Recent Longevity News for the seven days ending 4/5/06.  You should consult your doctor if you are taking any medications.

Chronic depression may rob you of more than joy: The evidence is piling up that it can also steal your health - US News, 4/10/06 - "depressed adults have a 37 percent greater risk of developing type 2 diabetes than the rest of the population; other studies have suggested their risk actually doubles ... One intriguing recent study of Alzheimer's patients revealed that those with a history of depression had more extensive plaques in their brains. Depressed postmenopausal women with no history of heart disease are much more likely to develop it and die of it than their peers ... loneliness can spike blood pressure by 30 points in older people. Pancreatic cancer, for reasons scientists don't understand, is often preceded by a serious depression before the disease asserts itself"

Pine Nut Oil Boosts Appetite Suppressors Up To 60 Percent For 4 Hours - Science Daily, 4/4/06 - "CLA differentially reduces fat mass in men and women in just 3 months ... After six months, there was an average fat mass loss of 2 kilos corresponding to about 6% fat loss. At the same time, "overall body weight loss was 'only' 1.5 kilos because there was a gain in muscle mass,"" - See iHerb or Vitacost CLA products.

Equivalent Of 2-4 Drinks Daily Fuels Blood Vessel Growth, Encourages Cancer Tumors In Mice - Science Daily, 4/4/06 - "the tumors of the mice that ingested alcohol ... were nearly twice as heavy compared to the mice that did not have alcohol ..."

Vitamin D May Protect Against Cancer - WebMD, 4/4/06 - "At least half of American adults suffer from vitamin D deficiencies that place them at increased risk of cancer ... taking at least 1,000 international units (IU) of vitamin D daily can slash the risk of breast, colon, and other cancers" - See iHerb or Vitacost vitamin D products.

Cut Calories, Boost Longevity? - WebMD, 4/4/06 - "By the study's end, fasting insulin and DNA damage had dropped for all participants whose calories had been limited, but not for the comparison group"

High Good Cholesterol Trumps Low Bad Cholesterol For Heart Protection - Science Daily, 4/3/06 - "Having a high level of HDL cholesterol -- the good cholesterol -- is more important than having a low level of LDL -- the bad cholesterol -- in protecting individuals from heart attack ... This study was repeated with stroke as the outcome rather than heart disease, and the same results were the same" - See iHerb or Vitacost niacin products.

Skimpy Sleep May Up Blood Pressure - WebMD, 4/3/06 - "Among people aged 32-59, those who reported getting less than six hours of nightly sleep in the original survey were twice as likely to have been diagnosed with high blood pressure"

Barbecue meats linked with prostate cancer - MSNBC, 4/3/06 - "A compound formed when meat is charred at high temperatures — as in barbecue — encourages the growth of prostate cancer in rats ... It appears to both initiate and promote the growth of prostate cancer in rats"

Studies: Celebrex May Stop Colon Cancer - ABC News, 4/3/06 - "Celebrex cut the chances of developing precancerous growths called polyps by 33 percent to 45 percent in people who already had such growths removed"

Abdominal Fat Linked To Higher Death Rate In Men, New Study Shows - Science Daily, 4/4/06 - "visceral fat in the abdomen is directly associated with a higher risk of mortality in men"

Calcium, vitamin D may lower diabetes risk - Nutra USA, 4/3/06 - "A combined daily intake of more than 1,200 milligrams of calcium and more than 800 international units (IU) of vitamin D was associated with a 33 per cent lower risk of type-2 diabetes"

Omega-3s could stop liver cancer cells growth - Nutra USA, 4/3/06 - "Both omega-3 fatty acids had a dose-dependent inhibitory effect"

A Natural Approach to Menopause - Life Extension Magazine, 4/06 - "For women approaching meno-pause, plant lignans offer important protection against cancer, cognitive decline, and hypertension ..."

