Recent Longevity News for the seven days ending 11/18/09.  You should consult your doctor if you are taking any medications.

I got behind because the video card on my computer went bad.  I had to wait a day for a new one from Dell.  By that time there was nearly a thousand articles/abstracts in my RSS feed to go through in addition to sites such as Doctor's Guide.

Flibanserin Drug: Will 'Female Viagra' Boost Sex Drive? - Time Magazine, 11/18/09 - "Whether or not the FDA approves flibanserin to treat women's libidos, the German company's trial results have reignited a decade-long debate over the merit of the HSDD diagnosis — the most commonly diagnosed female sexual dysfunction"

Depression as deadly as smoking, study finds - Science Daily, 11/18/09 - "depression is as much of a risk factor for mortality as smoking"

Vitamin B niacin offers no extra benefit to statin therapy in seniors already diagnosed with coronary artery disease, study suggests - Science Daily, 11/18/09 - "This does not mean that niacin therapy may not have other cardiovascular benefits, but any such benefits are independent of reducing the amount of plaque buildup and patients should be aware of that ... Lima cautions that an ongoing national study of the long-term vascular benefits of dual therapy and whether extended-release niacin, also known as nicotinic acid, lowers death rates from heart disease should provide more definitive data" - Note:  The article implies that prescription Niaspan works better than immediate release niacin.  See http://www.lipidsonline.org/slides/slide01.cfm?q=effect+of+niacin&dpg=7 which implies the opposite.  The prescription might have less flush but I couldn't tell the difference.  Like I've said in the past, the flush gets less the longer you use it and is practically non-existent after you taken it for several months if you take it with food.  Also, the slow release may produce liver damages.  See:

• A comparison of the efficacy and toxic effects of sustained- vs immediate-release niacin in hypercholesterolemic patients - JAMA. 1994 Mar 2;271(9):672-7 - "None of the patients taking IR niacin developed hepatotoxic effects, while 12 (52%) of the 23 patients taking SR niacin did"

Antifibrotic effects of green tea - Science Daily, 11/18/09 - "The researchers drew a conclusion that green tea may protect liver cells and reduce the deposition of collagen fibers in the liver. Green tea provides a safe and effective strategy for improving hepatic fibrosis" - See green tea extract at Amazon.com.

Scientists find molecular trigger that helps prevent aging and disease - Science Daily, 11/18/09 - "diabetes reduces activation of CBP, leading Dr. Mobbs to conclude that a high-calorie diet that leads to diabetes would have the opposite effect of dietary restriction and would accelerate aging"

Alcohol May Reduce Men's Heart Risk - WebMD, 11/18/09 - "Drinking any type of alcohol lowered the risk of serious heart disease in men, with the amount of risk reduction associated with the amount of alcohol: ... Light drinking reduced risk by 35% ... Moderate drinking reduced risk by 51% ... High and very high levels of drinking reduced risk by 54% and 50% ... Light drinking was up to 5 grams a day -- or about one glass of wine, one and one-half beers, or less than a half glass of hard liquor ... Moderate drinking was 5 to 30 grams a day, or about two glasses of wine, two or three beers, or a half to one glass of hard liquor ... High and very high levels of drinking were 30 to 90 grams a day, or about five or more glasses of wine, seven or more beers, and one to one and a half glasses or more of hard liquor"

How fish is cooked affects heart-health benefits of omega-3 fatty acids - Science Daily, 11/17/09 - "If you eat fish to gain the heart-health benefits of its omega-3 fatty acids, baked or boiled fish is better than fried, salted or dried"

HDL Cholesterol Inversely Associated With Cancer Risk - Doctor's Guide, 11/16/09 - "The investigators found a significant inverse relationship between baseline HDL-C levels and the rate of incident cancer, reporting that every 10 mg/dL increase in HDL-C was associated with a 24% (95% CI: 1%-41%) relative reduction in the cancer rate ... They also found a significant inverse relationship between baseline LDL-C and the rate of incident cancer, with every 10-mg/dL reduction in LDL-C associated with a 14% (95% CI: 9%-18%) relative increase in the cancer rate ... There was a significant direct relationship between both age and BMI and rate of incident cancer, with every 5-year increase in age associated with a 28% (95% CI: 16%-42%) relative increase in cancer (P < .001) and every 1-kg/m2 increase in BMI associated with an 18% (95% CI: 6%-31%) relative increase in the cancer rate"

