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Recent Longevity News for the seven days ending 5/25/05. You should consult your doctor if you are taking any medications. The High Prevalence of Inadequate Serum Vitamin D Levels and Implications for Bone Health - Curr Med Res Opin. 2005; 21 (4): 579-585 - "Vitamin D toxicity has not been reported from excessive sunlight exposure, and has only been associated with dietary intake when daily doses exceed 10 000 IU (250 µg) ... Vitamin D is of paramount importance for mineral homeostasis and skeletal health, and maintaining adequate vitamin D nutrition is an essential component of management strategies for the prevention and treatment of osteoporosis. Nevertheless, inadequate serum vitamin D is currently a highly prevalent, global health issue, especially among elderly adults and osteoporosis patients" Fortified Orange Juice May Not Deliver What You Expect - CBS 2 Chicago, 5/24/05 - "calcium in some juices is absorbed better than others ... a kind of calcium called calcium citrate malate is the best absorbed. It's found in Tropicana juice" Erectile Trouble May Signal Heart Disease - HealthDay, 5/24/05 - "Levels of homocysteine may be a sign of how severe erectile dysfunction is ... Nutrition can influence homocysteine levels positively, and substitution with folic acid, in combination with vitamin B6 and B12, can reduce homocysteine levels significantly" Levitra a Day May Keep the Doctor Away - WebMD, 5/24/05 - "Preliminary results are quite encouraging that [these drugs] could be used for the treatment or prevention of benign prostatic symptoms, erectile dysfunction, and cardiovascular disease" Insulin Resistance Correlates With Rises in C-Reactive Protein - Doctor's Guide, 5/23/05 - "As C-reactive protein rises, so does insulin resistance ... Increased C-reactive protein levels may also predispose to accelerated or premature atherosclerotic disease ... Maybe someday we'll have therapy to lower C-reactive protein levels" - Related articles on ways to lower CRP:
Hydroxycitric Acid Slows Glucose Uptake, Cuts Insulin Peaks/Valleys A La South Beach Diet - Science Daily, 5/23/05 - "sugar that is normally absorbed rather quickly -- within about 20 minutes -- took over 2 hours after HCA ingestion. This delay is good because it reduces the high peaks of glucose, which otherwise would require the body to produce a lot of insulin to deal with the 'meal.' ... we don't know how this will translate into humans ... Fast sugar is worse for you; slower is better" - See iHerb HCA products (15% discount code "qc") Pomegranate Juice May Curb Prostate Cancer - WebMD, 5/23/05 - "Drinking pomegranate juice significantly lengthened the amount of time it took for the men's average PSA levels to double (from 14 to 26 months, on average) ... Pomegranate juice contains antioxidant chemicals that may have cancer-preventing benefits" Obesity Is Risk Factor For Aggressive Prostate Cancer - Science Daily, 5/23/05 - "Obesity appears to increase the risk of prostate cancer, particularly aggressive disease, and may make it harder to find ... fat makes estrogen-like compounds, which lowers circulating levels of prostate specific antigen ... Hormone changes observed with obesity also cause decreased levels of the male hormone testosterone" MSM provides pain relief for OA sufferers, says study - Nutra USA, 5/23/05 - "MSM was seen to deliver a significant reduction in pain scores (P=0.019) and physical function impairment" St. John's Wort Only Minimally Effective In Relieving Major Depression, Review Confirms - Science Daily, 5/22/05 - "St. John’s Wort products should be avoided if they do not provide important content information, such as the amount of total extract contained, the extraction fluid used and the ratio of raw material to extract" - Note: Most of the studies I've seen involve the LI 160 extract sold in the US under the Kira® brand. Scientists: Sunshine May Prevent Cancer - CBS 2 Chicago, 5/21/05 - "vitamin D increasingly seems important for preventing and even treating many types of cancer ... In the last three months alone, four separate studies found it helped protect against lymphoma and cancers of the prostate, lung and, ironically, the skin. The strongest evidence is for colon cancer" - See iHerb vitamin D products (15% discount code "qc" plus free shipping on orders over $20). Aspirin May Prevent Colon Cancer Recurrence - Doctor's Guide, 5/20/05 - "Recurrence-free survival was 55% lower in aspirin users than non-users (95% CI, 0.21-0.96), disease-free-survival was 54% lower (95% CI 0.23-0.95), and overall survival was 51% lower" Long-Term Stress May Shrink the Brain - WebMD, 5/20/05 - "Previous studies have already shown that stress hormones, such as cortisol, can increase the risk of heart disease and other ailments, but a new study shows that stress hormones may also shrink the brain" Statin Use Linked to 51% Reduction in Breast Cancer - Medscape, 5/20/05 - "The beneficial effect is seen in more than four years of statin use ... In both the prostate and lung cancer studies, there was a 48% to 54% risk reduction in cancer associated with statin use" - See Zocor at SuperSaverMeds.com.
