Recent Longevity News for the seven days ending 2/22/06.  You should consult your doctor if you are taking any medications.

Green tea may reduce, but black tea may increase breast cancer risk - Nutra USA, 2/21/06 - "Drinking five cups of green tea a day can reduce the risk of breast cancer by 22 per cent ... No such protective effect was found for black tea. Indeed, the results were contradictory: the cohort studies showed a small increased risk of breast cancer, while the case-control studies showed a small decreased risk"

Preventive Maintenance For the Brain - WashingtonPost.com, 2/21/06 - "increased mental activity throughout life appears to preserve brainpower ... those who exercised the most -- at least three times a week -- were least likely to develop Alzheimer's disease ... diet (for brain health, nutritionists suggest a diet low in saturated fats and rich in vegetables, fruit and fish with omega-3 fatty acids), social life (an active one is thought to improve immunity and reduce inflammation, believed to play a role in Alzheimer's) and health problems like diabetes and heart disease"

A New Goal for Aging - WashingtonPost.com, 2/21/06 - "prevention of heart disease needs to begin very early in life because by middle age, most of the risk factors are already established ... We need to focus on young adults, even teens"

Green Tea May Do Wonders for the Brain - WebMD, 2/17/06 - "Those who reported drinking the most green tea were least likely to show cognitive impairment, based on their test scores ... Drinking at least two daily cups of green tea was tied to the lowest risk of cognitive impairment" - See iHerb or Vitacost green tea products.

Calcium and Vitamin D Supplements Offer Modest Bone Improvements, No Benefits for Colorectal Cancer - Doctor's Guide, 2/16/06 - "women who consistently took the full supplement dose experienced a significant 29% decrease in hip fracture ... 1000 milligrams of calcium carbonate combined with 400 IUs of vitamin D3" [NEJM]- I'm not sure if they used enough vitamin D in this study plus why didn't they include magnesium and silicon plus why did the use the carbonate form of calcium when the citrate form is 2.5 times more bioavailable?  It's almost like they designed the study to fail.  See:

• Vitamin D Does Prevent Fractures in Elderly - HealthDay, 5/10/05 - "If someone did not have a fracture yet, I would recommend 700 to 800 International Units (IU) of vitamin D a day, with at least 700 milligrams of calcium ... If you have had a fracture, you should discuss with your physician whether you may need more. The National Science Foundation says the safe upper limit is 2,000 units a day, so you can go to 1,500 units or higher, especially if you live in a country like the United Kingdom, where you have little exposure to sunlight"
• Vitamin D: Important for Prevention of Osteoporosis, Cardiovascular Heart Disease, Type 1 Diabetes, Autoimmune Diseases, and Some Cancers - Medscape, 11/11/05 - "A multivitamin Containing 400 IU of vitamin D is inadequate to satisfy the body's requirement.[32] It is estimated that at least 1,000 IU of vitamin D per day is needed to satisfy the body's requirement"
• Calcium Supplements: Benefits and Risks - Medscape, 1/26/05 - "Perhaps the most effective method of preventing osteoporosis is ingestion of adequate calcium. Experts suggest the daily requirement for calcium is 1,300 mg for people ages 9 to 18, 1,000 to 1,200 mg for adults 19 to 50, and 1,500 mg for people over 50 ... You should take only the amount of calcium recommended. Ingesting high doses of calcium each day can be harmful and can cause kidney stones"
• A Deficiency of D? -  WshingtonPost.com, 4/5/05 - "most adults, especially those over 50, fall short on recommended daily levels of vitamin D, an essential nutrient long known to preserve bones and now increasingly tied to protection against ailments from cancer to rheumatoid arthritis ... the most practical way to increase our vitamin D levels is from supplements ... a growing number of scientists believe that vitamin D intake should be at least 1,000 IU or higher"
• Dietary Magnesium Could Lead to Stronger Bones - Doctor's Guide, 12/21/05 - "For every 100 milligram per day increase in magnesium intake, data showed a 1% increase in bone density ... this link was only true for the older white men and women"
• Silicon May Play Important Role in Bone Health - Doctor's Guide, 9/27/05 - "Silicon, taken as choline-stabilized orthosilicic acid (ch-OSA) supplementation, might help improve bone health and type I collagen synthesis ... the benefits were especially apparent when evaluating changes in PINP, the most sensitive bone formation marker, and resulted in significant improvements after 12 months amongst the subjects in the six and 12 mg silicon groups" - See Jarrow BioSil (Stabilized Orthosilicic Acid) a iHerb.
• Life Extension Foundation Newsletter - 2/18/06 - "The dosage of vitamin D in this study was 400 international units, an amount determined to be too low to maintain optimal serum levels of the vitamin in other research. Additionally, the form of calcium used was calcium carbonate, which is commonly sold as an antacid and is not known to be one of better absorbed forms of the mineral"
• Calcium Citrate Shown to Have Superior Bioavailability and Protects Against Bone Loss - Medscape, 11/21/00 - "the calcium supplement formulation calcium citrate was 2.5 times more bioavailable than calcium carbonate, even when given with a meal, the optimum method of ensuring calcium carbonate absorption"
• See Body Wise Essential Calcium.  It contains calcium citrate, magnesium, boron, silica and more.

