Recent Longevity News for the seven days ending 4/8/09.  You should consult your doctor if you are taking any medications.

Recipe for Diabetes: Too Much Protein, Fat - WebMD, 4/7/09 - "A high-fat diet may lead to insulin resistance, a major step on the path to type 2 diabetes. But cutting back on fat may not help those who continue to eat too much protein"

Biology Of Flushing Could Renew Niacin As Cholesterol Drug - Science Daily, 4/6/09 - "Niacin, also known as nicotinic acid or vitamin B3, has long been regarded as one of the most effective weapons in managing cholesterol. It can lower levels of triglycerides, fatty acids and to a lesser extent, the "bad" kind of cholesterol (LDL) while at the same time powerfully increasing the "good" kind (HDL). But there's a catch – a big one. Patients don't like to take niacin because in most of them, it causes embarrassing, uncontrollable intense flushing, a rush of blood to the face and other skin surfaces accompanied by a prickling sensation ... One particular protein in that group, beta-arrestin1, was found to trigger the chemical reaction that led to flushing ... beta-arrestin1 plays no role whatsoever in niacin's ability to lower cholesterol and fatty acids ... the discovery opens the door to the possibility of developing a "biased ligand," a drug that would trigger GP109A, but not the beta-arrestins"

New Evidence Of Periodontal Disease Leading To Gestational Diabetes - Science Daily, 4/4/09 - "Gestational diabetes is characterized by an inability to transport glucose -- the main source of fuel for the body -- to the cells during pregnancy. The condition usually disappears when the pregnancy ends, but women who have had gestational diabetes are at a greater risk of developing the most common form of diabetes, known as Type 2 diabetes, later in life ... In addition to its potential role in preterm delivery, evidence that gum disease may also contribute to gestational diabetes suggests that women should see a dentist if they plan to get pregnant, and after becoming pregnant"

Your Oral Health Is Connected To Your Overall Health - Science Daily, 4/4/09 - "While treatment of mothers with mild periodontal disease usually does not have an effect on infant prematurity, the greatest effect has been reported by scientists to be observed in mothers with generalized severe periodontal disease"

Resolvins Have Potential To Resolve Periodontal Inflammation And Restore Tissue Health - Science Daily, 4/4/09 - "These results support the hypothesis that both EPA- and DHA-derived Resolvins have therapeutic potential in resolving periodontal inflammation and restoring the tissues' health" - See Mega Twin EPA at Amazon.com and Jarrow Max DHA at Amazon.com.

Obesity Associated With Periodontal Disease - Science Daily, 4/4/09 - "The team observed significant associations between all measures of obesity and periodontal disease when accounting for age, smoking, race, dental profession, physical activity, fruit and vegetable intake, and diabetes status at baseline. Obesity (BMI > 30 kg/m2) at the beginning of follow-up and over follow-up was significantly associated with a 25% and 29% increased risk compared with normal weight (BMI 18.5-24.9 kg/m2), respectively ... These results provide the first evidence following a large group of people over time with clear evidence of obesity occurring prior to periodontal disease, and support an association between obesity and risk of periodontal disease"

Sharp Increase In HPV-positive Tonsil Cancer Found - Science Daily, 4/2/09 - "Because the tumours produce so few symptoms, patients seek medical care when the disease is relatively advanced, often after the tumours have spread to the lymph glands of the throat, possibly making the prognosis much worse ... More recent studies, however, have demonstrated a link between HPV and tonsil cancer, so that today an HPV infection is also one of the established risk factors ... Since 1970, the cumulative incidence of HPV-positive tonsil cancer has increased from 23 to 93 per cent"

Reductions In Cancer And Overall Mortality Persist 10 Years After Vitamin And Mineral Supplementation - Science Daily, 4/2/09 - "Individuals who took a dietary supplement called "factor D", which included selenium, vitamin E, and beta-carotene, continued to have lower gastric cancer and overall mortality 10 years after supplementation ceased compared with individuals who did not take the supplements ... Individuals who took factor D continued to show benefits, with a 5% reduction in overall mortality (from a cumulative mortality of 33.62% of participants not taking factor D to 32.19% of participants taking factor D) and an 11% reduction in gastric cancer mortality (from a cumulative gastric cancer mortality of 4.28% in the no-factor D group to 3.84% in the factor D group)"

