Recent Longevity News for the seven days ending 9/6/06.  You should consult your doctor if you are taking any medications.

Mercury Rising - Time Magazine, 9/11/06 - "Researchers testing birds in the Northeast have found creeping mercury levels in the blood of more than 175 once clean species. Others have found the metal for the first time in polar bears, bats, mink, otters, panthers and more"

Hormone therapy may damage hearing - MSNBC, 9/5/06 - "those taking hormone replacement therapy that included progestin had poorer speech understanding than women who were not taking hormones or who were using estrogen only"

Virgin Olive Oil Better for Heart - WebMD, 9/5/06 - "the virgin olive oil higher in polyphenols increased the level of good, high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol more than the other two types of olive oil"

Cardiovascular Events Reduced in Japanese JIKEI Study With Valsartan - Doctor's Guide, 9/5/06 - "Blood pressure control was equal in both arms of the study, but the difference in outcomes was substantial and there were significant decreases in cardiovascular events with valsartan, specifically stroke, bouts of angina, heart failure and the need for hospitalization due to cardiac events"

PROactive: Pioglitazone Reduces Recurrent Stroke in Patients with Diabetes - Medscape, 9/4/06 - "the risk of recurrent stroke was reduced among patients with a history of stroke for those treated with pioglitazone relative to those not treated, from 10% to about 5% in treated patients, a significant reduction ... Biochemical and diabetic changes from baseline showed a greater reduction in HbA1c, systolic and diastolic BP, and triglycerides, even more of an increase in HDL cholesterol and more of a decrease in the LDL/HDL ratio with pioglitazone treatment"

Drinking Juice May Stall Alzheimer's - WebMD, 8/31/06 - "people who drank fruit and vegetable juices more than three times a week were 76% less likely to develop Alzheimer's disease than those who drank juices less than once a week"

Protection for Aging Eyes - New Hope Natural Media Online, 8/31/06 - "A 40% reduction in the incidence of early age-related macular degeneration was associated with eating fish at least once a week; eating fish at least three times per week even reduced the incidence of late-stage age-related macular degeneration"

Aspirin May Cut Enlarged Prostate Risk - WebMD, 8/30/06 - "Men who reported daily use of aspirin or other anti-inflammatory drugs, such as ibuprofen and naproxen, were 25% less likely to develop moderate to severe enlarged prostate symptoms" - See Drugstore.com aspirin products.

Omega-3 Fatty Acids after Myocardial Infarction - Medscape, 8/30/06 - "OMACOR, containing 900 mg of highly purified n-3 PUFA (eicosapentaenoic acid, 46%; decosahexaenoic acid, 38%) ... The incremental number of life-years saved by OMACOR during the 4 years' follow-up was 0.054 per patient, or 54 per 1000 patients" - See Mega Twin EPA at iHerb or Vitacost.

Fish Oils May Be Lifesavers - WebMD, 8/30/06 - "Sudden death risk dropped 6.4% with adequate omega-3 fatty acid intake, compared with 3.3% for implantable defibrillators, and less than 1% with easy access to AEDS" - See Mega Twin EPA at Amazon.com or Vitacost.

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

Vascular Nutritional Correlates of Late-Life Depression - Am J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2006 Sep;14(9):787-795 - "The depression group had higher intake of saturated fat and cholesterol, higher body mass indices, lower alcohol intake, and higher Keys score than the comparison group"

Effect of n-3 fatty acids on carotid atherosclerosis and haemostasis in patients with combined hyperlipoproteinemia: A double-blind pilot study in primary prevention - Ann Med. 2006 Sep;38(5):367-375 - "Results show a favourable effectiveness of n-3 PUFA on IMT progression and T-IMC that deserves to be confirmed in larger studies. Despite the small sample size, the beneficial effect of n-3 PUFA on platelet function, triglycerides and HDL-C is clearly highlighted" - See Mega Twin EPA at Amazon.com or Vitacost.

Benfotiamine prevents macro- and microvascular endothelial dysfunction and oxidative stress following a meal rich in advanced glycation end products in individuals with type 2 diabetes - Diabetes Care. 2006 Sep;29(9):2064-71 - "Our study confirms micro- and macrovascular endothelial dysfunction accompanied by increased oxidative stress following a real-life, heat-processed, AGE-rich meal in individuals with type 2 diabetes and suggests benfotiamine as a potential treatment" - See Benfotiamine products at iHerb.

Impaired glucose tolerance: A possible contributor to left ventricular hypertrophy and diastolic dysfunction - Int J Cardiol. 2006 Aug 23 - "These results suggest that impaired glucose tolerance is a possible contributor to left ventricular hypertrophy and diastolic dysfunction"

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