplemented group"

Studies Find Fewer PCBs in Fish Oil Capsules Than In Farmed Fish - NPI Center, 2/26/04 - "a person would need to consume as many as 312 fish-oil capsules to be exposed to the amount of polychlorinated biphenyls found in a single serving of farmed salmon"

Best Way to Avoid a Stroke? - Dr. Weil, 2/26/04 - "Can tocotrienol and/or isoflavone supplements help reverse plaque buildup in the carotid artery? ... Your physician may have prescribed one of the statin drugs to lower cholesterol. You should adhere to a low-fat diet emphasizing lots of fruits and vegetables, particularly purple fruits, berries and red wine (if you drink alcohol) ... I would also include omega-3 fatty acids"

Testosterone Plus Finasteride Improves BMD in Men With Low Testosterone - Medscape, 2/25/04 - "The combination of testosterone (T) and finasteride (F) improves bone mineral density (BMD) in men with low T levels without increasing prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels" - I think they will find that Arimidex or Femara will do the same thing without the sexual side effects. - Ben

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

Vitamin D: importance in the prevention of cancers, type 1 diabetes, heart disease, and osteoporosis - Am J Clin Nutr. 2004 Mar;79(3):362-71 - "Vitamin D deficiency is often misdiagnosed as fibromyalgia ... Studies in both human and animal models add strength to the hypothesis that the unrecognized epidemic of vitamin D deficiency worldwide is a contributing factor of many chronic debilitating diseases ... The recommended adequate intakes for vitamin D are inadequate, and, in the absence of exposure to sunlight, a minimum of 1000 IU vitamin D/d is required to maintain a healthy concentration of 25(OH)D in the blood" - See iHerb or Vitacost vitamin D products vitamin D products.  Vitamin D can be toxic in high doses.

Folic acid and vitamin B(12) are more effective than vitamin B(6) in lowering fasting plasma homocysteine concentration in patients with coronary artery disease - Eur J Clin Nutr. 2004 Mar;58(3):481-7 - "The mean fasting plasma homocysteine concentration, however, decreased significantly after 12 weeks of folic acid combined with vitamin B(12) supplementation"

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