Source Of Major Health Benefits In Olive Oil Revealed - Science Daily, 4/1/09 - "Scientists have pinned down the constituent of olive oil that gives greatest protection from heart attack and stroke. In a study of the major antioxidants in olive oil, Portuguese researchers showed that one, DHPEA-EDA, protects red blood cells from damage more than any other part of olive oil"

Omega-3 Kills Cancer Cells - Science Daily, 4/1/09 - "Docosahexanoic acid (DHA), an omega-3 fatty acid found in fish oils, has been shown to reduce the size of tumours and enhance the positive effects of the chemotherapy drug cisplatin, while limiting its harmful side effects ... at the molecular level, DHA acts by reducing leukocytosis (white blood cell accumulation), systemic inflammation, and oxidative stress – all processes that have been linked with tumour growth" - See Jarrow Max DHA at Amazon.com.

How Probiotics Can Prevent Disease - Science Daily, 4/1/09 - "In each instance the protection was linked to a particular bacterial species, and the mechanism of action varied from direct antagonism (where the probiotic directly kills the pathogenic bacteria) to effects mediated by the host immune system. For example Lactobacillus salivarius UCC118 protected mice against listeriosis (a disease which can affect pregnant women) by producing an antimicrobial peptide that eliminates Listeria monocytogenes in the gut of the animal. In another mechanism, Lactococcus lactis could be used to treat mastitis by eliciting an immune response that overwhelmed the infectious bacterium"

Atkins-Like Diet Worse for Cholesterol Compared to South Beach, Ornish Diets, Study Says - WebMD, 4/1/09 - "While on the low-carb, high-fat diet, LDL cholesterol levels increased slightly, compared to decreases of about 12% and 17% respectively, during the South Beach and Ornish phases of the study ... After a month on the Atkins-like diet, study participants showed less blood vessel flexibility than they did after a month on the Ornish diet ... CRP levels remained in the normal range with all three diets, but levels went down slightly while participants were on the South Beach and Ornish diets and they went up slightly on the high-fat, low-carb diet"

Vitamin D Benefits Dialysis Patients - Medscape, 4/1/09 - "Over-the-counter vitamin D supplementation improves serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels in patients with chronic kidney disease undergoing dialysis, without raising serum calcium or phosphorus levels ... Studies in healthy patients have provided supplementation up to 10,000 IU a day with no observed adverse effects" - See vitamin D at Amazon.com.

The More Oral Bacteria, The Higher The Risk Of Heart Attack, Study Shows - Science Daily, 4/1/09 - "two oral pathogens in the mouth were associated with an increased risk of having a heart attack, but that the total number of germs, regardless of type, was more important to heart health"

Health Benefits, Consequences Of Folic Acid Dependent On Circumstances - Science Daily, 4/1/09 - "Under most circumstances, adequate intake of folate appears to assume the role of a protective agent against cancer, most notably colorectal cancer. However, in select circumstances in which an individual who harbors a pre-cancerous or cancerous tumor consumes too much folic acid, the additional amounts of folate may instead facilitate the promotion of cancer"

Chronic Insomnia With Short Sleep Duration Is Significant Risk Factor For Hypertension - Science Daily, 4/1/09 - "A study in the April 1 issue of the journal SLEEP is the first to demonstrate that chronic insomnia with objectively measured short sleep time is an independent and clinically significant risk factor for hypertension"

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 insufficiency in pregnant women: a longitudinal study - Br J Nutr. 2009 Mar 31:1-6 - "Women reporting use of vitamin D-containing supplements had higher vitamin D status, however, vitamin D insufficiency was still evident even in the face of supplement use. Given the potential consequences of hypovitaminosis D on health outcomes, vitamin D supplementation, perhaps at higher doses than currently available, is needed to improve maternal vitamin D nutriture" - See vitamin D at Amazon.com.

