Recent Longevity News for the seven days ending 1/23/08.  You should consult your doctor if you are taking any medications.

Ovarian Cancer Risk Not Affected By Alcohol And Smoking, But Reduced By Caffeine, Study Finds - Science Daily, 1/22/08 - "they observed an inverse trend of risk with total caffeine and caffeinated coffee intake, but no association with decaffeinated coffee"

Green tea shows benefits against fatty liver - Nutra USA, 1/22/08 - "the obese mice fed the GTE-supplemented diets had 23 to 25 per cent less body than the obese mice fed the non-supplemented diet. Moreover, the lean mice fed the GTE-supplemented diets had 11 to 20 per cent less body than their lean counterpart on the non-supplemented diet ... Measurements of the blood enzymes alanine aminotransferase and aspartate aminotransferase, used as markers of liver damage, showed that GTE-supplementation was associated with 30 to 41 per cent and 22 to 33 per cent lower activities, respectively" - [Abstract] - Note:  Alanine aminotransferase is the "ALT" you see on blood tests and aspartate aminotransferase is the "AST" you see on blood tests.  See green tea extract at Amazon.com.

Vitamin E for Vitality? - WebMD, 1/22/08 - "people with high blood levels of vitamin E showed a milder decline in their physical function test scores" - [Science Daily] - Note:  I feel that the reason the studies stress food as the source is because you are getting the mixed form of vitamin E instead of the alpha-tocopherol found in most supplements, which may lower the other forms.  See:

• Effect of oral supplementation with D-alpha-tocopherol on the vitamin E content of human low density lipoproteins and resistance to oxidation - J Lipid Res. 1991 Aug;32(8):1325-32 - "gamma-Tocopherol significantly decreased in plasma and LDL during vitamin E (alpha-tocopherol) supplementation" - Jarrow FamilE (contains all eight members of the vitamin E family, includes Tocomin) at Amazon.com.

Essential Fatty Acid Accelerates Treatment Response in Early Psychosis - Medscape, 1/22/08 - "For the primary and secondary prevention of emerging psychotic disorders, physicians should "keep an open mind towards neuroprotective substances, such as omega-3 fatty acids or other experimental neuroprotective substances,"" - See Mega Twin EPA at Amazon.com.

Androgen-Deprivation Therapy Linked to Diabetes - Medscape, 1/22/08 - "After controlling for other factors, the estimated relative risk of incident diabetes associated with ADT was a significant 1.36"

Fitness Cuts Men's Death Rate - WebMD, 1/22/08 - "Compared to men with a low level of fitness, death rates were 50% lower for highly fit men and 70% lower for men in the "very fit" category" - I did a search for the abstract and it's not available yet but that pub (Circulation) is in my RSS feed so I should have it next week.

Citrus flavanones show neuroprotection potential - Nutra USA, 1/21/08 - "These results first demonstrate that the citrus flavanones hesperidin, hesperetin, and neohesperidin, even at physiological concentrations, have neuroprotective effects against H2O2-induced cytotoxicity in PC12 cells ... These dietary antioxidants are potential candidates for use in the intervention for neurodegenerative diseases ... One such disease that is mentioned Alzheimer's disease" - [Abstract] - See hesperidin at Amazon.com.

• High Levels of HDL Cholesterol Can Save Your Life - ABC News, 11/3/00 - "So how much HDL is enough? Current guidelines say 35 milligrams per deciliter of blood (mg/dl) is normal, but most cardiologists would prefer you to have an HDL count that’s twice that. “The higher the better,” says Gaziano. “Once you get over 60 mg/dl, it’s a strong positive factor in avoiding heart disease.” ... this will increase your HDL by 21 percent (or 10 to 20 points) within 4 weeks. “We’re not sure, but this effect may be due to a flavonoid in orange juice called hesperidin"

Pros, Cons Of Drug Proven To Prevent Prostate Cancer Should Be Considered, Researchers Recommend - Science Daily, 1/21/08 - "Finasteride is currently the only drug that has been shown to prevent prostate cancer in a large in addition to preventing prostate cancer, finasteride also reduces urinary-tract symptoms associated with benign prostatic hyperplasia. It also decreased sexual desire and caused impotence in 5 percent of the trial participants ... randomized trial but is used for this purpose in very few men" - See finasteride at OffshoreRx1.com.

