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Recent Longevity News for the seven days ending 12/22/10. You should consult your doctor if you are taking any medications. Component in common dairy foods may cut diabetes risk, study suggests - Science Daily, 12/20/10 - "The compound, trans-palmitoleic acid, is a fatty acid found in milk, cheese, yogurt, and butter ... trans-palmitoleic acid may underlie epidemiological evidence in recent years that diets rich in dairy foods are linked to lower risk of type 2 diabetes and related metabolic abnormalities. Health experts generally advise reducing full-fat dairy products, but trans-palmitoleic acid is found in dairy fat ... At baseline, higher circulating levels of trans-palmitoleic acid were associated with healthier levels of blood cholesterol, inflammatory markers, insulin levels, and insulin sensitivity, after adjustment for other risk factors. During follow-up, individuals with higher circulating levels of trans-palmitoleic acid had a much lower risk of developing diabetes, with about a 60% lower risk among participants in the highest quintile (fifth) of trans-palmitoleic acid levels" - So maybe I can stop feeling guilty about my yoghurt made with 50% full fat powdered milk and 50% skim powdered milk. I eat a lot of it. My triglycerides on the last test were 91 and my fasting glucose 83. Yoghurt is about as low as you can get with 10 AGEs/serving (kU) compared to broccoli at 226 or broiled franks at 10,143. Click here for the table.
Boosting
supply of key brain chemical reduces fatigue in mice - Science Daily,
12/20/10 - "Researchers at Vanderbilt University have
"engineered" a mouse that can run on a treadmill twice as long as a normal mouse
by increasing its supply of acetylcholine ... could lead to new treatments for
neuromuscular disorders such as myasthenia gravis, which occurs when cholinergic
nerve signals fail to reach the muscles ... The choline transporter is vital to
the capacity for muscle contraction -- including the ability to breathe --
because it regulates the supply of choline, the
precursor to acetylcholine. "We reasoned that giving more of this protein might
enhance muscle function and reduce nerve-dependent fatigue,"" - See
citicholine at Amazon.com 'Love hormone' may treat daily headaches - MSNBC, 12/20/10 - "Of patients given a dose of oxytocin as a nasal spray, 50 percent reported their headache pain was reduced by half, and an additional 27 percent of these patients reported no pain after four hours. By comparison, 11 percent of patients who were given a placebo spray said their headache pain was cut by half after four hours, and none reported complete pain relief" - See Oxytocin 6x5iu tablets at International Antiaging Systems. Squeezing maximum health benefits out of the orange in your stocking - Science Daily, 12/20/10 - "We're looking for synergistic effects ... Cases where the effect of two or more antioxidants together was stronger than the sum of them separately ... In conclusion, they identified several combinations of antioxidants that were the most synergistic -- the compounds hesperidin and naringenin, in particular, appeared to contribute the most punch in the combinations" - Note: I started a web page on synergy years ago. The links went dead and I removed most of them. There hasn't been any news on it in the last several years. It's been the philosophy in my own regiment for years (taking small amounts of several supplements instead of mega doses of any one) plus if they find a negative effect on and one supplement you've only bee taking a small amount instead of mega doses.
