Recent Longevity News for the seven days ending 3/8/06.  You should consult your doctor if you are taking any medications.

In search of those omega-3 fatty acids -  San Diego Union-Tribune, 3/7/06 - "Fish oils from supplements or dietary sources can reduce triglycerides by 20 percent to 50 percent ... Studies have used triglyceride-lowering doses of 1 to 4 grams (1,000 mg to 4,000 mg) daily"

Xyrem (Sodium Oxybate) Now Available for Treatment of Excessive Daytime Sleepiness in Patients With Narcolepsy - Doctor's Guide, 3/6/06 - "Xyrem is now the first and only FDA-approved treatment for all major daytime symptoms of narcolepsy"

Viagra plus cholesterol drug improves impotence - Reuters, 3/6/06 - "Treatment with Lipitor, but not placebo, was associated with a significant improvement in the erectile response to Viagra. An effect was seen by six weeks after beginning the trial" - See Lipitor and Viagra at OffshoreRx1.com.

Kids' Asthma Linked to Maternal Nutrition - HealthDay, 3/4/06 - "expectant mothers who take higher amounts of vitamin D may decrease their child's risk for asthma ... Vitamin D deficiency is common in areas where asthma is also widespread, raising the suspicion that the two are linked"

Bone care: It's still basic - USA Today, 3/5/06 - "the postmenopausal women in the study weren't typical. Most who were assigned to take supplements also got lots of calcium and vitamin D in their diets, so adding pills didn't make much difference. And many who were assigned placebos also took supplements on their own, something researchers allowed ... It's not surprising there was a blunted response ... The National Osteoporosis Foundation saw nothing in the study to change its endorsement of calcium and vitamin D"

In a Bad Mood? Eat Your Fish - WebMD, 3/3/06 - "People in our study who had low blood levels of omega-3 fatty acids were more likely to report mild to moderate symptoms of depression, more moodiness, and more impulsivity ... people with higher blood levels of omega-3s were found to be more agreeable" - See Mega Twin EPA at Amazon.com or Vitacost.

Nutritional Friend Or Foe? Vitamin E Sends Mixed Messages - Science Daily, 3/3/06 - "We think that gamma-tocopherol may have this kind of damaging effect on nearly every type of cell in the body"

Study: Lifting weights attacks belly fat - USA Today, 3/3/06 - "Women who did the weight-training for two years had only a 7% increase in intra-abdominal fat, compared to a 21% increase in the group given exercise advice"

Bone Supplements (Calcium and Vitamin D) review - ConsumerLab.com, 3/3/06 - "one product failed testing for containing 3.5 mcg of lead per daily serving"

How Nice, Brown Rice: Study Shows Rice Bran Lowers Blood Pressure In Rats - Science Daily, 3/3/06 - "adding rice bran to the diets of hypertensive, stroke-prone rats lowered the animals’ systolic blood pressure by about 20 percent and, via the same mechanism, inhibited angiotensin-1 converting enzyme, or ACE" - I've been getting brown rice pasta at Whole Foods.  It's great with red clam sauce. - Ben

Black Cohosh/St. John’s Wort could ease menopause symptoms - Nutra USA, 3/2/06 - "The most common symptom of menopause, “hot flashes” characterized by sudden waves of body heat, decreased by 53.4 percent among women who took the Black Cohosh-St. John's Wort combo in the trial, while psychological, or “psyche”, symptoms reportedly dropped by 56.4 percent"

Eat more whole grains to lower diabetes, heart risk - Medline Plus, 3/2/06 - "healthy men and women who reported the highest intake of whole grains had levels of homocysteine, a blood protein that has been tied to heart disease and stroke, that were 17 percent lower than those who reported consuming the least amount of whole grains ... levels of insulin and C-peptide, a marker of insulin production, were also 14 percent lower in the high whole-grain consumers"

Eating Potatoes May Increase Risk for Type 2 Diabetes - Medscape, 3/2/06 - "After adjustment for age and dietary and nondietary factors, potato and french fry consumption were both positively associated with risk for type 2 diabetes. Comparing the highest and the lowest quintile of potato intake, the multivariate relative risk (RR) for diabetes was 1.14 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.02 - 1.26; P for trend, .009). Comparing the highest and the lowest quintile of french fry intake, the multivariate RR was 1.21"

Vitamin D - Cancer Prevention and Other New Uses - Life Extension Magazine, 3/06 - "Once considered little more than a compound that promotes healthy bones, vitamin D is now recognized as an important weapon in the fight against cancer ... While the Institute of Medicine suggests 400-600 IU of vitamin D daily, the American Medical Women’s Association (AMWA) advises that all men and women over the age of 50 should consume 800-1000 IU of vitamin D each day" - See iHerb or Vitacost vitamin D products.

Chocolate Milk May Improve Recovery After Exercise - Medscape, 2/27/06 - "Low-fat chocolate milk and FR ingestion as recovery fluids are associated with greater endurance in terms of time to exhaustion vs a CR for cycling in male endurance athletes"

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

T3 augmentation of SSRI resistant depression - J Affect Disord. 2006 Feb 14 - "T3 augmentation was associated with a statistically significant drop (p<.003) in the mean HAMD at end of the three weeks compared to baseline scores ... T3 augmentation resulted in improvement of mood scores" - If T3 augmentation were to cause hyperthyroidism, impotence might be a side effect.  See:

• Evaluation and Treatment of Male Sexual Dysfunction  - American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists and The American College of Endocrinology - "Other endocrine disorders that may cause libido or erectile difficulties include hypothyroidism, hyperthyroidism"

The Mediterranean-style diet for the prevention of cardiovascular diseases - Public Health Nutr. 2006 Feb;9(1A):118-23 - "Supplementation with very-long-chain omega-3 fatty acids (about 1 g per day) in patients following a Mediterranean type of diet was shown to decrease the risk of cardiac death by 30% and of sudden cardiac death by 45% in the GISSI trial"

Olive oil consumption and risk of breast cancer in the Canary Islands: a population-based case-control study - Public Health Nutr. 2006 Feb;9(1A):163-7 - "Our results support the protective role of olive oil consumption on breast cancer among Canaries women"

Possible role of mitochondrial dysfunction in insulin resistance in the elderly - Nippon Rinsho. 2006 Jan;64(1):39-44 - "Exercise seems to improve insulin resistance through mitochondrial function by activating AMP-activated protein kinase(AMPK) and PPARgamma coactivator-1alpha (PGC-1alpha)"

Effects of aging on insulin resistance and fat accumulation - Nippon Rinsho. 2006 Jan;64(1):45-9 - "Alternation of fat distribution by aging may be related to age-related insulin resistance"

Blood pressure control in eldery hypertension - Nippon Rinsho. 2006 Jan;64(1):75-80 - "Because ACE inhibitors/ARBs or Ca blockers increase insulin sensitivity, these drugs should be used as the first choice in cases of elderly hypertensive patients complicated with diabetes mellitus"

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