Recent Longevity News for the seven days ending 3/26/08.  You should consult your doctor if you are taking any medications.

Mounting Evidence Shows Red Wine Antioxidant Kills Cancer - Science Daily, 3/25/08 - "Rochester researchers showed for the first time that a natural antioxidant found in grape skins and red wine can help destroy pancreatic cancer cells by reaching to the cell's core energy source, or mitochondria, and crippling its function ... The new study also showed that when the pancreatic cancer cells were doubly assaulted -- pre-treated with the antioxidant, resveratrol, and irradiated -- the combination induced a type of cell death called apoptosis, an important goal of cancer therapy" - [WebMD] - See resveratrol products at Amazon.com.

Antidepressants Linked To Type 2 Diabetes, Study Suggests - Science Daily, 3/25/08 - "the risk of diabetes almost doubled for the patients who were using two types of therapies at the same time, tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs) and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs)"

Metformin May Delay Onset of Diabetes in At-Risk Subjects - Medscape, 3/24/08 - "Metformin treatment, compared with placebo or no treatment, reduced body mass index by 5.3%, fasting glucose by 4.5%, fasting insulin by 14.4%, and calculated insulin resistance by 22.6% ... Metformin treatment also reduced triglycerides and LDL cholesterol by 5.3% and 5.6%, respectively, and increased HDL cholesterol by 5.0% ... The incidence of new-onset diabetes was reduced by 40% (odds ratio, 0.6), with an absolute risk reduction of 6%, during a mean trial duration of 1.8 years" - I don't have diabetes yet still take 1,000 mg of metformin per day.  I still feel high blood sugar and advanced glycation end products are major causes of aging.  See metformin at OffshoreRx1.com.

• Cross-link Breakers and Inhibitors - International Anti-Aging Systems - "metformin has a dual effect. It lowers blood glucose, (a well-known and established activity) plus, as new research is revealing, it is an effective inhibitor of cross-linking" - See metformin at The Antiaging Store.
• Metformin: The Most Effective Life Extension Drug is Also a Safe, Effective Weight Loss Drug - IAS Bulletin - "Metformin is also one of the most promising anti-aging, life extending drugs available"

Periodontal Disease Can Lead To Gestational Diabetes, Study Shows - Science Daily, 3/24/08 - "Inflammation associated with periodontal disease is believed to play a role in the onset of gestational diabetes, perhaps by interfering with the normal functioning of insulin, the hormone that regulates glucose metabolism"

Grape Skin Compound Fights The Complications Of Diabetes - Science Daily, 3/20/08 - "resveratrol, a compound present naturally in grape skin, can protect against the cellular damage to blood vessels caused by high production of glucose in diabetes" - See resveratrol products at Amazon.com.

Unselfish Spending Boosts Happiness - WebMD, 3/20/08 - "The happiest people were the biggest givers, no matter what they earned ... Regardless of how much income each person made, those who spent money on others reported greater happiness, while those who spent more on themselves did not"

Dads-to-Be May Need Folate, Too - WebMD, 3/20/08 - "Sperm with chromosomal abnormalities called aneuploidy were rare for all of the men, but they were 18% to 30% rarer in men who reported high folate or folic acid intake" - See folic acid at Amazon.com.

Anastrozole Accelerates Bone Loss - Medscape, 3/18/08 - "Anastrozole-treated women experienced a decrease in median BMD from baseline to 5 years in the lumbar spine (-6.08%) and total hip (-7.24). Tamoxifen-treated women had an increase in median BMD over the 5-year period in lumbar spine (+2.77%) and total hip (+0.74%)"

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):

Serum C-reactive protein concentrations are inversely associated with dietary flavonoid intake in u.s. Adults - J Nutr. 2008 Apr;138(4):753-60 - "Among the flavonoid compounds investigated, quercetin, kaempferol, malvidin, peonidin, daidzein, and genistein had inverse associations with serum CRP concentration"

Vitamin D endocrine physiology - J Bone Miner Res. 2007 Dec;22 Suppl 2:V25-7 - "Vitamin D(3) inputs from all sources required to sustain such a level amount to 3600-4200 IU/d. Daily oral intakes as high as 10,000 IU are safe" - See vitamin D at Amazon.com.