Pioglitazone Lowers Blood Pressure in Patients With Diabetes - Medscape,
5/20/05 - "mean DBP values were lowered
by -3.1mm Hg and SBP values by -6.9mm Hg. In the stage II hypertension group,
treatment with pioglitazone
lowered mean DBP values by -8.3mm Hg and SBP values by -18.7mm Hg ... an average
change of 2mm Hg will alter the incidence of cardiovascular disease by 17% and
ischaemic heart disease by 10% ... Improving insulin sensitivity is associated
with a decrease in blood pressure" - See Actos (pioglitazone) at
Can Niacin Slow the Development of Atherosclerosis - Medscape, 5/20/05 - "Extended-release niacin slowed the development of atherosclerosis in adults with coronary artery disease, independently from statin therapy" - See iHerb inositol hexanicotinate products (15% discount code "qc" plus free shipping on orders over $20). Amlodipine and Atorvastatin Combination May Help Relax Arteries - Doctor's Guide, 5/20/05 - "the calcium channel blocker amlodipine (Norvasc) and the cholesterol-lowering agent atorvastatin (Lipitor) both reduce arterial stiffness in the small arteries ... Stiff arteries are old arteries ... Relaxing the arteries is beneficial for cardiovascular health" While On Trail Of Dioxin, Scientists Pinpoint Cancer Target Of Green Tea - Science Daily, 5/20/05 - "EGCG binds to HSP90 ... When the two bind, HSP90 no longer turns on the AH receptor, stopping the cascade of events that would lead to the activation of several harmful genes" Vitamin D Deficit: Women's Silent Bone Threat - WebMD, 5/20/05 - "The study included 1,554 postmenopausal U.S. women being treated for osteoporosis ... More than half of the women (52%) had less-than-optimal levels of vitamin D ... Doctors need to pay more attention to vitamin D status" Moderate Exercise Reduces Risk of Colon Cancer Recurrence - Doctor's Guide, 5/20/05 - "disease-free survival was 49% lower in patients who engaged in 18 to 27 MET-hours/week of physical activity, compared with those who exercised less than 3 MET-hours/week. "This is equivalent to a 2 to 3 mph walk a day, 6 days a week, running fast 2 times a week or playing tennis 3 a week,""
Valsartan Reduces Chance of Diabetes in High-Risk Hypertensive Patients -
Doctor's Guide, 5/19/05 - "patients
taking valsartan had a 23% lower
risk of developing diabetes during the four or more years of the study. The two
drugs had previously been shown to be roughly equivalent in reducing the risk of
heart attack and stroke" - See valsartan at
Valsartan 160 mg at OffshoreRx1.com Statin Use Associated with Lower Risk of Pancreatic and Esophageal Cancer - Doctor's Guide, 5/19/05 - "The odds ratio was 0.44 (95% confidence interval 0.36 – 0.53) for esophageal cancer and 0.41 (95% confidence interval 0.31 – 0.51) for pancreatic cancer. This translates into a reduction in cancer risk of 56% and 59%, respectively" Study Finds Prostate Cancer In 25% Of High-risk Men With 'Normal' PSA Levels - Science Daily, 5/19/05 - "Men at high risk of developing prostate cancer should undergo aggressive screening for the disease ... 25 percent were diagnosed with the disease despite having a low PSA" Telmisartan Superior to Ramipril in Preventing Morning Blood Pressure Rise - Doctor's Guide, 5/19/05 - "Reductions were greater and statistically significant in the highest quartile (34 mmHg), in whom telmisartan reduced systolic surge by 12.4 mmHg and ramipril by 7.1 mmHg"
Eating More Vitamin E May Fight Parkinson's - WebMD, 5/19/05 -
"supplements simply don't provide the
same protective effect as the real thing from natural sources ... diets that
contained a moderate amount of vitamin E reduced the risk of developing
Parkinson's disease by 19%" - Note:
Alpha-tocopherol is the form of vitamin E in most supplements whereas
gamma-tocopherol is the form of vitamin E in most food. See
