Recent Longevity News for the seven days ending 9/27/06.  You should consult your doctor if you are taking any medications.

Diabetes pill works — but at what cost? - MSNBC, 9/26/06 - "Half got a drug called Avandia, already on the market to treat diabetes. The other half took a placebo, a dummy pill. After three years, 62 percent fewer people on the medication developed diabetes ... modest weight loss (5 to 7 percent of body weight) and light exercise (a 30 minute walk each day) brought a 58 percent reduction in progression to diabetes in the same at-risk people ... A month’s supply of Avandia in the dose needed for reducing diabetes risk costs about $120"  - See rosiglitazone at SuperSaverMeds.com, Budget Medicines or XlPharmacy.

New Study Finds Omega-3's in Fatty Fish Can Reduce Risk of Cancer - Doctor's Guide, 9/26/06 - "At least one portion of fatty fish a week during the period (1987-2004) reduced the risk of renal cancer by 74 per cent compared with those who never ate fatty fish" - See Mega Twin EPA at Amazon.com or Vitacost.

Too much testosterone kills brain cells - Reuters, 9/26/06 - "Tests on brain cells in lab dishes showed that while a little of the male hormone is good, too much of it causes cells to self-destruct in a process similar to that seen in brain illnesses such as Alzheimer's"

Diabetes, Not Obesity, Increases Risk Of Developing Critical Illness And Early Death - Science Daily, 9/25/06 - "in the absence of diabetes, obese individuals do not have an increased risk of suffering from acute organ failure, and of dying from acute organ failure, than non-obese individuals. By contrast, patients with diabetes are three times more likely to become critically ill with acute organ failure and they are three times more likely to die from acute organ failure, or from any cause, than patients who do not have diabetes, regardless of their BMI"

'Diabetes' Treatment Stops Alzheimer's - WebMD, 9/25/06 - "Alzheimer's disease is really "type 3 diabetes" -- that is, a kind of brain diabetes ... The drug de la Monte and colleagues found so useful for rats is very similar to two drugs currently used to treat diabetes: Actos and Avandia. Known as "TZDs" or "glitazones," the drugs make the body's cells more sensitive to insulin" - See pioglitazone or rosiglitazone at SuperSaverMeds.com, Budget Medicines or XlPharmacy.

• Drug 'Avandia' May Prevent Diabetes - WebMD, 9/15/06 - "People at high risk for diabetes who took the drug Avandia reduced their risk of developing the disease by 60% in the three-year trial"

Diabetes May Raise Cancer Risk - WebMD, 9/25/06 - "Total cancer risk was found to be 27% higher for men with diabetes than for men without the disease ... It has been suggested that excess insulin in people with type 2 diabetes may promote the growth of pancreatic and liver cancers ... Preventing diabetes can certainly lower your cardiovascular risk, and it appears that the same is true for certain cancers"

Tomato extract could stop platelet build-up, boost heart health - Nutra USA, 9/25/06 - "significant reductions in the build-up of platelets (stimulated by administration of ADP and collagen) were observed three hours after supplementation with tomato extract equivalent to two and six tomatoes (by 21.3 per cent for six tomato equivalents, and 12.7 per cent for the two tomato equivalents for the ADP administered groups, and by 17.5 per cent for six tomato equivalents, and 7.8 per cent for the two tomato equivalents for the collagen administered groups), while no significant effects were measured for control group" - See Jarrow Lyco-Sorb (contains Lyco-O-Mato) at Amazon.com.

Study Shows Men With Erectile Dysfunction Favor Treatment With Vardenafil - Science Daily, 9/24/06 - "Data showed that 38.9% preferred vardenafil compared to 34.5% sildenafil (26.6% had no preference). Vardenafil was significantly superior to sildenafil in terms of erectile function, intercourse satisfaction and overall satisfaction. There were also a significant higher percentage of positive responses for vardenafil with regards to erection hardness for penetration, maintenance of erection, maintenance until completion, and erection confidence" - See vardenafil at SuperSaverMeds.com, Budget Medicines or XlPharmacy.

Walking Not Enough For Significant Exercise Benefits - Science Daily, 9/22/06 - "low-intensity activity such as walking alone is not likely going to give anybody marked health benefits compared to programs that occasionally elevate the intensity"

Study Suggests Vitamin K Deficiency as an Osteoporosis Risk Factor - Doctor's Guide, 9/22/06 - "one of the early effects of declining estrogen is the impairment of vitamin K function in bone even before any bone loss that could be attributed to menopause can be measured ... Our study suggests that the generally accepted level of vitamin K in healthy women is inadequate to maintain bone health just at the onset of menopause" - See iHerb or Vitacost vitamin K products.

Moms' Vitamins Cuts Kids' Brain Tumors - WebMD, 9/22/06 - "Women who take multivitamins before and during pregnancy may be less likely to have children who develop brain tumors by age 5 years"

Thyroid Supplementation Enhances Antidepressant Response - Medscape, 9/21/06 - "Remission occurred in 31 patients (58.5%) receiving T3 compared with 19 patients (38%) in the placebo group" - See T3 at International Anti-aging Systems but check with your doctor first.

Red Wine May Prevent Alzheimer's - WebMD, 9/20/06 - "After seven months of sipping their designated drinks, the mice individually were placed in a maze and challenged to find their way out ... Those in the red wine group performed best. The mice in the ethanol group weren't better at mastering the maze than the teetotalers ... The mice in the red wine group were quicker to adapt to that change"

Echinacea cuts cold incidence - Reuters, 0/20/06 - "Use of echinacea, or extract of the purple coneflower, before the onset of full-blown symptoms of the common cold reduces the incidence by more than a half and the duration by almost two full days"

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

Effect of rosiglitazone on the frequency of diabetes in patients with impaired glucose tolerance or impaired fasting glucose: a randomised controlled trial - Lancet. 2006 Sep 23;368(9541):1096-105 - "306 (11.6%) individuals given rosiglitazone and 686 (26.0%) given placebo developed the composite primary outcome (hazard ratio 0.40, 95% CI 0.35-0.46; p<0.0001); 1330 (50.5%) individuals in the rosiglitazone group and 798 (30.3%) in the placebo group became normoglycaemic ... Rosiglitazone at 8 mg daily for 3 years substantially reduces incident type 2 diabetes and increases the likelihood of regression to normoglycaemia in adults with impaired fasting glucose or impaired glucose tolerance, or both" - See rosiglitazone at SuperSaverMeds.com or XlPharmacy.

Selenium is inversely associated with bladder cancer risk: A report from the Belgian case-control study on bladder cancer - Int J Urol. 2006 Sep;13(9):1180-4 - "This case-control study suggests an inverse association between serum selenium concentration and bladder cancer risk"

The long-term effects of rosiglitazone on serum lipid concentrations and body weight - Clin Endocrinol (Oxf). 2006 Oct;65(4):453-9 - "TC levels remained significantly higher at 18 months than those at baseline ... HDL-C and body weight increased and remained elevated for the duration of the study. There was an initial increase in LDL-C but this attenuated and by the end of the study was not significantly elevated above baseline levels"

The prophylactic and therapeutic effectiveness of zinc sulphate on common cold in children - Acta Paediatr. 2006 Oct;95(10):1175-81 - "Compared to the placebo group, the zinc group had shorter mean duration of cold symptoms and decreased total severity scores for cold symptoms"

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