Previous seasonal flu infections may provide some level of H1N1 immunity - Science Daily, 11/16/09 - "What we have found is that the swine flu has similarities to the seasonal flu, which appear to provide some level of pre-existing immunity. This suggests that it could make the disease less severe in the general population than originally feared ... "We found that the immune system's T cells can recognize a significant percent of the markers in swine flu." T cells are infection-fighting white blood cells in the body's immune system. "Nobody knows what level of immunity is sufficient for protection. We do know that a T cell response is not enough to prevent being infected by the virus. But, if infected, our data suggests that T cells in those who have previously been exposed to influenza may make the infection less severe," ... In a normal flu season, influenza infects as much as 20 percent of the U.S. population, causes more than 200,000 hospitalizations and kills about 36,000 people" - Exactly what I've been saying in previous newsletters.

Inadequate levels of vitamin D may significantly increase risk of stroke, heart disease and death - Science Daily, 11/16/09 - "a new study by researchers at the Heart Institute at Intermountain Medical Center in Salt Lake City suggests that Vitamin D contributes to a strong and healthy heart as well -- and that inadequate levels of the vitamin may significantly increase a person's risk of stroke, heart disease, and death, even among people who've never had heart disease ... patients with very low levels of Vitamin D were 77 percent more likely to die, 45 percent more likely to develop coronary artery disease, and 78 percent were more likely to have a stroke than patients with normal levels. Patients with very low levels of Vitamin D were also twice as likely to develop heart failure than those with normal Vitamin D levels ... Recently, studies have also linked Vitamin D to the regulation of many other bodily functions including blood pressure, glucose control, and inflammation, all of which are important risk factors related to heart disease" - See vitamin D at Amazon.com.

Niacin Tops Zetia in Cutting Artery Plaque - WebMD, 11/16/09 - "The question is whether ezetimibe works at all ... Niacin has been around for 50 years. It's a well-understood drug, and in this trial it was clearly superior ... Ultrasound images of neck arteries showed that Niaspan reduced artery plaque by about 2%. Zetia did not slow plaque buildup, although it did lower cholesterol" - See niacin at Amazon.com.

ARBITER 6-HALTS: HDL Raising With Niacin Superior to Ezetimibe - Medscape, 11/16/09 - "Adding extended-release niacin (Niaspan, Abbott) to statin therapy results in a significant regression of atherosclerosis as measured by carotid intima-media thickness (IMT), whereas the addition of ezetimibe (Zetia, Merck/Schering-Plough) to statin therapy did not, according to an eagerly anticipated study" - See niacin at Amazon.com.

Heart and bone damage from low vitamin D tied to declines in sex hormones - Science Daily, 11/15/09 - "Researchers at Johns Hopkins are reporting what is believed to be the first conclusive evidence in men that the long-term ill effects of vitamin D deficiency are amplified by lower levels of the key sex hormone estrogen, but not testosterone ... an adequate daily intake of vitamin D is between 200 and 400 international units, but Michos feels this is inadequate to achieve optimal nutrient blood levels (above 30 nanograms per milliliter). Previous results from the same nationwide survey showed that 41 percent of men and 53 percent of women are technically deficient in the nutrient, with vitamin D levels below 28 nanograms per milliliter" - See vitamin D at Amazon.com.

HbA1c Levels Predict Carotid IMT in Diabetic Adolescents - Medscape, 11/13/09 - "For every 1% increase in HbA1c, the likelihood of having a thicker common carotid IMT increased by 35%, after adjustment for sex, systolic blood pressure z-score, and insulin use ... These data suggest that poor glycemic control is associated with structural changes in the carotid artery that are consistent with early atherosclerosis"

Egg Yolks May Reduce Risk of Age-Related Macular Degeneration - Medscape, 11/13/09 - "Two eggs per day is probably all that is needed to maximize blood levels of lutein and zeaxanthin as well as macular pigment optic density (MPOD) status"

NSAIDs Prevent Early Sign Of Alzheimer Disease In Mice Science Daily, 11/12/09 - "If taking nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) such as ibuprofen or naproxen is to protect you from developing Alzheimer disease then you will have to start taking them at a very early age according to research in a mouse model of the disease"

