Recent Longevity News for the seven days ending 12/6/06.  You should consult your doctor if you are taking any medications.

iHerb went in-house with their affiliate program.  If you dragged their link onto your desktop to help me out with commissions, please delete the one you have and use this one (iHerb).  I've changed all the links on my site yet nearly all my sales are still via the old affiliate program (linkshare) so it has to be from the desktops and those links are invalid as of 12/1/06.

There's Hope in the Drug Pipeline [for Alzheimer's] - US News, 12/11/06 - "A compound called huperzine A seems to combine some memory-saving effects of drugs like Aricept and Namenda with an ability to protect neurons from beta amyloid. It's currently being tested for safety and effectiveness in people" - See iHerb or Vitacost huperzine A products.

Diabetes Drug Actos May Cut Heart Risk - WebMD, 12/5/06 - "Patients taking Actos had less wall thickening of their carotid arteries -- which bring blood through the neck to the brain -- over 18 months" -  Note:  The reason I include information on metformin and thiazolidinediones (Actos (pioglitazone) and Avandia (rosiglitazone)  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.

Fasting Blood Glucose Levels Are Related to Exercise Capacity in Patients With Coronary Artery Disease - Medscape, 12/5/06 - "The VO2max values were lower in subjects with FBG levels between 126 and 140 and ≥140 mg/dL ... The lower exercise capacity of patients with CAD with higher FBG levels could theoretically be attributed to differences in left ventricular dimensions and pump function, ischemia, or differences in baseline and exercise-induced hemodynamics, compared with patients with normoglycemia"

Hair-Growth Drug Artificially Lowers PSA Levels in Prostate Cancer Screening - Doctor's Guide, 12/5/06 - "When doctors ask for their patients' medical history, they need to ask if they have taken any drugs for hair loss, and the doctors need to multiply the PSA readings by two"

New Data Shows Rimonabant Benefited Patients with Type 2 Diabetes by Improving Blood Sugar Control, Reducing Weight and Acting on Other Cardiometabolic Risk Factors - Doctor's Guide, 12/5/06 - "treatment-naive type 2 diabetes patients receiving rimonabant 20mg per day for a duration of six months significantly lowered their HbA1c levels by 0.8% from a baseline value of 7.9 as compared to a reduction of 0.3% in the placebo group (P =.002). In addition, patients with an HbA1c level greater than or equal to 8.5% at baseline, significantly reduced their HbA1c by 1.9% with rimonabant as compared to 0.7% with placebo" - See rimonabant at International Antiaging Systems.

Popular baldness drug could mask prostate marker - Reuters, 12/4/06 - "middle-aged men taking Propecia should have their PSA levels multiplied by 2 in tests to account for the difference"

Diabetes Drug's Benefits Come at a Price - Intelihealth, 12/4/06 - "62 on Avandia developed a heart problem compared with 58 on metformin and 41 on glyburide. Avandia users also gained an average of more than 10 pounds over five years; metformin users lost more than six pounds while glyburide users gained three and then stabilized. Fractures, especially in women, were nearly twice as common among those taking Avandia"

Landmark Study Shows Rosiglitazone Maleate More Effective Than Metformin or a Sulfonylurea in Long-Term Blood Sugar Control in Type 2 Diabetes - Doctor's Guide, 12/4/06 - "initial treatment with Avandia(R) (rosiglitazone maleate) reduced the risk of monotherapy failure in people with type 2 diabetes by 32% compared to metformin (P <.001), and 63% compared to glyburide (P <.001) at five years ... commonly reported adverse events across the treatment groups were ... hypoglycemia (glyburide 38.7%; metformin 11.6%; rosiglitazone 9.8%)" - See rosiglitazone at OffshoreRx1.com.

