Recent Longevity News for the seven days ending 10/25/06.  You should consult your doctor if you are taking any medications.

Red Wine vs. Colon Cancer - WebMD, 10/24/06 - "3% of red wine drinkers had such abnormal growths, compared with nearly 9% of white wine drinkers and almost 10% of teetotalers ... they suggest that a compound found in grapes and red wine – the antioxidant resveratrol -- may cut the odds of getting abnormal colon growths that can become cancerous"

DREAM: Rosiglitazone Effective in Preventing Diabetes - Medscape, 10/24/06 - "8 mg daily of rosiglitazone given to 2365 patients resulted in 306 cases of diabetes or death (11.6%) compared with 686 cases of diabetes or death (26.0%) in 2634 patients given a placebo, a difference that was highly statistically significant at P < .0001. In terms of reaching normal glycemic levels, 1330 patients (50.5%) in the rosiglitazone group and 798 patients (30.3%) receiving placebo achieved normal glycemic levels" - See rosiglitazone at OffshoreRx1.com,  SuperSaverMeds.com or XlPharmacy but check with a doctor first.

Vegetables May Help Save Brain's Vigor - WebMD, 10/23/06 - "All participants had some mental slowdown as they aged ... But the yearly slowdown was 40% slower for people who ate the most vegetables -- three or four servings daily -- compared with those who ate less than one serving daily"

Moderate Drinking May Help Male Heart - WebMD, 10/23/06 - "men who reported drinking half a drink to two drinks daily were least likely to have had heart attacks"

Virus may affect memory years later - MSNBC, 10/23/06 - "A family of viruses that cause a range of ills from the common cold to polio may be able to infect the brain and cause steady damage"

Natural "Bowel Recipe" More Effective in Reducing Straining - Medscape, 10/23/06 - "A "bowel recipe" consisting of wheat bran, applesauce, and prune juice appears to be more effective than a commercial psyllium fiber supplement in reducing straining in women with pelvic floor dysfunction"

High Bread Consumption Linked To Higher Risk Of Most Common Kidney Cancer - Science Daily, 10/20/06 - "A significant direct association was observed for bread consumption (OR=1.94) for the highest compared to the lowest quintile of intake ... By contrast, decreasing risk was associated with increasing intake of poultry, processed meat, and all vegetables, both raw and cooked ... The association between elevated cereal intake (bread, pasta and rice) "may be due to the high glycemic index of these foods"

Natural Chemical Found In Strawberries Boosts Memory In Healthy Mice - Science Daily, 10/20/06 - "Fisetin, a naturally occurring flavonoid commonly found in strawberries and other fruits and vegetables, stimulates signaling pathways that enhance long-term memory"

Can you really change your metabolism? - MSNBC, 10/20/06 - "although your metabolism is usually fairly stable, there are several things you can do to help rev it up ... Exercise is No. 1 ... Don't skip meals ... Colder weather increases metabolism"

Prolonged-Release Nicotinic Acid Combined With a Statin in NAUTILUS - Medscape, 10/19/06 - "The safety and tolerability profiles of prolonged-release nicotinic acid did not differ in patients who were and were not taking a statin. In particular, there was no sign of serious hepatic or muscle toxicity in patients receiving prolonged-release nicotinic acid with a statin. The addition of prolonged-release nicotinic acid to a statin raised levels of HDL cholesterol"

Grape Seed Extract vs. Colon Cancer - WebMD, 10/19/06 - "The cancer cells treated with grape seed extract were more likely to halt their normal growth cycle and die, compared to those not treated with the extract"

Popular Anti-aging Supplement Has No Beneficial Effects, Mayo Clinic Study Finds - Science Daily, 10/19/06 - "For almost two years we restored DHEA in older men and women to the high normal levels that are usually observed in young people, but found no beneficial effects on age-related changes in body composition and function" - Conflicts with other studies:

• Hormone Protects Against Diseases of Aging - WebMD, 11/9/04 - "The elderly people in the study took 50 mg a day of DHEA ... Six months later, the DHEA group showed significant reductions in abdominal obesity (10% fat reduction around organs in the abdominal cavity among women and 7.4% among men) and improvements in insulin action or a decrease in insulin resistance"
• DHEA May Fight Heart Disease, But How? - WebMD, 7/23/03 - "Endothelial dysfunction is known to contribute to atherosclerosis or hardening of the arteries ... men who received 25 mg per day of DHEA supplements for 12 weeks experienced significant improvement in endothelial function as well as insulin sensitivity compared with those who took a placebo"
• Anabolic Hormone Deficiencies in HF - Medscape, 10/13/06 - "The finding suggests a potential for measurements of serum testosterone, dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEAS), and insulinlike growth factor-1 (IGF-1) to sharpen HF risk assessments ... The investigators showed "strong associations" between the hormone deficiencies and HF status"
• Unisex Hormones?, Testosterone, DHEA May Help Both Sexes - WebMD, 5/4/01 - "a 50 mg dose of DHEA each day enhanced sexual interest and satisfaction in aging women, while promoting stronger bones and younger-looking skin"

Chromium for Diabetes: Evidence of Benefits Grows - New Hope Natural Media Online, 10/23/06 - "Compared with those who took glipizide and placebo, people taking glipizide plus chromium (500 mcg twice a day as chromium picolinate) experienced multiple benefits, including significantly improved insulin sensitivity, less weight gain, less abdominal fat, lower percent body fat, and lower glycohemoglobin (an indicator of sugar-induced damage to tissues caused by diabetes)"

