Recent Longevity News for the seven days ending 6/21/06.  You should consult your doctor if you are taking any medications.

Whole grain-rich diet may reduce gum disease risk - Reuters, 6/20/06 - "Those who reported eating the most brown rice, dark breads, popcorn and other whole grains (about three servings per day) were 23 percent less likely to develop periodontitis than those who reported eating less than one daily serving of whole grains"

Pycnogenol May Help Reduce Muscular Cramps and Pain - Medscape, 6/20/06 - "While analog measurements of muscular cramping and pain remained stable in the placebo group during the treatment phase, Pycnogenol significantly improved symptoms"

Milk Thistle May Slow Lung Cancer  - WebMD, 6/20/06 - "They found smaller lung tumors in the mice with silibinin in their diets, compared with those consuming no silibinin. They also had fewer large lung tumors"

Cholesterol Drugs May Avert Cataracts - WebMD, 6/20/06 - "Those who took Zocor had a 72% lower risk of nuclear cataracts. Those who took Lipitor had a 27% lower risk. Those who took Pravachol, Lescol, and Mevacor had a combined 33% lower risk"

Exercise: Key to good sex, good sleep - CNN, 6/20/06 - "exercise in the afternoon can help deepen shut-eye and cut the time it takes for you to fall into dreamland ... exercise has also been linked to a better sex life"

Eat Your Veggies, Help Your Arteries - WebMD, 6/19/06 - "They found 38% less plaque in the arteries of mice that had eaten the vegetable-rich diet, compared with mice that had eaten no vegetables"

Trans Fat Leads To Weight Gain Even On Same Total Calories, Animal Study Shows - Science Daily, 6/19/06 - "Diets rich in trans fat cause a redistribution of fat tissue into the abdomen and lead to a higher body weight even when the total dietary calories are controlled"

Erectile Dysfunction Drugs Affect Other Systems, Mostly for the Better - Doctor's Guide, 6/16/06 - "PDE-5 inhibitors actually improve blood flow even in areas where there is a blockage of an artery, thereby having a protective effect on the heart muscle"

Another Grape Excuse To Hit The Bottle - Science Daily, 6/16/06 - "the grapes used to make some of the most popular red wines contain high levels of the sleep hormone melatonin"

Telmisartan Provides Superior, Powerful Blood Pressure Reduction From Morning to Morning Compared to Other Leading ARBS - Doctor's Guide, 6/15/06 - "telmisartan provides superior, powerful blood pressure reduction from morning to morning compared to other leading angiotensin II receptor blockers"

Seditol helps sleepless in Cincinnati - Nutra USA, 6/15/06 - "Ninety-two percent of the subjects reported Seditol helped them relax and 89 percent reported it helped reduce fatigue due to lack of sleep"

Impaired Fasting Glucose Screening Could Prevent Cardiovascular Disease - Doctor's Guide, 6/14/06 - "people with impaired fasting glucose have higher rates of cardiovascular disease risk factors than people with normal fasting glucose ... They defined impaired fasting glucose (IFG) as fasting blood sugar between 100 and 125 mg/dL"

Substituting Salt With a Potassium Salt May Benefit Elderly Veterans - Medscape, 6/14/06 - "subjects in the potassium chloride cohort had a hazard ratio of 0.59 for CVD mortality vs the control group ... Subjects in the potassium chloride group enjoyed an increased average life expectancy of 0.3 to 0.9 years vs the control group ... Dietary potassium chloride was associated with a significant reduction in the cost of inpatient care vs sodium chloride, with subjects in the experimental group incurring an average of $426 less inpatient cost per individual"

Strong evidence for lignans’ breast cancer protection - Nutra USA, 6/14/06 - "A high intake of plant lignans could reduce the risk of breast cancer for pre-menopausal women by 78 per cent"

Calorie Restriction May Prevent Alzheimer's Through Promotion Of Longevity Program In The Brain - Science Daily, 6/14/06 - "a high caloric intake based on saturated fat promotes AD type beta-amyloidosis, while caloric restriction based on reduced carbohydrate intake is able to prevent it"

Effect of Lowering LDL Cholesterol Substantially Below Currently Recommended Levels in Patients With Coronary Heart Disease and Diabetes - Medscape, 6/14/06 - "lowering LDL cholesterol to values well below currently recommended levels with more intensive statin therapy is associated with additional cardiovascular benefit ... Among patients with clinically evident CHD and diabetes, intensive therapy with atorvastatin 80 mg significantly reduced the rate of major cardiovascular events by 25% compared with a more moderate regimen of atorvastatin 10 mg"

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

Effects of pioglitazone versus glipizide on body fat distribution, body water content, and hemodynamics in type 2 diabetes - Diabetes Care. 2006 Mar;29(3):510-4 - "pioglitazone increases total body water, thereby accounting for the majority of weight gain, tended to decrease visceral and abdominal fat content and blood pressure, and reduces systemic vascular resistance"

Omega-3 fatty acid deficiencies in neurodevelopment, aggression and autonomic dysregulation: opportunities for intervention - Int Rev Psychiatry. 2006 Apr;18(2):107-18 - "Ensuring optimal intakes of omega-3 fatty acids during early development and adulthood shows considerable promise in preventing aggression and hostility"

Omega-3 fatty acids in ADHD and related neurodevelopmental disorders - Int Rev Psychiatry. 2006 Apr;18(2):155-72 - "Dietary supplementation with fish oils (providing EPA and DHA) appears to alleviate ADHD-related symptoms in at least some children, and one study of DCD children also found benefits for academic achievement" - See Mega Twin EPA at iHerb or Vitacost.

Myocardial dysfunction in mitochondrial diabetes treated with Coenzyme Q10 - Diabetes Res Clin Pract. 2006 Apr;72(1):100-3 - "In our patient, after the introduction of Coenzyme Q10 150 mg/day, there was a gradual improvement on left ventricular function evaluated by echocardiography. The fractional shortening (FS) and ejection fraction (EF) increased from 26 to 34% and from 49 to 64%, respectively. No side effects were noted. Three months after CoQ10 discontinuation, the parameters of systolic function evaluated by echocardiography decreased, suggesting that CoQ10 had a beneficial effect"

Vitamin D and calcium intake in relation to type 2 diabetes in women - Diabetes Care. 2006 Mar;29(3):650-6 - "A combined daily intake of >1,200 mg calcium and >800 IU vitamin D was associated with a 33% lower risk of type 2 diabetes with RR of 0.67 (0.49-0.90) compared with an intake of <600 mg and 400 IU calcium and vitamin D, respectively"

Affiliates (I could sure use some sales.  In Windows, you can drag the links onto your desktop and use them so that I get credit for the sale.  Click here for more stores):