Recent Longevity News for the seven days ending 10/5/05.  You should consult your doctor if you are taking any medications.

Women Over 50 Likely to Have Both Low Bone Mineral Density and Elevated Cholesterol - Doctor's Guide, 10/4/05 - "17.3 million (43%) of women over 50 years had osteopenia, and 4.8 million (12%) had osteoporosis, while 18.2 million (45%) had normal BMD"

Exercise in middle age can cut Alzheimer’s risk - MSNBC, 10/4/05 - "people in mid-life who exercised at least twice a week had about a 60 percent lower risk of suffering from dementia than more sedentary people"

Meaty Diet May Raise Pancreatic Cancer Risk - WebMD, 10/4/05 - "Eating a diet high in red or processed meats may raise the risk of pancreatic cancer by almost 70%"

High homocysteine tied to lower mental ability - Reuters, 10/4/05 - "In older people, higher blood levels of homocysteine are associated with lower mental functioning ... The latest finding suggests to researchers that B vitamin supplements may help prevent homocysteine-related cognitive decline"

Intake Of Dietary Copper Helps Alzheimer's Patients - Science Daily, 10/4/05 - "low copper level in blood correlates with advanced memory deficits ... Patients with higher blood copper levels make fewer mistakes in this memory test. This result supports the notion of a mild copper deficiency in AD patients. An increased uptake of dietary copper may therefore be therapeutically relevant" - See Jarrow Zinc Balance at iHerb.

• Treating Hair Loss Naturally - WebMD - "taking too much zinc can also cause a copper deficiency, which in turn can actually cause hair loss"
• Copper levels in supplements should be reduced - Nutra USA, 7/5/05 - "routine use of dietary copper supplements containing 2 mg or more per day could lead to accumulation of excess copper"

Don't Run Away From Jogging - WashingtonPost.com, 10/4/05 - "regular runners reported about 25 percent less musculoskeletal pain than the controls. The benefit was seen in participants through the age of 76"

Falling Short on Nutrients - WashingtonPost.com, 10/4/05 - "93 percent of Americans don't get the daily intake of vitamin E recommended by the Institute of Medicine. Slightly more than half fall short on magnesium, 44 percent miss eating enough vitamin A, about a third eat too little vitamin C and 14 percent skimp on foods rich in vitamin B6"

Air Cleaner Dust-up - WashingtonPost.com, 10/4/05 - "Our air-cleaning tests show that the Ionic Breeze with OzoneGuard does a poor job of removing smoke, dust and pollen particles from the air when new and after 500 hours of continuous use"

Air Pollution's Health Risks Underestimated? - WebMD, 10/3/05 - "The health risks associated with air pollution may be nearly three times greater than previously thought ... for each increase of 10 micrograms per cubic meter of fine particles in the neighborhood's air, the overall risk of death rose 11% to 17%; heart-disease-related deaths rose by 25% to 39% ... the risk of death from diabetes was more than two times higher in areas of high air pollution"

Breast Cancer Risk With HRT Lower Than Believed - Physician's Weekly, 10/3/05 - "HRT increases a woman’s cumulative breast cancer risk, but only slightly"

Hold the salt to reduce blood pressure - MSNBC, 10/3/05 - "cutting salt consumption from the average 9.5 to 6 grams a day could result in a 13 percent reduction in stroke and a 10 percent decrease in heart disease"

Dark Chocolate Helps Diarrhea: Study Confirms Ancient Myth - Science Daily, 10/2/05 - "a chemical in cocoa beans can limit the development of fluids that cause diarrhea"

Most Postmenopausal Women Are Vitamin D Deficient: Presented at ASBMR - Doctor's Guide, 9/29/05 - "64% of postmenopausal women with osteoporosis have a vitamin D deficiency" - See iHerb vitamin D products.