• Should finasteride be used to prevent prostate cancer? - Curr Treat Options Oncol. 2006 Sep;7(5):346-54 - "At trial's end, there was a 25% reduction in period prevalence in all prostate cancers (24.4% for placebo vs 18.4% for finasteride)"
• Prostate Drug May Not Dim Sex - WebMD, 6/26/07 - "Six months after the men started taking their assigned drugs, the survey scores were about three points higher for the men taking Proscar. By the end of the study, that gap narrowed to about two points"

Consuming Extra Virgin Olive Oil Helps To Combat Degenerative Diseases Such As Cancer, Study Suggests - Science Daily, 1/21/08 - "consumption of olive oil rich in polyphenols (natural antioxidants) improves the lives of people suffering from oxidative stress, and is also highly beneficial for the prevention of cell aging and osteoporosis"

Broccoli Good for the Heart - WebMD, 1/18/08 - "The rats that had eaten the broccoli extract had three heart advantages over the other rats: ... Better blood-pumping ability ... Less heart damage during oxygen deprivation ... Higher levels of heart-health chemicals during oxygen deprivation ... Broccoli's key nutrients include selenium and sulforaphane, which may also curb cancer" - See indole-3-carbinol at Amazon.com.

Vitamin B6 may slash colorectal cancer risk - Nutra USA, 1/17/08 - "High vitamin B6 intakes were reported to reduce the risk of colorectal cancer by 19 per cent. The protective effect was found to be higher among 55-year-old individuals (1,001 cases compared to 1,010 controls)" - [Abstract]

ACE Inhibitors or ARBs in Hypertension? In Chronic Kidney Disease? - Medscape, 1/17/07 - "ARBs and ACE inhibitors were similarly effective at lowering proteinuria, ARBs were more effective than calcium-channel blockers, and a combination of ARBs and ACE inhibitors was more effective than either agent alone"

Probiotics 'have effects on gut' - BBC News, 1/16/08 - "Our study shows that probiotics can have an effect and they interact with the local ecology and talk to other bacteria"

Abstracts from this week's Doctor's Guide Nutrition/Dietetics plus abstracts from my RSS feeds (Click here for the journals, the PubMed ones at the top):

Egg Consumption and Risk of Heart Failure in the Physicians' Health Study - Circulation. 2008 Jan 14 - "Although egg consumption up to 6 times per week was not associated with incident HF, egg consumption of >/=7 per week was associated with an increased risk of HF. Compared with subjects who reported egg consumption of <1 per week, hazard ratios (95% confidence intervals) for HF were 1.28 (1.02 to 1.61) and 1.64 (1.08 to 2.49) for egg consumption of 1 per day and >/=2 per day, respectively, after adjustment for age, body mass index, smoking, alcohol consumption, exercise, and history of atrial fibrillation, hypertension, valvular heart disease, and hypercholesterolemia"

Green Tea Extract Protects Leptin-Deficient, Spontaneously Obese Mice from Hepatic Steatosis and Injury - J Nutr. 2008 Feb;138(2):323-331 - "Histologic evaluation showed a significant reduction in hepatic steatosis in GTE-fed obese mice only and histologic scores were correlated with hepatic lipid concentration (r = 0.84; P < 0.05), which was reduced dose dependently by GTE. GTE protected against hepatic injury as suggested by 30-41% and 22-33% lower serum alanine aminotransferase and aspartate aminotransferase activities, respectively" - Note:  Alanine aminotransferase is the "ALT" you see on blood tests and aspartate aminotransferase is the "AST" you see on blood tests.  See green tea extract at Amazon.com.

