Recent Longevity News for the seven days ending 2/28/07.  You should consult your doctor if you are taking any medications.

Heart Disease Deaths Increased in the Presence of Androgen Deprivation Therapy - Doctor's Guide, 2/27/07 - "risk was 3% over 5 years compared with 0.9% for men not taking androgen deprivation therapy"

Statin Therapy Cuts Bad Cholesterol Unprecedented 70% - Doctor's Guide, 2/27/07 - "40 mg of rosuvastatin and 10 mg ezetimibe ... Crestor and Zetia reduced mean LDL-C by an unprecedented 70%"

Vitamin A may reduce stomach cancer risk - Reuters, 2/26/07 - "A significantly lower likelihood of developing gastric cancer was seen with high intakes of dietary and total vitamin A and retinol, and of alpha-carotene and beta-carotene. Compared with the lowest intakes, the highest consumption of these compounds was associated with about a 50 percent reduction in the risk of gastric cancer"

Growth Hormone To Boost Athletic Performance Risks Diabetes - Science Daily, 2/26/07 - "The authors believe that this is the first reported case of diabetes associated with the use of high dose growth hormone, and urge anyone taking high doses to regularly check their blood sugar levels"

Garlic May Not Lower Cholesterol - WebMD, 2/26/07 - "The numbers just didn't move. There was no effect with any of these three products, even though fairly high doses were used"

Coffee: Aroma, Taste And Dietary Fiber - Science Daily, 2/26/07 - "soluble dietary fiber (SDF) ...brewed coffee contains a significant amount of SDF — 02.5 percent to 20.0 percent by weight of powdered coffee bean"

Study: Hormone patch safer than pill - USA Today, 2/25/07 - "Hormone skin patches and gels, it seems, are far less likely than pills to cause dangerous blood clots"

FDA approves ADHD drug Vyvanse - CNN, 2/23/07 - "the drug delays the onset and limits the intensity of amphetamine-like effects ... Unless it's swallowed, Vyvanse remains inactive. Shire believes that will curtail its potential for abuse by users who snort or inject crushed pills"

Balancing Omega-3 and Omega-6? - Dr. Weil, 2/22/07 - "Many nutrition experts believe that before we relied so heavily on processed foods, humans consumed omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids in roughly equal amounts. But to our great detriment, most North Americans and Europeans now get far too much of the omega-6s and not enough of the omega-3s. This dietary imbalance may explain the rise of such diseases as asthma, coronary heart disease, many forms of cancer, autoimmunity and neurodegenerative diseases, all of which are believed to stem from inflammation in the body. The imbalance between omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids may also contribute to obesity, depression, dyslexia, hyperactivity and even a tendency toward violence" - See Mega Twin EPA at Amazon.com.

Vitamin D May Reduce Falls In Elderly Nursing Home Residents - Science Daily, 2/22/07 - "seniors taking a high daily dose of vitamin D experienced 72 percent fewer falls compared to those taking a placebo ... The dose that was most effective, 800 International Units per day, is higher than the dose typically prescribed to seniors" - See Vitamin D products at iHerb.

Prenatal Vitamins May Prevent Common Childhood Cancers - Doctor's Guide, 2/22/07 - "prenatal supplementation of multivitamins containing folic acid is associated with a 47% protective effect for neuroblastoma, 39% for leukemia and 27% protective effect for brain tumours"

Diabetes Drug May Up Bone Fractures - WebMD, 2/22/07 - "Patients were followed for four to six years as they took their assigned drugs ... During that time, women taking rosiglitazone were more likely to have bone fractures than women taking either metformin or glyburide ... This problem was not seen in men taking rosiglitazone"

Rosiglitazone Linked to Fracture Risk in Women - Medscape, 2/21/07 - "Although results showed that rosiglitazone was significantly more effective than either metformin or glyburide in reducing the risk for therapeutic failure, women receiving the drug were significantly more likely than their metformin- and glyburide-treated counterparts to experience fractures of the humerus (rate per 100 patient-years, 0.23 for rosiglitazone vs 0 for metformin and 0 glyburide), hand (0.37 vs 0.21 and 0.06), or foot (1.01 vs 0.36 and 0.25)"

Boosting Brain Power -- With Chocolate - Science Daily, 2/21/07 - "the cocoa flavanols found in chocolate could be useful in enhancing brain function for people fighting fatigue, sleep deprivation, and even the effects of ageing"

Caffeine may be good for some aging hearts - Reuters, 2/21/07 - "For subjects 65 years of age or older, the researchers found that greater daily consumption of caffeinated beverages was associated with a lower risk of death from heart disease. This acted in a dose-response fashion - the higher the caffeine level, the lower the risk, and visa versa"

MedWatch: Treatment of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus - Doctor's Guide, 2/21/07 - "Significantly more female patients who received rosiglitazone experienced fractures of the upper arm, hand, or foot, than did female patients who received either metformin or glyburide"

High Folate Intake May Lower AD Risk - Clinical Psychiatry News, 2/07 - "The risk of AD decreased with increasing intake of folate but not of vitamins B6 or B12" - See iHerb folic acid products.

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

The effect of a 12-week low glycaemic index diet on heart disease risk factors and 24 h glycaemic response in healthy middle-aged volunteers at risk of heart disease: a pilot study - Eur J Clin Nutr. 2007 Feb 21 - "only the low GI group lost weight ... This pilot study provides some evidence that consuming a low GI diet in addition to weight loss and healthy eating may reduce cardiovascular risk"

Six months of isoflavone supplement increases fat-free mass in obese-sarcopenic postmenopausal women: a randomized double-blind controlled trial - Eur J Clin Nutr. 2007 Feb 21 - "fat-free mass (FFM) and muscle mass index (MMI=appendicular FFM/height(2)) ... The isoflavone group increased significantly appendicular (P=0.034), leg (P=0.016) FFM and MMI (P=0.037), but not the placebo group"

A randomized trial of the effects of rosiglitazone and metformin on inflammation and subclinical atherosclerosis in patients with type 2 diabetes - Am Heart J. 2007 Mar;153(3):445.e1-6 - "Metformin and rosiglitazone treatment led to similar significant improvements in glycemic control (HbA(1c) -1.08% in the rosiglitazone group and -1.18% in the metformin group, P = nonsignificant). High-sensitivity C-reactive protein levels decreased by an average of 68% in the rosiglitazone group (5.99 +/- 0.88 to 1.91 +/- 0.28 mg/L, P < .001), compared with a nonsignificant 4% reduction in hsCRP with metformin"

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