FDA Approves Once-Daily Januvia(TM) (Sitagliptin Phosphate), the First and Only DPP-4 Inhibitor Available in the United States for Type 2 Diabetes - Doctor's Guide, 10/18/06 - "By adding Januvia to the insulin sensitizers metformin or pioglitazone (a TZD), the three key defects of type 2 diabetes can be addressed: insulin resistance, beta-cell dysfunction (decreased insulin release), and alpha-cell dysfunction (unsuppressed hepatic glucose production)" - See metformin or pioglitazone at OffshoreRx1.comor SuperSaverMeds.com.  Note: The reason I include information on thiazolidinediones, DPP-4's and metformin is because some feel that high insulin is a major cause of aging.  See item 1 on my home page.  I take both rosiglitazone and metformin but check with a doctor before doing that as it may cause hypoglycemia.  I check my glucose with a diabetes monitor.

Cochrane: Pioglitazone benefit unclear - Medscape, 10/18/06 - "They found that these studies did not provide convincing evidence that patient-oriented outcomes such as mortality, morbidity, adverse effects, costs, and health-related quality of life are positively influenced by pioglitazone. Metabolic control measured by glycosylated hemoglobin A1c as a surrogate end point did not demonstrate clinically relevant differences from other oral antidiabetic drugs, and the occurrence of edema was significantly raised with pioglitazone ... Metformin should be the first drug of choice" - [Doctor's Guide]

Internet Explorer 7.0 is out in case anyone didn't get the word.

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

Tomatoes, tomato products and lycopene in the prevention and treatment of prostate cancer: do we have the evidence from intervention studies? - Curr Opin Clin Nutr Metab Care. 2006 Nov;9(6):722-7 - "Increasing evidence suggests that a single serving of tomatoes or tomato products ingested daily may contribute to protect from DNA damage. As DNA damage seems to be involved in the pathogenesis of prostate cancer, the regular ingestion of tomatoes or tomato products might prevent the disease"

Should finasteride be used to prevent prostate cancer? - Curr Treat Options Oncol. 2006 Sep;7(5):346-54 - "At trial's end, there was a 25% reduction in period prevalence in all prostate cancers (24.4% for placebo vs 18.4% for finasteride)"

Testosterone therapy for men at risk for or with history of prostate cancer - Curr Treat Options Oncol. 2006 Sep;7(5):363-9 - "Although still controversial, there appears to be little reason to withhold TRT from men with favorable outcomes after definitive treatment for PCa"

Efficacy and Safety of Rosuvastatin Every Other Day Compared with Once Daily in Patients with Hypercholesterolemia - Ann Pharmacother. 2006 Sep 26 - "The number of patients achieving their LDL-D goal using the every-other-day regimen is comparable with the number using the once-daily regimen, especially in the low-risk patient category"

Is Cholesterol a Memory Thief? - Geriatrics and Aging, Volume 9, Number 7, JulyAugust 2006, Pages 484-490 - "Emerging data indicate that circulating cholesterol levels may influence progression of the dementing disorder. A recent pilot, proof-of-concept, placebo-controlled clinical trial suggests that the cholesterol-lowering medication atorva-statin provides benefit in treating mild-to-moderate AD. Although not approved for the treatment of AD, statin therapy might be considered in the setting of elevated cholesterol levels--even when LDL/HDL ratios are acceptable"

Finasteride-induced depression : A prospective study - BMC Clin Pharmacol. 2006 Oct 7;6(1):7 - "finasteride might induce depressive symptoms; therefore this medication should be prescribed cautiously for patients with high risk of depression"

Estrogen and hypertension - Curr Hypertens Rep. 2006 Oct;8(5):368-76 - "emerging evidence from recent clinical trials indicates a small increase, rather than decrease, in systolic BP with oral estrogen administration in postmenopausal women, without any detectable effect on diastolic BP ... transdermal delivery of estrogen, which avoids the first-pass hepatic metabolism of estradiol, appears to have a small BP-lowering effect in postmenopausal women and may be a safer alternative in hypertensive women"

Testosterone patch for the treatment of hypoactive sexual desire disorder in naturally menopausal women: results from the INTIMATE NM1 Study - Menopause. 2006 Sep-Oct;13(5):770-9 - "Testosterone patch treatment increased the frequency of satisfying sexual activity and sexual desire, decreased personal distress, and was well tolerated in naturally menopausal women with hypoactive sexual desire disorder"

An open-label pilot study of the combination therapy of metformin and fluoxetine for weight reduction  - Int J Obes (Lond). 2006 Sep 12 - "In a 6.68-month period, a 7.89 kg decrease in weight (9.32%) and a 3.43 U decrease in BMI (10.14%) were observed in participants of the case group that was statistically significant"

Tolerability and pharmacokinetics of metformin and the dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitor sitagliptin when co-administered in patients with type 2 diabetes - Curr Med Res Opin. 2006 Oct;22(10):1939-47 - "In this study, co-administration of sitagliptin and metformin was generally well tolerated in patients with type 2 diabetes and did not meaningfully alter the steady-state pharmacokinetics of either agent"

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