Vegetables- and antioxidant-related nutrients, genetic susceptibility, and non-Hodgkin lymphoma risk - Cancer Causes Control. 2008 Jan 17 - "For the GSTM3 3-base insertion and higher total vegetable intake, the risk was 0.56 (0.35-0.92, p interaction = 0.03); for GSTP1 A114V and higher cruciferous vegetable intake, the risk was 0.52 (0.34-0.81, p interaction = 0.02); for OGG1 S326C and higher daily zinc intake, the risk was 0.71 (0.47-1.08, p interaction = 0.04) and for XRCC3 T241M and higher green leafy vegetable intake, the risk was 0.63"

Chronic administration of Sildenafil improves markers of endothelial function in men with Type 2 diabetes - Diabet Med. 2008 Jan;25(1):37-44 - "In DM2 patients, daily sildenafil administration improves endothelial function and reduces markers of vascular inflammation, suggesting that the diabetes-induced impairment of endothelial function may be improved by prolonged phosphodiesterase-5 inhibition"

Neuroprotective Effects of the Citrus Flavanones against H2O2-Induced Cytotoxicity in PC12 Cells - J Agric Food Chem. 2008 Jan 12 - "the citrus flavanones hesperidin, hesperetin, and neohesperidin, even at physiological concentrations, have neuroprotective effects against H 2O 2-induced cytotoxicity in PC12 cells. These dietary antioxidants are potential candidates for use in the intervention for neurodegenerative diseases" - See hesperidin at Amazon.com.

Recreational Physical Activity and Cancer Risk in Subsites of the Colon (the Nord-Trondelag Health Study) - Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2008 Jan;17(1):183-8 - "Overall, we found an inverse association between recreational physical activity and colon cancer risk, but subsite analyses showed that the association was confined to cancer in the transverse and sigmoid colon. The adjusted HR, comparing people who reported high versus no physical activity, was 0.44 (95% CI, 0.25-0.78) for cancer in the transverse colon and 0.48 (95% CI, 0.31-0.75) for cancer in the sigmoid colon. The corresponding HR for cancer mortality was 0.33 (95% CI, 0.14-0.76) for the transverse colon and 0.29 (95% CI, 0.15-0.56) for the sigmoid colon. For rectal cancer, there was no association with physical activity in these data"

Dietary vitamin b6 intake and the risk of colorectal cancer - Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2008 Jan;17(1):171-82 - "Moderately strong inverse and dose-dependent associations in the whole sample were found between CRC risk and the intake of dietary and total vitamin B6 in all three models [model III: odds ratio (OR), 0.77; 95% confidence interval (95% CI), 0.61-0.98; P for trend = 0.03; OR, 0.86; 95% CI, 0.69-1.07; P for trend = 0.12]. In addition, meta-analyses of published studies showed inverse associations between vitamin B6 and CRC (combined relative risk, 0.81; 95% CI, 0.68-0.96; test for overall effect P = 0.01; combined odds ratio, 0.67; 95% CI, 0.60-0.75; test for overall effect P < 0.00001)"

The effect of dietary fish oil-supplementation to healthy young men on oxidative burst measured by whole blood chemiluminescence - Br J Nutr. 2008 Jan 17;:1-9 - "These results indicate that n-3 LCPUFA may have immuno-stimulating effects"

Dietary carotenoids, vitamins C and e, and risk of cataract in women: a prospective study - Arch Ophthalmol. 2008 Jan;126(1):102-9 - "In these prospective observational data from a large cohort of female health professionals, higher dietary intakes of lutein/zeaxanthin and vitamin E from food and supplements were associated with significantly decreased risks of cataract"

Meat intake and the risk of hypertension in middle-aged and older women - J Hypertens. 2008 Feb;26(2):215-222 - "Red meat intake was positively associated, whereas poultry intake was unassociated, with the risk of hypertension in middle-aged and older women"

Health Focus (Memory and Hypertension):

