Recent Longevity News for the seven days ending 7/8/09.  You should consult your doctor if you are taking any medications.

Higher Levels of Adiponectin Associated With Lower Risk of Type 2 Diabetes - Doctor's Guide, 7/7/09 - "Although these epidemiologic studies cannot establish causality, the consistency of the association across diverse populations, the dose-response relationship, and the supportive findings in mechanistic studies indicate that adiponectin is a promising target for the reduction of risk of type 2 diabetes"

Muscle Damage From Statins May Evade Blood Test - WebMD, 7/6/09 - "Studies suggest that between 10% and 15% of patients who take cholesterol-lowering statin drugs like Crestor, Lipitor, Lescol, Mevacor, Zocor, and Pravachol experience muscle pain as a side effect of treatment ... Most do not end up with muscle damage, and a simple blood test is routinely performed to identify patients who do ... But the new study suggests the test for elevated levels of an enzyme associated with muscle injury, known as creatine phosphokinase or CPK, may be less accurate than widely believed ... Our findings call into question whether normal or mildly elevated levels of serum (CPK) can be used to exclude underlying and possibly ongoing muscle injury"

Study: 88% of GI Cancer Patients Deficient in Vitamin D - oncologystat.com, 7/6/09 - "At baseline, the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency was nearly 88%, including 61% of patients who met criteria for moderate to severe deficiency"

Health Food Supplement May Curb Compulsive Hair Pulling - Science Daily, 7/6/09 - "Patients were given 1,200 mg of N-Acetylcysteine every day for six weeks. For the following six weeks, the dosage was increased to 2,400 mg per day. After nine weeks, those on supplement had significantly reduced hair-pulling. By the end of the 12 week study, 56 percent reported feeling much or very much improved, while only 16 percent on the placebo reported less pulling" - See n-acetyl cysteine at Amazon.com.

Component Of Vegetable Protein May Be Linked To Lower Blood Pressure - Science Daily, 7/6/09 - "Researchers found that a 4.72 percent higher dietary intake of the amino acid glutamic acid as a percent of total dietary protein correlated with lower group average systolic blood pressure, lower by 1.5 to 3.0 millimeters of mercury (mm Hg). Group average diastolic blood pressure was lower by 1.0 to 1.6 mm Hg" - See l-glutamic acid at Amazon.com.

Understanding The Anticancer Effects Of Vitamin D3 - Science Daily, 7/6/09 - "the active form of vitamin D3 directly activates the CST5 gene in human colon cancer cell lines, increasing levels of cystatin D protein. Functionally, cystatin D was shown to inhibit the growth of human colon cancer cells lines in vitro and when they were xenotransplanted into mice. As knocking down expression of cystatin D in human colon cancer cell lines rendered them unresponsive to the antiproliferative effects of the active form of vitamin D3, the authors conclude that CST5 is a candidate tumor suppressor gene and that it mediates a large proportion of the anticancer effects of the active form of vitamin D3" - See vitamin D at Amazon.com.

Muscle Damage May Be Present In Some Patients Taking Statins - Science Daily, 7/6/09 - "Although in clinical practice, the majority of patients with muscle symptoms improve rapidly after cessation of therapy, our findings support that a subgroup of patients appears to be more susceptible to statin-associated myotoxicity, suffering persistent structural injury"

Folate linked to lower colorectal cancer risk: Study - Nutra USA, 7/6/09 - "A possible explanation for the contradictory results of studies with the vitamin and colorectal cancer may be the difference between the synthetic and natural forms of the vitamin. “The fact that folic acid, which is not a naturally occurring form of the vitamin, is used by food and pharmaceutical industries for fortification and supplementation is potentially of importance,” wrote Tufts University’s Mason in Nutrition Reviews ... On passage through the intestinal wall, folic acid is converted to 5-methyltetrahydrofolate, the naturally circulating form of folate. However, some studies have suggested that oral doses of folic acid in high doses may overwhelm this conversion pathway, leading to measurable levels of folic acid in the blood ... There has been some concern that this oxidized, non-substituted form of folate might feasibly be detrimental because it is not a naturally occurring co-enzymatic form of the vitamin" - [Abstract]

Caffeine Reverses Memory Impairment In Mice With Alzheimer's Symptoms - Science Daily, 7/6/09 - "Coffee drinkers may have another reason to pour that extra cup. When aged mice bred to develop symptoms of Alzheimer's disease were given caffeine – the equivalent of five cups of coffee a day – their memory impairment was reversed"

How Safe and Effective Are Sunscreens? - WebMD, 7/2/09 - "Sunscreens are improving, but three of five brand-name products either don't protect the skin from sun damage sufficiently, contain hazardous chemicals, or both, according to a report by the watchdog organization Environmental Working Group (EWG)" - See Badger SPF30 Sunscreen For Face & Body or California Baby SPF30+ Sunscreen, No Fragrance (two that they recommend) at drugstore.com.

Cholesterol OK? Statins Still Help Heart - WebMD, 7/1/09 - "Combined data from 10 trials that included more than 70,000 patients without cardiovascular disease, but with cardiovascular risk factors, showed a 12% reduction in deaths among patients who took statins ... The statin group also had 30% fewer heart attacks and 20% fewer strokes over four years of follow-up"

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):

Fish Oil and Heart Health - J Cardiovasc Pharmacol. 2009 Jun 26 - "Large controlled trials have shown that intake of fish oil (marine n-3 fatty acids, eicosapentaenoic acid, and docosahexaenoic acid), whether from dietary sources or fish oil supplements, may exhibit beneficial effects on total and cardiovascular disease mortality. Stabilization of cell membranes and suppression of cardiac arrhythmias have been identified as possible mechanisms. Moreover, n-3 fatty acids have anti-inflammatory effects, reduce blood pressure, and may also be antiatherogenic. Finally, high doses of n-3 fatty acids can lower elevated serum triglyceride levels. The n-3 index (erythrocyte eicosapentaenoic acid plus docosahexaenoic acid) may be considered as a potential risk marker for coronary heart disease mortality, especially sudden cardiac death. The balance of n-6 to n-3 fatty acids is an important determinant in decreasing the risk for coronary heart disease, both in the primary and in the secondary prevention of coronary heart disease. Patients with known coronary heart disease should be recommended to consume n-3 fatty acid supplements at 1 g per day, without raising concerns for interactions with other medications or side effects. On the other hand, fish in the diet (preferably oily fish, 1-2 meals/week) should be considered as part of a healthy diet low in saturated fat"

Fatty fish and fish omega-3 fatty acid intakes decrease the breast cancer risk: a case-control study - BMC Cancer. 2009 Jun 30;9(1):216 - "Using a multivariate logistic regression model, high intake of fatty fish was associated with a reduced risk for breast cancer in both pre- and postmenopausal women (OR [95% CI] for highest vs. lowest intake quartiles, p for trend: 0.19 [0.08 to 0.45], p < 0.001 for premenopausal women, 0.27 [0.11 to 0.66], p = 0.005 for postmenopausal women). Similarly, reductions in breast cancer risk were observed among postmenopausal subjects who consumed more than 0.101 g of EPA (OR [95% CI]: 0.38 [0.15 to 0.96]) and 0.213 g of DHA (OR [95% CI]: 0.32 [0.13 to 0.82]) from fish per day compared to the reference group who consumed less than 0.014 g of EPA and 0.037 g of DHA per day. Among premenopausal women, there was a significant reduction in breast cancer risk for the highest intake quartiles of omega-3 fatty acids (ORs [95% CI]: 0.46 [0.22 to 0.96]), compared to the reference group who consumed the lowest quartile of intake" - See Mega Twin EPA at Amazon.com and Jarrow Max DHA at Amazon.com.

Folate intake and the risk of colorectal cancer in a Korean population - Eur J Clin Nutr. 2009 Jun 24 - "We found a statistically significant relationship between higher dietary folate intake and reduced risk of CRC, colon cancer and rectal cancer in women. A significant association is indicated between higher total folate intake and reduced risk of rectal cancer in women"

Whole grains and incident hypertension in men - Am J Clin Nutr. 2009 Jul 1 - "whole-grain intake was inversely associated with risk of hypertension, with a relative risk (RR) of 0.81 (95% CI: 0.75-0.87) in the highest compared with the lowest quintile (P for trend < 0.0001). In the multivariate model, total bran was inversely associated with hypertension, with a relative risk (RR) of 0.85 (95% CI: 0.78, 0.92) in the highest compared with the lowest quintile"

Effect of adjunct metformin treatment on levels of plasma lipids in patients with type 1 diabetes - Diabetes Obes Metab. 2009 Jun 25 - "After 1 year, in those patients who did not start or stop statin therapy during the trial, metformin treatment significantly reduced total and LDL cholesterol by approximately 0.3 mmol/l compared with placebo (p = 0.021 and p = 0.018 respectively). Adjustment for statin use or known cardiovascular disease did not change conclusions. In statin users (metformin: n = 22, placebo: n = 13), metformin significantly lowered levels of LDL and non-HDL cholesterol by approximately 0.5 mmol/l compared with placebo"

New users of metformin are at low risk of incident cancer: A cohort study among people with type 2 diabetes - Diabetes Care. 2009 Jun 29 - "Activation of AMPK can suppress tumour formation and inhibit cell growth, in addition to lowering blood glucose levels. We tested the hypothesis that metformin reduces the risk of cancer in people with type 2 diabetes ... Cancer was diagnosed among 7.3% of 4,085 metformin users compared with 11.6% of 4,085 comparators, with median times to cancer of 3.5 years and 2.6 years respectively (p < 0.001). The unadjusted hazard ratio for cancer was 0.46 (0.40-0.53). After adjusting for sex, age, BMI, HbA1c, deprivation, smoking and other drug use, there was still a significantly reduced risk of cancer associated with metformin: 0.63 (0.53-0.75)" - See metformin at IAS.

