Recent Longevity News for the seven days ending 4/18/07.  You should consult your doctor if you are taking any medications.

Popular Herbal Supplement Hinders The Growth Of Pancreatic Cancer Cells - Science Daily, 4/17/07 - "an extract of triphala, the dried and powdered fruits of three plants, caused pancreatic cancer cells to die through a process called apoptosis -- the body's normal method of disposing of damaged, unwanted or unneeded cells. This process often is faulty in cancer cells" - See triphala products at iHerb.

Red, processed meats linked to breast cancer - CNN, 4/17/07 - "Women who ate the most red meat (2 or more ounces per day) were 56 percent more likely to develop breast cancer than the women who ate no red meat ... those who ate the most processed meat (more than three quarters of an ounce per day) showed a 64-percent increase in their risk of the disease"

Fatty acid tied to depression and inflammation - Reuters, 4/17/07 - "the more omega-6 fatty acids people had in their blood compared with omega-3 fatty acid levels, the more likely they were to suffer from symptoms of depression and have higher blood levels of inflammation-promoting compounds" - See Mega Twin EPA at Amazon.com.

Eat Your Fruits And Vegetables: One Extra Serving Per Day May Lower Your Risk Of Head And Neck Cancer - Science Daily, 4/16/07 - "participants who ate six servings of fruit and vegetables per day per 1000 calories had 29 percent less risk for head and neck cancer than did participants who consumed one and a half servings per 1000 calories per day"

Effect of broccoli, soy on cancer cells explained - Reuters, 4/16/07 - "Cancer cells express very high levels of a surface receptor known as CXCR4, while the organs to which the cancers spread secrete high levels of CXCL12, a ligand that binds to that particular receptor ... when cancer cells were treated with either DIM or genistein, movement toward CXCL12 is reduced by at least 80 percent" - See diindolylmethane at Amazon.com.

Can Aspirin Help Keep Cancer At Bay? - Science Daily, 4/16/07 - "those who said they regularly used aspirin had a 16 percent reduced risk of developing cancer more than a decade later, as well as a 13 percent reduced risk of dying from cancer over this same time period, compared to women who did not use aspirin. But there was no statistically significant impact on cancer incidence or mortality among women who used non-aspirin NSAIDs"

Broccoli, soy anti-cancer benefits suggested - Nutra USA, 4/16/07 - "this attraction between CXCR4 and CXCL12 draws cancer cells to the organs they spread to ... exposure with either DIM or genistein cut movement by 80 per cent"

"Memory" herb ginkgo may boost survival - Reuters, 4/16/07 - "those who used the herb were 24 percent less likely to die over a 13-year period than their peers who didn't take ginkgo"

Eating Cured Meats Frequently Can Lead To Lower Lung Function And Potential COPD - Science Daily, 4/16/07 - "Frequent consumption of cured meats results in lower lung function test scores and increases the odds of developing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)"

Fish-diabetes pollution link may boost supplements - Nutra USA, 4/13/07 - "the risk of pollutants from oily fish, such a methyl mercury, dioxins, and polychlorinated biphenols (PCBs) have led to some claims to reduce fresh fish intake, especially for pregnant women who may damage the development of their babies ... Most extracted fish oils are molecularly distilled and steam deodorised to remove contaminants ... The study, led by Professor Duk-Hee Lee observed a link between POP levels and diabetes"

Fish pollutants' link to diabetes - BBC News, 4/12/07 - "An international team found high levels of persistent organic pesticides (POPs) in the blood correlated to insulin resistance"

A Lively Libido Isn’t Reserved for the Young - New York Times, 4/12/07 - "But the real libido hormone, for both men and women, is testosterone, which women produce in their ovaries and adrenal glands"

Fish Oil: Getting to the Heart of It - Medscape, 4/12/07 - "A food-based approach to increasing intake of omega-3 fatty acids is preferable. However, for those with known CHD, the increased dose required to lower triglycerides could be as much as 4 g/day. Consuming fish 2.5 to 3 times a week would provide a combined intake of about 500 mg EPA and DHA/day.[21] It is unrealistic to think that these high daily doses could be achieved through diet alone, resulting in a requirement for supplementation" - See Mega Twin EPA at iHerb.

Joint Supplements (Glucosamine, Chondroitin, and MSM) review - ConsumerLab.com, 4/12/07 - "eight supplements for osteoarthritis failed ConsumerLab's testing. Four of had less than 8% of their listed amounts of key ingredients, including a "maximum strength" product that contained no chondroitin at all. Three others had only 52% to 75% of listed ingredients. One failed because it would not properly break apart to release its glucosamine and chondroitin"

Arthritis supplements often come up short - MSNBC, 4/11/07 - "All the problems popped up among products that claimed to contain chondroitin, a key — and pricey — ingredient. Of 11 such brands, eight came up short on the substance, which is purported to inhibit enzymes that break down the cartilage in joints"

Job Stress Jacks Up Blood Pressure - WebMD, 4/10/07 - "Their blood pressure was highest on the job, when they had 5.9/3.0 mm Hg higher blood pressure than the nonstressed workers did. But the stressed-out workers also had higher blood pressure while at home, including while they were sleeping"

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

Doxycycline: A Pilot Study to Reduce Diabetic Proteinuria - Am J Nephrol. 2007 Apr 12;27(3):269-273 - "Mean (+/-SD) 24-hour urine protein was 888 +/- 419 mg at baseline, 884 +/- 368 mg after 1 month, and 643 +/- 386 mg after the 2 months of doxycycline treatment" - Another benefit of doxycyline:

• Low-dose Periostat (Doxycycline) Shows Benefits in Patients with Heart Failure - Doctor's Guide, 11/20/02 - "At six-month follow-up, sub-antimicrobial dose doxycyline significantly reduced CRP levels by 45.8 percent compared to baseline values (p<0.05). The drug was also associated with a 33.5 percent reduction in interleukin-6 and a 50 percent reduction in metalloproteinase ... The findings are exciting, since research is now showing that CRP is both a key marker of inflammation leading to future acute coronary events, but also that CRP itself may contribute to the initiation and progression of atherosclerosis"

Six months supplementation with conjugated linoleic acid induces regional-specific fat mass decreases in overweight and obese - Br J Nutr. 2007 Mar;97(3):550-60 - "randomised into two groups supplemented with either 3 x 4 g/d CLA or placebo for 6 months. CLA significantly decreased BFM at month 3 (Delta=- 0 x 9 %, P=0 x 016) and at month 6 (Delta=- 3 x 4 %, P=0 x 043) compared with placebo. The reduction in fat mass was located mostly in the legs (Delta=- 0 x 8 kg, P<0 x 001), and in women (Delta=-1 x 3 kg, P=0 x 046) with BMI >30 kg/m2 (Delta=-1 x 9 kg, P=0 x 011), compared with placebo. The waist-hip ratio decreased significantly (P=0 x 043) compared with placebo. LBM increased (Delta=+0 x 5 kg, P=0 x 049) within the CLA group ... Adverse events did not differ between the groups" - See CLA products at iHerb.

The triglyceride-lowering effects of a modest dose of docosahexaenoic acid alone versus in combination with low dose eicosapentaenoic acid in patients with coronary artery disease and elevated triglycerides - J Am Coll Nutr. 2006 Dec;25(6):480-5 - "randomized to either 1000 mg of DHA or 1252 mg of DHA + EPA for eight weeks ... Triglycerides decreased by an average of 21.8% in the DHA group (p < 0.001) and 18.3% in the DHA + EPA group (p < 0.001). The difference between groups was not significant. A greater proportion of subjects in the DHA group achieved triglyceride goal (less than 150 mg/dL) compared to the DHA + EPA group (24.6% versus 10.2%, p < 0.05)" - See Jarrow Max DHA at Amazon.com or Mega Twin EPA at Amazon.com.

Low Vitamin D Status Despite Abundant Sun Exposure - J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2007 Apr 10 - "sample of adults in Honolulu, HI, (latitude 21 degrees ) ... These data suggest that variable responsivity to UVB radiation is evident among individuals, causing some to have low vitamin D status despite abundant sun exposure" - See Vitamin D products at iHerb.

Muesli with 4 g oat beta-glucans lowers glucose and insulin responses after a bread meal in healthy subjects - Eur J Clin Nutr. 2007 Apr 4 - "Muesli enriched with 4 g of beta-glucans reduces postprandial glucose and insulin levels to a breakfast based on high glycaemic index products. A total of 4 g of beta-glucans from oats seems to be a critical level for a significant decrease in glucose and insulin responses in healthy people"

Treating hypertension in the patient with overt diabetic nephropathy - Semin Nephrol. 2007 Mar;27(2):182-94 - "The renoprotective and proteinuria-decreasing effects of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors and angiotensin-receptor blockers recommend these agents as the standard of care in type 2 diabetic nephropathy"

Superior effect of an angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor over a diuretic for reducing aortic systolic pressure - J Hypertens. 2007 May;25(5):1095-1099 - "a diuretic, like a beta-blocker agent, is not as effective a therapy as an ACE inhibitor in reducing aortic systolic and pulse pressure, and that the difference is not attributable to a change in heart rate"

Predictors of antihypertensive drug responses: initial data from a placebo-controlled, randomized, cross-over study with four antihypertensive drugs (The GENRES Study) - Am J Hypertens. 2007 Mar;20(3):311-8 - "The median BP responses in 24-h ambulatory recordings (systolic/diastolic) were 11/8 mm Hg for bisoprolol, 9/6 mm Hg for losartan, 7/5 mm Hg for amlodipine, and 5/2 mm Hg for hydrochlorothiazide. The highest pairwise within-subject correlations in BP responses were seen for the combinations of bisoprolol-losartan and amlodipine-hydrochlorothiazide"

The effects of irbesartan and telmisartan on metabolic parameters and blood pressure in obese, insulin resistant, hypertensive patients - J Endocrinol Invest. 2006 Dec;29(11):957-61 - "The greater impact on the improvement of the metabolic profile showed by telmisartan and the inverse correlation between adiponectin levels and blood pressure may be partly due to the action as partial PPARgamma agonist displayed by telmisartan" - Click here for reasons why I feel telmisartan should be the first line treatment for hypertension.  See telmisartan at OffshoreRx1.com.

The effects of quinapril and atorvastatin on the responsiveness to sildenafil in men with erectile dysfunction - Vasc Med. 2006 Nov;11(4):251-7 - "International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF) questionnaire ... Compared to placebo, quinapril (p < 0.01) significantly improved symptoms of ED as measured by the IIEF-5 questionnaire. There was a trend toward a significant improvement in IIEF-5 with atorvastatin" - See atorvastatin at OffshoreRx1.com.

Testosterone use in men with sexual dysfunction: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized placebo-controlled trials - Mayo Clin Proc. 2007 Jan;82(1):20-8 - "Testosterone use in men is associated with small improvements in satisfaction with erectile function and moderate improvements in libido"

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