Long-Term Use of Antidepressants for Depressive Disorders and the Risk of Diabetes Mellitus - Am J Psychiatry. 2009 Apr 1 - "Compared with no use of antidepressants during the past 2 years, recent long-term use (>24 months) of antidepressants in moderate to high daily doses was associated with an increased risk of diabetes (incidence rate ratio=1.84, 95% CI=1.35-2.52). The magnitude of the risk was similar for long-term use of moderate to high daily doses of tricyclic antidepressants (incidence rate ratio=1.77, 95% CI=1.21-2.59) and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (incidence rate ratio=2.06, 95% CI=1.20-3.52)"

Fruit, vegetables, and colorectal cancer risk: the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition - Am J Clin Nutr. 2009 Apr 1 - "After an average follow-up of 8.8 y, 2,819 incident CRC cases were reported. Consumption of fruit and vegetables was inversely associated with CRC in a comparison of the highest with the lowest EPIC-wide quintile of consumption (HR: 0.86; 95% CI: 0.75, 1.00; P for trend = 0.04), particularly with colon cancer risk (HR: 0.76; 95% CI: 0.63, 0.91; P for trend < 0.01). Only after exclusion of the first 2 y of follow-up were these findings corroborated by calibrated continuous analyses for a 100-g increase in consumption: HRs of 0.95 (95% CI: 0.91, 1.00; P = 0.04) and 0.94 (95% CI: 0.89, 0.99; P = 0.02), respectively. The association between fruit and vegetable consumption and CRC risk was inverse in never and former smokers, but positive in current smokers"

Serum Antioxidants and Skin Cancer Risk: An 8-Year Community-Based Follow-up Study - Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2009 Mar 31 - "basal cell carcinoma (BCC) and squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the skin ... Although there were no associations between baseline serum carotenoids or alpha-tocopherol concentrations and incidence of BCC or SCC, baseline serum selenium concentrations showed strong inverse associations with both BCC and SCC tumor incidence. Compared with participants with lowest selenium concentrations at baseline (0.4-1.0 micromol/L), those with the highest serum selenium concentrations (1.3-2.8 micromol/L) had a decreased incidence of BCC tumors (multivariate relative risk, 0.43; 95% confidence interval, 0.21-0.86; Ptrend = 0.02) and SCC tumors (multivariate relative risk, 0.36; 95% confidence interval, 0.15-0.82; Ptrend = 0.02)"

Serum Retinol and Prostate Cancer Risk: a Nested Case-Control Study in the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian Cancer Screening Trial - Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2009 Mar 31 - "Vitamin A (retinol) plays a key role in the regulation of cell growth and differentiation, and has been studied as a potential chemopreventive agent for prostate cancer ... the highest versus lowest concentrations of serum retinol were associated with a 42% reduction in aggressive prostate cancer risk (Ptrend = 0.02), with the strongest inverse association for high-grade disease (Gleason sum >7; odds ratio, 0.52; 95% confidence interval, 0.32-0.84; Ptrend = 0.01)"

Prospective Study of Plasma Vitamin B6 and Risk of Colorectal Cancer in Men - Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2009 Mar 31 - "plasma PLP levels were significantly inversely associated with risk of colorectal cancer; compared with men in the lowest quartile, those with PLP in quartiles 2 to 4 had relative risks (95% confidence interval) of 0.92 (0.55-1.56), 0.42 (0.23-0.75), and 0.49 (0.26-0.92; Ptrend = 0.01), respectively. In conclusion, vitamin B6 may protect against colorectal cancer independent of other one-carbon metabolites and inflammatory biomarkers"

The utility of 5-alpha reductase inhibitors in the prevention and diagnosis of prostate cancer - Curr Opin Urol. 2009 Mar 21 - "finasteride reduced the risk of prostate cancer by approximately 25% in comparison with placebo" - See finasteride at OffshoreRx1.com.

Effects of resveratrol analogs on cell cycle progression, cell cycle associated proteins and 5fluoro-uracil sensitivity in human derived colon cancer cells - Int J Cancer. 2009 Jan 13 - "Thus, acetylated derivatives of resveratrol have retained the cytostatic and cytotoxic activities of the parental molecule and thus deserve to be tested as chemosensitizers in animal models" - See resveratrol products at Amazon.com.

