Recent Longevity News for the seven days ending 4/4/07.  You should consult your doctor if you are taking any medications.

Vitamin K may reverse arterial calcification - Nutra USA, 4/3/07 - "using 10-week old male Wistar Kyoto rats ... high-vitamin K intake (both K1 and K2) not only blocked the progress of further calcium accumulation but also lead to a greater than 37 per cent reduction of previously accumulated arterial calcium precipitates within six weeks" - See vitamin K at Amazon.com

Less Sleep May Lower Testosterone - WebMD, 4/2/07 - "The results of the study raise the possibility that older men who obtain less actual sleep during the night have lower blood testosterone levels in the morning"

Statins Take on Advanced Prostate Cancer - Physician's Weekly, 4/2/07 - "The use of statin drugs “was not associated with risk of prostate cancer overall but was associated with a reduced risk of advanced (especially metastatic or fatal) prostate cancer.” ... The relative risk was 0.60 for less than five years of statin use and for 0.26 for five or more years of use"

Report: Green Tea - Natural Support For Healthy Weight Control - Life Extension Magazine, 4/07 - "Strong scientific evidence suggests that green tea confers critical cardiovascular benefits, may protect against a variety of deadly cancers, reduces the risk of diabetic complications, and may mitigate the effects of various autoimmune disorders ... If these broad-spectrum benefits were not reason enough for health-conscious adults to consider adding green tea to their daily supplement regimen, emerging research that confirms green tea’s effects in facilitating fat burning, weight management, and optimal body composition surely is"

Diabetes drug 'protects arteries' - BBC News, 3/30/07 - "After 72 week, the thickness of the arteries increased by an average of 0.012 millimetres in the glimepiride group ... But among the patients given pioglitazone, average thickness actually fell by 0.001 millimetres ... Pioglitazone patients also recorded lower levels of sugar in their blood, and higher levels of beneficial HDL cholesterol"

Soy intake may stave off early prostate cancer - Reuters, 3/30/07 - "Consumption of isoflavones (principally genistein, but also daidzein and soy foods) was associated with a decreased risk of early prostate cancer ... Genistein and daidzein, however, were associated with an increased risk of advanced prostate cancer"

Nutrient Combo May Curb Hearing Loss - WebMD, 3/30/07 - "The guinea pigs that got the combination treatment of magnesium and vitamins A, C, and E had the least amount of noise-induced hearing loss and ear damage"

Sales of constipation drug stopped - USA Today, 3/30/07 - "Swiss pharmaceutical maker Novartis AG will stop selling a drug to relieve constipation after it was linked to a higher chance of heart attack, stroke and worsening heart chest pain that can become a heart attack ... Novartis agreed to withdraw Zelnorm at the FDA's request"

Omega-3 Fatty Acid May Protect Heart - WebMD, 3/29/07 - "2.8% of those taking EPA along with statins experienced a major coronary event, compared with 3.5% of those only taking statins ... That's a 19% difference" - See Mega Twin EPA at Amazon.com.

Calcium, vitamin D may ward off colorectal cancer - Reuters, 3/28/07 - "Comparing the highest calcium intakes with the lowest, the risk of developing colorectal cancer was reduced by 30 percent for men and by 36 percent for women ... Total vitamin D intake was inversely associated with colorectal cancer risk in men but not in women"

STARR: Rosiglitazone Shows Trend Toward Reduced Atherosclerosis Progression in Prediabetes Patients - Medscape, 3/28/07 - "The thiazolidinedione antidiabetes drug rosiglitazone (Avandia, GlaxoSmithKline) showed a trend toward a reduction in carotid intima media thickness (IMT) according to the primary end point measurement and a significant reduction according to the secondary end point measurement in the STARR study in patients with prediabetes. But the ACE inhibitor ramipril (Altace, King Pharmaceuticals) did not show any change in carotid IMT compared with placebo"

Sedentary behavior linked to high blood sugar - Reuters, 3/28/07 - "the more time women spent television viewing, the higher were their blood glucose levels two hours after they took the glucose test-drink ... This was not seen in men"

Study Links Beef to Lower Sperm Count - WebMD, 3/27/07 - "men whose mothers ate lots of beef during pregnancy may have lower sperm counts than other men ... residues of hormones given to beef to promote growth may be a factor, but that's not certain"

Flavonoid-rich diets may help reduce heart disease - Reuters, 3/27/07 - "Three subclasses of flavonoids, anthocyanidins, flavanones, and flavones, were linked to a significantly reduced risk of heart disease, blood vessel disease or cardiovascular disease mortality, the researchers found. Risk reductions ranged from 10 percent, for anthocyanidins and heart-related mortality, to 22 percent, for flavanones and heart disease"

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

The impact of olive oil consumption pattern on the risk of acute coronary syndromes: the cardio2000 case-control study - Clin Cardiol. 2007 Mar;30(3):125-9 - "Exclusive use of olive oil during food preparation seems to offer significant protection against CHD, irrespective of various clinical, lifestyle and other characteristics of the participants"

