Recent Longevity News for the seven days ending 10/6/04:

High Blood Pressure Related Decline in Cognitive Function Affects Adults Young and Old - Doctor's Guide, 10/5/04 - "To the extent that BP (blood pressure) effects on cognition are not reversible, it is important to prevent an increase in BP levels as early as possible in the life cycle"

Vitamin D Inadequacy Highly Prevalent Among Women Treated for Osteoporosis in North America - Doctor's Guide, 10/4/04 - "More than half of women currently treated for osteoporosis have suboptimal levels of vitamin D"

Aspirin May Delay Prostate Cancer, Extend Life - WebMD, 10/4/04 - "more than nine in 10 men who took aspirin or another NSAID were alive 10 years later compared with fewer than seven in 10 men who didn't take the painkillers ... evidence is mounting that prostate cancer may develop in areas with chronic inflammation"

Vitamin A Levels Affect Hip Fracture Risk - Physician's Weekly, 10/4/04 - "women with the lowest concentrations of vitamin A had a 90% higher risk of hip fracture. Those with the highest concentrations were twice as likely as those with normal levels to sustain a hip fracture"

Hand Sanitizers Keep Home Free of Germs - HealthDay, 10/2/04 - "We believe hand sanitizer reduces the transmission of the cold and other respiratory illnesses in the home, too, although the evidence wasn't as strong as it was for stopping the spread of gastrointestinal illnesses" - See hand sanitizers at drugstore.com

Insulin May Increase Colon Cancer Risk - WebMD, 10/1/04 - "people with diabetes who had been taking insulin for three to five years had almost a threefold increase in colorectal cancer risk compared with those who did not take insulin ... The risk was even higher in people who took insulin for more than five years"

Vitamin E + Lycopene Fights Prostate Cancer - WebMD, 9/30/04 - "a combination treatment with low-dose lycopene and vitamin E had the strongest effect at slowing tumor growth -- a 73% slowing of growth on the 42nd day of the test ... The next best results came from the low dose of lycopene alone, which slowed tumor growth by 53% in the same time frame"

Eating More Soy-rich Foods Could Reduce Spread Of Breast Cancer - Science Daily, 9/29/04 - "eating a soy rich products such as soy milk, soy drinks and desserts, could have an important role in preventing the spread of cancer cells in the body"

Esomeprazole Provides Greater Symptom Resolution and Remission Maintenance In Erosive Esophagitis Than Pantoprazole - Doctor's Guide, 9/29/04 - "a significantly greater proportion of esomeprazole-treated [Nexium(R)] patients had achieved complete resolution of symptoms compared with those on pantoprazole [Protonix(R)]"

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

Vitamin K, bone turnover, and bone mass in girls - Am J Clin Nutr. 2004 Oct;80(4):1075-80 - "Better vitamin K status was associated with decreased bone turnover in healthy girls consuming a typical US diet"

Women and Omega-3 Fatty Acids - Obstet Gynecol Surv. 2004 Oct;59(10):722-730 - "because elevated triglyceride levels are associated with cardiovascular disease, especially in women; and because omega-3 FA have powerful effects on triglycerides, women in particular gain from an increased intake of these fatty acids. This is especially important in women receiving hormone therapy, which can increase triglyceride levels. The quality of the omega-3 FA preparation is important. It should have an appropriate antioxidant content not to induce lipid peroxidation, and its content of dioxin and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) should be well below the established safe limit" - See Mega Twin EPA at Vitacost or iHerb.

Conjugated linoleic acid supplementation, insulin sensitivity, and lipoprotein metabolism in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus - Am J Clin Nutr. 2004 Oct;80(4):887-95 - "3.0 g/d; 50:50 blend of cis-9,trans-11 CLA and trans-10,cis-12 CLA ... CLA supplementation significantly increased fasting glucose concentrations (6.3%; P < 0.05) and reduced insulin sensitivity ... Total HDL-cholesterol concentrations increased by 8%" - Sounds close to the Now brand of CLA.

Vitamin D Insufficiency and Deficiency in Chronic Kidney Disease. A Single Center Observational Study - Am J Nephrol. 2004 Sep 22;24(5):503-510 - "In the group undergoing maintenance hemodialyis, we found that 97% of the patients had vitamin D levels in the suboptimal range ... vitamin D insufficiency and deficiency are highly prevalent in patients with CKD and may play a role in the development of hyperparathyroidism" - See iHerb or Vitacost vitamin D products.

Affiliates (I could sure use some sales.  Click here for more stores):