Health Focus (Too much phosphorus?):

News & Research:

• Chewing Chitosan-Loaded Gum Reduces Phosphate Levels in ESRD Patients - Medscape, 2/16/09 - "Chewing chitosan-loaded gum twice daily can significantly decrease salivary phosphate and serum phosphate levels in hemodialysis patients and may help improve treatment for hyperphosphatemia ... At week 1, the patients’ salivary phosphate levels had decreased from 73.21 to 52.02 mg/dL (P < .01), and serum levels decreased from 7.60 to 5.38 mg/dL (P < .00001). After 2 weeks, salivary phosphate levels were reduced to 33.19 mg/dL (P < .00001) and serum levels decreased to 5.25 mg/dL" - See chitosan products at iHerb.
• Phosphorus additives pose ‘hidden’ danger to kidney patients - Nutra USA, 2/11/09
• Common Food Additive Found To Increase Risk And Speed Spread Of Lung Cancer - Science Daily, 12/29/08 - "a diet high in inorganic phosphates, which are found in a variety of processed foods including meats, cheeses, beverages, and bakery products, might speed growth of lung cancer tumors and may even contribute to the development of those tumors in individuals predisposed to the disease" - [WebMD]
• Phosphorus-lowering Drugs Linked To Lower Mortality In Dialysis Patients - Science Daily, 12/17/08
• Higher Blood Phosphorus and Calcium Levels in Coronary Arteries - Science Daily, 11/26/08 - "Higher serum phosphorus levels, even within the normal range, may be a risk factor for coronary artery atherosclerosis in healthy young adults"
• Boning Up - Better Health, 12/04 - "Don't overdo your phosphorus intake. Calcium is excreted when phosphorus levels are excessive"
• Regular Cola Consumption Linked to Lower Bone Density in Women - Medscape, 9/22/03 - "Among the female subjects, regular cola drinkers had decreased BMD compared with the infrequent drinkers. BMD was 2.3% lower in the trochanter, 3.3% lower in the femoral neck, and 5.1% lower in Ward's area ... When phosphoric acid comes packaged with other nutrients, it's absorbed normally and everything is in balance. We think the problem with cola is that you're getting those doses of phosphoric acid without any calcium. It's not balanced, and that extra phosphorus binds with calcium and prevents it from being absorbed"
• Phosphorus Important for Bone Health in Elderly - New Hope Natural Media, 8/30/02 - "Although most Americans consume 100% or more of the Recommended Dietary Allowance for phosphorus, older individuals often reduce their total food intake and consume less of the high-phosphorus foods. While these dietary changes may not by themselves be enough to cause phosphorus deficiency, supplementing with large amounts of calcium could lead to a phosphorus deficiency in people who are consuming marginal amounts of the mineral ... Taking extra phosphorus is not appropriate for individuals who already consume large amounts in their diets. In fact, much of the research on phosphorus intake has focused on the problem of excessive phosphorus intake leading to a calcium deficiency"
• Bones Need Both Calcium and Phosphorus - WebMD, 3/20/02

Abstracts:

• Is Lowering Phosphate Exposure The Key To Preventing Arterial Stiffening With Age? - Heart. 2009 Mar 24 - "Diets in affluent populations are high in phosphate because of increased consumption of animal protein and the use of phosphate containing preservatives. We suggest that the consumption of a phosphate rich diet, exacerbated by the high prevalence of chronic kidney disease found in ageing populations, accelerates the development of arteriosclerosis. We hypothesise that reducing phosphate intake will attenuate the progression of arterial stiffness with major beneficial effects upon cardiovascular mortality and morbidity"
• Increased calcium intake does not completely counteract the effects of increased phosphorus intake on bone: an acute dose-response study in healthy females - Br J Nutr. 2007 Oct 1;:1-8 - "When P intake was above current recommendations, increased Ca intake was beneficial for bone, as indicated by decreased S-PTH concentration and bone resorption. However, not even a high Ca intake could affect bone formation when P intake was excessive"
• Relations of serum phosphorus and calcium levels to the incidence of cardiovascular disease in the community - Arch Intern Med. 2007 May 14;167(9):879-85 - "Individuals in the highest serum phosphorus quartile experienced a multivariable-adjusted 1.55-fold CVD risk (95% confidence interval, 1.16%-2.07%; P = .004) compared with those in the lowest quartile ... Higher serum phosphorus levels are associated with an increased CVD risk in individuals free of CKD and CVD in the community"
• Phosphorus nutrition and the treatment of osteoporosis - Mayo Clin Proc. 2004 Jan;79(1):91-7

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