Recent Longevity News for the seven days ending 11/22/06.  You should consult your doctor if you are taking any medications.

See my low fat pumpkin pie recipe.

Testosterone Replacement Therapy Appears Safe For Prostate - Science Daily, 11/21/06 - "No treatment-related change was observed in prostate histology, tissue biomarkers, gene expression, or cancer incidence or severity. Treatment-related changes in prostate volume, serum prostate-specific antigen, voiding symptoms, and urinary flow were slight"

Onions and Garlic May Prevent Cancers - WebMD, 11/21/06 - "people whose diets are rich in onions, garlic, and other alliums have a much lower risk of several types of cancer than those who avoid the pungent herbs"

Updated Position Statement for Calcium Intake in Postmenopausal Women - Medscape, 11/20/06 - "The recommended calcium requirement is 1000 mg daily for premenopausal women aged 25 to 50 years, and varies from 1200 to 1500 mg daily for postmenopausal women according to different organizations (National Institutes of Health, Institute of Medicine, and Osteoporosis Society of Canada)"

Study Shows Valsartan Reduced Urinary Protein Excretion in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes and High Blood Pressure - Doctor's Guide, 11/20/06 - "In patients with high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes, the blood pressure-lowering medication Diovan® (valsartan) significantly reduced urinary protein excretion, with high doses providing the greatest sustained reduction"

• 24-hour urine protein - Medline Plus - "Increased urinary protein is usually measured when glomerular disease is suspected. The deterioration in the integrity of the glomerulus allows albumin to permeate in large quantities. Glomerular disease, such as nephrotic syndrome may result in urine protein (mostly urine albumin) of greater than 3.5 gm/day. So-called microalbuminuria with urine albumin levels of 30 to 200 mg/day is considered an early sign of diabetic nephropathy."

Research shows benefits of cranberries -MSNBC, 11/20/06 - "A compound Howell discovered in cranberries, proanthocyanidine, prevents plaque formation on teeth ... Drinking cranberry juice daily may increase levels of HDL, or good cholesterol and reduce levels of LDL, or bad cholesterol ... Cranberries may prevent tumors from growing rapidly or starting in the first place ..." - See Cranberry products at iHerb.

Turmeric Supplements Show Promise in Treating Arthritis - Medscape, 11/17/06 - "This version was used in subsequent experiments and was shown to prevent acute and chronic arthritis ... In addition, turmeric significantly inhibited joint destruction due to arthritis, and inhibited NF-κB, a protein that controls the gene expression of substances that produce an inflammatory response. Turmeric also altered the expression of hundreds of genes involved in joint swelling and destruction and prevented an increase in osteoclasts (cells that break down bone) in joints" - See iHerb or Vitacost turmeric products.

Red Wine Ingredient Increases Endurance, Study Shows - New York Times, 11/16/06 - "Resveratrol makes you look like a trained athlete without the training" - See iHerb or Vitacost resveratrol products.

Pioglitazone Treatment Increases Concentrations of Adiponectin in Plasma - Doctor's Guide, 11/16/06 - "Results showed there was a 6.9 mcg/mL mean increase in adiponectin levels in the pioglitazone group while in non-pioglitazone patients it decreased by 0.42 mcg/mL"

Hormone Replacement Therapy May Improve Visual Memory - Science Daily, 11/16/06 - "Those who were taking combined estrogen-progestin hormone therapy showed significantly increased activity in the prefrontal cortex, a region of the brain that is critical in memory tasks, compared with those on placebo"

Fasting Glucose Increases in Older Adults With Hypertension Regardless of Treatment Type - Medscape, 11/16/06 - "randomized to receive treatment with chlorthalidone, amlodipine, or lisinopril to reduce blood pressure to less than 140/90 mm Hg ... During the first 2 years, the mean increase is serum glucose levels was 8.5, 5.5, and 3.5 mg/dL among the chlorthalidone, amlodipine, and lisinopril groups, respectively" - Note:  Chlorthalidone is a diuretic, amlodipine is a calcium channel blocker and lisinopril is an ACE inhibitor.

No Increase in Overall Cancer Rate Found Among Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients Treated With Biologic Therapies - Doctor's Guide, 11/16/06 - "They found an increased risk for new melanoma and non-melanotic skin cancer cases among RA patients exposed to biologic therapy. But there was no significant difference in the risks for all other cancers in RA patients exposed to biologic therapy"

High Dose Vitamins May Boost Macular Health - Doctor's Guide, 11/16/06 - "A small study of high-dose dietary supplementation with betacarotene, vitamin C, vitamin E, zinc, copper, lutein, and zeaxanthin shows that a potential way to improve macular health in patients with dry age-related macular degeneration"

Trans Fats Up Heart Disease Risk - WebMD, 11/15/06 - "even those eating just 1.3 grams per 1,000 calories per day were at increased risk ... That's not much, when you consider that a typical serving of french fries has about 5 grams of trans fats, a Danish has more than 3 grams, and even microwave popcorn has 1.1 grams"

Testosterone May Be Safe for Prostate - WebMD, 11/14/06 - "short-term testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) among men with low testosterone has little effect on the prostate gland"

Two Markers Strongly Linked To Prostate Cancer Incidence And Mortality Almost A Decade Prior To Diagnosis - Science Daily, 11/14/06 - "Increased levels of two markers of inflammation, interleukin-6 (IL-6) and C-reactive protein (CRP), are significantly associated with prostate cancer incidence and mortality almost a decade prior to diagnosis"

Low Folate Diets Found To Increase Risk Of Colorectal Cancer - Science Daily, 11/14/06 - "None of the mice fed a control diet developed tumours whereas 1 in 4 mice on the folate-deficient diet developed at least one tumour" - See iHerb or Vitacost folic acid products.

• Diet May Reduce Colon Cancer Risk - WebMD, 6/30/06 - "women who ate a diet rich in folic acid (a nutrient found naturally as folate) had no significant increase in colon cancer risk -- regardless of their family history of the disease. But women who ate a diet low in folic acid were 2.5 times more likely to develop colon cancer than those without a family history who ate a similar diet"

Accelerated Aging Among People With Rheumatoid Arthritis - Science Daily, 11/14/06 - "Researchers estimated that the RA patients in the study group aged at approximately 1.25 times the rate of people in the general population"

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

The Effect of Chromium Picolinate and Biotin Supplementation on Glycemic Control in Poorly Controlled Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: A Placebo-Controlled, Double-Blinded, Randomized Trial - Diabetes Technol Ther. 2006 Dec;8(6):636-643 - "randomized to receive 600 microg of chromium as chromium picolinate and biotin (2 mg/day) ... supplementation with a combination of chromium picolinate and biotin in poorly controlled patients with diabetes receiving antidiabetic therapy improved glucose management and several lipid measurements. Chromium picolinate/ biotin supplementation may represent an effective adjunctive nutritional therapy to people with poorly controlled diabetes with the potential for improving lipid metabolism" - See iHerb or Vitacost chromium products and iHerb or Vitacost biotin products.

Hepatic safety profile and glycemic control of pioglitazone in more than 20,000 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus: Postmarketing surveillance study in Japan - Diabetes Res Clin Pract. 2006 Nov 14 - "No case of hepatic failure was reported, and neither temporal nor dose relations were found between pioglitazone and ALT abnormalities"

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