Recent Longevity News for the seven days ending 6/22/05.  You should consult your doctor if you are taking any medications.

Treating and Beating Arthritis - US News, 6/27/05 - "One popular supplement, called glucosamine-chondroitin, really seems to work"

First-Time Generic Approvals: Periostat, TriCor, Foscavir - Medscape, 6/21/05 - "On May 13, the FDA approved a first-time generic formulation of doxycycline hyclate 20-mg tablets ... Doxycycline hyclate tablets are indicated for use as an adjunct to scaling and root planing to promote attachment level gain and to reduce pocked depth in patients with adult periodontitis"

• Low-dose Periostat (Doxycycline) Shows Benefits in Patients with Heart Failure - Doctor's Guide, 11/20/02 - "At six-month follow-up, sub-antimicrobial dose doxycyline significantly reduced CRP levels by 45.8 percent compared to baseline values (p<0.05). The drug was also associated with a 33.5 percent reduction in interleukin-6 and a 50 percent reduction in metalloproteinase ... The findings are exciting, since research is now showing that CRP is both a key marker of inflammation leading to future acute coronary events, but also that CRP itself may contribute to the initiation and progression of atherosclerosis"

Diabetes Drugs May Help Fight Inflammation - WebMD, 6/20/05 - "the type 2 diabetes drugs Actos and Avandia may help fight heart disease not only by improving blood sugar but also by battling inflammation ... Carotid artery wall thickness, a measure of arteries that supply the brain and an indicator of heart disease, also improved with Actos"

Extra Folic Acid May Help Memory - ABC News, 6/20/05 - "either a vitamin Containing 800 micrograms of folic acid a day, or a dummy pill, for three years ... On memory tests, the supplement users had scores comparable to people 5.5 years younger" - See iHerb folic acid products (7.5% discount code "qc")

Healthy Gums May Help Fight Alzheimer's - WebMD, 6/20/05 - "Brushing your teeth may be one of many ways to help keep your mind healthy and lower the risk of Alzheimer's disease"

Alzheimer's Risk May Be Cut - washingtonpost.com, 6/20/05 - "Middle-aged sons and daughters of people with Alzheimer's disease may be able to reduce their risk of getting the disorder through lifestyle measures such as exercise, avoiding gum disease, moderate alcohol consumption and drinking fruit and vegetable juice"

Blood Protein Signals Heart Disease Risk - HealthDay, 6/18/05 - "Even people with relatively low cholesterol levels, if they have a high CRP they may still be at high risk for heart trouble ... It may be that CRP helps cause the inflammation, but mostly it's a marker for it"

Supplemental Chromium Picolinate and Biotin Appear to Decrease Blood Glucose and Lipid Levels in Type 2 Diabetics: Presented at ADA - Doctor's Guide, 6/17/05 - "Our most important finding is that chromium picolinate and biotin help to decrease hemoglobin A1c [HbA1c] values in poorly controlled diabetics ... 600 mcg chromium picolinate and biotin 2 mg/per day" - See iHerb biotin products and iHerb chromium products (7.5% discount code "qc")

• Supplement May Lower Diabetes Heart Risks - WebMD, 5/10/04 - "Diachrome contains chromium, in the form of chromium picolinate, and biotin, which is thought to improve insulin's action to improve blood sugars ... After 30 days ... Average fasting blood glucose dropped by 26.2 mg/dL"
• Can a Mix of Chromium and Biotin Help Diabetics Control Blood Sugar? - WebMD, 10/15/01 - "when chromium and biotin are present together, they have more of a response than what would be expected by adding their effects separately. "As soon as you put those two together, you get a much greater increase in glucose metabolism,""
• Treating Hair Loss Naturally - WebMD - "Daly says he routinely recommends up to 3 mg of biotin daily for his hair loss patients, while Lessman developed a healthy hair, skin, and nails product containing 2 mg of biotin per daily dosage, which he believes is the minimum for healthy hair"

Research Links Coffee to Heart Risks for Some - WebMD, 6/17/05 - "coffee drinkers had more stiffness of the major blood vessel of the body than non-coffee drinkers. Decreased elasticity of major blood vessels is a risk factor for developing heart disease like heart attack and stroke"