Viagra May Help a Man's Heart - WebMD, 5/19/05 - "treating impotent men who have high blood pressure with Viagra reduces blood vessel stiffness -- a marker of atherosclerosis and a risk factor for heart disease ... using Viagra to treat hypertensive men with erectile dysfunction may change the vessel wall, increasing its elasticity" - See Viagra at SuperSaverMeds.com. Estrogen Could Affect Memory, Learning - CBS 2 Chicago, 5/19/05 - "estrogen stimulates the hippocampus – the part of the brain responsible for learning and memory, but this happened only in female rats, not in males" Black Cohosh Extract Relieves Climacteric Symptoms - Medscape, 5/19/05 - "An isopropanolic extract of the root stock of black cohosh (Actaea racemosa), marketed as Remifemin, is effective in relieving menopausal symptoms, German researchers report" - See Remifemin at iHerb (15% discount code "qc" plus free shipping on orders over $20). Most Improved Pasta - New York Times, 5/18/05 - "IT is not my imagination. Whole-wheat pasta tastes much better than it did 10 years ago, when all of it was brittle and grainy ... Technology, for once not the enemy of good food, has figured out how to give whole-wheat pasta a texture quite similar to what most of us are used to" - I noticed a big difference in the texture myself. I thought they were cheating and mixing in refined flour. I've been mixing three grains, whole wheat with artichoke flour and whole grain rice spaghetti. Black Tea Has Both Positive and Negative Vascular Effects - Doctor's Guide, 5/18/05 - "The caffeine in black tea causes the stiffening of arteries ... The flavonoids in black tea produce the relaxation of the arteries" Combo Drug Controls Hypertension In Hard-to-treat Patients - Science Daily, 5/18/05 - "the combination pill of irbesartan (an angiotensin II receptor blocker) and a diuretic, hydrochlorothiazide ... the participants' systolic blood pressure (the top number) dropped an average of 21.5 points, from 154.4 to 132.9 points. Their diastolic blood pressure (the bottom number) fell an average of 10.4 points, from 91.3 to 80.9" - Yeah, but what about impotence from the diuretic? HRT May Help Heart, Swedish Research Suggests - HealthDay, 5/18/05 - "a combination of estrogen and a progestin shrank dangerously enlarged heart muscle, acting much like the ACE inhibitor drugs doctors commonly prescribe for the condition" U.S. Diabetes Control Dangerously Poor - WebMD, 5/18/05 - "Two-thirds of patients with type 2 diabetes do not adequately control their blood sugar" Why Your Blood Pressure Isn't Dropping At Night - mercola.com, 5/18/05 - "If you're noticing your blood pressure levels aren't dropping at night, there's a real good reason, according to a new study: Your blood sugar levels are probably elevated" Abstracts from this week's Doctor's Guide Nutrition/Dietetics: Oral Cyanocobalamin Supplementation in Older People With Vitamin B12 Deficiency - Arch Intern Med. 2005;165:1167-1172 - "The lowest dose of oral cyanocobalamin required to normalize mild vitamin B12 deficiency is more than 200 times greater than the recommended dietary allowance, which is approximately 3 µg daily" Effect of Combining Psyllium Fiber With Simvastatin in Lowering Cholesterol - Arch Intern Med. 2005;165:1161-1166 - "The mean lowering of LDL-C in the group receiving 20 mg of simvastatin plus placebo was the same as that in the group receiving 10 mg of simvastatin plus psyllium. Similar results were seen for apolipoprotein B and total cholesterol" - Related article:
Metabolic Effect of Telmisartan [Micardis] and Losartan [Cozaar]
in Hypertensive Patients with Metabolic Syndrome -
Cardiovasc
Diabetol. 2005 May 15;4(1):6 -
"Telmisartan, but not losartan,
significantly (p < 0.05) reduced free plasma glucose, free plasma insulin,
homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance and HbAic. Following
treatment, plasma glucose and insulin were reduced during the oral glucose
tolerance test by telmisartan, but not by losartan. Telmisartan also
significantly reduced 24-hour mean systolic blood pressure (p < 0.05) and
diastolic blood pressure (p < 0.05) compared with losartan" - Note: Both
telmisartan and losartan are ARBs.
See telmisartan at Affiliates (I could sure use some sales. Click here for more stores): |
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3.5 grams is about one wafer (3.4 grams psyllium/wafer). Plus 24 wafers
runs about