Recent Longevity News for the seven days ending 1/17/07.  You should consult your doctor if you are taking any medications.

Gum Disease Ups Pancreatic Cancer Risk - WebMD, 1/16/07 - "subjects who reported gum disease were 64% more likely to have pancreatic cancer ... Michaud and colleagues suggest that long-standing gum infections trigger a body-wide immune response: inflammation. Inflamed tissues give off chemical signals that promote tumor growth"

Worried About Prostate Cancer? Tomato-broccoli Combo Shown To Be Effective - Science Daily, 1/16/07 - "fed a diet containing 10 percent tomato powder and 10 percent broccoli powder to laboratory rats that had been implanted with prostate cancer cells ... The tomato/broccoli combo outperformed all other diets in shrinking prostate tumors ... The only treatment that approached the tomato/broccoli diet's level of effectiveness was castration ... To get these effects, men should consume daily 1.4 cups of raw broccoli and 2.5 cups of fresh tomato, or 1 cup of tomato sauce, or ½ cup of tomato paste"

Herbal Medicine May Be Effective for Low Back Pain - Medscape, 1/16/07 - "Short-term treatments with certain herbal medicines (including Devil's claw and willow bark) are effective for relief of acute low back pain" - See Devil's claw products and White willow bark products at iHerb.

Cloudy Apple Juice Has Clear Benefits - WebMD, 1/16/07 - "cloudy -- or unclarified -- apple juice contains up to four times the polyphenols as some types of clear apple juice"

Growth Hormone Ineffective for Anti-Aging, Studies Say - ABC News, 1/16/07 - "regular use of HGH in healthy adults can lead to diabetes and pre-diabetic conditions ... We found examples of how fat mass decreased on average a little over 4.5 pounds, and lean body mass, or muscle, increased by about 4.5 pounds ... When you're using a drug that costs that kind of money with the side effects that it has and the potential to cause the growth of cancer, I think that the risk outweighs this benefit" - Note:  I took HGH for five years and stopped.  The reason being is that I got cancer of the tonsil that spread to a lymph node in the neck.  The lymph node was a stage III about 1 inch in diameter.  How it got that big without me noticing it sooner is beyond me.  85% of head and neck cancers are with smokers and I've never smoked plus I've taken a lot of supplements that should have prevented the cancer so I blame it on the hGH.  Balboa Naval Hospital oncology told me I had a 30% survival if I got surgery and radiation and an oncology intern told me I didn't have a chance if I didn't get radiation yet I refused the radiation thinking I was a goner anyway.  I had the surgery.  They removed the tonsils and cut from the back of my ear down to the collar bone and then again over to my Adams apple and removed the neck tumor.  You can barely see the scars now and I've been cancer free for two years on 2/8/07 but I'm still keeping my fingers crossed.  Having had that death sentence really changed my life though.

Diabetes Drug [Actos® (pioglitazone)] Shows Promise For Preventing Brain Injury From Radiation Therapy - Science Daily, 1/12/07 - "the diabetes drug pioglitazone prevents inflammation. The drug activates a specific type of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors (PPARs) that control fat and glucose metabolism, and may be involved in inflammation"

A Curry A Day Keeps The Doctor Away? - Science Daily, 1/11/07 - "the chemical compound capsaicin -- which is responsible for the burning sensation when we eat chillies -- can kill cells by directly targeting their energy source ... It could mean that patients could control or prevent the onset of cancer by eating a diet rich in capsaicin" - See Curcumin/turmeric products at iHerb.