Calcium, Vitamin D: Help Women's Hips? - WebMD, 2/15/06 - "Calcium and vitamin D supplements may help protect some older women's hips -- but only when taken regularly"

Grapefruit flavonoid could repair DNA, may protect against cancer - Nutra USA, 2/15/06 - "Naringenin, a flavonoid found in grapefruit and oranges, helped to repair damaged DNA in cancer cells"

Antioxidants, Mitochondrial Damage, and Human Aging - Life Extension Magazine, 2/06 - "some researchers believe that intramuscular mitochondrial DNA damage caused by free radicals may be a significant factor in the loss of muscle mass seen in the aged ... "

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

Garlic reduces dementia and heart-disease risk - J Nutr. 2006 Mar;136(3):810S-2S - "compelling evidence supports the beneficial health effects attributed to AGE in helping prevent cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases and lowering the risk of dementia and AD"

Antiglycation properties of aged garlic extract: possible role in prevention of diabetic complications - J Nutr. 2006 Mar;136(3):796S-9S - "S-Allylcysteine, a key component of aged garlic, is a potent antioxidant and can inhibit AGEP formation"

Aged garlic extract improves homocysteine-induced endothelial dysfunction in macro- and microcirculation - J Nutr. 2006 Mar;136(3):750S-4S - "AGE may at least partly prevent a decrease in bioavailable NO and endothelium-derived hyperpolarizing factor during acute hyperhomocysteinemia"

Omega-3 fatty acids improve the diagnosis-related clinical outcome - Crit Care Med. 2006 Apr 13 - "Fish oil had the most favorable effects on survival, infection rates, and length of stay when administered in doses between 0.1 and 0.2 g.kg.day. Lower antibiotic demand by 26% was observed when doses of 0.15-0.2 g.kg.day were infused as compared with doses of <0.05 g.kg.day ... Administration of omega-3 fatty acid may reduce mortality, antibiotic use, and length of hospital stay in different diseases"

The independent effects of eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid on cardiovascular risk factors in humans - Curr Opin Clin Nutr Metab Care. 2006 Mar;9(2):95-104 - "Clinical trials and experimental studies have shown that omega3 fatty acids have many other potentially important antiatherogenic and antithrombotic effects. Omega-3 fatty acids lower blood pressure and heart rate, improve dyslipidaemia, reduce inflammation, and improve vascular and platelet function. These favourable effects have until recently been primarily attributed to the omega3 fatty acid eicosapentaenoic acid, which is present in large amounts in fish oil. Controlled studies in humans now demonstrate that docosahexaenoic acid, although often present in lower quantities, has equally important anti-arrhythmic, anti-thrombotic and anti-atherogenic effects" - See Mega Twin EPA at Amazon.com or Vitacost and Jarrow Max DHA at Amazon.com.

Fish oil in the critically ill: from experimental to clinical data - Curr Opin Clin Nutr Metab Care. 2006 Mar;9(2):140-8 - "N-3 lipids exhibit strong immunologic properties. They offer the possibility to counterbalance the negative effects of conventional n-6 fatty acids"

Whole grains, bran, and germ in relation to homocysteine and markers of glycemic control, lipids, and inflammation 1 - Am J Clin Nutr. 2006 Feb;83(2):275-283 - "Whole-grain intake was inversely associated with homocysteine and markers of glycemic control ... Inverse associations were also observed with total cholesterol (P = 0.02), HDL cholesterol (P = 0.05), and LDL cholesterol ... Whole-grain intake was most strongly inversely associated with markers of glycemic control in this population"

Green tea consumption and cognitive function: a cross-sectional study from the Tsurugaya Project 1 - Am J Clin Nutr. 2006 Feb;83(2):355-61 - "A higher consumption of green tea is associated with a lower prevalence of cognitive impairment in humans" - See iHerb or Vitacost green tea products.

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