Recent Longevity News for the seven days ending 8/18/04:

Tomato Juice for Cardiovascular Health? - WebMD, 8/17/04 - "Half the group drank 1 cup of clarified tomato juice daily for three weeks; the rest took a tomato-flavored placebo ... the juice drinkers had a reduction in platelet clumping or aggregation, one of several steps thought to be important in the formation of blood clots that may lead to heart attacks and strokes"

Research Highlights Hormonal Control of Cardiovascular Functions - Doctor's Guide, 8/17/04 - "The Patients who received metformin experienced an improvement in several endothelial function markers, including weight, fasting plasma glucose, soluble intercellular adhesion molecule and soluble vascular cell adhesion molecule"

Benefit of 'Good' Cholesterol in Arteries Limited by Enzyme Linked to Heart Attack Risk - Doctor's Guide, 8/17/04 - "HDL becomes dysfunctional, Dr. Hazen said, when myeloperoxidase (MPO), an enzyme present in white blood cells, inhibits the HDL's ability to keep LDL, or "bad" cholesterol, from building up in artery walls"

Vitamin E May Prevent Common Cold - WebMD, 8/17/04 - "Participants in the vitamin E group who completed the study had significantly fewer common colds and a 20% lower risk of acquiring a cold than those in the placebo group"

Cardiovascular Patients Taking Certain Medications Need Close Monitoring To Guard Against Dangerously High Potassium Levels - Science Daily, 8/17/04 - "Angiotensin-converting-enzyme (ACE) inhibitors and angiotensin-receptor blockers are commonly used to treat hypertension ... A side effect to these therapeutics is hyperkalemia, or higher than normal levels of potassium in the bloodstream ... The development of hyperkalemia is a potentially life-threatening complication because it can disrupt the heart's normal rhythm"

Intermittent Exercise Better Than Continuous - Doctor's Guide, 8/17/04 - "peak triglyceride levels in the subjects who engaged in intermittent exercise before eating a high-fat meal were reduced by 27%. Those who engaged in continuous exercise reduced their triglyceride levels by 15% ... exercising before eating was crucial for fat clearing"

HDL Cholesterol Inversely Related to Stroke Risk - Yahoo, 8/13/04 - "The team found a 2.7-fold increased risk of a blood clot-related stroke among men with low HDL cholesterol levels compared with those with high levels"

Red Wine Beats Gin for Heart Health - WebMD, 8/13/04 - "40 healthy men consumed 30 grams of ethanol either in the form of two glasses (about 10 ounces) of red wine (Merlot) or 3.3 ounces of gin with dinner each day for 28 days ... Both groups had lower levels of fibrinogen ... those who drunk red wine also had lower levels of C-reactive protein and two other inflammatory markers"

FDA Approves Adderall XR to Treat Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in Adults - Doctor's Guide, 8/12/04 - "Adults with ADHD are twice as likely to be divorced or separated and have had almost twice as many jobs in the past ten years compared to adults without ADHD ... Adults with ADHD are three times more likely to suffer from stress, depression or other problems with emotion; more likely to engage in harmful or antisocial behaviors; and report lower educational achievement"

Plant Foods To The Rescue; Fruit, Vegetables Turn "Superhero" To Fight Disease - Intelihealth, 8/11/04 - "Some phytochemicals, or plant chemicals, knock out carcinogens and fight inflammation. Some regulate how quickly cells reproduce and spur old, damaged cells to self-destruct. Other plant chemicals perform "routine maintenance" on DNA ... most experts agree that the body needs a variety of these phytochemicals -- there are more than 25,000 of them -- to stay in top form" - That's one of the main reasons I'm against the Atkin's Diet.

Innovative Research and Applications for CoQ10 - Life Extension Magazine, 8/04 - "biomedical researchers are discovering that CoQ10 shows promising effects against disorders as far-ranging as kidney failure, heart disease, muscular dystrophy, and macular degeneration"

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

Vitamin C supplementation decreases oxidative DNA damage in mononuclear blood cells of smokers - Eur J Nutr. 2004 Jan 6;:1-8 - "This study suggests that long-term vitamin C supplementation at high dose, i. e. 500 mg together with vitamin E in moderate dose, 182mg, decreases the steadystate level of oxidative DNA damage in mononuclear blood cells of smokers"

Vitamin B(12) (cobalamin) deficiency in elderly patients - CMAJ. 2004 Aug 3;171(3):251-259 - "VITAMIN B(12) OR COBALAMIN DEFICIENCY occurs frequently (> 20%) among elderly people, but it is often unrecognized because the clinical manifestations are subtle; they are also potentially serious, particularly from a neuropsychiatric and hematological perspective" - See iHerb or Vitacost Vitamin B12 products.

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