Recent Longevity News for the seven days ending 8/25/04:

How To Live To Be 100 - Time Magazine, 8/30/04

Soft Drinks: Too Much of a Bad Thing? - WebMD, 8/24/04 - [Abstract] "women who increased their intake of sugar-sweetened soft drinks or fruit punch from one can per week to one per day gained more weight and doubled their risk of type 2 diabetes compared with women who did not increase their intake"

Statin Drugs Help Clear Clogged Arteries - HealthDay, 8/24/04 - "After six months, artery plaque declined by an average of 13.1 percent in the statin group and increased by an average of 8.7 percent in the control group"

Chitosan fails to reduce kilos, finds study - Nutra USA, 8/24/04 - "receive either 3g of chitosan daily or a placebo for 24 weeks ... The chitosan group lost an average of 0.4kg compared to a 0.2 kg gain in the placebo group"

Blueberries May Lower Blood Fat/Cholesterol - WebMD, 8/23/04 - "Pterostilbene -- the fat-fighting compound in blueberries -- has been found to have cancer-fighting and diabetes-fighting properties"

Statins Benefit Diabetics, Regardless of Cholesterol Levels - HealthDay, 8/19/04 - "The incidence of acute coronary disease was 36 percent lower in the statin group. The risk of stroke was 48 percent lower. And the overall death rate was 27 percent lower. No adverse side effects were seen in those taking the drug"

Fishing for Fish Information? - Dr. Weil, 8/19/04 - "My favorite fish is wild Alaskan salmon, which is delicious, contains plenty of omega-3s, and is relatively toxin-free ... Avoid farmed salmon (also called Atlantic salmon)"

Inadequate Iodine Intake Linked to Low Intelligence Quotient - Medscape, 8/9/04 - "This study demonstrates that the IQ of schoolchildren in a developed country can be influenced by iodine intake"

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

Metabolic syndrome: dietary interventions - Curr Opin Cardiol. 2004 Sep;19(5):473-9 - "Although there is no "all-inclusive" diet yet, it seems plausible that a Mediterranean-style diet exhibits most of the desired attributes"

Statin use in Type 2 diabetes mellitus is associated with a delay in starting insulin - Diabet Med. 2004 Sep;21(9):962-7 - "The use of statins is associated with a delay in starting insulin treatment in patients with Type 2 diabetes initially treated with oral antidiabetic agents"

HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors prevent bone loss in patients with Type 2 diabetes mellitus - Diabet Med. 2004 Sep;21(9):1020-4 - "there was a significantly smaller annual decrease of the radial BMD in the HMG-CoA group"

Bone health. New role for vitamin K? - Can Fam Physician. 2004 Jul;50:993-7 - "Evidence suggests that dietary phylloquinone intake of <100 microg daily might not be optimal for bone health. Low intake of vitamin K could contribute to osteoporosis and subsequent fracture ... Family physicians need to be aware of the importance of encouraging adequate vitamin K intake, particularly among institutionalized elderly people, to prevent increased bone resorption" - See iHerb or Vitacost vitamin K products.

Folate for depressive disorders - J Psychopharmacol. 2004 Jun;18(2):251-6 - "adding folate reduced Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS) scores on average by a further 2.65 points ... The remaining study found no statistically significant difference when folate alone was compared with trazodone"  - See iHerb or Vitacost folic acid products.

Corticosteroids, depression and the role of serotonin - Rev Neurosci. 2004;15(2):109-16 - "Research has also indicated that corticosteroids lower serotonin levels. However, lowered serotonin levels may result in depression, aggression and other psychological conditions"

Plant sterol ester-enriched milk and yoghurt effectively reduce serum cholesterol in modestly hypercholesterolemic subjects - Eur J Nutr. 2004 Aug 17 - "PSteE-milk and PSteE-spread were equally efficacious in lowering total and LDL-cholesterol as compared to placebo by 6-8% and 8-10%, respectively. No significant additional cholesterol-lowering was observed with the combination of PSteE-milk and PSteE-spread (4 g plant sterols/d)"

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