Green Tea May Protect Against Autoimmune Diseases - HealthDay, 6/17/05 - "Green teas inhibit the expression of antigens made by the body, substances that can trigger an immune response"

Study: Fruits, Veggies May Help Avoid Cataracts - WebMD, 6/17/05 - "Over 10 years, the group had a total of 2,067 cataract cases. The women who ate the most fruits and vegetables were 10% to 15% less likely to be in that group"

Plant Sterols May Help Lower Cholesterol - WebMD, 6/17/05 - "Plant sterols are already on the market in various products, including cholesterol-lowering margarines such as Take Control and Benecol ... LDL cholesterol fell by more than a quarter (27%) for diabetic people who received the sterol spread. For those without diabetes, LDL dropped 15%"

New Trial Shows Chromium Picolinate Reduces Weight Gain Associated with Diabetes Medication - Doctor's Guide, 6/16/05 - "The study participants who took 1,000 mcg of Chromax(R) chromium picolinate in combination with the antidiabetic medication experienced significantly lower body fat accumulation (0.12%) than the group taking medication and placebo (1.1%), particularly in the abdomen area. The study also found those taking chromium gained less weight ... chromium picolinate taken in combination with antidiabetic medication significantly improved both insulin sensitivity" - See iHerb chromium products (7.5% discount code "qc")

Diabetic Retinopathy Occurs in Pre-Diabetes - Doctor's Guide, 6/16/05 - "Diabetic retinopathy has been found in nearly 8 percent of pre-diabetic participants in the Diabetes Prevention Program ... can lead to vision loss"

Diabetes Drug Actos (pioglitazone HCl) Showed Anti-Inflammatory Effects in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes in a Clinical Study - Doctor's Guide, 6/16/05 - "CRP decreased by 6.98 mg/L compared to 1.55 mg/L for placebo (p= 0.001). IL-6 decreased by 0.78 pg/mL compared to 0.22 pg/ml for placebo"

• C Reactive Protein - HAPS - "Normal Ranges for CRP ... < 12"

Sunlight Lowers Prostate Cancer Risk - HealthDay, 6/15/05 - "the men with high sun exposure were at half the prostate cancer risk of men with low sun exposure ... the body manufactures the active form of vitamin D from exposure to sunlight" - See iHerb vitamin D products (7.5% discount code "qc")

Fish may protect against colorectal cancer - Nutra USA, 6/15/05 - "People eating less than 14g of fish a day were 40 per cent more likely to develop the cancer than those eating more than 50g per day"

Rosiglitazone (Avandia) and Metformin Combination Lowers Blood Pressure in Type 2 Diabetics: Presented at ADA - Doctor's Guide, 6/15/05 - "24-hour ambulatory diastolic blood pressure ... -3.17 mm Hg in the rosiglitazone group ... 24-hour ambulatory systolic blood pressure (-2.73 mm Hg with rosiglitazone-metformin" - Related article:

• Rosiglitazone May Improve Small Artery Elasticity in Patients With Diabetes - Doctor's Guide, 8/19/03 - "Rosiglitazone increased small artery elasticity significantly, with a mean increase of up to 50% ... Systolic blood pressure decreased from 144 to 124 mmHg, and diastolic blood pressure decreased from 80 to 68 mmHg"

There is a bill in the Senate to make DHEA a controlled substance.  To voice your opinion, go to http://www.saveoursupplements.org and enter your zip code it will send an email to your representatives.  I sent a simple email saying "As your constituent, I urge you to protect my access to DHEA."

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

Obesity and cortisol status - Horm Metab Res. 2005 Apr;37(4):193-7 - "Tissue hypercortisolism, due to increased intracellular activity of 11beta-HSD-1, which catalyzes reduction of cortisone to cortisol, has been reported in obese mice and humans"

• Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma ligands inhibit adipocyte 11beta -hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 1 expression and activity - J Biol Chem. 2001 Apr 20;276(16):12629-35. Epub 2001 Jan 22 - "treatment of diabetic db/db mice with rosiglitazone inhibited expression of 11beta-HSD-1 in adipose tissue. This decrease in enzyme expression correlated with a significant decline in plasma corticosterone levels. In sum, these data indicate that some of the beneficial effects of PPARgamma antidiabetic agents may result, at least in part, from the down-regulation of 11beta-HSD-1 expression in adipose tissue"

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