Vitamin D and skin physiology: a D-lightful story - J Bone Miner Res. 2007 Dec;22 Suppl 2:V28-33 - "The major cause of vitamin D deficiency globally is an underappreciation of sunlight's role in providing humans with their vitamin D(3) requirement. Very few foods naturally contain vitamin D, and those that do have a very variable vitamin D content. Recently it was observed that wild caught salmon had between 75% and 90% more vitamin D(3) compared with farmed salmon. The associations regarding increased risk of common deadly cancers, autoimmune diseases, infectious diseases, and cardiovascular disease with living at higher latitudes and being prone to vitamin D deficiency should alert all health care professionals about the importance of vitamin D for overall health and well being"

Vitamin D requirement during pregnancy and lactation - J Bone Miner Res. 2007 Dec;22 Suppl 2:V39-44 - "Current research has shown that the actual dietary requirement during pregnancy and lactation may actually be as high as 6000 IU/d" - See vitamin D at Amazon.com.

Vitamin D toxicity, policy, and science - J Bone Miner Res. 2007 Dec;22 Suppl 2:V64-8 - "The clinical trial evidence shows that a prolonged intake of 250 mug (10,000 IU)/d of vitamin D(3) is likely to pose no risk of adverse effects in almost all individuals in the general population; this meets the criteria for a tolerable upper intake level"

Calcitriol as a chemopreventive and therapeutic agent in prostate cancer: role of anti-inflammatory activity - J Bone Miner Res. 2007 Dec;22 Suppl 2:V74-80 - "Calcitriol, the hormonally active form of vitamin D, inhibits the growth and development of several cancers ... We conclude that calcitriol exerts several anti-inflammatory actions in prostate cells, which contribute to its potential as a chemopreventive and therapeutic agent in PCa" - See vitamin D at Amazon.com.

Coffee, tea, colas, and risk of epithelial ovarian cancer - Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2008 Mar;17(3):712-6 - "Neither caffeinated nor decaffeinated coffees were associated with ovarian cancer risk; also, we observed no association of total caffeine with risk using a combined index that summed intake from coffee, tea, and carbonated soft drinks. Among teas, neither herbal/decaffeinated nor black teas were associated with risk; however, women who reported drinking >/=1 cup/d of green tea had a 54% reduction in risk" - See green tea extract at Amazon.com.

Flavonoid intake and liver cancer: a case-control study in Greece - Cancer Causes Control. 2008 Mar 19 - "hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) ... Flavone intake, mostly derived from spinach and peppers, was inversely associated with both virus positive (P-trend, 0.049) and virus negative (P-trend, 0.084) HCC"

Health Focus (liver disease):

Elevated ALT Levels Predict Risk of Death From Liver Cancer - Medscape, 11/2/06 - "Upper limits of normal range from 30 IU/L to 60 IU/L, depending on the laboratory. "We want to reset it southward of 30 IU/L," ... ALT levels are a reflection of the general vascular condition ... If the level is above 30, then that person probably has a problem — fatty liver or some vascular disease, including occlusive coronary artery disease"

Related Liver Disease Topics:

• liver cancer / cirrhosis / hepatitis

Popular Liver Supplements:

• SAM-e / Milk Thistle / artichoke extract / B-complex / vitamin C / vitamin E / selenium / fatty acids / choline / carnitine / glutathione / vitamin K

Alternative Liver Disease News:

• Liver Degenerative Disease - Life Extension Foundation
• I have seen artichoke extract and milk thistle extract being promoted as liver remedies. Which one is better? - Dr. Murray
• Liver Health - Powerful Support for Liver Function & Hepatitis C - Dr. Murray (.pdf)
• Hepatoprotective effect of vitamin b(12) on dimethylnitrosamine-induced liver injury - Biol Pharm Bull. 2008 Feb;31(2):309-11 - "Vitamin B(12) decreased the blood levels of aspartate aminotransferase and alanine aminotransferase, and clearly inhibited the overaccumulation of collagen fibrils ... vitamin B(12) could be an effective hepatoprotective agent" - Note:  Aspartate aminotransferase is the AST reading on blood tests and alanine aminotransferase is the ALT.  See vitamin B12 at Amazon.com.
• 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.
• 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.
• Treatment With NAC Is Associated With Better Outcomes For Children With Liver Failure, Study Suggests - Science Daily, 1/3/08 - "The children who received NAC spent fewer days in intensive care, and in the hospital overall. 43 percent survived with their native liver, compared to 22 percent of children who did not receive NAC. And death rates while awaiting transplant, after transplant, and after ten years were notably lower in children who had received NAC" - See n-acetyl cysteine at Amazon.com.
• Dietary lipoic acid-dependent changes in the activity and mRNA levels of hepatic lipogenic enzymes in rats - Br J Nutr. 2007 Dec 7;:1-9 - "Lipoic acid profoundly decreased serum and liver concentrations of TAG, and also lowered serum concentrations of phospholipid and NEFA, and the concentration of cholesterol in the liver. A hypoglycaemic effect of this compound was also observed. Lipoic acid dose-dependently decreased the activity and mRNA levels of fatty acid synthase, ATP-citrate lyase, glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase, malic enzyme and pyruvate kinase in the liver despite that reductions were considerably attenuated in the NADPH-producing enzymes. This compound also dose-dependently lowered the mRNA levels of spot 14, adiponutrin, stearoyl-CoA desaturase 1, and Delta5- and Delta6-desaturases. In addition, lipoic acid dose-dependently lowered serum concentrations of insulin and leptin, but increased those of adiponectin. Lipoic acid appeared to reduce hepatic lipogenesis and hence decreases serum and liver lipid levels. Alterations in serum concentrations of insulin and (or) adiponectin may trigger this consequence" - See alpha lipoic acid at Amazon.com.
• Quick-burning Carbs May Cause Fatty Liver: Low-glycemic Diet Protected Mice - Science Daily, 9/21/07 - "After six months, the mice weighed the same. However, mice on the low-glycemic index diet were lean, with normal amounts of fat in throughout their bodies. Mice on the high-glycemic index diet had twice the normal amount of fat in their bodies, blood and livers"
• Starchy diet 'may damage liver' - BBC News, 9/21/07 - ""High-glycaemic" foods - rapidly digested by the body - could be causing "fatty liver", increasing the risk of serious illness ... After six months on the diet, the mice weighed the same, but those on the high GI diet had twice the normal amount of fat in their bodies, blood and livers"
• The Effect of a Silybin-Vitamin E-Phospholipid Complex on Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease: A Pilot Study - Dig Dis Sci. 2007 Apr 5 - "silybin conjugated with vitamin E and phospholipids could be used as a complementary approach to the treatment of patients with chronic liver damage"