• n-3 Fatty acids, hypertension and risk of cognitive decline among older adults in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study - Public Health Nutr. 2008 Jan;11(1):17-29 - "Word Fluency Test (WFT) ... an increase of one standard deviation in dietary long-chain n-3 fatty acids (% of energy intake) and balancing long-chain n-3/n-6 decreased the risk of 6-year cognitive decline in verbal fluency with an odds ratio (95% confidence interval) of 0.79 (0.66-0.95) and 0.81 (0.68-0.96), respectively, among hypertensives. An interaction with hypertensive status was found for dietary long-chain n-3 fatty acids (g day-1) and WFT decline (likelihood ratio test, P = 0.06). This exposure in plasma cholesteryl esters was also protective against WFT decline, particularly among hypertensives (OR = 0.51" - See Mega Twin EPA at Amazon.com.
• High Blood Pressure Associated With Risk For Mild Cognitive Impairment - Science Daily, 12/12/07 - "Hypertension (high blood pressure) was associated with an increased risk of all types of mild cognitive impairment that was mostly driven by an increased risk of non-amnestic mild cognitive impairment ... Preventing and treating hypertension may have an important impact in lowering the risk of cognitive impairment"
• High Blood Pressure May Heighten Effects Of Alzheimer's Disease - Science Daily, 11/28/07 - "Having hypertension, or high blood pressure, reduces blood flow in the brains of adults with Alzheimer's disease"
• Arterial Stiffness and Memory and Concentration - Medscape, 11/23/07 - "Increasing pulse-pressure levels and higher baseline pulse-wave velocity — indications of increased arterial stiffness — were linked to a decline in memory and concentration among aging individuals who participated in the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging"
• High Blood Pressure Or Irregular Heartbeat Linked To Alzheimer's Disease Progression - Science Daily, 11/5/07 - "10 with high blood pressure (systolic pressure over 160) at the time of AD diagnosis showed a rate of memory loss roughly 100 percent faster than those with normal blood pressure ... 10 with atrial fibrillation at the time of the diagnosis showed a rate of memory decline that was 75 percent faster than those with normal heartbeats"
• Antihypertensive Treatment May Help Maintain Memory - Medscape, 9/27/07 - "Pretreatment correlation of parietal and prefrontal change was 0.61 vs 0.94 after treatment. According to the investigators, similar differences were observed for all areas, with an average pretreatment correlation of 0.66 vs an average posttreatment correlation of 0.91"
• Some Hypertension Drugs May Help Reduce Dementia Risk - Science Daily, 5/5/07 - "Centrally acting drugs include captropril (Capoten®), fosinopril (Monopril®), lisinopril (Prinivil® or Zestri®), perindopril (Aceon®), ramipril (Altace®) and trandolapril (Mavik®) ... The study found a link between taking centrally active ACE inhibitors and lower rates of mental decline as measured by the Modified Mini-Mental State Exam, a test that evaluates memory, language, abstract reasoning and other cognitive functions"
• Elderly Blood Pressure Variability Affects Cognitive Function - Doctor's Guide, 5/26/06 - "study suggested that lowering the systolic BP by 20 mm Hg or diastolic blood pressure by 10 mm Hg would have a considerable beneficial effect on the preservation of cognitive abilities in the whole population"
• Senior Moment? Check Blood Pressure - WebMD, 5/17/06 - "the greater the numeric differences in blood pressure readings during the day, the greater the risk of cognitive dysfunction"
• Sustained Blood Pressure Treatment Lowers Dementia Risk In Elderly - Science Daily, 4/10/06 - "each year of treatment reduced the risk of developing dementia during the follow-up period by about 3 percent. Compared with men who were never treated for hypertension, the risk of developing dementia during the follow-up period was: ... 60 percent lower in those treated more than 12 years -- similar to the risk in a control group of 446 men with normal blood pressure"
• Uncontrolled High Blood Pressure Means More Cognitive Problems in Old Age - Doctor's Guide, 12/5/05
• Hypertension Control May Lower Risk of Dementia - Clinical Psychiatry News, 10/13/05 - "effective antihypertensive therapy may reduce cognitive decline in these patients"
• Brain May Benefit by Lowering Blood Pressure - WebMD, 9/7/05 - "lowering blood pressure may halt or slow the progression of brain abnormalities called white matter hyperintensities (WMH) ... WMH may be accompanied by dementia, depression, and trouble with walking"
