Recent Longevity News for the seven days ending 6/28/06.  You should consult your doctor if you are taking any medications.

Need More Magnesium? - Dr. Weil, 6/29/06 - "a diet rich in magnesium appears to protect against metabolic syndrome, a combination of risk factors that can lead to diabetes and heart disease"

Starch Intake May Increase Risk for Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia - Medscape, 6/27/06 - "Starch intake was directly associated with increased risk for BPH with an OR of 1.51 ... The main sources of starch in the subjects were white bread, pasta, and rice ... An inverse relationship was observed for polyunsaturated fats (OR, 0.72; 95% CI, 0.55 - 0.93), linoleic acid (OR, 0.73; 95% CI, 0.56 - 0.94), and linolenic acid (OR, 0.71"

Product Review of Garlic Supplements - ConsumerLab.com, 6/27/06 - "8 of the following 16 garlic supplements FAILED our test"

Strong support for vitamin K’s bone health benefits - Nutra USA, 6/27/06 - "Supplementation of vitamin K (MK-4) resulted in reductions in hip fractures of 77 per cent, vertebral fracture of 60 per cent, and all non-vertebral fractures of 81 per cent"

Mushrooms Full of Antioxidants - WebMD, 6/27/06 - "white button mushrooms -- the ones you might put on a nice, lean steak -- have more antioxidant capacity than tomatoes, green peppers, pumpkins, zucchini, carrots, or green beans"

Coffee (even decaf) cuts risk of diabetes - MSNBC, 6/26/06 - "Women who drank more than six cups of any type of coffee per day were 22 percent less likely than those who drank no coffee to be diagnosed with diabetes ... Those who drank more than six cups of decaffeinated coffee daily had a 33 percent risk reduction compared with those who drank no coffee at all"

Low-Fat Dairy Lowers Blood Pressure - WebMD, 6/26/06 - "the systolic blood pressure of people who ate the most low-fat dairy -- more than three servings a day -- was 2.6 points lower than those who ate the least -- less than half a serving a day"

Berries: super foods with cancer curing powers? - MSNBC, 6/23/06 - "berries are among the fruits highest in antioxidant content and that they are excellent sources of several phytochemicals that seem to help block cancer development"

Omega-3s may help depressive kids - pilot study - Nutra USA, 6/23/06 - "seven out of ten children in the omega-3 group and none of the children in the placebo group had depression score reductions of 50 per cent or more"

Pine Bark Extract May Effectively Treat ADHD in Boys - Medscape, 6/23/06 - "61 children with ADHD were randomized 2:1 to receive 1 mg/kg/day pine bark extract or placebo for 4 weeks. Average age was 9.5 years ... The pine bark extract group had a significant reduction in hyperactivity and improved attention, visual-motor coordination, and concentration, whereas there were no positive effects noted in the placebo group" - See iHerb or Vitacost pine bark extracts.

FDA OKs 1st Generic Version of Zocor - WebMD, 6/23/06 - "The first generic version of the cholesterol-lowering statin drug Zocor has been approved by the FDA"

Niacin Extended-Release Tablets Combined With Low/Moderate Dosed Statin Achieves Better Total Lipid Control Versus Higher Dose Statin Monotherapy or Simvastatin and Ezetimibe - Doctor's Guide, 6/22/06 - "patients given Niaspan in combination with a low to moderate dose of Lipitor or Crestor achieved equivalent reduction in LDL-C (51-58%), 1.2 to 1.9-fold greater decreases in triglycerides and 2.5 to 3.5 fold greater increases in HDL-C, than patients who received high-dose Crestor or Zocor/Zetia" - See iHerb or Vitacost niacin products.

Soy-rich diet cuts prostate cancer marker - Nutra USA, 6/22/06 - "Two servings of soy a day reduced levels of the prostate cancer marker PSA in free-living men by 14 percent, but didn’t affect testosterone levels"

Data Suggest Testosterone Levels Correlate with Insulin Resistance and Insulin Sensitivity in Type 2 Diabetes Patients - Doctor's Guide, 6/21/06 - "Researchers found a general increase in insulin resistance in patients with Type 2 diabetes who have low total testosterone levels, compared to Type 2 diabetes patients with normal total testosterone levels"

An Effective Natural Alternative to Statin Drugs to Lower Cholesterol - Dr. Murray's Natural Living, 6/21/06 - "The research on Sytrinol is extremely impressive"

Increasing Dietary and Supplemental Calcium - Medscape, 6/16/06 - "Postmenopausal women, as reported in many studies, tend to have average serum 25(OH)D values ranging from 50 to 55 nmol/L (20 to 22 ng/mL)[8,10] and are therefore absorbing the calcium they ingest with reduced efficiency ... raising serum 25(OH)D from the typical postmenopausal range up to 75 nmol/L resulted in a 33% reduction in all osteoporotic fractures combined"

Strong Link Seen Between Depression, Inflammation - Clinical Psychiatry News, 6/06 - "depressed patients have elevated inflammatory markers—such as interleukin-6 and C-reactive protein. In fact, the levels of proinflammatory cytokines correlate with the severity of depressive symptoms in studies. In addition, administration of cytokine antagonists can effectively reverse depressive symptoms in patients"

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

Effects of weight loss on insulin sensitivity and arterial stiffness in overweight adults - Metabolism. 2006 Jul;55(7):907-11 - "In overweight adults, 6 months of weight loss resulted in improvements in body composition, insulin sensitivity, lipid profile, and brachial artery compliance and distensibility"

The influence of chromium chloride-containing milk to glycemic control of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial - Metabolism. 2006 Jul;55(7):923-7 - "one group to receive chromium-containing milk powder (chromium 200 mug/20 g milk powder) and the other to receive placebo twice a day for 16 weeks ... The chromium group demonstrated a lower FPG and fasting insulin (-38.1 +/- 9.2 vs 63 +/- 8. 5 mg/dL and -1.7 +/- 0.2 vs 1.9 +/- 0.3 muU/mL, respectively"

Oral magnesium supplementation in asthmatic children: a double-blind randomized placebo-controlled trial - Eur J Clin Nutr. 2006 Jun 21 - "Oral magnesium supplementation helped to reduce bronchial reactivity to methacholine, to diminish their allergen-induced skin responses and to provide better symptom control in pediatric patients with moderate persistent asthma treated with inhaled fluticasone"

Effect of Atorvastatin (10 mg/day) on Glucose Metabolism in Patients With the Metabolic Syndrome - Am J Cardiol. 2006 Jul 1;98(1):66-9 - "in insulin-resistant, nondiabetic subjects, 6 weeks of atorvastatin (10 mg/day) resulted in significant improvement in insulin sensitivity"

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