Recent Longevity News for the seven days ending 9/1/04:

Both ACE Inhibitors and ARBs Slow Renal Decline in Type 2 Diabetes - Medscape, 8/31/04 - "the angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor enalapril and the angiotensin-receptor blocker (ARB) telmisartan were equally effective in slowing kidney damage in people with type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and nephropathy"

Gum health, new target for vitamin D? - Nutra USA, 8/31/04 - "the higher the levels of vitamin D in volunteers' blood, the better their gum health ... the lower their vitamin D serum levels, the greater the risk of tooth loss" - See iHerb or Vitacost vitamin D products.

Chromium, diabetes and toenails - Nutra USA, 8/31/04 - "men with a higher incidence of diabetes and heart disease have lower levels of chromium in their body"

Blueberry Compound Shows Promise Of Lowering Cholesterol As Effectively As Drug - Science Daily, 8/31/04 - "Pterostilbene is an antioxidant that is similar to resveratrol ... Until studies are conducted in humans, no one knows how many blueberries a person needs to eat to have a positive effect at lowering cholesterol"

Too Much Mercury in Freshwater Fish? - Dr. Weil, 8/31/04 - "To avoid mercury contamination and still derive the nutritional benefits of eating fish, I recommend sticking to such cold water fish as wild Alaskan salmon, sardines, herring, and – if you can get it – black cod, also known as sablefish"

Cause of Most Heart Attacks Found - WebMD, 8/30/04 - "the cause of almost all heart attacks can be pinpointed to one or more of the following: ... Smoking ... Abnormal cholesterol ... Diabetes ... High blood pressure ... Stress ... Abdominal obesity ... Sedentary lifestyle ... Eating too few fruits and vegetables ... Abstaining from alcohol"

Zinc May Be Key to Major Cause of Blindness - HealthDay, 8/27/04 - "if there is not enough zinc in the body or there is a mutation in the zinc binding site, the protein rhodopsin will misfold and break down, triggering cell death, degeneration of the retina and eventually blindness"

Cholesterol-Lowering Drugs Work for Years - WebMD, 8/26/04 - "Overall, there was a 24% reduction in heart attack deaths and a 17% reduction in deaths from other cardiovascular causes among patients taking the cholesterol-lowering drug for 10 years compared with five years"

Low-glycemic-index plan is better than low-fat or low-carb diets, study says - HealthDay, 8/26/04 - "After two to four months, the researchers found that the rats given the high-glycemic-index diet had 71 percent more body fat and 8 percent less lean muscle mass, compared with rats on the low-glycemic-index diet"

Cymbalta (Duloxetine), Treatment for Major Depression, Now Available in US - Doctor's Guide, 8/26/04 - "Cymbalta® (duloxetine HCl; pronounced SIM-BALL-TA), a new treatment for major depression, is now available by prescription in pharmacies across the United States"

Fish Advisories Rising Due to Mercury Risks - WebMD, 8/25/04 - "Eating fish from more than a third of the country's lakes and a nearly quarter of its rivers may not be a healthy idea ... the threat of mercury contamination is rising in American waters"

Grapefruit Lowers Weight, Fights Cancer - HealthDay, 8/25/04 - "At the end of 12 weeks the placebo group lost on average just under half a pound, the extract group 2.4 pounds, the grapefruit juice group 3.3 pounds, and the fresh grapefruit group 3.5 pounds ... In this study they had one and a half grapefruits a day"

Update on Lycopene - Dr. Murray's Natural Facts, 8/25/04 - "men who consumed the highest levels of lycopene (6.5 mg per day) in their diet showed a 21 percent decreased risk of prostate cancer compared with those eating the lowest levels. When the researchers looked at only advanced prostate cancer, the high lycopene eaters had an 86% decreased risk" - See iHerb or Vitacost lycopene products.

Lutein, zeaxanthin appear to restore eye cell health - Nutra USA, 8/25/04 - "Lutein and zeaxanthin are the primary components of macular pigment and have been associated with a reduced risk of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the leading cause of vision loss for people over the age of 50 in the Western world"

Vitamin E review - ConsumerLab.com, 8/25/04 - "There are studies underway to determine whether gamma-tocopherol (which is more abundant in the diet than alpha-tocopherol) may be important for some of the beneficial effects associated with natural vitamin E in the diet ... 32 products were purchased ... Five vitamin E products failed"

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

Serum Folate, Vitamin B(12), and Homocysteine in Major Depressive Disorder, Part 1: Predictors of Clinical Response in Fluoxetine-Resistant Depression - J Clin Psychiatry. 2004 Aug;65(8):1090-1095 - "The response rates for patients with (N = 14) and without (N = 38) low folate levels were 7.1% versus 44.7%, respectively" - See iHerb or Vitacost folic acid products.

Serum Folate, Vitamin B(12), and Homocysteine in Major Depressive Disorder, Part 2: Predictors of Relapse During the Continuation Phase of Pharmacotherapy - J Clin Psychiatry. 2004 Aug;65(8):1096-1098 - "The relapse rates for patients with (N = 7) and without (N = 64) low folate levels were 42.9% versus 3.2%, respectively" - See iHerb or Vitacost folic acid products.

Fish intake is associated with a reduced progression of coronary artery atherosclerosis in postmenopausal women with coronary artery disease - Am J Clin Nutr. 2004 Sep;80(3):626-32 - "Consumption of fish is associated with a significantly reduced progression of coronary artery atherosclerosis in women with coronary artery disease" - See Mega Twin EPA at Vitacost or iHerb.

Zinc intakes and plasma concentrations in men with osteoporosis: the Rancho Bernardo Study - Am J Clin Nutr. 2004 Sep;80(3):715-21 - "Dietary zinc intake and plasma zinc each have a positive association with BMD in men"

Effects of ingesting Lactobacillus- and Bifidobacterium-containing yogurt in subjects with colonized Helicobacter pylori - Am J Clin Nutr. 2004 Sep;80(3):737-41 - "Regular intake of yogurt containing Bb12 and La5 effectively suppressed H. pylori infection in humans"

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