Recent Longevity News for the seven days ending 4/21/04:

Statins for Blindness? - Time Magazine, 4/26/04 - "The more serious, wet form occurs when abnormal blood vessels obscure vision ... those who were taking statins were half as likely to develop wet AMD"

Statin Prescriptions Consistently Low in Elderly Patients at Cardiovascular Risk - Doctor's Guide, 4/21/04 - "Our observed low prescription rate of statin therapy adds to a growing body of literature demonstrating that statin therapy is substantially underused"

Cancer Claims for Red Wine Supplement Suspect - WebMD, 4/21/04 - "resveratrol, an antioxidant found in grape skins, wine, and peanuts, barely enters the human bloodstream when taken by mouth"

Curry May Protect Aging Brain - WebMD, 4/19/04 - "Small doses of curry could help protect the brain against Alzheimer's disease -- at least that's the effect in rats" - See iHerb or Vitacost curry products.

Tea Looks a Promising Prostate Cancer Fighter - HealthDay, 4/19/04 - "Green and black tea can slow down the spread of prostate cancer ... The other study, presented at the same meeting, looked at the cancer-fighting ability of resveratrol, a dietary polyphenol, and did not produce the same promising results" - See iHerb or Vitacost green tea products.

Nearly All With Type 2 Diabetes Need Statins - WebMD, 4/19/04 - "no matter how low the cholesterol count, nearly all people with diabetes should take these cholesterol-lowering drugs"

Two Compounds Disrupt Female Hormones - HealthDay, 4/19/04 - "The industrial solvent is ethylene glycol methyl ether (EGME) ... EGME increases the activity of estrogen and progestin up to tenfold ... Because valproic acid has a similar chemical structure to EGME, the authors tested that compound next. "It did exactly the same thing,""

Too Much Drinking Could Serve Up Colon Cancer - HealthDay, 4/19/04 - "People who drink more than three glasses of wine, beer or liquor a day may increase their risk of colorectal cancer by 40 percent"

Iron Pills May Boost Brain Function in Women - HealthDay, 4/19/04 - "even modest levels of iron deficiency have a negative effect on memory, attention, and learning in young women and that taking iron supplements can reverse the impact" - See iHerb or Vitacost iron products.

Can a shot a day (safely) keep aging away? - MSNBC, 4/19/04 - "The types of studies [on hGH] we should be using to resolve this question are few, small and have rarely included women. Here are some of the more notable ones:"

Better than testosterone? - Life Extension Foundation, 4/19/04 - "The April 2004 issue of the journal Urology published the findings ... Erectile function, sexual desire, sexual satisfaction and nocturnal penile tumescence increased over the course of the study in the group receiving testosterone as well as the group receiving carnitine. In addition, the group receiving carnitine experienced an increase in orgasm and general sexual well-being. Erectile function and nocturnal penile tumescence were significantly more improved in this group than in those receiving testosterone. While both treatments lowered depression scores, carnitine’s effect was greater"

Red Clover May Prevent Bone Loss in Spine - WebMD, 4/16/04 - "women who took a red clover-derived dietary supplement containing substances called isoflavones (Promensil) experienced significantly slower bone loss in the spine compared with women who took a placebo" - See Promensil at iHerb.

Can a Protein-Rich Diet Cause Gout? - ABC News, 4/15/04 - "each piece of meat someone ate in a day increased gout risk by 21 percent and each piece of seafood increased risk by 7 percent, but that one low-fat diary product a day reduced risk by about 21 percent"

Breakfast Table Therapy: Plant Sterols in O.J. Reduce Cholesterol - Healthwell Exchange Daily News, 4/15/04 - "72 people with high LDL cholesterol were randomly assigned to either drink orange juice with phytosterols or plain orange juice for eight weeks ... total cholesterol levels dropped more than 7% and LDL cholesterol levels dropped more than 12%. In contrast, no changes were seen in those receiving the plain orange juice"

Breakthrough research on lycopene - Nutra USA, 4/15/04 - "Men eating four to five tomato based-dishes per week were found to be protected by 25 per cent compared to men eating tomatoes only rarely" - See iHerb or Vitacost lycopene products.