Neat Tech Stuff :

• Age Calculator

Health Focus (Cortisol):

Popular Supplements thought to Reduce Cortisol:

• phosphatidylserine / Relora / vitamin C / acetyl-l-carnitine / ginkgo / melatonin / Rhodiola rosea / beta-sitosterol / theanine / Epimedium / ashwagandha / passionflower / procaine HCl

Medications that may reduce cortisol:

• Avandia (rosiglitazone) / Remeron (mirtazapine) / leuprolide acetate / ketoconazole /  / RU-486 (mifepristone) / dilantin / tianeptine / growth hormone

The important news:

• The relationship of serum and salivary cortisol levels to male sexual dysfunction as measured by the International Index of Erectile Function - Int J Impot Res. 2009 May 7 - "testosterone (T) and cortisol (F) ... (Total-T, Free-T, Bioavailable-T, Total-F and Bioavailable-F) and salivary hormones (Saliva-T and Saliva-F) ... International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF) ... Free-T and Bioavailable-T showed significant inverse correlations with age (P<0.01). In the group not taking antidepressants, the levels of Bioavailable-F and Saliva-F showed significant inverse correlations with a portion of the IIEF score (P<0.05). However, reductions in Bioavailable-T and Saliva-T showed no association with the IIEF score. In the group taking antidepressants, these hormone levels showed no correlation with IIEF"
• Effects of phosphatidylserine supplementation on exercising humans - Sports Med. 2006;36(8):657-69 - "S-PtdSer 800 mg/day reduced the cortisol response to overtraining during weight training while improving feeling of well-being and decreasing perceived muscle soreness"
• Associations of salivary cortisol with cognitive function in the Baltimore memory study - Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2007 Jul;64(7):810-8 - "Higher levels of pretest and mean cortisol as well as the area under the curve of cortisol over the study visit were associated with worse performance (P < .05) in 6 domains (language, processing speed, eye-hand coordination, executive functioning, verbal memory and learning, and visual memory). For instance, an interquartile range increase in the area under the curve was equivalent to a decrease in the language score expected from an increase in 5.6 (95% confidence interval, 4.2-7.1) years of age"
• Chronic Exposure To Stress Hormone Causes Anxious Behavior In Mice - Science Daily, 4/17/06 - "Scientists already knew that many people with depression have high levels of cortisol, a human stress hormone, but it wasn't clear whether that was a cause or effect. Now it appears likely that long-term exposure to cortisol actually contributes to the symptoms of depression"
• Pharmacologic management of Cushing syndrome : new targets for therapy - Treat Endocrinol. 2005;4(2):87-94 - "Compounds with neuromodulatory properties have been effective in only a limited number of cases of hypothalamic-pituitary-dependent Cushing disease, the most common form of Cushing syndrome. These agents include serotonin antagonists (cyproheptadine, ketanserin, ritanserin), dopamine agonists (bromocriptine, cabergoline), GABA agonists (valproic acid [sodium valproate]), and somatostatin analogs (octreotide). Interesting new avenues at the pituitary level involve the potential use of thiazolidinedione compounds, such as rosiglitazone, and of retinoic acid, which are ligands of different nuclear hormone receptors involved in hypothalamic-pituitary regulation"
• Diabetes Drugs May Help Cushing's Syndrome - Reuters Wire, 11/07/2002 - "Cushing's syndrome results from high levels of the hormone cortisol, and can cause fat accumulation in the upper body and face, and thinning of the arms and legs. Patients can experience high blood pressure and high blood sugar, along with depression, fatigue, irritability and weakened bones ... a protein called PPAR-gamma, which is found on pituitary gland tumor cells, appears to be linked to overproduction of ACTH ... researchers injected mice with ACTH-secreting pituitary tumor cells and then treated them with commonly used diabetes drugs, rosiglitazone (Avandia) and troglitazone, or an inactive placebo ... There was an 85% reduction in ACTH and a corresponding 96% reduction in their cortisol-like hormone"
  • Pharmacologic management of Cushing syndrome : new targets for therapy - Treat Endocrinol. 2005;4(2):87-94 - "Interesting new avenues at the pituitary level involve the potential use of thiazolidinedione compounds, such as rosiglitazone"
  • Effect of protracted treatment with rosiglitazone, a PPARgamma agonist, in patients with Cushing's disease - Clin Endocrinol (Oxf). 2006 Feb;64(2):219-24 - "Although effective in a subset of patients, protracted rosiglitazone administration did not consistently restrain ACTH and cortisol secretion in patients with Cushing's disease. Further investigations are needed to fully define the therapeutic potential of PPARgamma agonists in this disorder"
  • Effects of chronic administration of PPAR-gamma ligand rosiglitazone in Cushing's disease - Eur J Endocrinol. 2004 Aug;151(2):173-8 - "The administration of rosiglitazone seems able to normalize cortisol secretion in some patients with CD, at least for short periods"
  • Reduced production rates of testosterone and dihydrotestosterone in healthy men treated with rosiglitazone - Metabolism. 2003 Feb;52(2):230-2 - "Production rates of cortisol were unchanged ... a clinically relevant dose of at least one thiazolidindione, rosiglitazone, impedes the production of testosterone in man"
  • Caution Urged With Diabetes Drugs - WebMD, 12/8/03 - "in some people, Actos and Avandia may cause fluid retention, a condition known as edema, and swelling of the feet. Edema is also a classic symptom of congestive heart failure"
  • Diabetes Pill Helps Early Alzheimer's Disease - WebMD, 7/20/04 - "the diabetes pill Avandia may improve memory and thinking in people with early Alzheimer's disease"
  • Hormone Therapy May Need to be Used Cautiously in Patients Taking Rosiglitazone - Doctor's Guide, 9/19/03 - "rosiglitazone reduced glucose levels from a mean of 9.15 to 7.5 mM/L; (P=0.013), insulin from 11.7 to 8.8 mU/L (P=0.026), haemoglobin A1c from 8.0% to 6.9% (P=0.001), triglycerides from 2.3 to 1.8 mM/L (P=0.009), systolic BP from 130 to 117 mm Hg (P=0.02), diastolic BP from 72 to 67 mm"
  • Rosiglitazone May Improve Small Artery Elasticity in Patients With Diabetes - Doctor's Guide, 8/19/03 - "Systolic blood pressure decreased from 144 to 124 mmHg, and diastolic blood pressure decreased from 80 to 68 mmHg"
  • Rosiglitazone Improves Cholesterol Profile in Patients with Type 2 diabetes - Doctor's Guide, 4/4/03 - "Rosiglitazone increases high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDLC) levels and improves the ratio of HDLC to total cholesterol in patients with type 2 diabetes ... mean HDLC levels increased 15%, from 45.3 to 51.9 mg/dL"
  • Avandia (Rosiglitazone) Lowers Markers for Cardiovascular Inflammation in Diabetic Patients - Doctor's Guide, 6/17/02 - "rosiglitazone, a widely used insulin sensitizer, has a profound inhibitory effect on oxygen free radicals ... At week 6, blood glucose concentration decreased from 157+/-16 to 127+/-9 mg/dL and insulin concentration fell from 32.6+/-4.6 to 16.1 ... Rosiglitazone treatment also reduced plasma MCP-1 (75 percent of the basal level; p<0.05) and CRP (70 percent of basal; p<0.05)"
  • 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"
  • Avandia (Rosiglitazone Maleate) Effective In Long-Term Blood Sugar Control In Type 2 Diabetes - Doctor's Guide, 6/21/00 - "the researchers noticed that improvements in blood sugar control seen with Avandia were associated with an increase in high-density lipoproteins (HDL)-cholesterol, and an initial increase in low-density lipoproteins (LDL)-cholesterol, returning to baseline overtime"
  • Avandia Reduces Insulin Resistance, Lowers Blood Sugar - Doctor's Guide, 6/15/99 - "In patients given Avandia monotherapy, insulin resistance decreased by an average of 16 and 25 percent and the estimate of beta-cell function increased by an average of 50 and 60 percent for 4 and 8 mg/day, respectively"
  • See Avandia at OffshoreRx1.comor SuperSaverMeds.com but check with your doctor first.
• Mirtazapine Regulates Stress Hormones, Improves Sleep In Depressed Patients - Doctor's Guide, 8/8/01 - "Mirtazipine might be the best option for depressed patients with sleep disturbance and irregularities in stress hormone function ... Depression is often accompanied by sleep disturbance -- subjective and objective -- as well as [hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal] HPA-axis dysregulation ... Mirtazapine is a treatment that [profoundly affects] the HPA-axis within hours and promotes sleep within days ... They tested the 24-hour urinary free cortisol (UFC) levels of 16 healthy men and 20 men and women with major depression ... mirtazipne significantly reduced UFC concentrations, which is often elevated in depressed patients"
  • Mirtazapine Attenuates Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical Axis Hyperactivity in Depressed Patients - Doctor's Guide, 4/17/03 - "it has been shown to have an acute inhibiting effect on cortisol secretion in healthy subjects ... Apparently, mirtazapine rapidly attenuates HPA axis hyperactivity in depressed patients via direct pharmaco-endocrinological effects. However, this amelioration of HPA system dysregulation is not necessarily related to clinical improvement"
  • Effects of mirtazapine on growth hormone, prolactin, and cortisol secretion in healthy male subjects - Psychoneuroendocrinology 1999 Oct;24(7):769-84 - "The t-test for paired samples revealed a highly significant difference (P < 0.01) in COR-AUC-values between the mirtazapine group (mean COR-AUC: 1558.07 micrograms/100 ml x 240 min) and the placebo group (mean COR-AUC: 2698.86 micrograms/100 ml x 240 min)." - Note:  The way I read that, there was a 42% decrease in cortisol with 15 mg of mirtazapine over a four hour period.  Click here for more info on the study.
• Cortisol - Keeping a Dangerous Hormone in Check - Life Extension Magazine, 7/04 - "daily cortisol production increased by 54% from a group of 21- to 30-year-old men to a group of men over 70 ... Phosphatidylserine, DHEA, and ginkgo biloba all have been shown to reduce the amount of cortisol produced during stressful events, and these stress fighters can help retard the negative consequences of this hormone" - See iHerb or Vitacost phosphatidylserine products.
• The Role of Cortisol and Depression: Exploring New Opportunities for Treatments - Psychiatric Times, 5/04 - "Although glucocorticoid production is essential for survival, overproduction is associated with a significant disruption of cellular functioning, which, in turn, leads to widespread physiological dysfunction ... Cortisol, a glucocorticoid released from the adrenal cortex, is the end product of the HPA axis ... The physiological function of DHEA and its sulphated metabolite (DHEA-S) is unclear, but these circulating corticosteroids have been shown to possess antiglucocorticoid properties, and high cortisol/DHEA ratios are reported to be associated with persistent depression"
