Recent Longevity News for the seven days ending 9/10/08.  You should consult your doctor if you are taking any medications.

Aging - Lack of B12 Linked to Brain Shrinkage - New York Times, 9/8/08 - "The group with the lowest levels of vitamin B12 lost twice as much brain volume as those with the highest levels" - See vitamin B12 at Amazon.com.

Vitamin B12 Boasts Brain Benefits - WebMD, 9/8/08 - "None of the people in the study had a vitamin B12 deficiency ... When the researchers compared the results, they found that people who had higher vitamin B12 levels were six times less likely to experience brain shrinkage compared with those who had lower levels of the vitamin in their blood"

NSAIDs May Cut Prostate Cancer Markers - WebMD, 9/8/08 - "Men who reported using NSAIDs nearly every day had PSA levels that were about 10% lower than men who reported no current NSAID use"

10 Germy Surfaces You Touch Every Day - ABC News, 9/5/08 - "Purses and Wallets ... Remote Control ... Laundry Machines ... Cutting Board ... Your Phone ... Water Fountains ... Buttons [such as elevator] ... Yoga Mats ... Airplane Bathroom ... Shopping Carts"

Antipsychotics Significantly Decrease Free Thyroid Hormone Concentrations - Doctor's Guide, 9/4/08 - "In patients who receive antipsychotic medication, levels of free thyroxine and free triiodothyronine show significant decreases that may affect thyroid hormone functional activity in some tissues, such as the liver"

Too Much Calcium In Blood May Increase Risk Of Fatal Prostate Cancer - Science Daily, 9/3/08 - "Comparing men in the top third with men in the bottom third, we found a significantly increased hazard for fatal prostate cancer"

Omega-3 Fatty Acids, but Not Statin Therapy, Cuts Mortality and Hospitalizations in Heart Failure - Medscape, 9/3/08 - "Speaking to the media, Tavazzi said the advantage of n-3 PUFA, as documented by the primary end points, is that they appear to have a beneficial effect on the mechanisms leading to the progression of heart failure. Although the exact reasons are unknown, omega-3 fatty acids could possibly exert favorable effects on inflammatory processes, such as reductions in endothelial activation and cytokine production, as well as influence platelet aggregation, blood pressure, heart rate, ventricular function, and autonomic tone" - See Mega Twin EPA at Amazon.com.

Adiponectin May Be a Marker for Type 2 Diabetes - Medscape, 9/3/08 - "Adiponectin levels were associated with a significantly lower risk for type 2 diabetes in multivariate models that adjusted for body mass index (BMI). For the highest quintiles vs the lowest quintiles, odds ratio (OR) was 0.17 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.12 - 0.25) for total adiponectin and 0.10 (95% CI, 0.06 - 0.15) for high-molecular-weight adiponectin. Even after adjustment for total adiponectin, a higher ratio of high-molecular-weight adiponectin to total adiponectin was associated with a statistically significantly lower risk for type 2 diabetes (OR, 0.45; 95% CI, 0.31 - 0.65) "

Substance Found In Fruits And Vegetables Reduces Likelihood Of The Flu - Science Daily, 0/3/08 - "Mice that exercised and took quercetin had nearly the same rate of illness as those that did not exercise. In other words, quercetin canceled out the negative effect of stressful exercise ... Although this study was done with mice, a recent human study found that people who took quercetin suffered fewer illnesses following three days of exhaustive exercise compared to those who did not" - See quercetin at Amazon.com.

No Efficacy Benefits Seen With Rosuvastatin Against Placebo in GISSI-HF Trial of Symptomatic Chronic Heart Failure - Doctor's Guide, 9/2/08 - "At a median follow-up of 3.9 years, the researchers found no difference in results for time to all-cause mortality, Dr. Tognoni said, with 28.1% for placebo and 28.8% for rosuvastatin and an adjusted hazard ratio (aHR) of 1.00 (P = .943). All-cause mortality or hospitalisation for cardiovascular reasons also showed no difference, at 56.1% and 57.1%, respectively"

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):

Vitamin D deficiency and supplementation during pregnancy - Clin Endocrinol (Oxf). 2008 Sep 2 - "180 women (Indian Asian, Middle Eastern, Black and Caucasian) were recruited at 27 weeks gestation and randomised into three treatment groups: a single oral dose of 200,000 IU vitamin D, a daily supplement of 800 IU vitamin D from 27 weeks until delivery and a no treatment group ... The final maternal 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels were significantly higher in the supplemented group (daily dose (median) 42 (IQR 31-76) nmol/l, stat dose (median 34 (IQR 30-46) nmol/l vs. median 27 (IQR 27-39) nmol/l in the no treatment; p<0.0001) and significantly fewer women with secondary hyperparathyroidism in the supplemented group ... Single or daily dose improved 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels significantly. However, even with supplementation, only a small percentage of women and babies were vitamin D sufficient. Further research is required to determine the optimal timing and dosing of vitamin D in pregnancy" - See vitamin D at Amazon.com.

