Recent Longevity News for the seven days ending 10/11/06.  You should consult your doctor if you are taking any medications.

Idleness, Weight Up Breast Cancer Risk - WebMD, 10/10/06 - "postmenopausal women who exercise and keep their weight down substantially reduce their risk of breast cancer"

Study: Statins Increase Life Expectancy - Intelihealth, 10/10/06 - "We were surprised to find that statin users actually lived an average two years longer despite the patients having more health risk factors and being older than non-statin users"

Hormone therapy linked to ovarian cancer risk - Reuters, 10/9/06 - "No association was observed between ovarian cancer and use of unopposed estrogen for fewer than 10 years ... Women who used unopposed estrogen for 10 years or more had a significantly higher risk of developing ovarian cancer than women who did not use hormone therapy"

Walnuts Protect Arteries From Fat - WebMD, 10/9/06 - "the high-fat meal had less of a blood-vessel effect on those who ate the walnuts than on those who ate the olive oil ... walnuts contain a fatty acid called alpha-linolenic acid. This plant-based fatty acid is similar to omega-3 fatty acid found in fish"

Canola Oil Reduces Risk of Heart Disease - Intelihealth, 10/9/06 - "Labels can say that limited evidence suggests eating 19 grams -- about 1 1/2 tablespoons -- of canola oil daily may reduce the risk of coronary heart disease due to its unsaturated fat content, the FDA said"

Stanol-enriched diet curbs bad cholesterol levels - Reuters, 10/9/06 - "An intervention group of 11 patients received plant stanols in margarine along with lipid-lowering dietary interventions, while 9 patients "received a margarine without plant stanols and a leaflet with Dutch nutrition guidelines." ... Plasma LDL cholesterol fell by 15.6 percent among the patients on the stanol-enriched diet, the investigators report, whereas it declined by 7.7 percent in the control group"

Diet May Influence Alzheimer's Risk - WebMD, 10/9/06 - "Long suspected of lowering the risk of heart disease and diabetes, the Mediterranean diet consists of large amounts of fruits, vegetables, beans, grains, and nuts. Red meats are eaten only rarely and poultry, eggs, and dairy products are eaten in moderation. Olive oil and fatty fish are the main sources of fat in the diet ... People who most closely adhered to the diet had an Alzheimer's risk that was 40% to 65% lower than people who were least likely to follow the diet"

Excess Weight, Poor Memory Linked - WebMD, 10/9/06 - "Those with in the lowest range of BMI (15-21.5) remembered nine of 16 words, while those in the highest BMI range (27.7-45) could remember just seven. The results were linear -- so as BMI went up, the number of words remembered declined"

Dietary Magnesium May Reduce Risk for Diabetes in Black Women - Medscape, 10/9/06 - "41,186 women enrolled in the Black Women's Health Study ... Higher magnesium intakes in the highest vs the lowest quintile were associated with lower incidence of diabetes mellitus with an adjusted HR of 0.69" - See iHerb or Vitacost magnesium products.

Yaz Approved for Severe PMS - WebMD, 10/6/06 - "Yaz improved both physical and emotional symptoms of PMDD, including interpersonal relationships, work productivity, and enjoyment of hobbies and social activities"

Study Links Cola to Bone Loss in Women - WebMD, 10/6/06 - "drinking cola soft drinks on a regular basis was associated with lower bone mineral density in the hip"

How Effective is Testosterone Replacement Therapy in Premenopausal Women with Severe Androgen Deficiency? - Medscape, 10/2/06 - "Beneficial effects of testosterone on mood (P = 0.029) and sexual functioning (P = 0.044) were observed. There was also a marked improvement in the general health and quality of life of patients receiving testosterone, although changes in cognition were limited. Women receiving testosterone had a 6% mean increase in total cholesterol levels when compared with those receiving placebo"

Black Tea Soothes Away Stress - Science Daily, 10/4/06 - "the study participants – who drank a black tea concoction four times a day for six weeks – were found to have lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol in their blood after a stressful event, compared with a control group who drank the fake or placebo tea for the same period of time"

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

Risk Factors of Vitamin B12 Deficiency in Patients Receiving Metformin - Arch Intern Med, 10/9/06 - "we found clinically important and statistically significant association of vitamin B12 deficiency with dose and duration of metformin use. Each 1-g/d metformin dose increment conferred an odds ratio of 2.88 (95% confidence interval, 2.15-3.87) for developing vitamin B12 deficiency" - See iHerb or Vitacost Vitamin B12 products.

Mediterranean Diet, Alzheimer Disease, and Vascular Mediation - Arch Neurol, 10/9/06 - "Higher adherence to the MeDi was associated with lower risk for AD (odds ratio, 0.76; 95% confidence interval, 0.67-0.87; P<.001). Compared with subjects in the lowest MeDi tertile, subjects in the middle MeDi tertile had an odds ratio of 0.47 (95% confidence interval, 0.29-0.76) and those at the highest tertile an odds ratio of 0.32 (95% confidence interval, 0.17-0.59) for AD"

Coffee consumption and markers of inflammation and endothelial dysfunction in healthy and diabetic women - Am J Clin Nutr. 2006 Oct;84(4):888-93 - "neither caffeinated nor decaffeinated filtered coffee has a detrimental effect on endothelial function. In contrast, the results suggest that coffee consumption is inversely associated with markers of inflammation and endothelial dysfunction"

A randomized controlled study of effects of dietary magnesium oxide supplementation on bone mineral content in healthy girls - J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2006 Oct 3 - "Magnesium (300 mg elemental Mg per day in 2 divided doses) or placebo, given orally, for 12 months ... Significantly increased accrual (P = 0.05) in integrated hip BMC occurred in the Mg-supplemented vs. placebo group"

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