Another Cause of Obesity: The Bacteria in Your Gut? - Time Magazine, 11/12/09 - "When one group of mice was fed a typical Western diet, high in fat and sugars, they tended to gain weight and grow more Firmicutes gut bacteria and fewer Bacteroidetes. In mice given a low-fat, plant-based chow, the distribution of the two groups of bugs flipped and the animals remained lean. It's not clear whether the balance of gut bugs causes weight gain or is a result of it, but the findings suggest that a "gut profile" could potentially serve as a diagnostic tool for identifying who might have a propensity for obesity. If, for instance, your gut environment contains a preponderance of Firmicutes, then your body may be predisposed to digest calories in a way that leads to greater fat storage. In fact, in Gordon's earlier work with identical twins of different weights, he found that the obese twin tended to have more Firmicutes colonies than the leaner sibling ...factors like gut microbes, which scientists traditionally would not think of exerting influence on genes, may have a surprisingly powerful effect, changing how a body's genes would normally control the way it digest food and breaks it down into energy"

• Gut microflora and obesity: Study highlights potential for pre-, probiotics - Nutra USA, 11/12/09 - "One approach could involve searching for nutritional interventions to modify specific gut microbial species. Dietary components (prebiotics) might be found that alter growth of specific microbial species capable of affecting host physiology, and the Turnbaugh model can be used to pinpoint these elements and decipher the mechanisms of the host-microbe collaboration"

Study: High Bisphenol A ( BPA) Linked to Sex Problems in Men - Science Daily, 11/11/09 - "Compared to the unexposed factory workers in the study, BPA-exposed workers were four times more likely to report erectile dysfunction, low sexual desire, and less than optimal satisfaction with their sex lives. They were seven times more likely to report problems with ejaculation ... BPA has been used for more than three decades to make plastic bottles and other products shatter resistant and clear. It is also used in the lining of many canned foods and a wide range of other commercial goods"

Unexpected Consequences Of Proton Pump Inhibitor Use In Reflux Disease - Science Daily, 11/11/09 - "there are many unexpected consequences and side effects from this class of drugs. They can include: increased rates of hip fractures, possibly related to altered calcium absorption; possible but yet unproven altered vitamin B12 and iron absorption, related to alteration of the gastric pH; increased odds of acquiring nosocomial Clostridium difficile-associated diarrhea; and increased odds of contracting community-acquired pneumonia"

High Fructose Corn Syrup: A Recipe For Hypertension, Study Finds - Science Daily, 11/10/09 - "people who ate or drank more than 74 grams per day of fructose (2.5 sugary soft drinks per day) increased their risk of developing hypertension. Specifically, a diet of more than 74 grams per day of fructose led to a 28%, 36%, and 87% higher risk for blood pressure levels of 135/85, 140/90, and 160/100 mmHg, respectively. (A normal blood pressure reading is below 120/80 mmHg.)"

Heating, Air-Conditioning And Carpets May Be Hazardous To Your Health - Science Daily, 11/10/09 - "A damp building with high humidity may lead to increased levels of dust mites and mold, leading to increased allergic respiratory symptoms, as well as the worsening of asthma. And even if someone is not allergic, molds may produce mycotoxins and volatile organic chemicals (VOCs) that smell bad and may cause respiratory irritation"

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):

Extended-Release Niacin or Ezetimibe and Carotid Intima-Media Thickness - N Engl J Med. 2009 Nov 15 - "This comparative-effectiveness trial shows that the use of extended-release niacin causes a significant regression of carotid intima-media thickness when combined with a statin and that niacin is superior to ezetimibe"

Higher circulating levels of igf-1 are associated with longer leukocyte telomere length in healthy subjects - Mech Ageing Dev. 2009 Nov 10 - "Both IGF-1 and LTL diminished with age (IGF-1, r=-0.601, P<0.001; LTL, r=-0.706, P<0.001). Age-adjusted LTL was positively associated with IGF-1 level throughout the age range of the cohort (r=0.270, P<0.001). IGF-1 accounted for about 10% of the inter-individual variation in LTL over and above the effect of age. Our findings suggest that both circulating IGF-1 and LTL are indices of healthy aging in humans" - Note: hGH increases igf-1.

