Recent Longevity News for the seven days ending 6/30/04:

Lack of Vitamin D Tied to Insulin Resistance - Medscape, 6/29/04 - "Low vitamin D is extremely common ... the researchers conclude that low vitamin D leads to insulin resistance and beta cell dysfunction"

Berries, Beans Top 'Best Antioxidants List' - HealthDay, 6/28/04 - "In the end, small red beans won the day, narrowly beating out wild blueberries as the food with the highest concentration of disease-fighting compounds per serving"

Valsartan Appears More Effective Than Telmisartan in Patients With Essential Hypertension - Doctor's Guide, 6/25/04 - "At the end of the study, the 24-hour mean BP was statistically lower in the valsartan-treated group compared to telmisartan-treated group"

Alzheimer's Drug Shows Little Benefit - WebMD, 6/24/04 - "During the first two years of the study, patients taking Aricept did slightly better in tests gauging thinking and functional ability. But those improvements waned and were no different than placebo"

Metformin Shows Promise for Diabetes Prevention, but Further Studies Needed - Doctor's Guide, 6/24/04 - "After 1 year of treatment, patients receiving metformin experienced a significantly lower increase in fasting blood glucose levels compared with the placebo group (3.6 mg/dL vs. 7.2 mg/dL, P < .05) ... Although exercise may be a more effective prevention method, he suggests that the drug could potentially serve as an alternative choice for patients who are unwilling to commit to or maintain radical lifestyle changes"

Vitamin E benefits athlete recovery, further antioxidant evidence  - Nutra USA, 6/24/04 - "This study clearly showed that supplementation with these antioxidant vitamins could help prevent the significant levels of lipid oxidation that are associated with intense exercise"

Are low-carb diets an unhealthy ripoff? - MSNBC, 6/23/04 - "Prince said low-carb diets that advocate piling on the animal protein and fat are “increasing the risk of developing cancer, heart disease, stroke, type-2 diabetes and other chronic diseases.”"

Estrogen-Alone Hormone Therapy Could Increase Risk Of Dementia In Older Women - Science Daily, 6/23/04 - "At the end of the study, the risk of dementia in the estrogen-alone group was 49% higher than the risk in women using the placebo ... 12 extra cases of dementia in every 10,000 women using estrogen alone each year"

Less Fat Leads to Better Erections, Study Finds - Yahoo, 6/23/04 - "Improving blood circulation, a benefit to overall cardiovascular health, was the main reason cited for higher scores on erectile function tests"

Omega-3s appear to protect against prostate cancer - Nutra USA, 6/23/04 - "alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), an omega-6 fat, may raise the risk of advanced prostate cancer ... Men with the highest quintiles of EPA and DHA combined had an 11 per cent lower total prostate cancer risk and advanced prostate cancer risk was 26 per cent lower" - See Mega Twin EPA at Vitacost or iHerb.

Reversing Hair Loss? - Dr. Weil, 6/22/04 - "you may be able to prevent further loss and encourage re-growth by including omega-3 fatty acids to your diet"

Raising HDL in Clinical Practice - Medscape, 6/10/04 - "Niacin increases HDL-C to the greatest extent of all available monotherapies: by 15% to 35% at higher daily doses on the order of 3 grams ... Capsules containing omega-3 fatty acids (1.48 g of docosahexaenoic acid + 1.88 g of eicosapentaenoic acid) have been formulated and are commercially available in some parts of the world (as Omacor). In a recent small study in patients with familial combined hyperlipidemia, treatment with this formulation for 8 weeks increased HDL-C by 8%"

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

Homocysteine, folate, and vitamin B-12 in mild cognitive impairment, Alzheimer disease, and vascular dementia - Am J Clin Nutr. 2004 Jul;80(1):114-22 - "Subjects in the lowest folate tertile had significantly higher adjusted odds ratios (ORs) for mild cognitive impairment ... Hyperhomocysteinemia was significantly associated with dementia" - See iHerb or Vitacost folic acid products.

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