• Zinc and the Liver: An Active Interaction - Dig Dis Sci. 2007 Apr 6 - "zinc could protect against liver diseases"
• Sugar intake may hurt liver - Reuters, 10/31/06 - "fatty liver disease was more common in the group given sugar water, especially when exposed to a type of sugar called fructose ... These data support the hypothesis that high fructose consumption may not only (damage) the liver through over-feeding, but may be directly" toxic"
  • Obesity and Fatty Liver disease - MedicineNet.com - "Doctors also are using medications to treat non alcoholic fatty liver disease. For example, insulin-sensitizing agents, such as the thiazolidinediones, pioglitazone (Actos) and rosiglitazone (Avandia), and metformin (Glucophage) not only help to control blood glucose in patients with diabetes, but they also improve enzyme levels in patients with non alcoholic fatty liver disease" - See pioglitazone or rosiglitazone at OffshoreRx1.com, XlPharmacy or SuperSaverMeds.com.
  • Avandia Positively Impacts On Factors Linked With Insulin Resistance - Doctor's Guide, 9/18/00 - "Increased deposits of fat around the internal organs and in the liver are commonly associated with insulin resistance and are found in many type 2 diabetes patients ... Avandia helps prevent accumulation of fat around the internal organs and significantly reduces hepatic fat"
  Is Coffee or Tea Good for Your Liver? - Medscape, 10/2/06 - "The consumption of coffee and tea is associated with a reduced risk of CLD"
• Nutritional Support in Chronic Liver Disease - Doctor's Guide, 4/21/06
• Prolonged n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid supplementation ameliorates hepatic steatosis in patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease: a pilot study - Aliment Pharmacol Ther. 2006 Apr 15;23(8):1143-51 - "non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) ... Supplementation with n-3 PUFA improves biochemical, ultrasonographic and haemodynamic features of liver steatosis. Our study supports the efficacy of n-3 PUFA as a new therapeutic approach in the treatment of NAFLD"
• Coffee and Tea Can Reduce Risk of Chronic Liver Disease - Doctor's Guide, 12/2/05 - "people at high risk for liver injury may be able to reduce their risk for developing chronic liver disease significantly by drinking more than two cups of coffee or tea daily. This preventative effect was only seen in people at higher risk for liver disease due to heavy alcohol intake, being overweight or having diabetes or iron overload"
• Component Of Green Tea Protects Injured Livers In Mice - Science Daily, 3/9/05
• Food Can Have Powerful Effect on Health - WebMD, 5/17/04 - "people who drank more than two cups of coffee a day were about half as likely to have elevated liver enzyme blood tests compared with those who consumed less than a cup a day. And when divided into five groups according to the total amount of caffeine consumed, people in the highest group had about one-third the risk of liver damage than those in the lowest group"
• Looking for a Liver Cure? - Dr. Weil, 5/13/04
• Weight Loss Helpful in Chronic Liver Disease - Medscape, 2/20/04
• A New Era for SAMe - Life Extension Magazine, 6/03
• SAMe Beneficial in Treating Osteoarthritis, Depression, and Liver Disease - New Hope Natural Media, 12/12/02
• Milk Thistle's Liver-Protective Properties - Nutrition Science News, 10/99
• Can Cirrhosis be Prevented? - Nutrition Science News, 1/99
• SAMe - Part 3: The Liver Super- Nutrient - Life Extension Magazine, 6/97