The effect of chronic antipsychotic drug administration on nitric oxide synthase activity and gene expression in rat penile tissues - Eur Neuropsychopharmacol. 2009 Nov 13 - "Antipsychotic drug treatment may be associated with common and problematic sexual dysfunction, especially impotence, which can diminish quality of life and lead to treatment noncompliance. Nitric oxide synthase (NOS) is an important cellular modulator of erectile function. We have therefore investigated the effect of antipsychotic drug on activity and gene expression of NOS in rat penile tissues. The activity of constitutive NOS was significantly suppressed below control by a 21days administration of 1mg/kg haloperidol, which also significantly decreased expression of endothelial NOS (eNOS) and neural NOS mRNA. Risperidone at 0.5mg/kg also reduced eNOS mRNA expression. Haloperidol or risperidone did not change gene expression and activity of inducible NOS (iNOS). Quetiapine significantly increased activity and mRNA expression of iNOS with 20 and 40mg/kg doses"

Metformin associated with lower cancer mortality in type 2 diabetes (ZODIAC-16) - Diabetes Care. 2009 Nov 16 - "Median follow-up time was 9.6 years, average age at baseline was 68 years, and average HbA1c was 7.5%. Five hundred seventy patients died, of which 122 from malignancies. SMR for cancer mortality was 1.47 (95%CI 1.22-1.76). In patients taking metformin compared to patients not taking metformin at baseline, the adjusted hazard ratio (HR) for cancer mortality was 0.43 (95%CI 0.23-0.80), and the HR with every increase of 1 gram of metformin was 0.58 (95%CI 0.36-0.93) ... In general, patients with type 2 diabetes are at increased risk for cancer mortality. In our group, metformin use was associated with lower cancer mortality when compared to non-metformin use. Although the design cannot be conclusive about causality, our results suggest a protective effect of metformin on cancer mortality"

Aspirin is associated with reduced cardiovascular and all-cause mortality in type 2 diabetes in a primary prevention setting: The Fremantle Diabetes Study - Diabetes Care. 2009 Nov 16 - "Regular low-dose aspirin may reduce all-cause and CVD mortality in a primary prevention setting in type 2 diabetes. All-cause mortality reductions appear greatest in men and those aged >/=65 years. The present observational data support recommendations that aspirin should be used in primary CVD prevention in all but the lowest risk patients"

Neat Tech Stuff :

• Two easy ways to speed up Windows Vista:
  • Go “Start – Control Panel”. In the “Classic” menu select “System”. On the left select “Advanced system settings”. This should bring up the “System Properties” box. Select the “Advanced” tab. Under performance select “Settings…”. Select “Adjust for best performance” then “Apply” then “OK”. Vista will go back to the classic menu and you’ll lose a lot of the tacky whistles and bells like the rubbery icons at the bottom but the performance will be much better.
  • “Go “Start – Run” or “Start – Search” if you don’t have “Run” (there a way to get “Run” back. Type “msconfig” and enter. This will bring up the “System Configuration” box. Under the “General” tab select “Selective startup” and under that select “Load system services” and “Load startup items”. Select the “Startup” tab. Uncheck everything you don’t need loaded into the memory on startup (they will still work) like iTunes, Acrobat, Quick Time, Real Player, etc. Select “Apply” and “OK”. The next time you boot the computer you’ll get a dialog box saying that you did that. Just select “Don’t show this again”.
  • Also I like the UniBlue.com bundle, it makes it easy to clean up registries and check and update drivers.
• Hydrogen-powered car still seems improbable - washingtonpost.com, 11/17/09 - "None of that is impossible. It's just stupendously difficult and probably pointless. That's why, for the foreseeable future, the hydrogen car will remain a tailpipe dream"
• Key oil figures were distorted by US pressure, says whistleblower -  The Guardian, 11/9/09
• Warning: Oil supplies are running out fast - The Independent, 8/3/09

Health Focus (Diets):

Related Topics:

• Diets / Atkin's diet / Zone diet / Mediterranean diet / Ornish diet
• weight control / obesity / nutrition / carbohydrates / fats / protein
• Axokine / leptin / obesity / weight control / ghrelin / peripheral hormone peptide YY (PYY 3-36) / PGC-1beta / oleylethanolamide (OEA) / Xenical (orlistat) / Meridia® (sibutramine) / Topamax® (topiramate) / Wellbutrin®/Zyban® (bupropion) / Glucophage (metformin) / Acomplia (rimonabant)

News & Research:

• Mood Improves On Low-fat, But Not Low-carb, Diet Plan - Science Daily, 11/10/09 - "After one year, a low-calorie, low-fat diet appears more beneficial to dieters' mood than a low-carbohydrate plan with the same number of calories"
• Low-carb Diets Linked To Atherosclerosis And Impaired Blood Vessel Growth - Science Daily, 8/25/09 - "Even as low-carbohydrate/high-protein diets have proven successful at helping individuals rapidly lose weight, little is known about the diets' long-term effects on vascular health ... mice placed on a 12-week low carbohydrate/high-protein diet showed a significant increase in atherosclerosis, a buildup of plaque in the heart's arteries and a leading cause of heart attack and stroke ... our research suggests that, at least in animals, these diets could be having adverse cardiovascular effects that are not reflected in simple serum markers"
• Low-carb Diets Can Affect Dieters' Cognition Skills - Science Daily, 12/11/08 - "A new study from the psychology department at Tufts University shows that when dieters eliminate carbohydrates from their meals, they performed more poorly on memory-based tasks than when they reduce calories, but maintain carbohydrates. When carbohydrates were reintroduced, cognition skills returned to normal"
• Ornish: Why Atkins Still Doesn't Beat Low-Fat Diet -  Newsweek, 7/16/08 - "A new study comparing the Atkins diet, a Mediterranean diet and a low-fat diet published on July 17 in The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), is likely to inspire headlines saying that the Atkins diet is better for your waistline and your health than a low-fat diet ... I believe this study is extremely flawed. Here's why: ... funded in part by the Atkins Foundation ... quality of data in this study ..."
• Low-Carb/High-Fat or High-Carb/Low-Fat Diet Improves Weight Loss, Mood - Medscape, 9/14/07 - "Compared with the HCLF diet, the LCHF diet was associated with significantly greater weight loss (7.8 +/- 0.4 vs 6.4 +/- 0.4 kg; P = .04). Improvements in psychological well-being were similar in both groups, with the greatest effect observed during the first 2 weeks. Although working memory was similar in both groups (P = .68), there was a significant time/diet interaction for speed of processing (P = .04), with less improvement on this measure in the LCHF than in the HCLF diet group"
• Becoming a Vegan? - Dr. Weil, 4/30/07
• Low-Carbohydrate Diets Appear Effective, But May Raise Cholesterol Levels - Doctor's Guide, 2/14/06
• 4 Diets Face Off: Which Is the Winner? - WebMD, 1/4/05 - "Who lost the most pounds? Those who followed their diets most closely, no matter which of the four plans they followed"
• Diet Adherence, Not Diet Type, More Important Factor for Losing Weight - Doctor's Guide, 1/4/05 - "the key to losing weight may not be which diet plan a person picks, but sticking with the plan that is chosen"
• What’s the Best Diet? - Dr. Weil, 6/11/04
• 4 Popular Diets Heart Healthy - WebMD, 11/10/03 - "the heart disease risk score is based on the ratio between LDL cholesterol and HDL "good" cholesterol ... The Atkins and Zone diets increased HDL by 15%, while Weight Watchers posted an 18.5% gain. But the Ornish diet increased HDL by just 2.2%"
• Fatty Diet Raises Diabetes Risk - WebMD, 6/20/03 - "surveys of people with diabetes have suggested a link between the amount of saturated fat in a person's diet and diabetes risk, but until now that link has not been confirmed by biological evidence ... they looked at the levels of fatty acids in the blood, which reflects how much saturated fat a person generally eats over time, and compared it to the risk of developing type 2 diabetes among a group of 2,909 adults aged 45-64 ... During nine years of follow-up, 252 of the men and women developed type 2 diabetes ... As the level of fatty acids increased, the likelihood that the person developed type 2 diabetes also increased" - This is something else the Atkin's studies should be looking at.  This study was nine years.  I believe the longest Atkin's study was one year. - Ben
• High Protein Diets More Effective At Maintaining Weight Loss - Doctor's Guide, 6/4/03 - "Despite no differences in attitudes to eating, a protein intake of 18% as energy versus 15% as energy resulted in improved weight maintenance, as well as improved fat distribution based on body waist circumference, and improved substrate oxidation and satiety"
• High Calcium Levels Fail to Improve Success of High Protein Diets in Weight Loss - Doctor's Guide, 6/3/03
• Low-Carbohydrate Diet Better Than Low-Fat for Weight Loss, Insulin Sensitivity, and Triglycerides - Doctor's Guide, 5/29/03