• Why Are So Many Women Depressed? - Scientific America Women's Health: A Life Long Guide, Summer 1998 (see the subtopic "Stress and Cortisol") - "It is unclear whether depression is a cause or a consequence of elevated cortisol levels, but the two are undoubtedly related."
• Wilson's Reverse T3 Dominance Syndrome - knoxintegrativemed.com - "However, when a person experiences prolonged stress, the adrenal glands respond by manufacturing a large amount of cortisol. Cortisol inhibits the conversion of T4 to T3 and favors the conversion of T4 to RT3. If stress is prolonged, a condition called Reverse T3 Dominance occurs and persists even after the stress passes and cortisol levels fall. Apparently, RT3 itself acts like cortisol and blocks the conversion of T4 to T3"
• Wilson's Syndrome - providentmedical.com - "We know that elevated amounts of cortisol, the major stress hormone, can block 5 prime deiodinase, keeping T4 from being converted to T3.  This results in most of the T4 being converted into reverse T3, which then needs the available 5 prime deiodinase to be converted into T2."
• Low-Dose DHEA Increases Androgen, Estrogen Levels in Menopause - Medscape, 12/12/03 - "Cortisol F plasma levels progressively decreased throughout the study." - See iHerbor Vitacost DHEA products.
• A diet fortified with L-lysine and L-arginine reduces plasma cortisol and blocks anxiogenic response to transportation in pigs - Nutr Neurosci. 2003 Oct;6(5):283-9
• Fish oil prevents the adrenal activation elicited by mental stress in healthy men - Diabetes Metab. 2003 Jun;29(3):289-295 - "In control conditions, mental stress significantly increased heart rate, mean blood pressure, and energy expenditure. It increased plasma epinephrine from 60.9 +/- 6.2 to 89.3 +/- 16.1 pg/ml (p<0.05), plasma cortisol from 291 +/- 32 to 372 +/- 37 micromol/l ... After 3 weeks of a diet supplemented with n-3 fatty acids, the stimulation by mental stress of plasma epinephrine, cortisol, energy expenditure, and plasma non esterified fatty acids concentrations, were all significantly blunted ... Supplementation with n-3 fatty acids inhibits the adrenal activation elicited by a mental stress" - See Mega Twin EPA at Vitacost or iHerb.
  • Study Finds Fish Oil Blunts Stress Hormones - altmedicine.com - "Researchers gave seven healthy men 7.2 grams a day of fish oil for three weeks to achieve the results"
• Disappointing Data Confound Claims For DHEA Effectiveness [against Alzheimer's] - Psychiatric News, 6/6/03 - "DHEA has been reported to reduce cortisol, the so-called "stress hormone," which in response to stress is released in large quantities that have been linked to neuronal stress and damage" -  Does anyone detect bias in that title?  I don't know if DHEA helps Alzheimer's or not but I feel the title should have been something like "Alzheimer's Shows Trend Toward Improvement with DHEA at 3 Months".  Their attitude seems to be that nothing works except what we write prescriptions for.  The way I understand it, Alzheimer's usually gets worse, not better and cholinesterase inhibitors slow the disease, they don't reverse it and three months is a short time to determine if it is working.  For example, see the following  in the same issue of Clinical Psychiatry News.  See iHerb or Vitacost DHEA products. - Ben
• Light Sleeper, Heavy Gainer - HealthDay, 2/14/03 - "Sleep deprivation can increase production of cortisol, a stress hormone that stimulates the appetite"
• Stress, Cortisol and Health - Supplement Watch Newsletter, 10/02 - "several lines of evidence have converged to solidify the concept that stress makes us fat (because of cortisol), thins our bones (because of cortisol), shrinks our brains (because of cortisol), suppresses our immune system (because of cortisol), saps our energy levels (because of cortisol), and kills our sex drive (because of cortisol) ... Take a daily multivitamin/multi-mineral supplement - because calcium, magnesium, vitamin C and B-complex vitamins are needed for a proper stress response ... Chief among the supplements with documented cortisol-controlling effects are Phosphatidylserine, Beta-sitosterol, Magnolia bark, Theanine, Epimedium, Ashwagandha and Passionflower"
• Phosphatidylserine (PS) The Essential Brain Nutrient - Life Extension Magazine, 9/02 - "Among its list of functions, phosphatidylserine stimulates the release of dopamine (a mood regulator that also control physical sensations, and movement), increases the production of acetylcholine (necessary for learning and memory), enhances brain glucose metabolism (the fuel used for brain activity), reduces cortisol levels (a stress hormone), and boosts the activity of nerve growth factor (NGF), which oversees the health of cholinergic neurons"
• A Supplement to Prevent Alzheimer’s - Dr. Weil, 8/20/02 - "In theory, PS works by strengthening cell membranes thus protecting them and their contents from damage, particularly from the stress hormone cortisol"
• Testosterone Deficiency & Depression, Does DHEA Raise the Levels of Bioavailable Testosterone in Men? - Life Extension Magazine, 8/02 - "We know that as cortisol rises, testosterone levels tend to drop"
• Hypercortisolemia Cited in Link Between Depression and Cardiovascular Disorders - Doctor's Guide, 4/9/02 - "Depressed patients who are also hypercortisolemic appear to have resistance to insulin and increased visceral fat, possibly accounting for a link between major depression and cardiovascular disorders"
• Physical and Psychological Effects of Stress - MedicineNet.com, 2/02 - "Under excessive stress, we tend to produce cortisol, the classic anti-stress hormone produced by our body, perhaps to conserve energy. However the side-effect here is sexual dysfunction and infertility as cortisol also inhibits production of the hormones essential for sexual"
• Errant Enzyme Causes Big Bellies - WebMD, 12/11/01 - "They looked at an enzyme called 11-beta hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 1. This enzyme is able to increase the level of cortisol in fat cells without raising the level of cortisol in the blood"
• Single enzyme to blame for potbellies: study - MSNBC, 12/6/01 - "What they found was that a single enzyme in fat cells that raises levels of cortisol — the “fight or flight” stress hormone — triggers fat accumulation around the belly and its associated ill effects ... The researchers were drawn to the role of cortisol because patients with a rare illness known as Cushing syndrome — who have too much of the steroid hormone in their blood — develop severe obesity concentrated around their middles and become diabetic ... Since overweight people without Cushing syndrome typically don’t have too much cortisol in their bloodstreams, Flier hypothesized that they may be producing high cortisol levels solely in their fat cells — possibly because the enzyme HSD-1, which makes cortisol from an inactive molecule, is overactive ... The level of cortisol in their stomach fat tissue was 15 percent to 30 percent higher than in their non-engineered counterparts" - Note: The way I read this article, the final culprit is still the cortisol and there are ways to reduce cortisol now.
• Retinoic acid prevents experimental Cushing syndrome - J Clin Invest, October 2001, Volume 108, Number 8, 1123-1131 - "This glucocorticoid excess produces abnormal fat deposition, adrenal hyperplasia, thinning of the skin, hypertension, and psychological disturbances"
• Sleep Deprivation May Trigger Insulin Resistance - Clinical Psychiatry News, 10/01 - "sleep deprivation leads to the release of tumor necrosis factor-, which triggers cortisol release, and that, in turn, causes insulin resistance"
• Researchers Explore New Meds for Mood Disorders - Clinical Psychiatry News, 10/01 - "Another approach being developed for patients with high levels of circulating cortisol involves the abortion pill mifepristone ... The findings, to be published this month in the Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology, suggest that a rapid antidepressant response (approximately 7 days) may occur in some patients"
• Researchers Hopeful Antidepressant Augmentation Will Improve Remission - Clinical Psychiatry News, 9/01 - "In psychotic depression, a corticosteroid antagonist looks most promising. Mifepristone, which is used to induce abortions but was originally designed as treatment for Cushing's disease, has achieved rapid reversal of symptoms in some 30 psychotically depressed patients, ostensibly by blocking cortisol receptors. The drug is now being investigated in a large double-blind trial, he said"
• Two studies implying that cortisol is the cause, not the result of depression:
  • Hyper-Secretion of Cortisol Found in Depressed Patients - Doctor's Guide, 8/28/01 - "a dysfunction in 5-HT 1A receptor activity could be due to a hyper-secretion of cortisol" - Ref. for this article:
  • Hpa axis dysfunction in major depression: relationship to 5-ht(1a) receptor activity - Neuropsychobiology 2001;44(2):74-77 - "a dysfunction in 5-HT(1A) receptor activity could be due to a hypersecretion of cortisol"
  • Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Offers Antidepressant Effects - Doctor's Guide, 9/4/01 - Note: It doesn't mention cortisol but the following study it references does:
  • The impact of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation on pituitary hormone levels and cortisol in healthy subjects - J Affect Disord 2001 Sep;66(1):83-88, - "These changes, in particular the decrease of cortisol levels, might explain in part the efficacy of rTMS"
• Procaine HCI - aidsmap.com, 6/28/01
• AACE Clinical Practice Guidelines For The Evaluation and Treatment of Male Sexual Dysfunction - American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists - "Other endocrine disorders that may cause libido or erectile difficulties include hypothyroidism, hyperthyroidism, adrenal insufficiency, or excessive levels of adrenal corticosteroids [cortisol]"
• How You React to Stress May Affect How Your Clothes Fit - WebMD, 1/16/01 - "fat created by cortisol is the "deep-belly" kind, which, one expert says, is known to increase health risks"
• RU-486 could aid variety of ills - MSNBC, 11/2/00 - "RU-486's ability to block the action of a different hormone � cortisol � has prompted doctors to try it for psychotic depression. In addition to feeling sad and worthless, people with this devastating condition have distorted thinking and often suffer delusions or hallucinations. Many
  become suicidal.
  