FDA Approves Angeliq (Drospirenone/Estradiol) to Treat Menopausal Symptoms - Doctor's Guide, 9/29/05 - "Angeliq will be the only hormone therapy to contain the unique progestin, drospirenone"

Chromium Picolinate Linked With Reduced Carbohydrate Cravings in People With Atypical Depression - Doctor's Guide, 9/29/05 - "65% of the chromium picolinate patients with high carbohydrate craving versus 33% of those receiving placebo had significantly greater improvements on total HAM-D-29 scores (p < 0.05). HAM-D-29 is a standard tool commonly used in assessing severity of symptoms in depressed patients" - See iHerb chromium products.  Related article:

• Chromium Picolinate Supplementation Linked With Reduced Carbohydrate Cravings Associated With Atypical Depression - Doctor's Guide, 6/2/04 - [Nutra USA][WebMD]  "daily supplementation with 600 mcg of chromium as chromium picolinate, significantly reduced carbohydrate cravings compared to placebo, and improved other symptoms such as mood swings, fatigue and weight gain perception

Vitamin D Linked With Neuromuscular Performance in the Elderly - Medscape, 9/28/05 - "The change in performance scores with increasing serum 25(OH)D was significant for all steps ... This is a very important study because it suggests that vitamin D is not only important for bone health, but is important in neuromuscular stability" - See iHerb vitamin D products.

Pomegranates May Prevent Prostate Cancer - WebMD, 9/28/05 - "the dose of pomegranate juice given to the mice equates to about one or two pomegranates -- or 8 to 16 ounces of pomegranate juice ... mice who drank the higher concentration of pomegranate extract experienced a significant slowing in their cancer progression and a decrease in prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels"

Postmenopausal Women Falling Far Short of Calcium Goals: Presented at ASBMR - Doctor's Guide, 9/28/05 - "A study finds that 85% of postmenopausal women do not consume enough calcium every day, and on average consume about 500 mg less than the US government's recommended daily intake (RDA)" - [WebMD]

A Debate on the Metabolic Syndrome: Evolving Challenges and Controversies - Medscape, exp. 8/31/07 - "Angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors and angiotensin II receptor blockers (ARBs) are first-line treatments for hypertensive albuminurics with the metabolic syndrome"

Blood Pressure Meds May Lower Diabetes Risk - Medline Plus, 9/27/05 - "Both agents led to a similar reduction -- by 21 percent for ACE inhibitors and 24 percent for ARBs -- in new-onset diabetes ... You are getting two benefits in one ... You are receiving a highly effective medication for your primary health problem (high blood pressure) and preventing the onset of a second deadly disease (diabetes)"

• Strategies to Prevent Type 2 Diabetes - Medscape, 8/8/05 - "Valsartan reduced the incidence of new-onset diabetes by 23% ... Traditional beta-blockers worsen insulin sensitivity and increase the risk of developing new diabetes ... Some of the most widely used anti-hypertensives, particularly the traditional beta blockers such as propranolol, timolol, metoprolol and atenolol, and diuretics such as hydrochlorothiazide and chlorthalidone (in high doses), worsen insulin resistance and increase the risk of developing type 2 diabetes"

Why Our Arteries Become Clogged As We Age - Life Extension Magazine, 10/05 - "Two natural compounds—propionyl-l-carnitine (PLC) and PEAK ATP™—offer promise in restoring and maintaining healthy endothelial function while supporting cellular energy metabolism. PLC provides energy to the heart and vascular cells by promoting optimal energy metabolism in the mitochondria. PEAK ATP™ boosts energy levels and vascular health by restoring youthful levels of ATP in red blood cells, tissues, and organs" - See propionyl-l-carnitine at iHerb.

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

Prevalence of Vitamin D Inadequacy Among Postmenopausal North American Women Receiving Osteoporosis Therapy - Obstet Gynecol Surv. 2005 Oct;60(10):658-659 - "An adequate intake of vitamin D and calcium is viewed as a necessary part of treating osteoporosis ... At a cutoff point of 30 ng/mL, the prevalence of inadequacy was 63% in women taking less than 400 IU daily and 45% in those taking 400 IU or more" - See iHerb vitamin D products.

Rosiglitazone reduces insulin requirement and C-reactive protein levels in type 2 diabetic patients receiving peritoneal dialysis - Am J Kidney Dis. 2005 Oct;46(4):713-9 - "the RSG group also had significantly lower CRP levels than the control group (2.21 versus 8.59 mg/L"

Cardiovascular effects of the thiazolidinediones - Diabetes Metab Res Rev. 2005 Sep 26 - "thiazolidinediones have beneficial effects on the cardiovascular system independent of their antidiabetic effect. Studies in animals have clearly shown that thiazolidinediones decrease blood pressure, left ventricular hypertrophy, development of atherosclerotic lesions, and protect myocardium from ischemia/reperfusion injury" - Note: Avandia (rosiglitazone) and Actos (pioglitazone) are thiazolidinediones.

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