Fibre for prostate protection - Nutra USA, 4/15/04 - "total fibre intake only slightly reduced prostate cancer risk. However when the study examined soluble fibre only, the reduced risk was greater at 11 per cent, while vegetable fibre cut risk by 18 per cent"

• Fiber: Nutrition Source - Harvard School of Public Health - "Soluble fiber partially dissolves in water. Insoluble fiber does not dissolve in water"

A botanical to beat 'stress-eaters' - Nutra USA, 4/15/04 - "Relora appears to promote weight maintenance and decrease stress arousal as demonstrated by decreased evening cortisol and decreased systolic blood pressure" - See iHerb or VitaminShoppe Relora products.

Low Vitamin B May Impair Memory in Some Seniors - Medline Plus, 4/14/04 - "Among healthy individuals over age 75, APOE4 carriers have more memory lapses when vitamin B12 falls below normal levels ... low folate levels had a similar effect, although it was not as strong ... There is good reason to consider inclusion of vitamin B12 and folate supplements as part of preventive health regimens for older persons" - See iHerb or Vitacost B12 products.

Low-dose Antibiotic May Curb Heart Disease Risk - Medline Plus, 4/14/04 - "the antibiotic doxycycline, at doses below those needed to kill bacteria, reduce levels of a biomarker of inflammation called C-reactive protein (CRP) ... in 30 participants who were evaluated, CRP was reduced by 46 percent in those given doxycycline" - Related study:

• Low-dose Periostat (Doxycycline) Shows Benefits in Patients with Heart Failure - Doctor's Guide, 11/20/02 - "At six-month follow-up, sub-antimicrobial dose doxycyline significantly reduced CRP levels by 45.8 percent compared to baseline values (p<0.05). The drug was also associated with a 33.5 percent reduction in interleukin-6 and a 50 percent reduction in metalloproteinase ... The findings are exciting, since research is now showing that CRP is both a key marker of inflammation leading to future acute coronary events, but also that CRP itself may contribute to the initiation and progression of atherosclerosis"

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

Scurvy in intensive care despite vitamin supplementation - Presse Med. 2004 Feb 14;33(3):170-1 - "63 Year-old patient ... scurvy developed during the week of intensive care despite parenteral nutrition supplying a daily dose of 130 mg of vitamin C"

Dietary supplementation with olive oil leads to improved lipoprotein spectrum and lower n-6 PUFAs in elderly subjects - Med Sci Monit. 2004 Mar 23;10(4):PI49-PI54 - "The supplement was taken for 6 weeks and involved daily consumption of 2 tablespoons ... There was also a significant decline in the total-to-HDL and LDL-to-HDL cholesterol ratios" - I alternate between Smart Balance Omega-Plus (made with omega-3 fish oil) and Fleischmann's Olive Oil spread (mostly omega-9).

alpha-Linolenic acid metabolism in men and women: nutritional and biological implications - Curr Opin Clin Nutr Metab Care. 2004 Mar;7(2):137-144 - "Conversion of alpha-linolenic acid to eicosapentaenoic acid is limited in men and further transformation to docosahexaenoic acid is very low" - Note:  Alpha-linolenic acid is the form of omega-3 in flaxseed.  Eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid are omega-3's in fish oil.

Omega-3 fatty acids and cardiovascular disease - Curr Opin Clin Nutr Metab Care. 2004 Mar;7(2):131-136 - "Eicosapentaenoic and docosahexaenoic acids, but not alpha-linolenic acid, prevent sudden death and other cardiovascular catastrophies, and have therefore been recently incorporated into the pertinent guidelines of European and American cardiologic societies"

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