Omega 3 fatty acids and the brain: review of studies in depression - Asia Pac J Clin Nutr. 2007;16 Suppl:391-7 - "Experimental studies in animals have shown that diets lacking omega 3 PUFA lead to substantial disturbances in neural function, which in most circumstances can be restored by the inclusion of omega 3 PUFA in the diet ... It is clear from the literature that DHA is involved in a variety of processes in neural cells and that its role is far more complex than simply influencing cell membrane properties"

Dietary carotenoids and risk of breast cancer in Chinese women - Asia Pac J Clin Nutr. 2007;16 Suppl:437-42 - "higher intake of lycopene, beta-carotene and beta-cryptoxanthin is associated to a lower risk of breast cancer among Chinese women"

Tea and lycopene protect against prostate cancer - Asia Pac J Clin Nutr. 2007;16 Suppl:453-7 - "The protective effect of green tea was significant (odds ratio 0.14, 95% CI: 0.06-0.35) for the highest quartile relative to the lowest after adjusting for total vegetables and fruits intakes and other potential confounding factors. Intakes of vegetables and fruits rich in lycopene were also inversely associated with prostate cancer risk (odds ratio 0.18 ... habitual drinking tea and intakes of vegetables and fruits rich in lycopene could lead to a reduced risk of prostate cancer in Chinese men. Together they have a stronger preventive effect than either component taken separately" - See Jarrow Lyco-Sorb (contains Lyco-O-Mato) at Amazon.com and Jarrow green tea at iHerb.

Effect of L-carnitine and/or L-acetyl-carnitine in nutrition treatment for male infertility: a systematic review - Asia Pac J Clin Nutr. 2007;16 Suppl:383-90 - "the administration of LC and/or LAC may be effective in improving pregnancy rate and sperm kinetic features in patients affected by male infertility" - See Acetyl-L-Carnitine products at iHerb.

Vitamin d and reduced risk of breast cancer: a population-based case-control study - Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2007 Mar;16(3):422-9 - "We found strong evidence to support the hypothesis that vitamin D could help prevent breast cancer. However, our results suggest that exposure earlier in life, particularly during breast development, maybe most relevant" - See vitamin D products at iHerb.

Soy isoflavone intake inhibits bone resorption and stimulates bone formation in menopausal women: meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials - Eur J Clin Nutr. 2007 Mar 28 - "Isoflavone intervention significantly inhibits bone resorption and stimulates bone formation"

Soy Consumption, Markers of Inflammation, and Endothelial Function: A cross-over study in postmenopausal women with the metabolic syndrome - Diabetes Care. 2007 Apr;30(4):967-73 - "Short-term soy nut consumption reduced some markers of inflammation and increased plasma nitric oxide levels in postmenopausal women with the metabolic syndrome"

Rosiglitazone is more effective than metformin in improving fasting indexes of glucose metabolism in severely obese, non-diabetic patients - Diabetes Obes Metab. 2007 Mar 29 - "Our study shows that in severely obese, non-diabetic, hyperinsulinaemic patients undergoing a nutritional programme, rosiglitazone is more effective than metformin in producing favourable changes in fasting-based indexes of glucose metabolism, with a reduction of both insulin resistance and hyperinsulinaemia. In spite of previous studies reporting rosiglitazone-induced body weight gain, in our study the joint treatment with diet and rosiglitazone was accompanied by weight loss and fat mass reduction" - 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 insulin and aging.  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.  See rosiglitazone at OffshoreRx1.com.

Thiazolidinediones and vascular damage - Current Opinion in Endocrinology, Diabetes & Obesity. 14(2):108-115, April 2007 - "The thiazolidinedione class improves endothelial vasomotion, inhibits inflammatory and procoagulant processes and has powerful antiproliferative and antioxidant effects. Experimentally these agents retard atherosclerosis development in predisposed animals. Clinical studies demonstrate that they increase HDL cholesterol and LDL size, and may lower triglyceride levels. They modestly lower blood pressure, reduce microalbuminuria, arterial stiffness and reduce carotid wall thickening. These effects are generally independent of glucose lowering and in many instances have been shown to occur in nondiabetic subjects" - See Actos (pioglitazone HCl) and Avandia (rosiglitazone).

l-thyroxine augmentation of serotonergic antidepressants in female patients with refractory depression - J Affect Disord. 2007 Feb 6 - "Triiodothyronine (T3) augmentation in treatment-resistant depression had been successfully performed with both tricyclic as well as with SSRI antidepressants. In this paper, the efficacy of addition of moderate dose of l-thyroxine (T4) to serotonergic antidepressants in refractory depression was evaluated ... four weeks of l-thyroxine augmentation, the remission, assessed as 7 or less points on Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS) was obtained in eleven patients (64.7%). Five other patients (29.5%) had responded (reduction>50% on HDRS) and one patient did not show an improvement"

Supplementation with vitamins C and e improves arterial stiffness and endothelial function in essential hypertensive patients - Am J Hypertens. 2007 Apr;20(4):392-7 - "Combined treatment with vitamins C and E has beneficial effects on endothelium-dependent vasodilation and arterial stiffness in untreated, essential hypertensive patients"

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