Recent Longevity News for the seven days ending 9/8/04:

Why Some Statins Work Better - Time Magazine, 9/13/04 - "patients taking high doses of Zocor fared no better than a low-dose group in terms of heart-attack risk, despite low LDL levels. Why? Perhaps because Lipitor works not just by lowering cholesterol but also by reducing inflammation, something Zocor can't do as well"

AstraZeneca's Crestor Drug Beats Lipitor in Study - Yahoo, 9/6/04 - "patients with metabolic syndrome given 20 milligrams a day of Crestor had a 49 percent reduction in levels of harmful LDL cholesterol levels after 12 weeks of treatment while their HDL increased 10.5 percent. Those on the same dose of Lipitor had a 43 percent decline in LDL and only a 5.7 percent increase in HDL"

Low Chromium Linked to Heart Disease Risk in Patients With Diabetes - Medscape, 9/3/04 - "Our results suggest that diabetic men with CVD have lower toenail chromium than healthy control subjects"

Drinking and Dementia: Is There a Link? - WebMD, 9/3/04 - "Drinking alcohol in middle age may increase the risk of late-life dementia in people who are genetically predisposed to develop Alzheimer's disease"

Atkins Diet Works, But for How Long? - HealthDay, 9/2/04 - "people actually lost more weight on a low-carbohydrate diet during the first three to six months. But by the time the dieters reached the year-point, the Atkins-style dieters hadn't lost any more weight than the traditional dieters"

Low-Carb Diets Work, but Safety Still an Issue - WebMD, 9/2/04 - "What we are more concerned about is that people on low-carbohydrate diets begin to complain about side effects: headache, muscle weakness, and cramps and diarrhea. This is consistent with carbohydrate deficiency"

Why Fish Seems to Prevent Alzheimer's Damage - WebMD, 9/1/04 - "DHA may prevent or slow Alzheimer's progression by protecting against damage to the area where brain cells communicate" - See iHerb or Vitacost DHA products.

Anti-cancer Compound In Vegetables Found To Block Late-stage Breast-cancer Cell Growth - Science Daily, 9/1/04 - "The compound, in broccoli and other cruciferous vegetables ... sulforaphane (SUL) ... We were surprised and pleased to find that SUL could block the growth of breast cells that were already cancerous ... SUL's actions appear similar to a group of anticancer drugs currently in use, such as Taxol"

Naturally Low Cholesterol Promotes Long Life - WebMD, 9/1/04 - "a total cholesterol level of 193 or lower at age 30 to 45 was associated with a 25% lower risk of death nearly four decades later"

Scientists Tout New Cholesterol Test - Intelihealth, 9/1/04 - "Globally, 50 percent of the risk of a heart attack is predicted by the apo B/apo A1 ratio"

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

Probiotics and prebiotics in the elderly - Postgrad Med J. 2004 Aug;80(946):447-51 - "Probiotics have been shown clearly to boost immunity in the elderly"

Fruit and vegetable consumption is inversely associated with blood pressure in a Mediterranean population with a high vegetable-fat intake: the Seguimiento Universidad de Navarra (SUN) Study - Br J Nutr. 2004 Aug;92(2):311-9 - "In a Mediterranean population with an elevated fat consumption, a high fruit and vegetable intake is inversely associated with BP levels"

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