Effect of Dutasteride on Intraprostatic Androgen Levels in Men With Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia or Prostate Cancer - Urology. 2008 Aug 19 - "The results of our study have shown that dutasteride provides near-maximal suppression of both serum and intraprostatic DHT levels in men with benign prostatic hyperplasia or prostate cancer at all points assessed"

Neat Tech Stuff :

• I was trying to figure out how to convert shows recorded via TiVo to the .mpg format so I could burn them to a DVD (I was trying to burn the Seinfeld Soup Nazi episode for a friend because Soup Nazi has almost become a word in the English language and she didn't know the meaning).  After searching Google, I found several ways to do it but they were all ridiculous except for one.  There is really nothing to it with DirectShow Dump.  A brief history - TiVo recordings are in the .TiVo format which is really the encrypted .mpg format with your TiVo access key being the encryption code but there is no way to enter the access key to unencrypt it.  You really don't need it because the way I understand it, DirectShow Dump works with TiVo Desktop to do that for you.  There are several programs that convert from .mpg to a DVD.  I use AVS Video Remaker because it also allows me to manually edit out the commercials.  I saw an article on the iPhone 3G when it first came out titled "No 3G for You".  That hit the nail right on the head but people that haven't seen the Soup Nazi would not have gotten it.

Health Focus (Dangers of Fructose):

Fructose News & Research:

• High Fructose Corn Syrup: Too Sweet to Eat? - Dr. Weil, 9/1/08
• Fructose May Make You Fatter - WebMD, 7/31/08 - "Fructose gets made into fat more quickly, and when that process is turned on there seems to be a signal that goes to the liver that says store all the other fats you are seeing"
• Limiting Fructose May Boost Weight Loss, Researcher Reports - Science Daily, 7/24/08 - "One of the reasons people on low-carbohydrate diets may lose weight is that they reduce their intake of fructose, a type of sugar that can be made into body fat quick ... Fructose, on the other hand, enters this metabolic pathway downstream, bypassing the traffic cop and flooding the metabolic pathway"
• High Fructose Corn Syrup Gets Unlikely Ally - WebMD, 6/18/08 - "At a meeting in Chicago, AMA delegates backed a resolution that argues that there's no scientific proof that high fructose corn syrup deserves the blame for obesity more than sugar or other caloric sweeteners. The resolution also nixes putting warning labels on products containing high fructose corn syrup"
• Sweet Soft Drinks, Fructose Linked to Increased Risk for Gout - Medscape, 2/4/08
• Blame Sweet Soda for Gout? - WebMD, 1/31/08 - "Compared with men who almost never drank sugar-sweetened soft drinks -- fewer than one per month -- frequent soft-drink drinkers were significantly more likely to suffer gout: ... Two or more soft drinks each day upped gout risk by 85% ... One soft drink each day upped gout risk by 45% ... Five or six soft drinks each week upped gout risk by 29%"
• Too Much Fructose Could Leave Dieters Sugar Shocked - Science Daily, 12/13/07 - "Eating too much fructose causes uric acid levels to spike, which can block the ability of insulin to regulate how body cells use and store sugar and other nutrients for energy, leading to obesity, metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes"
• Too Much Sugar Turns Off Gene That Controls Effects Of Sex Steroids - Science Daily, 11/21/07 - "This discovery reinforces public health advice to eat complex carbohydrates and avoid sugar ... Glucose and fructose are metabolized in the liver. When there’s too much sugar in the diet, the liver converts it to lipid. Using a mouse model and human liver cell cultures, the scientists discovered that the increased production of lipid shut down a gene called SHBG (sex hormone binding globulin), reducing the amount of SHBG protein in the blood. SHBG protein plays a key role in controlling the amount of testosterone and estrogen that’s available throughout the body"
• Sugary Drinks, Not Fruit Juice, May Be Linked To Insulin - Science Daily, 9/5/07 - "Study participants who consumed two or more sugar-sweetened beverages per day had significantly higher fasting blood levels of insulin as compared to participants who did not report consuming any such beverages, regardless of age, sex, weight, smoking status, or other dietary habits ... Higher fasting levels of insulin mean these study participants are more at risk for developing Type 2 diabetes ... consumption of 100 percent fruit juice was not significantly related to any of our measures of insulin resistance"
• Soda Warning? High-fructose Corn Syrup Linked To Diabetes, New Study Suggests - Science Daily, 8/23/07 - "high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) ... Chi-Tang Ho, Ph.D., conducted chemical tests among 11 different carbonated soft drinks containing HFCS. He found 'astonishingly high' levels of reactive carbonyls in those beverages. These undesirable and highly-reactive compounds associated with "unbound" fructose and glucose molecules are believed to cause tissue damage ... Ho estimates that a single can of soda contains about five times the concentration of reactive carbonyls than the concentration found in the blood of an adult person with diabetes ... adding epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), a compound in tea, significantly reduced the levels of reactive carbonyl species in a dose-dependent manner when added to the carbonated soft drinks studied. In some cases, the levels of reactive carbonyls were reduced by half"
• Not Enough Evidence To Indict High Fructose Corn Syrup In Obesity - Science Daily, 7/27/07
• Fructose: Sugar's Dark Side? - WebMD, 6/25/07
• Fructose-Sweetened Drinks Tougher on Arteries - washingtonpost.com, 6/23/07 - "Fructose-sweetened drinks are more likely to provoke the development of fatty artery deposits in overweight adults than glucose-sweetened beverages ... Those who drank fructose-sweetened drinks also had a boost in fasting blood concentrations of LDL ("bad") cholesterol and other measures. Those levels were unaltered in those consuming glucose-sweetened drinks, however"
• Fructose-sweetened Beverages Increases Risk Of Obesity In Rats - Science Daily, 3/16/07
• Fructose-sweetened Beverages Increases Risk Of Diabetes In Rats - Science Daily, 3/15/07
• 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 Fructose Dangerous? - thenutritionreporter.com