• Atkins Diet Lesson: Watch Those Carbs - WebMD, 5/21/03 - "our worries over the Atkins diet go way past the question of whether it is effective for losing weight or even for keeping weight off. We worry that the diet promotes heart disease. ... We have concerns over whether this is a healthy diet for preventing heart disease, stroke, and cancer. There is also potential loss of bone, and the potential for people with liver and kidney problems to have trouble with the high amounts of protein in these diets ... Those on the Atkins diet lost significantly more weight over the first six months of the study. After 12 months, there was little difference in weight between those on the Atkins diet and those who stayed on the low-fat diet" - Sounds like they maxed out with water loss and then it caught up with them.  Plus what happens at 12 months when they start eating a normal diet and they become re-hydrated again. - Ben
• Low-Carb Diets OK in Short Term - WebMD, 4/15/03
• It's not the carbs, it's the calories, Atkins plan analysis shows - USA Today, 4/8/03
• Scientific Evidence Lacking on High-Protein, Low-Carbohydrate Diets - WebMD, 4/8/03
• Intermittent and On-Demand Very Low Calorie Diets Bring Significant Weight Loss - Doctor's Guide, 4/3/03 - "All patients started with 16 weeks on a very low calorie diet. Then, patients assigned to an intermittent group were scheduled to use a very low calorie diet for two weeks every third month, while patients in an on-demand group were told to use a very low calorie diet whenever their body weight passed an individualized cut-off level ... Completers in both groups maintained highly significant weight losses after two years. Patients in the intermittent group lost 7.0 [15.43 pounds] +/- 11.0 [24.25 pounds] kg. Patients in the on-demand group lost 9.1 [20.06 pounds] +/- 9.7 [21.38 pounds] kg"
• Low-Sugar Diet for Weight Loss - WebMD, 3/4/03 - "Specifically, this is what the UN report says about a healthy diet: Carbohydrates (fruits, vegetables, whole grains, starches) should make up the bulk of total daily calories -- from 55% to 75%. Fat should be 15% -30% total calories (with 10% from saturated fat). Protein should be 10%-15% ... Sugar should be less than 10% of total daily calories ... One hour per day of moderate-intensity activity such as walking, on most days of the week, is needed to maintain a healthy body weight, especially for those people who spend most of their time sitting down"
• Atkins diet research challenges 30 years of dogma - USA Today, 2/15/03
• The Gene Diet: A New Health Strategy? - Dr. Weil, 12/17/02
• Atkins diet meets with success - USA Today, 12/9/02
• Will The Lost Weight On Atkins Diet Stay Away? - Intelihealth, 11/26/02 - "We will see more gout, more hypertension and more high cholesterol ... Cutting back on carbohydrates helps people lose body water, shed a few pounds and feel less bloated, she said ... Then you cheat - you eat carbohydrates and you gain back the body water. This happens within a day or two"
• Atkins Diet Heart-Healthy After All? - WebMD, 11/19/02
• Low-Carbohydrate Ketogenic Diet Associated With Greater Weight Loss, Better Lipid Profile Than Low-Fat Diet - Doctor's Guide, 11/19/02
• American Heart Association Statement on High-Protein, Low-Carbohydrate Diet Study Presented at Scientific Sessions - AHA, 11/19/02
• Atkins diet good for cholesterol - USA Today, 11/18/02 - "After six months, the people on the Atkins diet had lost an average of 31 pounds, compared with 20 pounds on the AHA diet, and more people stuck with the Atkins regimen ... Total cholesterol fell slightly in both groups. However, those on the Atkins diet had an 11% increase in HDL, the good cholesterol, and a 49% drop in triglycerides. On the AHA diet, HDL was unchanged, and triglycerides dropped 22%. High triglycerides may raise the risk of heart disease" - That may be true but what about a diet devoid of anti-oxidants making you old before your time.  Plus, how much of that extra 11 pounds was water loss? - Ben
• Researchers chew the fat on merits of the Atkins diet - USA Today, 8/6/02
• Low-Carbohydrate, High-Protein Diets Increase Risk Of Kidney Stones And May Raise Bone Loss Risk - Doctor's Guide, 8/1/02 - "acid excretion - a marker for the acid load in the blood - increased as much as 90 percent while subjects were on diets that severely restricted carbohydrates. Levels of urinary citrate, which inhibits kidney stones, fell by almost 25 percent in the group during the six-week study ... People may lose weight on this diet, but this study shows that this is not a healthy way to lose weight ... there was an increased risk of developing kidney stones and a possible increase in the risk of bone loss"
• Comparing Food Pyramids - Intelihealth, 7/24/02