  They have very, very disturbing and crazy thoughts ... and they have no ability to suppress them,� said Joseph K. Belanoff, a California psychiatrist who is chief executive officer of Corcept Therapeutics Inc., a small pharmaceutical company. Corcept is sponsoring a study of RU-486 for psychotic depression.
  
  Several lines of evidence have led researchers to suspect that some of the symptoms of psychotic depression are caused by an excess of cortisol in the brain. Cortisol levels rise in response to stress and may be abnormally elevated in depressed individuals. Similar symptoms can occur in patients with Cushing's syndrome, an overabundance of cortisol usually caused by a tumor, and RU-486 has cured the mental disturbance in some
  such cases.
  
  Our feeling has been that a lot of the cognitive problems and delusions that you see in some of the patients are due to the [cortisol],� said Alan F. Schatzberg, chairman of the psychiatry department at Stanford University School of Medicine, where researchers are conducting a study that will test RU-486 on 30 patients with psychotic depression.
  
  RU-486 or other cortisol-blocking drugs �may be better alternatives than ... some of the typical treatments� such as antipsychotic drugs or electric shock therapy, he said."
• Neuroscience finds foggy link between depression and memory loss - CNN, 4/18/00 - "Studies show that prolonged depression or stress leads to elevated levels of cortisol, a "stress" hormone produced by the adrenal glands. This in turn appears to shrink or atrophy the hippocampus, the sea-horse shaped part of the brain associated with many kinds of memory and learning."
• STGI Announces Anticort's FDA Phase I/II is Moving Forward - aegis.com, 7/28/99 - "Procaine (the active ingredient of Anticort(TM)) has been used clinically for more than 40 years, primarily as the local injectable anesthetic Novocaine. Despite the widespread use of procaine, reports of side effects have been rare, and are usually associated with excessive dosage, rapid absorption or inadvertent intravascular injection ... For the pharmacokinetics study, participants will receive Anticort(TM) at a single oral dose of 200 mg (cohort A), 400 mg (cohort B), 600 mg (cohort C) or 800 mg (cohort D). For the 8-week continuous dosing study, participants will receive 200 mg (1 pill per day; cohort A), 400 mg (1 pill twice daily; cohort B), 600 mg (1 pill three times daily; cohort C) or 800 mg (2 pills twice daily; cohort D). To ensure the safety of each dose level, these cohorts will be enrolled sequentially"
• Study Supports Role Of Anticort In Treating Alzheimer's, HIV - Doctor's Guide, 4/17/98 - "Cortisol's role as a cause of disease is most recently confirmed in a study to be published in the May issue of the journal Nature Neuroscience. Authored by Dr. Sonia Lupien of McGill University, the study reports that high levels of cortisol play a key role in Alzheimer's, memory loss, shrinkage of the brain and aging. Dr. Lupien also states that such illnesses might be prevented with medications to reduce elevated cortisol levels."
• Georgetown Researchers Report Development of New Way to Control Excess Cortisol Levels - Georgetown University Medical Center, 6/12/00 - "Although more work is needed to understand how Anticort works, these results clearly indicate that we now have a powerful tool to control the stress response and its detrimental effects on the body"
• Endocrinology of Aging - Medscape, 3/00 - "Excessive lifelong adrenal cortisol feedback on the brain may exacerbate the aging-associated loss in neuronal synapses and plasticity"
• Hypericum, Drug Interatcions, and Liver Effects  - MedHerb.com, 2/00 - "Endogenous hormones metabolized by the CYP3A enzyme system - estradiol, estriol, testosterone, cortisol"
• The Neurobiology of Depression - Scientific America, 6/98 - "When a threat to physical or psychological well-being is detected, the hypothalamus amplifies production of corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF), which induces the pituitary to secrete ACTH. ACTH then instructs the adrenal gland atop each kidney to release cortisol"
• Acetyl-L-carnitine in Alzheimer disease: a short-term study on CSF neurotransmitters and neuropeptides - Alzheimer Dis Assoc Disord 1995 Fall;9(3):128-31 - "beta-endorphins significantly decreased after treatment; plasma cortisol levels matched this reduction. Since both CSF beta-endorphins and plasma cortisol decreased, one possible explanation is that ALCAR reduced the AD-dependent hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) axis hyperactivity"
• Adrenal Disease - Life Extension Magazine
• Anxiety and Stress - Life Extension Magazine
• About Relora - Relora.com
• Psychotic Depression - healthyplace.com - "Researchers aren't exactly sure what causes major depressive disorder with psychotic features (psychotic depression), but it's frequently associated with high levels in the blood of a hormone called cortisol"
• Gerovital GH-3 information - International Antiaging Systems - "It is also known that Gerovital-H3 can help reduce cortisol levels, the hormone responsible for stress and a rare hormone in that it is one of the few that increases with age. It is believed that high-cortisol levels lead to accelerated aging because cortisol “attacks” the hypothalamus, the area of the brain that “controls” the endocrine system. Ironically cortisol may run out-of-control due to its ability to damage the hypothalamus that controls the adrenal glands that produce cortisol!" - Note:  I'm not a doctor but the way I understand it, GH-3 (procaine HCl) reduces 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-coenzyme A reductase (HMG-CoA) activity.  This is what statins do to lower cholesterol.  Cortisol is made from cholesterol therefore less cholesterol equals less cortisol.  The company making Anticort (procaine HCl), stopped after phase II studies.  See J Pharmacol Exp Ther. 2003 Dec;307(3):1148-57. Epub 2003 Oct 14.  - Ben

Effects of cortisol on thyroid:

• central hypothyroidism---fibromyalgia, hypothyroidism, thyroid hormone resistance - drlowe.com - "During stress (such as surgery or an auto accident), the adrenal glands increase their secretion of cortisol. The increase in cortisol inhibits the thyroid system in two ways: (1) it decreases TSH secretion by the pituitary gland, and (2) it decreases conversion of T4 to T3"
• Wilson's Reverse T3 Dominance Syndrome - knoxintegrativemed.com - "However, when a person experiences prolonged stress, the adrenal glands respond by manufacturing a large amount of cortisol. Cortisol inhibits the conversion of T4 to T3 and favors the conversion of T4 to RT3. If stress is prolonged, a condition called Reverse T3 Dominance occurs and persists even after the stress passes and cortisol levels fall. Apparently, RT3 itself acts like cortisol and blocks the conversion of T4 to T3"
• Wilson's Syndrome - providentmedical.com - "We know that elevated amounts of cortisol, the major stress hormone, can block 5 prime deiodinase, keeping T4 from being converted to T3.  This results in most of the T4 being converted into reverse T3, which then needs the available 5 prime deiodinase to be converted into T2."
• Wilson's Thyroid Syndrome - "Conversion of T4 to T3 can also be impaired by glucocorticoids" - Maybe that is the mechanism by which cortisol causes depression, and if so, could T3 then cure the depression? - Ben, Related article:
• Use OF T3 Thyroid Hormone to Treat Depression - DrMirkin.com, 5/11/01 - "some people become depressed when they take just T4 and their depression can be cured when they take both thyroid hormones, T3 and T4"