• Avandia (rosiglitazone maleate) - rxlist.com - "AVANDIA improves glycemic control while reducing circulating insulin levels"
• Glucophage (metformin) - rxlist.com - "With metformin therapy, insulin secretion remains unchanged while fasting insulin levels and day-long plasma insulin response may actually decrease"
• Glyburide - rxlsit.com - "Glyburide appears to lower the blood glucose acutely by stimulating the release of insulin from the pancreas, an effect dependent upon functioning beta cells in the pancreatic islets"

Thiazolidinediones for Initial Treatment of Type 2 Diabetes? - NEJM, 12/7/06 - "Given the modest glycemic benefit of rosiglitazone (with the risk of fluid retention and weight gain) and higher cost (including the need for more statins and diuretics), metformin remains the logical choice when initiating pharmacotherapy for type 2 diabetes" - Yeah but what about the above study and the following study:

• 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 ... taking the drug metformin (Glucophage), which is already widely used for diabetes prevention, was associated with a 31% reduction in disease risk -- about half that seen in the Avandia study"

Modern drugs cut heart attack risk within 90 days - Reuters, 12/4/06 - "Lipitor used alongside its anti-hypertensive Norvasc reduced the risk of fatal and non-fatal cardiac events by 53 percent, with the benefits evident after only three months ... Lipitor plus Norvasc was about three times more effective at preventing heart attacks than Lipitor plus a beta-blocker" - Yeah but  Norvasc is amlodipine (a calcium channel blocker) which has been shown to increase serum glucose.  See:

• Fasting Glucose Increases in Older Adults With Hypertension Regardless of Treatment Type - Medscape, 11/16/06 - "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.  On the other hand, Altace (ramipril), also an ACE inhibitor has been shown to reduce the chances of diabetes as does telmisartan, an ARB:
  • Blood Pressure Drugs May Help People Avoid 'Type 2' Disease, but Healthy Habits Still Best - WebMD, 10/16/01 - "people at high risk for developing diabetes who take the drug Altace [ramipril] were 34% less likely to develop diabetes than those who did not get the drug"
  • Metabolic Effect of Telmisartan [Micardis] and Losartan [Cozaar] in Hypertensive Patients with Metabolic Syndrome - Cardiovasc Diabetol. 2005 May 15;4(1):6 - "Telmisartan, but not losartan, significantly (p < 0.05) reduced free plasma glucose, free plasma insulin, homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance and HbAic. Following treatment, plasma glucose and insulin were reduced during the oral glucose tolerance test by telmisartan, but not by losartan. Telmisartan also significantly reduced 24-hour mean systolic blood pressure (p < 0.05) and diastolic blood pressure (p < 0.05) compared with losartan"
  • Do we use an ACE, an ARB, or both? What clinical trials tell us - Patient Care, 4/1/05 - "Combining ACEs and ARBs can improve outcomes, particularly for patients with heart failure and those who have hypertension with diabetes"
  • Addition of an angiotensin receptor blocker to full-dose ACE-inhibition: controversial or common sense? - Eur Heart J. 2005 Nov;26(22):2361-7 - "combination of a full-dose ACE-inhibitor and an ARB can be a rational choice in selected patients" - [full article]

Tea Extracts Help Treat Damaged Skin In Cancer Patients - Science Daily, 11/1/06 - "tea extracts reduce the duration of radiation-induced skin damage by up to 10 days in patients who received radiation treatment"

Long-term Safety of Pioglitazone vs Glyburide for Type 2 Diabetes - Medscape, 12/1/06 - "Patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus achieve glycemic control safely and effectively with both pioglitazone and glyburide treatment; however, the results of this study suggest that long-term treatment with pioglitazone is superior to glyburide with respect to tolerability. Overall, pioglitazone treatment resulted in sustained glycemic control, fewer patient withdrawals due to lack of efficacy or hypoglycemia, and fewer cardiac events compared with glyburide"

New Drug for Lost Libido - ABC News, 12/1/06 - "Given the peptide, female rats, he says, initiate sex four times more often than those who do not receive it ... And bremelanotide's makers are betting it will work the same way on both men and women ... hopes to have bremelanotide on the market for men within a couple of years"

Diabetes Drug May Treat Fatty Liver - WebMD, 11/30/06 - "during the study, the Actos patients cut their liver fat by 54%; the placebo group had no change in liver fat ... Actos patients also showed a bigger drop in liver inflammation and a greater improvement in insulin response than the placebo group"