Biological Aging Predicts Heart Attack - WebMD, 1/11/07 - "People who age fast -- as measured by DNA shortening -- have a higher heart disease risk. Statin drugs may help ... Pravachol -- one of the "statin" family of cholesterol-lowering drugs -- dramatically lowered the heart disease risk of people with shorter telomeres. But the drug seemed to have little effect on heart disease risk in people with the longest telomeres"

Milk Eliminates Cardiovascular Health Benefits Of Tea, Researchers Warn - Science Daily, 1/9/07 - "black tea significantly improves the ability of the arteries to relax and expand, but adding milk completely blunts the effect"

Coffee helps douse workout pain - MSNBC, 1/10/06 - "Those who consumed caffeine one hour before the maximum force test had a 48 percent reduction in pain compared with the placebo group"

Little Proof That Brain Exercises Slow Mental Decline - Intelihealth, 1/9/07 - "there is little evidence that the brain training programs are worth the time and price"

Report: Has Your Coq10 Become Obsolete? - Life Extension Magazine, 1/07 - "scientists have demonstrated that the ubiquinol form of CoQ10 provides anti-aging effects that are far superior to those associated with the conventional ubiquinone form used by millions of Americans each day" - See Ubiquinol products at iHerb.

Report: Benfotiamine - Life Extension Magazine, 1/07 - "benfotiamine alleviates and may even reverse diabetic neuropathy, kidney disease, cardiac impairment, endothelial dysfunction, peripheral vascular disease, and diabetic retinopathy. With its proven ability to confer broad-spectrum support for the blood vessels, nerves, kidneys, eyes, and heart, benfotiamine should be considered a first-line defense against the debilitating consequences of diabetes and high blood sugar" - See Benfotiamine products at iHerb.

Maintain Healthy Muscle Mass As You Age - Life Extension Magazine, 1/07 - "By adopting a regimen that includes dietary modifications, hormone replacement therapy as indicated, nutritional supplements, and exercise, it is possible to dramatically improve lean muscle mass at virtually any age"

Replenishing The Aging Body’s Antioxidant Defenses - Life Extension Magazine, 1/07 - "Breakthroughs in nutritional science have led to the development of orally ingested, highly bioavailable forms of SOD. Combining orally available SOD with wolfberry offers a highly effective strategy to boost SOD levels and activity in the body. This novel combination protects against pain and inflammation, helps prevent a host of degenerative diseases, restores youthful energy and vitality, and promotes a long and healthy life span" - See SODzyme products at iHerb.

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

Role of ultraviolet B irradiance and vitamin d in prevention of ovarian cancer - Am J Prev Med. 2006 Dec;31(6):512-4 - "Solar UVB irradiance was inversely associated with incidence rates of ovarian cancer in this study, adding new evidence to the theory that vitamin D might play a role in the prevention of ovarian cancer"

The effect of telmisartan on glucose and lipid metabolism in nondiabetic, insulin-resistant subjects - Metabolism. 2006 Sep;55(9):1149-54 - "in insulin-resistant persons 12 weeks of telmisartan result in a significant improvement in glucose metabolism with a predominant improvement in beta-cell function"

Vitamin B6 supplementation increases immune responses in critically ill patients - Eur J Clin Nutr. 2006 Oct;60(10):1207-13 - "T-lymphocyte and T-helper cell numbers and the percentage of T-suppressor cell significantly increased on day 14 in the B6 -50 group. Total lymphocyte count, T-helper and T-suppressor cell numbers, the percentage of T-lymphocyte cells and T-suppressors significantly increased in the B6 -100 group at the 14th day"

Serum selenium and risk of prostate cancer--a nested case-control study - Am J Clin Nutr. 2007 Jan;85(1):209-17 - "higher serum selenium was associated with lower risks in men reporting a high (more than the median: 28.0 IU/d) vitamin E intake"

Risk assessment for vitamin D - Am J Clin Nutr. 2007 Jan;85(1):6-18 - "The UL established by the FNB for vitamin D (50 mug, or 2000 IU) is not based on current evidence and is viewed by many as being too restrictive, thus curtailing research, commercial development, and optimization of nutritional policy ... the absence of toxicity in trials conducted in healthy adults that used vitamin D dose >/=250 mug/d (10 000 IU vitamin D(3)) supports the confident selection of this value as the UL"

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