Recent Longevity News for the seven days ending 3/29/06.  You should consult your doctor if you are taking any medications.

Study Shows Grape Seed Extract May Be Effective In Reducing Blood Pressure - Science Daily, 3/27/06 - "The first group received a placebo, while the second and third groups received 150 milligrams and 300 milligrams, respectively, of a new grape seed extract ... Participants in the two groups receiving grape seed extract experienced an equal degree of reduced blood pressure. The average drop in systolic pressure was 12 millimeters. The average drop in diastolic pressure was 8 millimeters" - See iHerb or Vitacost grape seed extracts.

Magnesium Lowers Heart, Diabetes Risks - WebMD, 3/27/06 - "people in the study who consumed the most magnesium had a 31% lower risk of developing metabolic syndrome, compared with people who ate the least"

Newer Diabetic Meds Cost More, But Users Have Fewer Hospital Visits - Science Daily, 3/24/06 - "Taking a TZD as instructed was the strongest predictor of a reduced risk of hospitalization and decreased healthcare costs in this group of patients ... Overall, the participants who took a TZD spent an average of $76 to $150 less per month on total healthcare costs" - See rosiglitazone or pioglitazone at OffshoreRx1.com.

Diet, Lifestyle May Affect Eye Health - WebMD, 3/24/06 - "Eating healthfully, not smoking, and not being overweight could help keep age-related macular degeneration at bay"

HDL cholesterol level predicts heart events - Reuters, 3/24/06 - "In a "multivariable" analysis, HDL cholesterol was the only lipid measurement that significantly predicted coronary events"

• Adding Niacin to Lovastatin Therapy Might Improve Efficacy for Dyslipidemia - Doctor's Guide, 10/5/05 - "Niacin has been shown to be one of the most effective drugs for improving levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, or good cholesterol" - See iHerb or Vitacost niacin products.

Lowering Cholesterol Early in Life Protects Against Heart Disease Later - Doctor's Guide, 3/23/06 - "people who had cholesterol-lowering genetic variations that lowered their LDL level by about 40 mm/dL were eight times less likely to develop coronary heart disease than those without the mutations. Those with genetic profiles lowering their LDL by about 20 mg/dL from average had a twofold reduction in heart disease"

Epidemiology of Hypogonadism - Medscape, 3/22/06 - "Male hypogonadism is a frequent and potentially undertreated condition ... One argument for using 300 ng/dl as the threshold for diagnosing male hypogonadism is that there is a functional correlation with erectile dysfunction (ED). Studying 162 elderly (mean age=64.1 years) men with ED (mean duration=45.6 months), a Korean group reported that hypogonadism (serum TT <300 ng/dl) was among the strongest independent predictors of a poor response to sildenafil 25-100 mg for 8 weeks"

Wholegrains better than refined grains to lower bad fats - Nutra USA, 3/22/06 - "After eating the refined-grain diet the researchers found that serum levels of both triglycerides and apoCIII were significantly higher than after eating the whole grain diet"

Study Shows Levitra Treats Erectile Dysfunction Effectively in Men Taking Medications to Lower High Blood Pressure - Doctor's Guide, 3/22/06 - "In this double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial, patients treated with Levitra experienced an 83% overall success rate in erectile function while also receiving one or more anti-hypertensive medications ... many blood-pressure-lowering medications, particularly beta-blockers and diuretics, may adversely affect erectile function" - See XlPharmacy.

Women with Osteoporosis May Need More Vitamin D - Healthwell, 3/16/06 - "More than half of American women receiving drug therapy for osteoporosis are deficient in vitamin D ... The new research suggests that many women with osteoporosis are using drugs to treat a problem that could be helped simply by getting sun more often or by taking a nutritional supplement"

I see where Jarrow has a vitamin E formula that contains all eight of the vitamin E family.  See Jarrow FamilE (contains all eight members of the vitamin E family) at iHerb.

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

Effect of cholecalciferol plus calcium on falling in ambulatory older men and women: a 3-year randomized controlled trial - Arch Intern Med. 2006 Feb 27;166(4):424-30 - "Long-term dietary cholecalciferol-calcium supplementation reduces the odds of falling in ambulatory older women by 46%, and especially in less active women by 65%"

Thiazolidinedione effects on blood pressure in diabetic patients with metabolic syndrome treated with glimepiride - Hypertens Res. 2005 Nov;28(11):917-24 - "the association of a thiazolinedione to the glimepiride treatment of type 2 diabetic subjects with metabolic syndrome is associated to a significant improvement in the long-term blood pressure control, related to a reduction in insulin-resistance"

Multinutrient supplement containing ephedra and caffeine causes weight loss and improves metabolic risk factors in obese women: a randomized controlled trial - Int J Obes (Lond). 2006 Mar 21 - "received a dietary supplement (40 mg/day ephedra alkaloids, 100 mg/day caffeine, high potency mixture of vitamins, minerals, omega-3 fatty acids) or a control supplement for 9 months ... The treatment group lost significantly more body weight (-7.18 kg) and body fat (-5.33 kg) than the control group (-2.25 and -0.99 kg, respectively), and showed significant declines in heart rate, serum cholesterol, triglycerides, cholesterol to high-density lipoprotein ratio, glucose, fasting insulin, and leptin ... The treatment group reported more energy and decreased appetite compared to controls and scored higher on a quality of life domain assessing vitality"

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