• WebMD - Atkins Diet Works; Safety Unknown - WebMD, 7/18/02 - "At the end of six months, 80% of the participants were still on the diet, and they had lost an average of 10% of their original body weight. LDL, or bad cholesterol, decreased in all but one of the dieters, while HDL, or good cholesterol, improved ... there is no mystery to why participants lost weight on the low-carbohydrate diet. Even though calories were not restricted, the dieters ate an average of 1,450 calories per day. Without carbohydrates the body goes into a state called ketosis, which tends to lower appetite ... more study is needed to pronounce the carbohydrate-restricting diet safe"
• Should We All Be Vegetarians? - Time, 7/15/02 - "a predominantly vegetarian diet may have beneficial effects for kidney and nerve function in diabetics, as well as for weight loss; that eating more fruits and vegetables can slow, and perhaps reverse, age-related declines in brain function and in cognitive and motor performance—at least in rats; that vegetarian seniors have a lower death rate and use less medication than meat-eating seniors; that vegetarians have a healthier total intake of fats and cholesterol but a less healthy intake of fatty acids (such as the heart-protecting omega-3 fatty acids found in fish oil) ... But one paper suggested that low-protein diets (associated with vegetarians) reduce calcium absorption and may have a negative impact on skeletal health. And although several studies on Seventh-Day Adventists (typically vegetarians) indicated that they have a longer-than-average life expectancy, other studies found that prostate-cancer rates were high in Adventists, and one study found that Adventists were more likely to suffer hip fractures ..."
• Losing Weight with Peanut Butter? - Dr. Weil, 7/10/02 - "a diet high in monounsaturated fats (MUFAs) with 34-36 percent of calories from fat reduced LDL (“bad”) cholesterol by 16-25 percent without lowering HDL (“good”) cholesterol levels. In contrast, the American Heart Associations diet with 25 percent of calories from fat, resulted in only a 12 percent reduction ... people on a diet including 35 percent of calories from MUFAs as well as those on a traditional low-fat, high carbohydrate diet lost an average of 11 pounds over six months. However, by 18 months, three times as many people on the MUFA diet remained with the program and kept off the lost weight while the others regained an average of five pounds each"
• Weight-Conscious Have Been Fooled By "Low-Fat" Labeling - Intelihealth, 4/17/02
• Fad diets work, but ... - USA Today, 2/5/02
• Vegetarian diet on solid ground, experts say - USA Today, 12/7/01 - "McDougall points to a recent study in the Archives of Internal Medicine that looked at Seventh-Day Adventists in California, a group made up mostly of vegetarians. The 12-year of study of 34,192 people found that on average, group members lived 10 years longer than the general population ... Vegetarians have a 40% less risk of cancer and much less risk of heart disease, diabetes, hypertension, kidney disease and other problems that are common among meat eaters"
• Study: Lean diet may mean long life - CNN, 9/3/01 - "It's never too late to cut back on the calories to prolong life, even in your later years ... mice they put on a low-calorie regimen -- even creatures put on the diet for a short period -- exhibited characteristics of slowed aging ... Restricting calories reversed the changes in several genes that were altered in aging animals"
• Few Drawbacks To Following Low-Fat/High-Fiber Diet - Doctor's Guide, 8/1/01
• New shape of the food pyramid - USA Today, 7/26/01
• Sizing Up the Bumper Crop of Diet Books - WebMD, 6/18/01
• Experts Cautious About Detox Diets - Intelihealth, 6/21/01
• High-Fat Atkins Diet Shows Small Cholesterol Benefit, But Don't Opt for Bacon Over Broccoli Just Yet - WebMD, 3/23/01 - "there could be a small benefit to a high-fat diet. They randomly assigned 45 adults to eat for 3 months either a high-fat low-carbohydrate diet or a more conventional "heart healthy" diet (American Heart Association Step 2 diet). They found that the while the AHA diet was more effective at reducing overall levels of LDL, only the high-fat diet caused a significant reduction in the amount of very small, dense LDL particles, a form of the bad cholesterol that is thought to be particularly harmful to arteries that nourish the heart, and a major contributor to atherosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries ... vegetarians had much healthier arteries than the other group ... the real answer may be that a Mediterranean style diet, rich in fruits, vegetables, and grains and relatively low in animals fats, may be the easiest to follow, because it's not as Spartan as the Ornish regimen or as monotonous as the Atkins approach"
• WebMD Goes One-on-One With the 'Revolutionary' Robert C. Atkins, MD - WebMD, 3/23/01

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