Orange juice flavanone may benefit heart health: Study - Nutra USA, 12/17/10
- "The researchers reported that
blood pressure was significantly lowered
after 4 weeks consumption of orange juice or a
hesperidin rich drink when compared to a placebo drink" - [Abstract]
- See
hesperidin at Amazon.com Double Espresso vs Prostate Cancer - Medscape, 12/17/10 - "This wasn't a randomized trial. It was epidemiologic observational research. What they did was they gave people a questionnaire about their coffee drinking habits, and then they correlated that with hospital records on who got advanced prostate cancer and who didn't. Of course, there's a big problem with doing that type of research, which is that people who drink coffee may be different from people who don't drink coffee in all sorts of ways other than their caffeine consumption. Here's the number-one reason I don't actually believe the study. What the investigators reported was a 60% decrease in your risk for advanced prostate cancer if you drank coffee. Finasteride and dutasteride, these are drugs that we know in randomized trials are effective for prostate cancer, and we know that they have a mechanism of action that is pertinent to the prostate. Those 2 drugs reduce the risk for cancer by about 25%. Nothing is going to reduce the risk for advanced prostate cancer by 60%. I doubt if chemotherapy would. This is just a guess, little indication that the results of the study are due to bias ... There's another problem with these sorts of studies. Cancer takes a long time to develop. In fact, in the case of prostate cancer, we know that it takes 30 or more years between initiation of cancer and a clinical diagnosis" PSA test better predicts cancer in men taking prostate-shrinking drug - Science Daily, 12/16/10 - "Dutasteride lowers PSA levels by about half within six months. But the researchers found that even a slight rise in PSA levels among men taking the drug was a stronger indicator of prostate cancer, particularly aggressive tumors that require early diagnosis and treatment, than rising PSA levels in men who took a placebo ... dutasteride reduced the risk of a prostate cancer diagnosis by 23 percent. Dutasteride appears to keep tumors small or shrink them to the point that they are less likely to be detected by a biopsy ... Over four years, PSA levels increased in 72 percent of men taking a placebo and only 29 percent of men taking dutasteride, the data show" - See dutasteride at OffshoreRx1.com. Higher HDL-C Levels May Curb Alzheimer's Disease Risk - Medscape, 12/16/10 - "There was a definite threshold effect, the researchers say, with a clear reduction in AD risk for people in the highest HDL-C level quartile (>56 mg/dL) ... these analyses were limited by the small number of cases of vascular dementia (n = 16) ... the current study linking higher HDL-C to a lower risk for incident dementia contrast with a prior study by the same researchers. This earlier study involved 1168 participants recruited from the same community in 1992 – 1994 and showed no association between HDL-C and AD ... Compared with the 1992 – 1994 cohort, the 1999 – 2001 cohort had a higher proportion of subjects receiving lipid-lowering treatment (23.4% vs 14.5%), higher mean HDL-C levels (48.3 vs 47.2 mg/dL), and fewer individuals who smoked (9.4% vs 10.6%) and had heart disease (18.8% vs 34.1%)" Garlic could protect against hip osteoarthritis - Science Daily, 12/16/10 - "women who consume a diet high in allium vegetables, such as garlic, onions and leeks, have lower levels of hip osteoarthritis ... a compound called diallyl disulphide limits the amount of cartilage-damaging enzymes when introduced to a human cartilage cell-line in the laboratory ... While we don't yet know if eating garlic will lead to high levels of this component in the joint, these findings may point the way towards future treatments and prevention of hip osteoarthritis" Dannon's Activia, DanActive health claims draw $21M fine - USATODAY.com, 12/15/10 - "Dannon will stop claiming that one daily serving of Activia yogurt relieves irregularity and that DanActive helps people avoid catching colds" - Here's the reason I used Activia to make my own yoghurt (first bullet). This article doesn't address it. I never did buy off on the irregularity claim but there might be some support for colds:
Increased BPA exposure linked to reduced egg quality in women - Science Daily, 12/15/10 - "As blood levels of BPA in the women studied doubled, the percentage of eggs that fertilized normally declined by 50 percent ... Given the widespread nature of BPA exposure in the U.S., even a modest effect on reproduction is of substantial concern" The Benefits of Exercising Before Breakfast - NYTimes.com, 12/15/10 - "One of the groups ate a hefty, carbohydrate-rich breakfast before exercising and continued to ingest carbohydrates, in the form of something like a sports drink, throughout their workouts. The second group worked out without eating first and drank only water during the training. They made up for their abstinence with breakfast later that morning, comparable in calories to the other group’s trencherman portions ... Only the group that exercised before breakfast gained almost no weight and showed no signs of insulin resistance. They also burned the fat they were taking in more efficiently" - That's something I've been doing since Moby Dick was a minnow. The key to being attractive (and looking healthy)? A good night's sleep - Science Daily, 12/14/10 - "The observers judged the faces of sleep-deprived participants as less healthy, less attractive and more tired ... The authors conclude that the facial signals of sleep deprived people affect facial appearance and judgments of attractiveness, health and tiredness" 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): Resveratrol enhances the anti-tumor activity of the mTOR inhibitor rapamycin in multiple breast cancer cell lines mainly by suppressing rapamycin-induced AKT signaling - Cancer Lett. 2010 Dec 16 - "The anti-tumor activity of rapamycin is compromised by the feedback-loop-relevant hyperactive PI3K and ERK-MAPK pathway signaling. In breast cancer cells treated with rapamycin, we observed a moderate increase of AKT phosphorylation (P-AKT) in a rapamycin resistant cell line, MDA-MB-231, as well as a slight increase of P-AKT in a rapamycin sensitive cell line, MCF-7. We found that resveratrol, a natural phytoalexin, suppressed the phosphorylation and activation of the PI3K/AKT pathway in all the three breast cancer cell lines that we tested. It also had a weak inhibitory effect on the activation of the mTOR/p70S6K pathway in two cell lines expressing wildtype PTEN, MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231. The combined use of resveratrol and rapamycin resulted in modest additive inhibitory effects on the growth of breast cancer cells, mainly through suppressing rapamycin-induced AKT activation"
A
Heat-Stable Extract From Mucuna Stimulates the Differentiation of Bone Marrow
Cells Into Dendritic Cells and Induces Apoptosis in Cancer Cells - Nutr
Cancer. 2010 Dec 16:1 - "Pine cone extract is known to
induce differentiation of human mononuclear cells into dendritic cells (DCs) and
also to induce apoptosis in human cancer cells.