Alternative News:

• I suffer from seasonal affective disorder. Do you have any suggestions? - Dr. Murray - "Melatonin supplementation may improve SAD because it not only increases brain melatonin levels, but also because it may suppress cortisol secretion"
• Body Types, Body Typing, and Herbal Medicine - HolisticHealthTopics.com - "For those persons who are overstressed or who suffer from excessive adrenal activity and elevated cortisol levels the use of adrenal inhibitors such as alpha linolenic acid ( flaxseed oil ) or phosphatidylserine may be beneficial ... "
• Oral treatment with L-lysine and L-arginine reduces anxiety and basal cortisol levels in healthy humans - Biomed Res. 2007 Apr;28(2):85-90 - "the treatment with L-lysine and L-arginine decreased the basal levels of salivary cortisol and chromogranin-A (a salivary marker of the sympatho-adrenal system) in male subjects"
• Black Tea Soothes Away Stress - Science Daily, 10/4/06 - "the study participants – who drank a black tea concoction four times a day for six weeks – were found to have lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol in their blood after a stressful event, compared with a control group who drank the fake or placebo tea for the same period of time"
• Cortisol, Stress, and Health - Life Extension Magazine, 12/05 - "Supplements to reduce high cortisol levels secondary to stress ... Vitamin C: 1000-3000 mg/day ... Fish oil (omega-3 fatty acids):1-4 gm/day ... Phosphatidylserine: 300-800 mg/day ... Rhodiola rosea: 100-200 mg/day, standardized extract ... Ginseng: 100-300 mg/day, standardized extract ... Ginkgo biloba: 100-200 mg/day, standardized extract ... DHEA: 25-50 mg/day (any hormone supplementation should be monitored by your physician)"
• Can You Slim Down with Cortisol Blockers? - Dr. Weil, 10/7/04
• A botanical to beat 'stress-eaters' - Nutra USA, 4/15/04 - "Relora appears to promote weight maintenance and decrease stress arousal as demonstrated by decreased evening cortisol and decreased systolic blood pressure" - See iHerb or Vitacost Relora products.
• Is Stress Making You Fat? - Dr. Weil, 1/16/04 - "In addition to the link to weight gain, elevated cortisol levels can have adverse effects on the immune system, memory, and sugar metabolism ... women with a high waist-to-hip ratio, whether they were overweight or slim, secreted more cortisol under stress and also reported more stress in their daily lives than women with low waist-to-hip ratios ... caffeine can elevate levels of cortisol"
• Alterations in Stress Cortisol Reactivity in Depressed Preschoolers Relative to Psychiatric and No-Disorder Comparison Groups - Archives of General Psychiatry, 12/03 - "the first investigation of HPA axis reactivity in very young children with a clinical depressive syndrome ... Depressed preschoolers displayed a pattern of increasing cortisol levels throughout the assessment in response to both separation and frustration stressors"
• Low-Dose DHEA Increases Androgen, Estrogen Levels in Menopause - Medscape, 12/12/03 - "Cortisol F plasma levels progressively decreased throughout the study. Both groups also experienced significantly reduced LH and FSH plasma levels"
• Stress-Busting Help Comes From Hormone - WebMD, 8/2/04 - "The people who reported fewer symptoms and who performed best at their military tasks had "significantly higher" levels of the hormone DHEA-S compared with cortisol" [Abstract] - See iHerb or Vitacost DHEA products.
• Exercise Boosts Physical/Mental Health in Diabetics, Breast Cancer Patients, Healthy Males - Doctor's Guide, 6/22/01 - "Researchers found minimal decreases in glucose levels when exercise occurred in the morning, afternoon or evening hours, but found dramatic decreases when subjects exercised at night. Increases in levels of the hormones cortisol and thyrotropin were greater in the evening and night."
• It is Never Too Late to Regenerate Your Brain - Life Extension Magazine, 6/01 - "Lower your stress, lower your cortisol levels and it is likely that your brain can regenerate its powers to learn and remember"
• Enhancing Cognitive Function - Life Extension Magazine, 5/00
• Depression Protocol - Life Extension Foundation
• Muscle Breakdown: Is Cortisol Leading You Down the Catabolic Pathway? - Rehan Jalali/thinkmuscle.com
• Stress: The Hidden Factor For Weight Gain - Nutrition Science News, 4/01 - "Under stress, the body excretes corticotrophin-releasing hormone and adrenalin. This reaction stimulates the release of cortisol from the adrenal cortex. In turn, cortisol, a glucocorticoid, stimulates glucose release into the bloodstream, which, during periods of chronic stress, creates an excessive release of insulin. Insulin, which is part of the endocrine system, is a fat-storage hormone that overrides the stress signal from adrenalin to burn fat. The excess release of insulin gives the body the message to store fat in the abdomen"
• Clinical Trial Update: STGI Announces Anticort's FDA Phase I/II is Moving Forward - Business Wire, 7/28/99 (same article as above dead link)
• Sports Science - An Answer To Intense Training - Health & Nutrition Breakthroughs, 7/98 - "The research team found that, compared to placebo, the plasma cortisol response to exercise was about 16 percent lower for the 400 mg dose of PS and 30 percent lower for the 800 mg dose."
• Anti-Cortisols May Offer New Hope For Retinitis Pigmentosa - Doctor's Guide, 11/17/97 - "According to Sapse, RP can be treated initially with a cocktail of anti-cortisol nutritional compounds including vitamin A, zinc, ginkgo biloba and acetyl-L-carnitine . . ."
• Findings Show Cortisol's Major Role in AIDS and Other Diseases - Doctor's Guide, 6/21/96 - "Anticort, (to lower cortisol) a high dose form of stabilized procaine HCL, is being successfully tested in pilot clinical studies in Brazil and the U.S., in HIV+ and AIDS populations ... Researchers have already started to explore the therapeutic benefits of such an approach through the use of anti-cortisol drugs, such as RU-486, DHEA, Ketaconazole, Anticort and Tianeptine"
• Effect of 5-hydroxytryptophan on serum cortisol levels in major affective disorders. II. Relation to suicide, psychosis, and depressive symptoms - Arch Gen Psychiatry 1984 Apr;41(4):379-87 - "Serum cortisol levels were significantly higher after administration of 5-hydroxytryptophan (5-HTP), 200 mg orally"
• Study 20 - The Hypericum Homepage - "Both serum-cortisol and serum-prolactin were lowered significantly after three weeks of treatment with hypericum extract in male rats."

Other News:

• Symptoms Of Depression In Obese Children Linked To Elevated Cortisol - Science Daily, 6/11/09 - "There is evidence in adults that abnormal regulation of cortisol plays a role in both obesity and depression ... Cortisol levels in the saliva in the afternoon and evening correlated positively with symptoms of depression ... The more depressive symptoms that subjects reported, the higher the cortisol levels at those times"
• Depression Raises Risk for Type 2 Diabetes - WebMD, 6/8/09 - "Depressed participants who were not being treated had significantly greater insulin resistance than study participants who were not depressed. But treatment for depression appeared to improve insulin sensitivity ... There are several theories about how depression may contribute to type 2 diabetes, but the most widely cited theory involves the stress hormone cortisol ... Cortisol is a key player in blood sugar metabolism and insulin sensitivity ... High cortisol levels are also associated with increased fat deposits around the abdomen, or belly fat, which is a risk factor for type 2 diabetes"
• Asperger's Syndrome: Stress Hormone a Clue - Science Daily, 4/2/09
• Work the Night Shift? Beware Diabetes - WebMD, 3/2/09 - "The 8.6 million Americans who work the night shift are at increased risk of obesity, diabetes, and heart disease. Why? ... much of the body's biological clock -- its circadian rhythm -- keeps day-shift time even when a person goes on the night shift ... Cortisol -- the so-called stress hormone that affects blood pressure and blood sugar -- rose and dropped at the wrong time"
• Why some soldiers are cool under fire - MSNBC, 2/16/09 - "Blood samples taken from soldiers in the training programs showed those who fared best under extreme stress had lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol and higher levels of neuropeptide y, a chemical that dampens the body's stress response"
• Symptoms Of Depression Associated With Increase In Abdominal Fat - Science Daily, 12/1/08 - "There are several mechanisms by which depression might increase abdominal fat, they note. Chronic stress and depression may activate certain brain areas and lead to increased levels of the hormone cortisol, which promotes the accumulation of visceral fat. Individuals with depression may have unhealthier lifestyles, including a poor diet, that could interact with other physiological factors to produce an increase in abdominal obesity" - Cortisol is like the chicken and the egg with depression.  They don't seem to know whether it is the cause or result.
• Cushing's Syndrome Induced by Misuse of Moderate- to High-Potency Topical Corticosteroids (December) - Ann Pharmacother. 2008 Nov 18 - "Continuous use of moderate- to high-potency topical corticosteroids over several months can contribute to Cushing's syndrome"
• Cortisol And Fatty Liver: Researchers Find Cause Of Severe Metabolic Disorders - Science Daily, 9/11/08 - "The researchers in Herzig's team specifically switched off the cortisol receptor in the livers of mice, thus blocking the hormone's effect. As a result, the triglyceride level in the livers of the experimental animals dropped considerably"
• Effects of mirtazapine on dehydroepiandrosterone-sulfate and cortisol plasma concentrations in depressed patients - J Psychiatr Res. 2008 Aug 13 - "Mirtazapine significantly reduced both COR and DHEA-S concentrations, but had no impact on the COR/DHEA-S ratio"
• Salivary cortisol is related to atherosclerosis of carotid arteries - J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2008 Aug 5 - "area under the curve (AUC), which is a measure of total cortisol exposure while awake, and the slope, which is a measure of diurnal cortisol decline. Results: Total cortisol exposure while awake (AUC) was associated with higher plaque scores (beta = 0.08 per SD of AUC, 95% CI; 0.00 - 0.17, p-value = 0.04) in a fully adjusted linear regression model. Persons with an AUC in the highest tertile had a higher number of plaques of carotid arteries compared to those in the lowest tertile (3.08 versus 2.80 ... Our results support the hypothesis that increased total cortisol exposure is independently associated with atherosclerosis of the carotid arteries"
• Stress Hormone Found To Regulate Brain Neurotransmission - Science Daily, 8/7/08 - "When we are subjected to a stress, our adrenal glands secrete hormones that affect our entire body. One of these hormones, cortisol, enables us to adapt physically and mentally to the stimulus. Following a major or repeated stress that the individual has no control over, however, cortisol is secreted in great quantities over a long period of time. This hypersecretion has damaging effects on the individual, to the point of accelerating aging and facilitating the onset of illnesses such as depression"
• Depression can trigger diabetes, study suggests - MSNBC, 6/17/08 - "Depressed people were 42 percent more likely to develop diabetes ... depression also pushes up the levels of stress hormones such as cortisol ... Elevated cortisol levels can impair insulin sensitivity in the body and encourage belly fat, a risk factor for diabetes"
• New Clue on Brain Problems and Diabetes - WebMD, 2/18/08 - "Too much of a stress-related hormone may be at the root of memory and other common brain-related diabetes complications ... increases in the stress hormone caused a drop in brain cell regeneration and a decline in memory formation in the rats. But normalizing the levels of the stress hormone reversed many of these negative effects and restored relatively normal brain function, regardless of changes in insulin production"
• Stress Hormone Impacts Memory, Learning In Diabetic Rodents - Science Daily, 2/17/08 - "A new study in diabetic rodents finds that increased levels of a stress hormone produced by the adrenal gland disrupt the healthy functioning of the hippocampus, the region of the brain responsible for learning and short-term memory. Moreover, when levels of the adrenal glucocorticoid hormone corticosterone (also known as cortisol in humans) are returned to normal, the hippocampus recovers its ability to build new cells and regains the "plasticity" needed to compensate for injury and disease and adjust to change"
• Patients With Mild Cushing Syndrome May Benefit From Adrenalectomy - Science Daily, 12/8/07 - "Diabetes and hypertension improved considerably in most affected patients after adrenalectomy. In addition, all eight patients who reported easy bruising before surgery noted resolution of the problem, and seven of the nine patients lost weight. Fat accumulation around the neck disappeared and muscle weakness improved, often markedly ... patients with subclinical Cushing syndrome rarely have enough cortisol in their urine to raise concern ... The cutoff values are intentionally set high so that we minimize the false positives"
• Depression Associated With Low Bone Mineral Density - Medscape, 12/3/07 - "The novelty of this study is the fact that these women were not severely depressed ... Depression is considered a disease of chronic stress, Dr. Cizza said, with attendant increases in the stress hormone cortisol, and cytokines produced by the immune system. "Those substances are helpful to fight stress, but if there is too much cortisol or cytokines, there are side effects," he said. "One of the side effects is bone loss, so it was obvious to ask the question, 'do women with depression have low bone mass?'""
• Feeling Stressed? How Your Skin, Hair And Nails Can Show It - Science Daily, 11/12/07 - "When a person becomes stressed, the level of the body’s stress hormone (cortisol) rises. This in turn causes an increase in oil production, which can lead to oily skin, acne and other related skin problems ... stress has a negative effect on the barrier function of the skin, resulting in water loss that inhibits the skin’s ability to repair itself after an injury"
• Blood Pressure Drug Curbs Brain Damage From Alzheimer's, Depression And Schizophrenia - Science Daily, 11/6/07 - "Prazosin, also prescribed as an antipsychotic medication, appears to block the increase of steroid hormones known as glucocorticoids ... Scientists believe stress activates a neurochemical response in the brain that triggers the release of glucocorticoids in the brain, and that high levels of glucocorticoids in blood serum are associated with such psychiatric conditions as schizophrenia, depression, PTSD and Alzheimer's disease"
  • Definition of Glucocorticoid - medterms.com - "Cortisol is the major natural glucocorticoid"
• Relationship between cortisol and physical performance in older persons - Clin Endocrinol (Oxf). 2007 Jun 7 - "Physical performance is negatively associated with high cortisol levels in older persons"
• Screening of Cushing's syndrome in adult patients with newly diagnosed diabetes mellitus - Clin Endocrinol (Oxf). 2007 Jun 4 - "unknown CS is not rare among patients with diabetes mellitus ... early diagnosis and treatment of CS may provide the opportunity to improve the prognosis of diabetes"
• Low Cortisol Caused by Quetiapine - Doctor's Guide, 5/23/07 - "Quetiapine's 5-HT2 receptor blocking properties are thought to cause a strong inhibitory effect on ACTH and cortisol secretion" - Maybe Seroquel (quetiapine) might be way for people with high cortisol to reduce it but quetiapine has its own problems such as increased risk of diabetes and increased weight.
• Relation of Cortisol Levels and Bone Mineral Density Among Premenopausal Women With Major Depression - Medscape, 5/4/07 - "a lower BMD and increased bone resorption were found in women with mild depression. Major depression had important effects on BMD and bone turnover markers. Depression should be considered among risk factors for osteoporosis in premenopausal women, therefore it may be useful to assess BMD values of MDD patients, and to treat them in cases of lower BMD values"
• Scientists Unravel Clue In Cortisol Production - Science Daily, 4/24/07
• Depression May Trigger Diabetes In Older Adults - Science Daily, 4/23/07 - "Carnethon theorizes that the culprit responsible for diabetes in persons who are depressed is a high level of a stress hormone, cortisol"
• Salivary Cortisol Levels May Be a Biomarker for Late-Life GAD - Medscape, 3/6/07 - "The GAD group showed elevated basal levels compared with the control group. There was also a positive correlation between cortisol levels and severity of GAD"
• Cortisol Secretion in Patients With Type 2 Diabetes: Relationship with chronic complications - Diabetes Care. 2007 Jan;30(1):83-8 - "the degree of cortisol secretion is related to the presence and number of diabetes complications"
