Recent Longevity News for the seven days ending 11/2/05.  You should consult your doctor if you are taking any medications.

Vitamin D Compounds May Fight Prostate Cancer - WebMD, 11/1/05 - "Vitamin D compounds may help slow or prevent prostate cancer ... Calcitriol "markedly reduced tumor burden over time,""

High-Carbohydrate Diet May Increase Blood Pressure in Patients With Type 2 Diabetes - Medscape, 11/1/05 - "Long-term adherence to a high-carbohydrate diet increases blood pressure compared with a high–cis-monounsaturated fat diet"

A Shopping Cart of Cancer Fighters - Intelihealth, 10/31/05 - "Broccoli sprouts, cabbage, ginkgo biloba and garlic appear to have a role in preventing a variety of cancers"

Growth Hormone Deemed Illegal for Off-Label Antiaging Use - Medscape, 10/28/05 - "1988 and 1990 amendments to the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FDCA) make off-label distribution or provision of GH to treat aging or age-related diseases illegal in the U.S."

Vitamin D deficiency, brittle bones abound - Reuters, 10/28/05 - "The prevalence of vitamin D inadequacy by individual regions was found to be 52 percent in North America, 52 percent in Europe, 82 percent in the Middle East, 51 percent in Latin America, 63 percent in Asia and 59 percent in the Pacific Rim" - See iHerb vitamin D products.

Fish Oil Improves Endothelial Function of Healthy Subjects - Doctor's Guide, 10/27/05 - "fish oil supplementation resulted in a significant increase in endothelium-dependent brachial artery flow mediated vasodilation (EDV) and endothelium-independent nitroglycerin mediated vasodilation (EIDV)" - See Mega Twin EPA at iHerb.

Broccoli May Protect Some Against Lung Cancer - WebMD, 10/27/05 - "consumption of cruciferous vegetables was associated with a 33%-37% reduction in lung cancer risk among people with an inactive form of one of the two genes. Among those with an inactive form of both genes, the reduction in risk provided by eating cruciferous vegetables was doubled to more than 70%"

Dyslipidemia and Concurrent Medications Improve Likelihood of Persistence to ACE Inhibitor Therapy - Doctor's Guide, 10/27/05 - "At 18 months, among patients in the primary prevention cohort, persistence rates were 57% for patients taking ramipril, 54% for those on fosinopril, 48% for quinapril, 47% for lisinopril and 45% for enalapril. In the secondary prevention cohort, the persistence rates were 62%, 53%, 52%, 50% and 47%, respectively ... The adjusted rate ratio of therapy discontinuation was consistently higher for all other ACE inhibitors relative to ramipril"

Study Looks at Diet in Cutting Cholesterol - ABC News, 10/27/05 - "Half the test group followed a diet with large quantities of plant-based foods vegetables, fruits, legumes, soy and whole grains and limited amounts of meat and dairy ... the plant-based diet group's bad cholesterol dropped 9.4 percent"

Antioxidants Reduce Visual Acuity Loss in Patients with Advanced Age-Related Macular Degeneration - Doctor's Guide, 10/26/05 - "The high-dose formulation has been shown to have beneficial effects in reducing by 25% the risk of advanced AMD ... The first group received three antioxidant vitamins: vitamin C 500 mg, vitamin E 400 IU, and beta carotene 15 mg. Group two received zinc oxide 80 mg, plus cupric acid 2 mg. The third group received the antioxidant vitamins plus the zinc and cupric oxide"

AREDS II to Answer Questions Raised by AREDS - Doctor's Guide, 10/26/05 - "Lutein and omega-3 "are of particular interest because of the mounting epidemiologic data that suggests that nutrients are associated with a decreased risk of AMD"

Fatty Acid Supplementation for ADHD - Medscape, 10/26/05 - "finally studies are emerging that are evaluating these possible benefits. One such study found significant improvements in reading, spelling, and behavior in a cohort of children who received dietary supplementation with omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids.[1] In addition, studies of infants fed infant formula with fatty acid supplementation have suggested cognitive enhancement into the second year of life"

Reducing GI does not boost effects of low-calorie diet - Nutra USA, 10/26/05 - "although the new trial confirmed the benefit of lowering glycaemic index on insulin sensitivity, it did not impact the subjects' weight"

Natural remedies ease anxiety - Natural Food Merchandiser, 10/05 - "Relora ... L-theanine ... Phosphatidylserine"

Vitamin E: Alpha or Gamma? - Natural Food Merchandiser, 10/05 - "Given these synergistic relationships and the results of research to date, a mixed-tocopherol product seems to be the best choice"

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

Effect of coffee intake on blood pressure in male habitual alcohol drinkers - Hypertens Res. 2005 Jun;28(6):521-7 - "coffee intake of more than 3 cups per day in hypertensive and prehypertensive men who regularly consume alcohol lowers blood pressure"

Fat food for a bad mood. Could we treat and prevent depression in Type 2 diabetes by means of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids? A review of the evidence - Diabet Med. 2005 Nov;22(11):1465-75 - "Epidemiological and clinical studies suggest that a high intake of omega-3 PUFA protects against the development of depression. There is also some evidence that a low intake of omega-3 is associated with an increased risk of Type 2 diabetes, but the results are less conclusive ... consumption of omega-3 PUFA reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease and may therefore indirectly decrease depression in Type 2 diabetes, via the reduction of cardiovascular complications"

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