• High Blood Pressure Related Decline in Cognitive Function Affects Adults Young and Old - Doctor's Guide, 10/5/04 - "To the extent that BP (blood pressure) effects on cognition are not reversible, it is important to prevent an increase in BP levels as early as possible in the life cycle"
• Hypertension Linked to Cognitive Decline at All Ages - Medscape, 10/4/04
• High Blood Pressure and the Elderly Mind - WebMD, 10/30/03
• Hypertension May not Speed Brain Decline - WebMD, 9/29/03
• High Blood Pressure Causes Memory Lapse? - WebMD, 9/23/03 - "some short-term memory lapses often attributed to aging may actually result from having high blood pressure"
• Perindopril/Indapamide Therapy May Help Reduce Dementia Risk In Patients With Cerebrovascular Disease - Doctor's Guide, 6/16/03
• Low Blood Pressure and Risk of Dementia in the Kungsholmen Project: A 6-Year Follow-up Study - Archives of Neurology, 2/03 - "Subjects with very high systolic pressure (>180 vs 141-180 mm Hg) had an adjusted relative risk of 1.5 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.0-2.3; P = .07) for Alzheimer disease, and 1.6 (95% CI, 1.1-2.2) for dementia ... high diastolic pressure (>90 mm Hg) was not associated with dementia incidence, whereas extremely low diastolic pressure (65 vs 66-90 mm Hg) produced an adjusted relative risk of 1.7 (95% CI, 1.1-2.4) for Alzheimer disease and 1.5 (95% CI, 1.0-2.1; P = .03) for dementia"
• Blood Pressure Linked To Cognitive Performance In Elderly Men - Doctor's Guide, 2/11/03 - "Diastolic blood pressure at 68 years of age showed an inverse relationship to men's performance on verbal, spatial and speed assessments when tested at 81 years ... systolic blood pressure at 68 years showed an inverse relationship with spatial performance"
• BP Lowering May Halt Descent Into Dementia - Clinical Psychiatry News, 12/02 - "Dr. Hansson served as cochair of SCOPE, a 15-nation study in which 4,937 mildly hypertensive patients aged 70-89 were randomized to the angiotensin-receptor blocker candesartan or diuretic-based therapy. Serial Mini-Mental Status Exams (MMSEs) conducted during more than 18,000 patient-years of follow-up demonstrated that among individuals with a baseline MMSE of 24-28—indicative of normal to slightly impaired cognitive function—those in the candesartan arm had a mean 0.5-point decline in MMSE scores during follow-up, compared with a 6-point drop in those on a diuretic. The cognitive benefit was even more pronounced in patients over age 85"
• Blood Pressure Medication Preserves Cognitive Function In Older African-Americans - Doctor's Guide, 10/14/02
• Blood Pressure Meds Help Heart and Mind - WebMD, 10/14/02
• Blood Pressure Drugs Keep Brain Healthy - KGTV.com, 10/14/02 - "the continuous use of medications to lower blood pressure reduced the risk of memory loss by more than one-third"
• Hypertension May Signal Vascular Dementia For Some In Later Life - Doctor's Guide, 5/7/02
• Lowering High Blood Pressure Can Reverse Some Dementia in the Elderly, Improves Memory and Thinking Limited by Vascular Dementia - WebMD, 5/18/01 - "At 12 weeks, both thinking and memory improved by 15% to 40%, and there were similar improvements in gait and other movements, says Jacobson. These improvements were still present at six months"
• Blood Pressure Control Improves Cognitive Function In Hypertensive Patients - Doctor's Guide, 5/17/01 - "When the tests were repeated at 12 and 24 weeks, patients averaged a 15-40 percent improvement in the areas of executive function, memory, concentration and information processing, as well as spatial skills and some motor function"
• Short-term Cognition Improves With Seroquel (Quetiapine Fumarate) for Schizophrenia or Schizoaffective Disorder - Doctor's Guide, 5/8/01
• Cognitive Effects Seen With Mild Hypertension - Doctor's Guide, 2/19/01 - "But even in these young, high functioning, mild hypertensives you can find differences and deficits in cognitive function of about 4 Intelligence Quotient (IQ) points."
• Dementia Protection Of Anti-Hypertensive Medication Underestimated - Doctor's Guide, 1/23/01
• Lower Blood Pressure Means Less Chance of Dementia, Study Finds Thinking Skills Fall in People With High BP - WebMD, 12/14/00
• High blood pressure, cholesterol and weight increase dementia risk - Doctor's Guide, 5/2/00
• High Blood Pressure Linked To Mental Decline - Doctor's Guide, 11/10/98
• Antihypertensive Drugs May Lower Risk Of Dementia - Doctor's Guide, 10/23/98
• High Blood Pressure Could Mean Greater Risk Of Dementia - Doctor's Guide, 3/19/98
• High Blood Pressure Speeds Brain Shrinkage And Memory Loss In Elderly - Doctor's Guide, 7/7/97
• Research: Hypertension speeds up brain aging, shrinkage - CNN, 7/7/00

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