Recent Longevity News for the seven days ending 9/7/05.  You should consult your doctor if you are taking any medications.

Brain Chemical May Be Key in Eating Disorders - WebMD, 9/6/05 - "Dopamine is a chemical involved in weight, feeding behaviors, reinforcement, and reward. Now they are reporting that women who have recovered from eating disorders show abnormal levels of serotonin"

• Improving Dopamine May Help Obese - Doctor's Guide, 2/5/01 - "Neurotransmitters such as dopamine, GABA, norepinephrine and serotonin, as well as peptides and aminoacids, are involved in the regulation of food intake ... Of particular interest is dopamine since this neurotransmitter seems to regulate food intake by modulating food reward via the meso-limbic circuitry of the brain. In fact, drugs that block dopamine D₂ receptors increase appetite and result in significant weight gain, whereas drugs that increase brain dopamine concentration are anorexigenic"

High Doses Of Vitamin E Boost Rat Survival Rate 40%; Brain Function, Neuromuscular Gains - Science Daily, 9/5/05 - "male mice showed a 40% increase in median lifespan ... 17% increase in maximal lifespan (to 136 weeks from 116 weeks) ... increases in the ability to perform tests measuring neuromuscular performance (high-wire tightrope) and cognitive exploratory activity (T-maze)" - See iHerb vitamin E products.

Too sleepy? It could be a sign of depression - MSNBC, 9/5/05 - "Depression was by far the most significant risk factor for excessive daytime sleepiness ... The investigators also observed strong ties between excessive daytime sleepiness and diabetes"

New Blood Pressure Approach Shows Promise - ABC News, 9/4/05 - "After five years, the scientists found that those taking the modern combination had blood pressure levels on average 2.7 points lower than those taking the more traditional medication ... Heart attacks, strokes and new diagnoses of diabetes were also less common among those taking the newer drugs than in the traditional group" - Seems like if they were going to test newer drugs they should have gone with ARBs plus ACE inhibitors not ACE inhibitors plus a calcium channel blocker.

Lipitor No Better Than Rivals - ABC News, 9/4/05 - "life-prolonging results for patients suffering from chronic coronary heart disease was seen with Merck & Co.'s Zocor and Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.'s Pravastin but not with Lipitor ... With diabetes mellitus, only Merck's Zocor was shown to prolong life"

Green tea may benefit some more than others - MSNBC, 9/2/05 - "Since it is a powerful antioxidant, EGCG may help prevent both heart disease and cancer. It helps to stabilize highly reactive molecules known as free radicals that can damage blood vessels and increase the risk of heart disease, or alter the DNA in our genes, promoting cancerous changes. In addition, EGCG may protect against cancer development by increasing the self-destruction of cancer cells and by affecting enzymes and the signals between cells, slowing the growth and multiplication of cancer cells"

Guggulipid Use in Hyperlipidemia - Medscape, 9/1/05 - "Current data in the clinical literature do not support the claims of guggulipid's efficacy in the treatment of hyperlipidemia in a western population. Clinicians should advise their patients with hyperlipidemia to avoid the use of guggulipid"

High-fiber diet may slow hardening of arteries - MSNBC, 9/1/05 - "Women consuming more than 3 grams of cereal fiber or more than 6 servings of whole grains per week over a 3-year period showed modestly smaller declines in coronary artery blockage compared with women with lower intakes of fiber per week ... the differences in disease progression were almost that same as that seen in patients treated with cholesterol-lowering statin drugs"

Vitamin D, NSAIDS Provide Double Whammy Against Prostate Cancer, Stanford Study Finds - Science Daily, 9/1/05 - "The growth of prostate cancer cells can be halted by combining a form of vitamin D, available only by prescription, with low doses of an over-the-counter painkiller ... The combination reduced prostate cancer cell growth in a laboratory dish by up to 70 percent, according to the findings"

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

Impact of diet on prostate cancer: a review - Prostate Cancer Prostatic Dis. 2005 Aug 30 - "Much interest currently lies in the potential of HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors (statins) to play a chemopreventative role in prostate cancer. Lycopene, a potent antioxidant found in tomatoes, may exert a protective effect in the prostate. Selenium and vitamin E have also been shown to decrease the risk of prostate cancer in some men. Calcium may support vitamin D-related antiproliferative effects in prostate cancer. Certain soy proteins, common in the Asian diet, have been shown to inhibit prostate cancer cell growth. Finally, green tea may also have a chemopreventive effect by inducing apoptosis"

Rosiglitazone effects on blood pressure and metabolic parameters in nondipper diabetic patients - Diabetes Res Clin Pract. 2005 Oct;70(1):20-5 - "a significant reduction of systolic and diastolic BP values both during the day and night"

Vitamin E at high doses improves survival, neurological performance and brain mitochondrial function in aging male mice - Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol. 2005 Jul 14 - "Male mice receiving vitamin E (5.0 g alpha-tocopherol acetate/kg of food) from 28 wk of age showed a 40 % increased median lifespan ... and 17 % increased maximal lifespan, whereas female mice equally supplemented exhibited only 14 % increased median lifespan ... Vitamin E-supplemented male mice showed a better performance in the tightrope (neuromuscular function) and the T-maze (exploratory activity) tests" - [eurekalert.org]

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