In the present study, we screened edible plants that contain components with
biological activities similar to or more potent than those of pine cone extract.
We found that Mucuna (Mucuna pruviens
var. utilis) contains a DC differentiation/maturation-inducing activity and a
component that induces apoptosis in human cancer cell lines. Mucuna extract
specifically stimulated differentiation of BM cells to immature DCs. Marked
production of IL-6 was observed by sequential treatment with at least 10 μg/mL
of Mucuna extract followed by LPS. The sequential treatment with Mucuna extract
followed by LPS produced a much higher ratio of IL-12 to IL-6 and a lower ratio
of TNF-α to IL-6 than that obtained by sequential treatment with a medicinal
mushroom Phellinus linteus extract and then LPS. The DC
differentiation/maturation activity and the component inducing apoptosis in
cancer cells were separable by column chromatography" - See
Mucuna pruriens at Amazon.com
Chronic
intake of red wine polyphenols by young rats prevents aging-induced endothelial
dysfunction and decline in physical performance: Role of NADPH oxidase -
Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 2010 Dec 15 - "Aging is
associated with oxidative stress-mediated endothelial dysfunction and decline in
physical performance, which promote cardiovascular diseases. This study examined
whether chronic intake of red wine polyphenols
(RWPs), a rich source of natural antioxidants, prevents aging-related impairment
of vascular function and physical exercise capacity. Vascular reactivity from
12-, 20- and 40-week-old rats was assessed in organ chambers. Rats received from
week 16 to 40 either solvent, RWPs or the antioxidant and NADPH oxidase
inhibitor, apocynin. Aging was associated with blunted endothelium-dependent
relaxations, oxidative stress (dihydroethidine staining), and an upregulation of
eNOS, arginase I, NADPH oxidase p22phox and nox1 subunits, and AT1 and AT2
receptors (assessed by immunohistochemistry) in the mesenteric artery. RWPs and
apocynin improved the endothelial dysfunction, normalized oxidative stress and
the expression of the different proteins. RWPs also improved aging-related
decline in physical exercise" - See
grape seed extract at Amazon.com Dietary patterns and risk of breast cancer - Br J Cancer. 2010 Dec 14 - "only that characterised by high consumption of fruit and salad was associated with a reduced risk, with stronger associations observed for tumours not expressing oestrogen (ER) and progesterone receptors (PR). Compared with women in the lowest quintile of the factor score, the hazard ratio for women in the highest quintile was 0.92 (95% confidence interval (CI)=0.70-1.21; test for trend, P=0.5) for ER-positive or PR-positive tumours and 0.48 (95% CI=0.26-0.86; test for trend, P=0.002) for ER-negative and PR-negative tumours" 'Love hormone' may treat daily headaches - MSNBC, 12/20/10 - "Of patients given a dose of oxytocin as a nasal spray, 50 percent reported their headache pain was reduced by half, and an additional 27 percent of these patients reported no pain after four hours. By comparison, 11 percent of patients who were given a placebo spray said their headache pain was cut by half after four hours, and none reported complete pain relief" - See Oxytocin 6x5iu tablets at International Antiaging Systems.
