Recent Longevity News for the seven days ending 3/15/06.  You should consult your doctor if you are taking any medications.

About 5% of Long-term Niacin Users Evolve Into HDL Hyperresponders - Doctor's Guide, 3/14/06 - "about 5% of patients on long-term therapy become hyperresponders, increasing their HDL levels by 50% or more ... Overall, these patients lost 4% of body weight while on niacin treatment" - See iHerb or Vitacost niacin products.

Want to control weight gain? Go meat-free - MSNBC, 3/14/06 - "meat eaters who changed to a vegetarian or vegan diet gained the least ... Contrary to current popular views that a diet low in carbohydrates and high in protein keeps weight down, we found that the lowest weight gain came in people with high intake of carbohydrates and low intake of protein"

Metabolic Syndrome Skyrocketing - WebMD, 3/14/06 - "The surge is driven mainly by the epidemic of obesity in the Western world"

New Drug Delays High Blood Pressure - WebMD, 3/14/06 - "the blood-pressure-lowering drug Atacand may be able to delay the development of full-blown hypertension among people whose blood pressure is slightly high ... taking the drug for two years appeared to prime the body to keep blood pressure in check, even when the person stopped the drug for another two years"

Study: Tofu, Oatmeal Lower Cholesterol - ABC News, 3/14/06 - "such as raw almonds, tofu and other soy foods, viscous fibers such as oatmeal, barley, okra and eggplant, and plant sterol-enriched margarine ... After a year, the group who stuck faithfully to the new eating plan lowered their cholesterol by an average of 29 percent"

Salt Substitute Significantly Reduces Hypertension Amongst Rural Chinese - Science Daily, 3/14/06 - "Among the 600 individuals studied in rural Northern China, the low-sodium high-potassium salt substitute demonstrated that it could reduce blood pressure to about the same extent as single drug therapy"

Folic Acid May Cut Stroke Deaths - WebMD, 3/13/06 - "In the U.S. and Canada, stroke deaths declined at a faster rate after mandatory folic acid (also known as folate) fortification"

Lipitor Demonstrates Improvement in Kidney Function in Patients With Coronary Heart Disease - Doctor's Guide, 3/13/06 - "Patients with coronary heart disease (CHD) and elevated cholesterol who took Pfizer Inc's cholesterol- lowering medicine Lipitor (atorvastatin calcium) experienced improved kidney function, and those improvements were significantly greater among patients taking the highest dose (80 mg)"

Plant Sterol Pills Significantly Lower LDL Cholesterol - Science Daily, 3/13/06 - "The addition of plant sterols helped further lower total cholesterol and contributed to a nearly 10 percent reduction in low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol"

Hypertension Drugs May Cut Alzheimer's - WebMD, 3/13/06 - "People taking drugs for high blood pressure -- especially certain diuretics -- were less likely to have developed Alzheimer's"

HDL Levels and LDL-C/HDL-C Ratio Potential Targets for Future Drug Therapy - Doctor's Guide, 3/13/06 - "major cardiovascular event (MCVE) ... a 1 mg/dL increase in HDL-C concentration translated to an approximate reduction of about 2% in the relative risk of an MCVE"

• HDL: The "Quit" Cholesterol - Physician's Weekly, 2/23/04 - "for every 1 mg/dL increase in HDL, risk for a CAD event is reduced by 2% in men and 3% in women ... It hasn't gotten the same attention as LDL partly because there haven't been good medicines for raising it ... Niacin is, according to Dr. Rader, “…the best HDL-raising agent currently available.”"

B vitamins may not cut heart risks - MSNBC, 3/13/06 - "Levels of the amino acid homocysteine may be high in people destined for a heart attack or stroke, but lowering them with B vitamins and folic acid does not reduce the risk"

Intensive Statin Therapy Useful in High-Risk Coronary Patients - Doctor's Guide, 3/13/06 - "very high-intensity statin therapy using rosuvastatin 40 mg/day induces regression of coronary atherosclerosis ... treatment decreased LDL-C to 60.8 mg/dL while increasing HDL-C by 14.7%"  - See rosuvastatin at OffshoreRx1.com.  You should see your doctor to run liver tests.  Related articles:

• Group: Crestor risks higher than other statins - MSNBC, 3/10/04 - "The rate of serious muscle damage reported in patients who took AstraZeneca Plc’s cholesterol drug Crestor was six times higher than with similar medicines"
• Statin Plus Niacin Reduces Heart Attack Risk, Reverses Arterial Build-up - Doctor's Guide, 11/13/01 - "when niacin is combined with a statin, the artery blocking actually improves, on average"

Concern Over Rapid Rise Of Chronic Kidney Disease - Science Daily, 3/13/06 - "This figure has doubled over the past decade and is expected to continue to rise by 5-8% annually ... The rise in end stage renal disease worldwide probably reflects the global epidemic of type 2 diabetes and the ageing of the populations in developed countries"

CLA Doesn't Keep Pounds Off - WebMD, 3/10/06 - "there were no significant differences in body weight or body fat regain between the two groups. Both groups gained an average of about 9 pounds in body weight and more than 4 pounds in body fat during the study"

Sleeping too little, or too long, tied to diabetes - MSNBC, 3/10/06 - "The risk of diabetes was roughly twofold higher in men reporting short sleep duration and more than threefold higher in those reporting long sleep duration, compared with men sleeping 7 to 8 hours nightly ... relative risks were reduced "considerably" when adjusted for testosterone"

Red Wine May Fight Gum Disease - WebMD, 3/10/06 - "Natural compounds from red wine and grape seeds could help curb gum disease ... The antioxidants in question are called polyphenols"

ACE Inhibitors and ARBs vs. Other Antihypertensives - Medscape, 3/9/06 - "When diabetics and nondiabetics were analyzed together, ACE inhibitors or ARBs were significantly more effective than other antihypertensives in reducing ESRD incidence, serum creatinine levels, and albuminuria, but they had no significant effect on preventing doubling of serum creatinine or reduction in GFR. In diabetics, ACE inhibitors or ARBs were significantly more effective than other antihypertensives only in reducing albuminuria; in nondiabetics, ACE inhibitors or ARBs were more effective than other agents only in reducing albuminuria and serum creatinine levels"

Cholesterol-lowering Foods Most Effective When Combined - Science Daily, 3/9/06 - "Cholesterol-lowering foods such as soy protein, almonds, plant sterol enriched margarines, oats and barley may reduce cholesterol levels more effectively when eaten in combination ... After 12 months, more than 30 per cent of the participants had successfully adhered to the diet and lowered their cholesterol levels by more than 20 per cent"

Lignans may protect against prostate cancer - Nutra USA, 3/8/06 - "High intake of food items rich in phytoestrogens (flaxseed, sunflower seeds, berries, peanuts, beans and soy) was associated with a monotonically decreasing overall risk [26 per cent] of prostate cancer"

Vitamin C could reduce inflammation - Nutra USA, 3/8/06 - "High blood levels of vitamin C were associated with a 45 per cent reduced risk of inflammation (with respect to CRP levels)"

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

Conjugated linoleic acid supplementation for 1 y does not prevent weight or body fat regain - Am J Clin Nutr. 2006 Mar;83(3):606-12 - "A 3.4-g daily CLA supplementation for 1 y does not prevent weight or fat mass regain in a healthy obese population"

Associations of vitamin C status, fruit and vegetable intakes, and markers of inflammation and hemostasis - Am J Clin Nutr. 2006 Mar;83(3):567-574 - "The findings suggest that vitamin C has antiinflammatory effects and is associated with lower endothelial dysfunction in men with no history of cardiovascular disease or diabetes"

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