Recent Longevity News for the seven days ending 12/21/05.  You should consult your doctor if you are taking any medications.

Tooth Loss and Heart Disease Linked, Even Among Nonsmokers - Doctor's Guide, 12/20/05 - "Heart disease was present in 4.7% of those without tooth loss, 5.7% of those with 1 to 5 missing teeth, 7.5% of those with 6 to 31 missing teeth, and 8.5% of those with total tooth loss"

Erectile Dysfunction-Heart Risk Link - WebMD, 12/20/05 - "Our data suggest that older men in this group have about a twofold greater risk of cardiovascular disease than men without erectile dysfunction ... any sign of erectile dysfunction should prompt them to make an appointment for a complete cardiovascular examination"

Air Pollution May Raise Heart Disease - WebMD, 12/20/05 - "Eating a high-fat diet -- plus breathing rush-hour pollution -- produces an even more dramatic buildup of artery-clogging fat, especially in people with heart disease"

B12, Folate May Reduce Homocysteine Levels Without Affecting Cognition - Medscape, 12/19/05 - "randomized to receive (1) folic acid, 2.5 mg plus 400 µg of vitamin B12 or placebo, (2) 25 mg of vitamin B6 or placebo, or (3) 25 mg of riboflavin or placebo ... Homocysteine levels were significantly reduced by an average of 33% in the folic acid plus vitamin B12 group after 3 months ... B6 and riboflavin supplementation had no effect on homocysteine levels"

Study That Discredited Hormone Replacement Therapy Was Flawed, Experts Say - Intelihealth, 12/16/05 - "The Massachusetts expert says he's convinced that transdermal estrogen, given in patch form, is superior to oral estrogen. "Oral estrogen passes through the liver and stimulates the blood-clotting factors too much, leading to heart attacks,""

Insulin Resistance Atherosclerosis Study - Diabetes Care. 2005;28(12):2832-2838 - "our results demonstrate a remarkable degree of consistency in finding a lack of association of glycemic index, glycemic load, and carbohydrate intake with measures of insulin sensitivity, insulin secretion, and adiposity"

Fish Oil Prevents Potentially Deadly Heart Rate Variability - Science Daily, 12/15/05 - "In this randomized controlled trial, fish oil supplementation prevented the reduction in heart rate variability associated with the same-day exposure to indoor particulate matter" - See Mega Twin EPA at iHerb.

Eat Dairy Foods, Avoid Breast Cancer? - WebMD, 12/14/05 - "Women who had the highest dietary calcium intake were 20% less likely to have been diagnosed with breast cancer than those whose diets were lowest in dietary calcium"

Mayo Clinic Reports Some Chronic Leukemia Patients May Improve By Taking An Extract Of Green Tea - Science Daily, 12/13/05 - "In the small case study, the researchers report on four patients who appeared to have an improvement in the clinical state of their disease after starting over-the-counter products containing epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), an extract of green tea. Three of the four patients met the standard criteria used to define a response treatment for clinical trials. These same investigators had previously shown that EGCG kills leukemia cells from patients with CLL in the test tube"

FDA Panel Backs Selegiline Patch For Depression: Majority view 20-mg formulation as safe - Clinical Psychiatry News, 12/05 - "Unlike the transdermal formulation, the oral formulation does not achieve antidepressant levels in the central nervous system" - See my selegiline page regarding the possible anti-aging benefits of selegiline.

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

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