Vitamin D deficiency common in diabetics - Reuters, 3/30/06 - "Something like three out of every five patients with type 2 diabetes show signs of vitamin D deficiency ... In all, 31 percent of the diabetics had cardiovascular disease, which was strongly associated with low vitamin D levels"

Role and Importance of Calcium in Preventing and Managing Osteoporosis - Medscape, 3/30/06 - "Although very high calcium intakes can overcome much of the absorptive block of vitamin D deficiency, the amounts needed are considerably in excess of calcium supplement doses used in most trials.[38] Therefore, unrecognized vitamin D deficiency will also confound a trial of calcium. This is not merely a theoretical concern. Various population-based studies indicate that prevalence of inadequate vitamin D status is high,[39] and in some groups nearly universal"

Vitamin D and Cancer: A Goldilocks Paradox? - Medscape, 3/30/06 - "In laboratory models, vitamin D reduces cell proliferation and increases cell differentiation, improves cell adhesion, and inhibits cancer progression and metastasis"

Hormone Injections' Promise Brings Risk - ABC News, 3/29/06 - "he also feels an increase in energy, muscle and libido ... studies have linked HGH to diabetes, heightened blood pressure, swelling of the joints, and nerve pain"

Switching to Tiagabine Alleviates Antidepressant-Induced Sexual Dysfunction in Patients With Generalized Anxiety Disorder - Doctor's Guide, 3/29/06 - "After 14 weeks of tiagabine treatment, patients had maintained improvement of GAD symptoms, as indicated by HAM-A and HADS scores, while having significant improvement in sexual function scores" - See OffshoreRx1.com.

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

T3 augmentation of SSRI resistant depression - J Affect Disord. 2006 Apr;91(2-3):211-5 - "The women took a mean daily dose of 40.6 mug of T3 for a mean duration of 3.75 weeks, while the men were on a mean daily dose of 43.8 mug of T3 for 3.5 weeks. 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" - See T3 at International Anti-aging Systems but check with a doctor first.

Comparative Efficacy and Safety of a Once-Daily Dosage of Hypericum Extract STW3-VI and Citalopram in Patients with Moderate Depression: A Double-Blind, Randomised, Multicentre, Placebo-Controlled Study - Pharmacopsychiatry. 2006 Mar;39(2):66-75 - "From almost identical baseline values of 21.9 +/- 1.2 points (hypericum extract), 21.8 +/- 1.2 points (citalopram) and 22.0 +/- 1.2 points (placebo), the HAMD score was reduced to 10.3 +/- 6.4 (hypericum extract), 10.3 +/- 6.4 (citalopram) and 13.0 +/- 6.9 (placebo), respectively ... Significantly more adverse events with "certain", "probable" or "possible" relation to study medication were documented in the citalopram group ... hypericum extract STW3-VI is a good alternative to chemically defined antidepressants in the treatment of outpatients with moderate depression" - Seems like only the negative news on St. John's wort makes the news services. - Ben

Cereal fiber improves whole-body insulin sensitivity in overweight and obese women - Diabetes Care. 2006 Apr;29(4):775-80 - "Increased insoluble dietary fiber intake for 3 days significantly improved whole-body insulin sensitivity"

Telmisartan But Not Valsartan Increases Caloric Expenditure and Protects Against Weight Gain and Hepatic Steatosis - Hypertension. 2006 Mar 27 - "Telmisartan, but not valsartan, promoted increases in caloric expenditure and protected against dietary-induced weight gain ... Telmisartan reduced the accumulation of visceral fat and decreased adipocyte size to a much greater extent than valsartan and was also associated with a significant reduction in hepatic triglyceride levels" - See OffshoreRx1.com.

Intravenously administered vitamin C as cancer therapy: three cases - CMAJ. 2006 Mar 28;174(7):937-942 - "We found 3 well-documented cases of advanced cancers, confirmed by histopathologic review, where patients had unexpectedly long survival times after receiving high-dose intravenous vitamin C therapy"

Evaluating vitamin D status. Implications for preventing and managing osteoporosis and other chronic diseases - Joint Bone Spine. 2006 Feb 17 - "recent review articles indicate that current reference ranges for serum 25-OH-vitamin D are too low. An appropriate lower normal limit may be between 50-100 nmol/l (20-40 ng/ml). Standard supplement dosages may fail to provide concentrations above this range" - See iHerb or Vitacost vitamin D products.

New treatment strategies for patients with hypertension and insulin resistance - Am J Med. 2006 May;119(5 Suppl 1):S24-30 - "older antihypertensive agents such as thiazide diuretics and beta-blockers have potentially adverse effects on glucose and lipid metabolism and may even the exacerbate the metabolic syndrome and increase risk of type 2 diabetes ... Evidence is accumulating that telmisartan, in addition to blocking the angiotensin II type 1 receptor, activates the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR)-gamma a well-known target for treatment of the metabolic syndrome and diabetes ... the ability of telmisartan both to activate PPAR-gamma and to block the angiotensin receptor may provide added value not only in the treatment of the metabolic syndrome and prevention of type 2 diabetes but also in prevention and treatment of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease"

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