Recent Longevity News for the seven days ending 7/19/06.  You should consult your doctor if you are taking any medications.

Diabetes Drug Shows Promise in Treating Alzheimer's - Doctor's Guide, 7/17/06 - "Treatment of high blood sugar may have a scientific connection to memory loss that could, one day, benefit millions of people with Alzheimer's Disease ... The drug, called pioglitazone HCl"

Prediabetes May Raise Risk for Alzheimer's - Intelihealth, 7/17/06 - "people who had prediabetes at the beginning of the study had a 70% increased risk of developing dementia, including Alzheimer's ... doctors tend to ignore the slightly high sugar levels until the levels reach the stage of full-blown diabetes"

Better Blood Sugar = Less Alzheimer's - WebMD, 7/17/06 - "there were almost 20% fewer new cases of Alzheimer's among people taking thiazolidinediones compared with people who took insulin. Similar results were found in a separate comparison between thiazolidinediones users and people starting Glucophage, another drug used to treat diabetes"

Ultra Low-Dose Estrogen Shown Safe for Post-Menopausal Women - Doctor's Guide, 7/14/06 - "It's thought that estrogen in pill form might stimulate the liver to produce substances that can lead to clotting or other adverse side effects. With a patch, you bypass the liver and go straight to the blood"

Soy Isoflavones Protect Postmenopausal Women From Bone Loss - Medscape, 7/14/06 - "There was a significant, linear dose-related response for isoflavones vs placebo in terms of bone density at the lumbar spine and femoral neck, but not at the trochanter"

Caffeine could protect against memory loss - Nutra USA, 7/12/06 - "caffeine concentrations in the brain resulting from a few cups of coffee could significantly increase gamma rhythm strength, which is likely to contribute to the cognitive beneficial effects"

Weight Gain May Increase Risk of Breast Cancer in Postmenopausal Women - Doctor's Guide, 7/12/06 - "Women who gained about 55 pounds or more since age 18 were at a 45% increased risk of breast cancer, compared with those who maintained their weight ... Women who gained about 22 pounds or more since menopause were at an 18% increased risk of breast cancer ... Those who lost about 22 pounds or more since menopause (and kept the weight off) and had never used postmenopausal hormones were at a 57% lower risk of breast cancer than those who simply maintained their weight"

Calorie Restriction without Hunger! - Life Extension Magazine, 7/06 - "excess insulin functions as a death hormone that devastates virtually every cell and organ system in the body"

Longevity Genes and Caloric restriction - Life Extension Magazine, 7/06 - "Humans seeking to slow aging and reduce degenerative disease risk may consider reducing food intake and ingesting 20-40 mg of resveratrol and 250-850 mg of metformin each day"

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

Influences of statins on glucose tolerance in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus - J Atheroscler Thromb. 2006 Apr;13(2):95-100 - "atorvastatin-treated group (Group A ... arbitrary blood glucose levels increased from 147 +/- 50 (mean +/- SD) mg/dL to 177 +/- 70 mg/dL in Group A"

Evaluation of Rhodiola crenulata and Rhodiola rosea for management of Type II diabetes and hypertension - Asia Pac J Clin Nutr. 2006;15(3):425-32 - "The ability of the above Rhodiola extracts to inhibit rabbit lung angiotensin I-converting enzyme (ACE) was investigated. The ethanol extracts of R.rosea had the highest ACE inhibitory activity (38.5 %) followed by water extract of R.rosea (36.2 %) and R.crenulata (15.4 %)"

Potential of cranberry-based herbal synergies for diabetes and hypertension management - Asia Pac J Clin Nutr. 2006;15(3):433-41 - "The analysis of alpha -glucosidase,alpha -amylase, and ACE-I inhibitory activities suggested that inhibition depend on the phenolic profile of each unique extract and by bringing together synergistic combinations to cranberry, health beneficial functionality was enhanced. This enhanced functionality in terms of high alpha -glucosidase and alpha -amylase inhibitory activities indicate the potential for diabetes management, and high ACE-I inhibitory activity indicates the potential for hypertension management"

Dietary Fatty acids and the 5-year incidence of age-related maculopathy - Arch Ophthalmol. 2006 Jul;124(7):981-6 - "A 40% reduction of incident early ARM was associated with fish consumption at least once a week (odds ratio [95% confidence interval], 0.58 [0.37-0.90]), whereas fish consumption at least 3 times per week could reduce the incidence of late ARM (odds ratio [95% confidence interval], 0.25 [0.06-1.00]). We found no association between incident ARM and butter, margarine, or nut consumption"

Estimation of optimal serum concentrations of 25-hydroxyvitamin D for multiple health outcomes - Am J Clin Nutr. 2006 Jul;84(1):18-28 - "For all endpoints, the most advantageous serum concentrations of 25(OH)D begin at 75 nmol/L (30 ng/mL), and the best are between 90 and 100 nmol/L (36-40 ng/mL). In most persons, these concentrations could not be reached with the currently recommended intakes of 200 and 600 IU vitamin D/d for younger and older adults, respectively ... An intake for all adults of >/=1000 IU (40 mug) vitamin D (cholecalciferol)/d is needed to bring vitamin D concentrations in no less than 50% of the population up to 75 nmol/L"

Concentrated red grape juice exerts antioxidant, hypolipidemic, and antiinflammatory effects in both hemodialysis patients and healthy subjects - Am J Clin Nutr. 2006 Jul;84(1):252-62 - "Dietary supplementation with concentrated RGJ improves the lipoprotein profile, reduces plasma concentrations of inflammatory biomarkers and oxidized LDL, and may favor a reduction in cardiovascular disease risk"

Dietary long-chain n-3 fatty acids of marine origin and serum C-reactive protein concentrations are associated in a population with a diet rich in marine products - Am J Clin Nutr. 2006 Jul;84(1):223-9 - "Greater intake of n-3 PUFAs derived from marine products, as measured with a self-administered questionnaire, was independently related to a lower prevalence of high CRP concentrations in this older Japanese population with a diet rich in marine products. Our findings suggest that even very high intakes of n-3 PUFAs may lower serum CRP concentrations"

n-3 Fatty acids from fish or fish-oil supplements, but not {alpha}-linolenic acid, benefit cardiovascular disease outcomes in primary- and secondary-prevention studies: a systematic review  - Am J Clin Nutr. 2006 Jul;84(1):5-17 - "increased consumption of n-3 FAs from fish or fish-oil supplements, but not of alpha-linolenic acid, reduces the rates of all-cause mortality, cardiac and sudden death, and possibly stroke. The evidence for the benefits of fish oil is stronger in secondary- than in primary-prevention settings. Adverse effects appear to be minor"

Relations of glycemic index and glycemic load with plasma oxidative stress markers - Am J Clin Nutr. 2006 Jul;84(1):70-6 - "Chronic consumption of high-GI foods may lead to chronically high oxidative stress. A low-GI diet, not a low-carbohydrate diet, appears to be beneficial in reducing oxidative stress"

ACE Inhibitors and Angiotensin Receptor Antagonists and the Incidence of New-Onset Diabetes Mellitus : An Emerging Theme - Drugs. 2006;66(9):1169-1177 - "These trials have demonstrated an approximately 15-30% reduction in the new onset of diabetes in those receiving ACE inhibitors and ARBs when compared with placebo or other active therapy"

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