Other Liver Disease News:

• Elevated Liver Enzymes Associated With Higher Future Mortality - Science Daily, 3/4/08 - "Liver enzymes include aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT), and high concentrations in the blood tend to indicate liver disease ... elevated AST was associated with a significantly increased standardized mortality rate (SMR). Elevated ALT was also associated with a higher SMR. The SMRs ranged between 1.21 and 1.78 ... elevated serum AST and ALT may be markers of cardiovascular diseases (nearly 34 percent of the deaths in the study population were due to cardiovascular causes)"
• Fatty Fast Food, Idleness May Vex Liver - WebMD, 2/13/08 - "The students were asked to gain 5% to 15% of their body weight in a month by eating at least two daily meals at fast-food restaurants and adopting a sedentary lifestyle ... On average, the students gained 14 pounds, added 2.6 inches to their waistline, and padded their body fat percentage by 3.7% during the study ... Blood samples provided by the students throughout the study show a spike in levels of the liver enzyme alanine aminotransferase (ALT). ALT levels rose quickly -- typically within a week -- after the students started the fast-food diet"
• Liver damage 'could be reversed' - BBC News, 12/27/07
• Association between serum TSH, free T4 and serum liver enzyme activities in a large cohort of unselected outpatients - Clin Endocrinol (Oxf). 2007 Oct 17 - "GGT and ALT concentrations increased steadily across the increasing TSH categories (P < 0.0001 for trends), ranging from mean values of 36 to 62 U/l for GGT and from 29 to 41 U/l for ALT, respectively. Similarly, there was a negative, graded, relationship between serum GGT and ALT concentrations and free T4 categories"
• Liver dysfunction in paediatric obesity: a randomized, controlled trial of metformin - Acta Paediatr. 2007 Sep;96(9):1326-32 - "In obese adolescents fed ad libitum, metformin (a) prevented the rise in ALT concentrations that were observed in placebo-treated subjects at the 3 to 5 month time-points (p < 0.05); (b) reduced (p < 0.01) the percentage of all ALT values exceeding 40 U/L; and (c) caused a modest (10%) but statistically significant (p < 0.05) reduction in serum ALT in Caucasian subjects. Metformin had no effect on ALT levels or the ALT to AST ratio in the five African American adolescents enrolled in the study ... metformin might reduce the rates or severity of liver dysfunction in selected high-risk adolescents"
• Fatty Liver and the Metabolic Syndrome - Medscape, 3/1/07
• The association between non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and insulin resistance in 20 obese children and adolescents - Acta Paediatr. 2007 Jan;96(1):109-12 - "The high prevalence of insulin resistance we found in children with NAFLD confirms the suggestion that there may be an association between insulin resistance and NAFLD in obese children"
• Elevated ALT Levels Predict Risk of Death From Liver Cancer - Medscape, 11/2/06 - "Upper limits of normal range from 30 IU/L to 60 IU/L, depending on the laboratory. "We want to reset it southward of 30 IU/L," ... ALT levels are a reflection of the general vascular condition ... If the level is above 30, then that person probably has a problem — fatty liver or some vascular disease, including occlusive coronary artery disease"
• Drug 'may reverse liver disease' - BBC News, 9/26/06
• Combating Fatigue Associated with Liver Disease - Doctor's Guide, 5/25/05
• New Ways To Ease Liver Disease - Science Daily, 3/21/05
• Chronic Liver Failure To Be Treated Using Stem Cell Therapy - Science Daily, 11/15/04
• Stem Cells Can Convert to Liver Tissue, Help Restore Damaged Organ - Doctor's Guide, 6/2/04
• Intra-Arterial Folinic Acid and 5-Flurouracil Effective in Locally Advanced Hepatocarcinoma - Doctor's Guide, 5/19/04
• Obesity Epidemic Invades the Liver - Doctor's Guide, 5/14/04
• Chronic Liver Disease Patients May Have Impaired Driving Skills - Doctor's Guide, 10/31/03
• High-Fat Diet May Protect Liver in Morbidly Obese Patients - Doctor's Guide, 10/30/03
• Liver Function Test Correlates with Histologic Stage and Clinical Status in Patients with Hepatitis C-Related Chronic Liver Disease - Doctor's Guide, 2/20/03
• Hepatitis E Vaccine Recommended For Patients With Chronic Liver Disease - Doctor's Guide, 8/5/02
• Living Liver Donors Report High Satisfaction - Doctor's Guide, 6/24/02
• Recombinant Human Factor VIIa Enables Coagulation in Patients with Advanced Liver Disease - Doctor's Guide, 5/23/02
• Elevated Liver Enzymes in Obese Children - Doctor's Guide, 5/21/02 - "Childhood obesity may set the stage for liver damage, with elevated liver enzymes a warning sign ... Of the 90 percent of obese children who did not show elevated enzymes, "all probably had fatty liver" and were at risk for liver damage"
• Pulsatility Index May Help Predict Outcome in Liver Disease Patients - Doctor's Guide, 4/17/02
• New Diabetes Drugs Still Pose Liver Risks - WebMD, 3/19/02
• Steroid Withdrawal Accelerates Bone Mass Recovery After Successful Liver Transplantation - Doctor's Guide, 3/12/02
• Doctors Aware of Acetaminophen-Related Liver Risk, Must Educate Public - Doctor's Guide, 6/18/01
• FDA Probes New Acetaminophen Worry - Intelihealth, 3/27/01 - "There are warnings not to take it if you consume more than three alcoholic drinks ... acetaminophen overdoses could be a bigger cause of liver failure than some prescription drugs recently banned for liver poisoning, such as the diabetes medicine Rezulin ... He tracked more than 300 acute liver failure cases at 22 hospitals and linked 38 percent to acetaminophen ... In a second database tracking 307 adults suffering severe liver injury - not full-fledged failure - at six hospitals, Lee linked acetaminophen to 35 percent of cases ... initial symptoms are flu-like and doctors may not promptly test for acetaminophen's hallmark sky-high liver enzymes"
• Scanty Truncal Hair Distribution Occurs in Patients With Alcoholic Liver Disease - Doctor's Guide, 10/18/00
• Women More Likely To Develop Alcohol-Related Liver Disease - Doctor's Guide, 12/9/97
• CFC Alternative Causes Liver Disease - Doctor's Guide, 8/22/97