• Cortisol-cause and cure for metabolic syndrome? - Diabet Med. 2006 Dec;23(12):1281-8 - "reducing cortisol action may provide a novel therapeutic approach in the metabolic syndrome. There is substantial evidence that circulating cortisol concentrations are higher in people with hypertension and glucose intolerance ... Promising preclinical data suggest that novel 11beta-HSD1 inhibitors will have a role in lowering intracellular cortisol levels as a treatment for the metabolic syndrome"
• Adults Who Go To Bed Lonely Get Stress Hormone Boost Next Morning - Science Daily, 10/31/06
• Hormone Resistance Of Pituitary Tumors And Cushing Disease Explained - Science Daily, 10/28/06
• Salivary Cortisol Response to Prednisolone Challenge Helps Understand Treatment-Resistant Depression - Doctor's Guide, 9/19/06 - "prednisolone is a better corticosteroid than dexamethasone to assess the HPA axis because it binds to 2 different receptors, not only the glucocorticoid receptors but also the mineralocorticoid receptors, providing a more physiological approach"
• Reactions to Stress May Affect Brain Aging - Medscape, 8/14/06 - "the adrenal stress hormone cortisol appears to play an important role in mediating the effects of stress on the brain ... Although acute stress seems to enhance immune function and improve memory, chronic stress has the opposite effect and may even lead to disorders that become more prevalent with aging, such as depression, diabetes, and cognitive impairment"
• Chronic Stress, Depression and Cortisol Levels Are Potential Risk Indicators for Periodontal Disease - Doctor's Guide, 5/31/06 - "being a caregiver to relatives with dementia, hypercortisolemia (overproduction of cortisol) or stress were associated with elevated plaque levels and increased gingival bleeding in a study that examined adults aged 50 years and older"
• Antiglucocoticoid treatments for depression - Aust N Z J Psychiatry. 2006 May;40(5):402-5 - "Both preclinical and clinical studies report encouraging results which suggest that lowering circulating cortisol levels or blocking the effects of elevated cortisol with antagonists, which may up-regulate glucocorticoid receptors, has therapeutic benefits in terms of improvements in depressive symptoms and some domains of neurocognitive function"
• Pasireotide (SOM230) Shows Promise for Treating Acromegaly, Cushing's Disease and Carcinoid Tumors - Doctor's Guide, 5/2/06
• Stress-induced Levels Of Hormone Responsible For Binge Behaviour - Science Daily, 4/14/06
• Got a Phobia? Hormone May Help - WebMD, 3/20/06
• Cortisol correlates with metabolic disturbances in a population study of type 2 diabetic patients - Eur J Endocrinol. 2006 Feb;154(2):325-31 - "The degree of severity of several clinical measures of type 2 diabetes correlates with cortisol concentrations. Moreover, the results provide evidence for a positive relationship between metabolic disturbances and cortisol concentrations that are within the accepted normal range"
• Stress Hormone: No Link to Obesity? - WebMD, 2/3/06
• Adrenalectomy - Medscape, 8/31/05
• Long-Term Stress May Shrink the Brain - WebMD, 5/20/05 - "Previous studies have already shown that stress hormones, such as cortisol, can increase the risk of heart disease and other ailments, but a new study shows that stress hormones may also shrink the brain"
• Obesity and cortisol status - Horm Metab Res. 2005 Apr;37(4):193-7 - "Tissue hypercortisolism, due to increased intracellular activity of 11beta-HSD-1, which catalyzes reduction of cortisone to cortisol, has been reported in obese mice and humans"
• Metyrapone May Be Effective as Additive Treatment of Major Depression - Medscape, 12/6/04 - "Alterations of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis are the most consistent pathological endocrine findings in depression"
  • Metyrapone - NetDoctor.co.uk - "Metyrapone works by stopping the natural production of a steroid hormone called cortisol"
• Feds Sue Marketers Over Ads For Diet Pill - Intelihealth, 10/8/04
• Dexamethasone Suppression Test Can Indicate Suicide Risk - Clinical Psychiatry News, 9/04 - "A positive DST at any point back then seems to indicate an increased suicide risk down the road"
• Child’s Cortisol Level May Signal Depression Risk - Psychiatric News, 12/19/03 - "But even if individuals who were especially vulnerable to depression because of an abnormal cortisol response were identified, what could be done to keep them from developing depression? Using cognitive-behavioral therapy to teach them how to better deal with stress is one possibility, Feder said. Also, drugs are being developed to counter excessive cortisol secretion, and such drugs might likewise benefit individuals with this risk factor, she added"
• Higher Risk of Hip Fracture with Increasing Pre-Fracture Doses of Corticosteroids - Doctor's Guide, 10/23/03
• Stress Feeds the Need for Comfort Food - WebMD, 9/9/03
• Increased Cortisol Levels Linked to Decrease in Attention - Medscape, 8/11/03 - "Corticosteroids may be responsible for cognitive complaints symptoms in patients who take high doses of the medication chronically"
• Steroid-Treated Patients Have High Risk of Cardiovascular Event - Doctor's Guide, 6/23/03
• Schizophrenia Drugs Linked to Diabetes - WebMD, 6/3/03 - "close to 25% of them developed high blood sugar levels while taking Clozaril, the first of these newer schizophrenia medications -- called "atypical antipsychotics." ... people with schizophrenia have a four- to six-fold risk of diabetes compared with the general population ... One possible explanation: Those with schizophrenia typically have higher levels of cortisol, known as the "stress hormone," because the body releases it during times of agitation. And high cortisol levels can cause problems in the way blood sugar is metabolized"
• Mirtazapine Attenuates Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical Axis Hyperactivity in Depressed Patients - Doctor's Guide, 4/17/03 - "it has been shown to have an acute inhibiting effect on cortisol secretion in healthy subjects ... Apparently, mirtazapine rapidly attenuates HPA axis hyperactivity in depressed patients via direct pharmaco-endocrinological effects. However, this amelioration of HPA system dysregulation is not necessarily related to clinical improvement" - Click here for a previous study.
• New Stress-Buster Drugs Block Hormone Binding - Clinical Psychiatry News, 4/03 - "A new class of anxiety-relieving drugs—agents that interrupt core hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) stress signals—will emerge in the next 2-3 years ... In his HPA axis model of depression, the affected individual has a blunted ability to counterregulate in response to stress-induced cortisol increases, and thus is unable to turn off the fight-or-flight HPA mechanism. The result is constant anxiety and overreaction to external stimuli, followed by a sense of learned helplessness and loss of motivation. Many symptoms of deeply entrenched depression—anxiety, loss of appetite, reduced libido, elevated heart rate, hypertension, and dyslipidemia—point to HPA dysregulation ... People with melancholic depression do tend to produce abnormally high levels of CRH. These individuals also have elevated levels of cortisol"
• Nighttime Salivary Cortisol Test Has Excellent Specificity and Sensitivity - Doctor's Guide, 4/7/03 - "Pseudo-Cushing's may result from obesity, depression, anxiety, poorly controlled diabetes, alcoholism, liver disease, or excessive exercise ... The salivary cortisol test had "100% specificity for ruling out pseudo-Cushing's," ... the test provides the opportunity for long-distance monitoring and follow-up. The patient can collect a sample and mail it to a laboratory for measurement"
• Videoscopic Adrenalectomy Reduces Operative Trauma - Doctor's Guide, 4/3/03
• Belly full of danger - USA Today, 2/25/03 - "people with wide girths are more likely to have large amounts of deep-hidden belly fat around their organs. It might be the most dangerous kind of fat and could increase a person's risk of diabetes, heart disease, stroke and some types of cancer ... visceral or intra-abdominal fat, is linked to high cholesterol, high insulin, high triglycerides, high blood pressure and other problems ... So far, physical activity and weight loss appear to be the key ... It's very likely that genes, sex hormones and stress hormones (cortisol) play a role"
• Surgeon Uses New Method To Remove Pituitary Tumors - Doctor's Guide, 1/30/03 (pituitary tumors is sometimes a cause of Cushings)
• How Your Mind Can Heal Your Body - Time Magazine, 1/20/03 - "More and more doctors—and patients—recognize that mental states and physical well-being are intimately connected. An unhealthy body can lead to an unhealthy mind, and an illness of the mind can trigger or worsen diseases in the body. Fixing a problem in one place, moreover, can often help the other ... Somehow depression makes the body less responsive to insulin, the hormone that processes blood sugar—plausibly through the action of cortisol, a hormone that can interfere with insulin sensitivity and that is often elevated in depressed patients ... Cortisol may also make depressed patients more prone to osteoporosis ... Cizza estimates that some 350,000 women get osteoporosis each year because of depression. Cortisol appears to interfere with the ability of the bones to absorb calcium and offset the natural calcium loss that comes with menopause and aging"
• Depression-Altered Immune Function/Steroid Regulation Unrelated to Elevated Cortisol - Doctor's Guide, 12/19/02
• New Vistas in Antidepressant Development - Medscape, 11/21/02 - "The evidence for corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) hypersecretion in depression and certain anxiety disorders is compelling ... CRF is transported to the anterior pituitary via the hypothalamo-hypophyseal portal system where it promotes the release of adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) into the general circulation, which in turn stimulates the production and release of cortisol from the adrenal cortex ... Numerous studies have revealed that the direct injection of CRF into the CNS of laboratory animals produces effects reminiscent of the cardinal symptoms of depression, including decreased libido"
• Ability To Cope With Stress May Play A Role In Cancer Progression - Intelihealth, 11/2/02 - "Studies have shown that people who adopt active coping strategies have better immune function and lower cortisol levels, and just the opposite for people who use passive coping strategies"