Fructose Abstracts:

• Dietary fructose and the metabolic syndrome - Curr Opin Gastroenterol. 2008 Mar;24(2):204-9 - "Recent animal studies have confirmed the link between fructose feeding and increased plasma uric acid, a potentially causative factor in metabolic syndrome. Advanced glycation end products are also implicated because of their direct protein modifications and indirect effects on inflammation and oxidative stress. Human studies have demonstrated fructose's ability to change metabolic hormonal response, possibly contributing to decreased satiety ... There is much evidence from both animal models and human studies supporting the notion that fructose is a highly lipogenic nutrient that, when consumed in high quantities, contributes to tissue insulin insensitivity, metabolic defects, and the development of a prediabetic state"
• Sugar-sweetened soft drinks, diet soft drinks, and serum uric acid level: The third national health and nutrition examination survey - Arthritis Rheum. 2007 Dec 28;59(1):109-116 - "sugar-sweetened soft drink consumption is associated with serum uric acid levels and frequency of hyperuricemia, but diet soft drink consumption is not"
• Dietary glycemic load, added sugars, and carbohydrates as risk factors for pancreatic cancer: the Multiethnic Cohort Study - Am J Clin Nutr. 2007 Nov;86(5):1495-501 - "Glycemic load and added sugars were not significantly associated with pancreatic cancer risk. The risk increased with higher intakes of total sugars, fructose, and sucrose, and the association with fructose was significant when the highest and lowest quartiles were compared (relative risk: 1.35; 95% CI: 1.02, 1.80; P for trend = 0.046). A significant association was found with fruit and juices intake (1.37; 1.02, 1.84; P for trend = 0.04) but not with soda intake. Statistical evidence of a significant interaction with body mass index was present only for sucrose intake (P = 0.04). A comparison of the highest and lowest quartiles of sucrose intake in overweight or obese participants gave a relative risk of 1.46 (0.95-2.25; P for trend = 0.04), but the comparison was not significant in normal-weight participants"
• Fructose intake is a predictor of LDL particle size in overweight schoolchildren - Am J Clin Nutr. 2007 Oct;86(4):1174-1178 - "After control for adiposity, the only dietary factor that was a significant predictor of LDL particle size was total fructose intake"
• Potential role of sugar (fructose) in the epidemic of hypertension, obesity and the metabolic syndrome, diabetes, kidney disease, and cardiovascular disease - Am J Clin Nutr. 2007 Oct;86(4):899-906 - "We also present evidence that the unique ability of fructose to induce an increase in uric acid may be a major mechanism by which fructose can cause cardiorenal disease"
• Consumption of sweetened beverages and intakes of fructose and glucose predict type 2 diabetes occurrence - J Nutr. 2007 Jun;137(6):1447-54 - "Combined intake of fructose and glucose was associated with the risk of type 2 diabetes but no significant association was observed for intakes of sucrose, lactose, or maltose. The relative risk between the highest and lowest quartiles of combined fructose and glucose intake was 1.87"
• High fructose diet increases mortality in hypertensive rats compared to a complex carbohydrate or high fat diet - Am J Hypertens. 2007 Apr;20(4):403-9 - "a high fructose diet consumed during hypertension increases mortality and left ventricular (LV) wall thickness compared to either a high fat, high starch, or a "western" diet"
• A 4-wk high-fructose diet alters lipid metabolism without affecting insulin sensitivity or ectopic lipids in healthy humans - Am J Clin Nutr. 2006 Dec;84(6):1374-9 - "Moderate fructose supplementation over 4 wk increases plasma triacylglycerol and glucose concentrations without causing ectopic lipid deposition or insulin resistance in healthy humans"
• Catalytic amounts of fructose may improve glucose tolerance in subjects with uncontrolled non-insulin-dependent diabetes - Clin Nutr. 2006 Jan 3 - "were assigned to either fructose or maltodextrin supplementation (7.5g) tri-daily after each main meal ... After 1 month fructosamin levels decreased in the fructose-supplemented group but not in the maltodextrin-supplemented group (P<0.052). Hgb(A1C) levels decreased with time in both groups but were significantly lower at 2 months in the fructose group as compared to the maltodextrin group"