• Sugar intake may hurt liver - Science Daily, 11/1/06 - "fatty liver disease was more common in the group given sugar water, especially when exposed to a type of sugar called fructose ... These data support the hypothesis that high fructose consumption may not only (damage) the liver through over-feeding, but may be directly" toxic"
• Obesity and Fatty Liver disease - MedicineNet.com - "Doctors also are using medications to treat non alcoholic fatty liver disease. For example, insulin-sensitizing agents, such as the thiazolidinediones, pioglitazone (Actos) and rosiglitazone (Avandia), and metformin (Glucophage) not only help to control blood glucose in patients with diabetes, but they also improve enzyme levels in patients with non alcoholic fatty liver disease" - See pioglitazone,  rosiglitazone, and metformin at OffshoreRx1.com.
• Diabetes Drug Shows Promise in Treating Alzheimer's - Doctor's Guide, 7/17/06 - "Treatment of high blood sugar may have a scientific connection to memory loss that could, one day, benefit millions of people with Alzheimer's Disease ... The drug, called pioglitazone HCl"
• Insulin Sensitizers Cut Cognitive Decline in AD - Clinical Psychiatry News, 4/06 - "There is a critical relationship between insulin resistance and key aspects of brain function ... patients taking rosiglitazone performed significantly better than those taking placebo on a delayed memory task (the Buschke Selective Reminding Test)"
• Diabetes Drug Actos (pioglitazone HCl) Showed Anti-Inflammatory Effects in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes in a Clinical Study - Doctor's Guide, 6/16/05 - "CRP decreased by 6.98 mg/L compared to 1.55 mg/L for placebo (p= 0.001). IL-6 decreased by 0.78 pg/mL compared to 0.22 pg/ml for placebo"
• Thiazolidinedione effects on blood pressure in diabetic patients with metabolic syndrome treated with glimepiride - Hypertens Res. 2005 Nov;28(11):917-24 - "the association of a thiazolinedione to the glimepiride treatment of type 2 diabetic subjects with metabolic syndrome is associated to a significant improvement in the long-term blood pressure control, related to a reduction in insulin-resistance"

Sugar-packed diet may boost pancreatic cancer risk - Reuters, 11/29/06 - "People who consumed two or more servings of soft drinks a day had a 93 percent greater risk of pancreatic cancer ... Eating too much sugar could therefore conceivably boost pancreatic cancer risk by putting greater demands on the pancreas to produce insulin while reducing sensitivity to the hormone"

Higher Level Of Certain Fatty Acid Associated With Lower Dementia Risk - Science Daily, 11/28/06 - "men and women in the quartile with the highest DHA levels had a 47 percent lower risk of developing dementia and 39 percent lower risk of developing Alzheimer's disease than the other three quartiles with lower DHA levels ... those in the top quartile of blood DHA levels reported that they ate an average of .18 grams of DHA a day and an average of three fish servings a week. Participants in the other quartiles ate substantially less fish" - See iHerb or Vitacost DHA products.  My favorite is Jarrow Max DHA at Amazon.com.

Use Folic Acid To Cut Heart Disease, Say Experts - Science Daily, 11/28/06 - "The scientific evidence is strong enough to justify using folic acid as a cheap and simple way of reducing heart disease and strokes"

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

Effect of Pioglitazone Compared With Glimepiride on Carotid Intima-Media Thickness in Type 2 Diabetes: A Randomized Trial - JAMA, 12/6/06 - "Carotid artery intima-media thickness (CIMT) is a marker of coronary atherosclerosis and independently predicts cardiovascular events ... Over an 18-month treatment period in patients with type 2 DM, pioglitazone slowed progression of CIMT compared with glimepiride"

Effects of rosiglitazone and pioglitazone combined with metformin on the prothrombotic state of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus and metabolic syndrome - J Int Med Res. 2006 Sep-Oct;34(5):545-55 - "In patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus and metabolic syndrome, the combination of metformin plus thiazolidinediones improved glycaemic control and produced a slight but significant reduction in plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 levels"

• Plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - "PAI-1 is present in increased levels in various disease states, as well as in obesity and the metabolic syndrome. It has been linked to the increased occurrence of thrombosis in patients with these conditions"

Assessment of left ventricular diastolic function with pioglitazone in type 2 diabetic patients - J Cardiol. 2006 Nov;48(5):263-7 - "Pioglitazone administration improves and cessation worsens left ventricular diastolic function"

Do glucosamine and chondroitin worsen blood sugar control in diabetes? - J Fam Pract. 2006 Dec;55(12):1091-3 - "Despite theoretical risks based on animal models given high intravenous doses, glucosamine/chondroitin (1500 mg/1200 mg daily) does not adversely affect short-term glycemic control for patients whose diabetes is well-controlled, or for those without diabetes or glucose intolerance"

What is the dietary treatment for low HDL cholesterol? - J Fam Pract. 2006 Dec;55(12):1076-8 - "Low-carbohydrate diets raise high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol levels by approximately 10%; soy protein with isoflavones raises HDL by 3% ... Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet and multivitamin supplementation raise HDL 21% to 33%"

Vitamin D Deficiency Is Associated With Low Mood and Worse Cognitive Performance in Older Adults - Am J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2006 Dec;14(12):1032-1040 - "In a cross-section of older adults, vitamin D deficiency was associated with low mood and with impairment on two of four measures of cognitive performance"

Glycemic Durability of Rosiglitazone, Metformin, or Glyburide Monotherapy - N Engl J Med. 2006 Dec 4- "Kaplan-Meier analysis showed a cumulative incidence of monotherapy failure at 5 years of 15% with rosiglitazone, 21% with metformin, and 34% with glyburide. This represents a risk reduction of 32% for rosiglitazone, as compared with metformin, and 63%, as compared with glyburide (P<0.001 for both comparisons). The difference in the durability of the treatment effect was greater between rosiglitazone and glyburide than between rosiglitazone and metformin. Glyburide was associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular events (including congestive heart failure) than was rosiglitazone (P<0.05), and the risk associated with metformin was similar to that with rosiglitazone. Rosiglitazone was associated with more weight gain and edema than either metformin or glyburide but with fewer gastrointestinal events than metformin and with less hypoglycemia than glyburide"

A placebo-controlled trial of pioglitazone in subjects with nonalcoholic steatohepatitis - N Engl J Med. 2006 Nov 30;355(22):2297-307 - "Diet plus pioglitazone, as compared with diet plus placebo, improved glycemic control and glucose tolerance (P<0.001), normalized liver aminotransferase levels as it decreased plasma aspartate aminotransferase levels (by 40% vs. 21%, P=0.04), decreased alanine aminotransferase levels (by 58% vs. 34%, P<0.001), decreased hepatic fat content (by 54% vs. 0%, P<0.001), and increased hepatic insulin sensitivity (by 48% vs. 14%" - Note:  The way I understand it, alanine aminotransferase is the ALT (also called serum glutamic pyruvic transaminase (SGPT)) you see on most complete blood counts and some say you should keep it below 30 IU/L.  See the next article.  A 58% reduction in ALT sounds significant to me but I'm not a doctor.  Aspartate aminotransferase is AST (also known as serum glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase (SGOT)).

• Elevated ALT Levels Predict Risk of Death From Liver Cancer - Medscape, 11/2/06 - "Upper limits of normal range from 30 IU/L to 60 IU/L, depending on the laboratory. "We want to reset it southward of 30 IU/L," ... ALT levels are a reflection of the general vascular condition ... If the level is above 30, then that person probably has a problem — fatty liver or some vascular disease, including occlusive coronary artery disease"

Metabolic syndrome treatment strategies - Pharmacotherapy. 2006 Dec;26(12 Pt 2):222S-6S - "Lifestyle modification can be summarized as dietary changes, exercise, and smoking cessation. Drug therapy indicated for cardiometabolic risk reduction includes antihypertensives, insulin sensitizers, and cholesterol-lowering agents. In addition, two drugs-sibutramine and rimonabant-have been evaluated and produced promising outcomes in the overall management of high-risk patients with metabolic syndrome"

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