• Chronic Stress And Metabolic Syndrome Linked - Doctor's Guide, 11/27/02 - "While the 24-hour cortisol metabolite and normetanephrine (three-methoxynorepinephrine) outputs were higher among cases than controls, HRV and total power were lower among cases" - Makes sense.  Stress increases cortisol, cortisol causes high blood sugar.  Also see my metabolic syndrome and stress pages. - Ben
• Post-Adrenalectomy Radiosurgery Helpful In Adrenocorticotropic Hormone-Producing Pituitary Adenomas - Doctor's Guide, 11/13/02
• Diabetes Drugs May Help Cushing's Syndrome - Reuters Wire, 11/07/2002 - "Cushing's syndrome results from high levels of the hormone cortisol, and can cause fat accumulation in the upper body and face, and thinning of the arms and legs. Patients can experience high blood pressure and high blood sugar, along with depression, fatigue, irritability and weakened bones ... a protein called PPAR-gamma, which is found on pituitary gland tumor cells, appears to be linked to overproduction of ACTH ... researchers injected mice with ACTH-secreting pituitary tumor cells and then treated them with commonly used diabetes drugs, rosiglitazone (Avandia) and troglitazone, or an inactive placebo ... There was an 85% reduction in ACTH and a corresponding 96% reduction in their cortisol-like hormone"
• Foetal Programming Influences Hyper- and Hypocortisolism - Doctor's Guide, 11/7/02
• Short Term Mifepristone Effective For Psychotic Major Depression - Doctor's Guide, 10/22/02 (mifepristone lowers cortisol)
• Exercise, Eating to Enhance Memory? - Dr. Weil, 9/26/02 - "Dr. Khalsa explains that in addition to age, chronic stress can harm the hippocampus via the release of high levels of the hormone cortisol from the adrenal gland"
• Secondary Causes of Osteoporosis Higher in Fracture Patients - Doctor's Guide, 9/23/02 - "The most common cause of secondary osteoporosis is corticosteroid excess, whereas others include malignancy, gastric surgery, alcoholism, and anticonvulsant therapy use. Prior studies have shown that as many as 30 percent of postmenopausal women exposed to corticosteroids demonstrate causes of secondary osteoporosis"
• Sertraline Effects Differ in Depressed Women - Doctor's Guide, 6/6/02 - "The investigators say four-week sertraline therapy increased plasma cortisol levels in the depressed patients"
• Stress Hormone Behind Bad Skin - WebMD, 5/17/02 - "In response to stress, the brain signals production of several hormones. One of them is stress hormone, which makes the oil glands in the skin go into overdrive. Triggering of the stress system can also lead to hair loss, skin aging, and other skin problems" - I believe they are talking about cortisol.
• Apolipoprotein E May Modulate Cortisol Production - Clinical Psychiatry News, 4/02 - "increased cortisol has been associated with a higher risk of a number of age-linked diseases, including diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and osteoporosis. In Alzheimer's disease, increased cortisol levels may lower the threshold for damage or death of hippocampal neurons"
• Early to bed, kids better handle stress - USA Today, 3/14/02 - "Prolonged output of cortisol can: Raise blood pressure and heart rate. Weaken immune response, so that colds and other viruses take hold more easily. Make it harder to concentrate when challenged"
• Managing Stress Key To Success - Intelihealth, 2/26/02 - "an overload of adrenaline and other stress hormones such as dopamine and cortisol can inhibit brain centers that control recollection of memory. That includes physical movements, from finding chords on the piano to skating triple flips"
• Stress Hormones Drive Night Eaters - WebMD, 2/12/02
• U.S. Panel Outlines Strategies for Managing Adrenal Gland Tumours - Doctor's Guide, 2/7/02
• Study: Stress Takes Toll On Brain - Intelihealth, 1/18/02
• Stress Causes Lasting Brain Changes - WebMD, 1/17/02
• Cortisol Feedback Could Be Normal in Major Depression Patients - Doctor's Guide, 1/2/02
• Inhaled Fluticasone Linked to Acute Adrenal Insufficiency - Doctor's Guide, 11/6/01 - So does that mean it will lower cortisol? - Ben
• Study: Women Cope Better With Stress - Intelihealth, 11/14/01 - "Men with higher levels of cortisol, a hormone produced during stress, recalled fewer words than males with lower levels"
• The 'Language of Love' Good for Marriage -- and Health - WebMD, 8/28/01 - "positive interactions between couples can boost immunity and reduce the risk of heart disease by keeping stress hormones low ... language can affect cortisol levels ... women with cortisol increases were two to three times more likely to be divorced within 10 years"
• Hormone Levels Could Spell D-I-V-O-R-C-E in Future - WebMD, 8/24/01 - "those who had the highest levels of three out of four key stress hormones during initial interviews were the most likely to be divorced 10 years later ... The hormones included epinephrine (better known as adrenalin, or the "fight-or-flight" hormone), norepinephrine, ACTH, and cortisol"
• New Antidepressant Class May be On Its Way - Doctor's Guide, 8/9/01 - "A new class of antidepressants, which antagonize corticotropin releasing hormone 1 receptors, may be available soon"
• Denial Speeds Progression To AIDS - Doctor's Guide, 4/2/01 - "The new study also linked higher average blood level of the stress hormone cortisol to speedier progression to AIDS"
• Stress Linked to Functional Hypothalamic Amenorrhea - Doctor's Guide, 6/21/01 - "Increased levels of the stress hormone cortisol are clearly elevated in the bloodstream of child-bearing-aged women who have stopped menstruating"
• Pattern of Corticotrophin-Releasing Hormone Increase Signifies Fetal Distress - Doctor's Guide, 6/21/01 - "The most plausible hypothesis is that stress leads to an increase in cortisol levels in the fetus and this then stimulates the placenta to make more CRH"
• Frequent Flyer Beware: Jet Lag Is Bad for the Memory, Brain Cell and Memory Loss Related to Increased Stress Hormone - WebMD, 5/22/01 - "Over the long haul, Cho believes that elevated cortisol due to shifting time zones is responsible for both the loss of brain cells and the memory impairment. The higher the elevations in cortisol levels, the smaller the temporal lobe volumes on MRI"
• Stressed Moms May Deliver Early - WebMD, 4/6/01 - "when traumatic or emotional situations occur, levels of the body's stress hormones, including cortisol, increase ... stressful events in the first few weeks of pregnancy may put them at risk for having a baby with birth defects of the face, lips, or heart"
• How You React to Stress May Affect How Your Clothes Fit - WebMD, 1/16/01 - "fat created by cortisol is the "deep-belly" kind, which, one expert says, is known to increase health risks"
• Cognitive Dietary Restraints is Associated with Higher Urinary, Cortisol Excretion in Healthy Pre-Menopausal Women - Doctor's Guide, 12/27/00
• Stress May Cause Excess Abdominal Fat In Otherwise Slender Women - Doctor's Guide, 11/15/00
• Stress is bad, but one expert says it's also fattening - CNN, 10/31/00
• Spare Tire Around the Middle? Maybe Your Life Is Too Hectic - WebMD, 10/24/00
• Stress May Cause Fat Around the Midsection in Lean Women - WebMD, 9/22/00
• Women's Hormones Reveal State Of Their Marriages - Intelihealth, 8/8/00
• Denial Speeds Progression To AIDS - Doctor's Guide, 8/1/00 - "The new study also linked higher average blood level of the stress hormone cortisol to speedier progression to AIDS"
• Neuroscience finds foggy link between depression and memory loss - CNN, 4/18/00 - "Studies show that prolonged depression or stress leads to elevated levels of cortisol, a "stress" hormone produced by the adrenal glands. This in turn appears to shrink or atrophy the hippocampus, the sea-horse shaped part of the brain associated with many kinds of memory and learning."
• Behavioral Program Boosts Antibody That Fights Breast Cancer - Doctor's Guide, 8/24/99
• Stress Can Jeopardize Our Health - Dr. Dean, 8/17/99
• Studies Look At The Harmful Effects Of Pent-Up Anger - Intelihealth, 8/10/99
• Chronic Stress Could Damage Brain - Intelihealth, 4/14/99
• Morning Coffee Boosts Blood Pressure, Stress Hormones Throughout The Day - Doctor's Guide, 3/5/99
• What Cortisol is - University of Glasgow, 1996
• Study finds high level of stress hormone impairs memory - CNN, 8/20/98
• Why Are So Many Women Depressed? - Scientific America Women's Health: A Life Long Guide, Summer 1998 (see the subtopic "Stress and Cortisol") - "It is unclear whether depression is a cause or a consequence of elevated cortisol levels, but the two are undoubtedly related."
• Study Supports Role Of Anticort In Treating Alzheimer's, HIV - Doctor's Guide, 4/17/98 - "Cortisol's role as a cause of disease is most recently confirmed in a study to be published in the May issue of the journal Nature Neuroscience. Authored by Dr. Sonia Lupien of McGill University, the study reports that high levels of cortisol play a key role in Alzheimer's, memory loss, shrinkage of the brain and aging. Dr. Lupien also states that such illnesses might be prevented with medications to reduce elevated cortisol levels."
• The Cortisol Connection - Science News Online, 11/29/97
• Anti-Cortisols May Offer New Hope For Retinitis Pigmentosa - Doctor's Guide, 11/17/97
• Peptide Found In Brain Reduces Stress Response - Doctor's Guide, 7/28/97
• One Child Enough To Put Working Mothers At Higher Stress, Health Risk - Doctor's Guide, 7/23/97
• Antifungal Drug May Be New Treatment For Chronic Kidney Disease - Doctor's Guide, 4/1/97 - "chronic kidney diseases progressed fastest in patients whose adrenal glands produced a large amount of cortisol, the body's principal steroid hormone, and slowest in patients whose adrenal glands produced little cortisol"
• Anticort Aids Treatment - Doctor's Guide, 2/11/97
• NIMH Links Depression to Bone Loss - Doctor's Guide, 10/16/96 - "Excess cortisol secretion, a common feature of some forms of depression, is known to cause bone loss"
• Findings Show Cortisol's Major Role in AIDS and Other Diseases - Doctor's Guide, 6/21/96 - "Anticort, a high dose form of stabilized procaine HCL, is being successfully tested in pilot clinical studies in Brazil and the U.S., in HIV+ and AIDS populations."

Cushing's syndrome is caused by prolonged exposure of the body's tissues to high levels of the hormone cortisol. I've talked to doctors who implied that it was black and white, i.e. you have Cushing's or you don't.  My personal opinion, and I'm not a doctor, is that there is a linear gray area in between.

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