Protective
effect of lycopene on serum cholesterol and blood pressure: Meta-analyses of
intervention trials - Maturitas. 2010 Dec 14 -
"Lycopene, a
carotenoid
found in tomatoes ... Meta-analysis of the effect of lycopene on
systolic blood pressure
of all trials suggested a significant blood pressure reducing effect (mean
systolic blood pressure change+/-SE: -5.60+/-5.26mm Hg, p=0.04) ... Our
meta-analysis suggests that lycopene taken in doses ≥25mg daily is effective in
reducing
LDL cholesterol by
about 10% which is comparable to the effect of low doses of
statins in patient with slightly elevated
cholesterol levels" - See
Jarrow Lyco-Sorb (contains Lyco-O-Mato) at Amazon.com
Resveratrol
potentiates glucose-stimulated insulin secretion in INS-1E beta-cells and human
islets through Sirt1 dependent mechanism - J Biol Chem. 2010 Dec 16 -
"Resveratrol, a
polyphenol compound, is known for its effects on energy homeostasis. With
properties of energy sensors mediating effects of calorie restriction, sirtuins
are targets of resveratrol ... Resveratrol markedly enhanced the glucose
response of INS-1E cells and human islets, even after removal of the compound
from the medium. These effects were mediated by and fully dependent on active
Sirt1, defining a new role for Sirt1 in the regulation of insulin secretion"
- See
resveratrol products at Amazon.com
Tocotrienols
inhibit lipopolysaccharide-induced pro-inflammatory cytokines in macrophages of
female mice - Lipids Health Dis. 2010 Dec 16;9(1):143 -
"The present results clearly demonstrate that alpha-,
gamma-, or delta-tocotrienol treatments inhibit the chymotrypsin-like activity
of 20S rabbit muscle proteasomes ... These results represent a novel approach by
using natural products, such as
tocotrienols as proteasome modulators, which
may lead to the development of new dietary supplements of tocotrienols for
cardiovascular diseases as well as others that are based on
inflammation" - See
Jarrow FamilE (contains all eight members of the vitamin E family, includes
Tocomin) at Amazon.com
Citicoline
in Vascular Cognitive Impairment and Vascular Dementia After Stroke -
Stroke. 2010 Dec 16 - "Stroke
doubles the risk of dementia and is a major contributor to vascular cognitive
impairment and vascular dementia ... Citicoline
has demonstrated neuroprotective effects in acute stroke and has been shown to
improve cognition in patients with chronic cerebrovascular disease and in some
patients with Alzheimer disease. A recent trial lasting 6 months in patients
with first-ever ischemic stroke showed that citicoline prevented cognitive
decline after stroke with significant improvement of temporal orientation,
attention, and executive function. Experimentally, citicoline exhibits
neuroprotective effects and enhances neural repair. Citicoline appears to be a
safe and promising alternative to improve stroke recovery and could be indicated
in patients with vascular cognitive impairment, vascular dementia, and Alzheimer
disease with significant cerebrovascular disease" - See
citicholine at Amazon.com
Neuroprotection and Recovery: Recent Data at the Bench on Citicoline -
Stroke. 2010 Dec 16 - "Although the mechanisms of some
of these actions remain to be elucidated, so far
citicoline appears as a drug with the ability to promote "safe"
neuroprotection capable of enhancing endogenous protective pathways at the same
time as preparing the scenario for plasticity" - See
citicholine at Amazon.com The Farther From Town the Lower the Blood Pressure: Report From Rural Yunnan Province - Am J Hypertens. 2010 Dec 16 - "Chinese farmers ... There was a significant (P < 0.001) inverse relationship between BP and distance from populations centers. For every 10 km from the town center, the mean systolic BP (SBP) in the village decreased by 1.2 mm Hg and the mean diastolic by 0.5 mm Hg. After adjustment for age, gender, ethnicity, body mass index, smoking, and drinking, we found that SBP decreased by 1.8 mm Hg (P = 0.03) and diastolic BP by 1.0 mm Hg (P = 0.02) for every 10 km distance from the town center" Higher Blood Pressure Associated With Higher Cognition and Functionality Among Centenarians in Australia - Am J Hypertens. 2010 Dec 16 - "Average age of participants was 101.1 years. Hypertension was demonstrated in 1% according to the WHO criterion (≥140/90 mm Hg). However, 38% of centenarians were hypertensive, defined as having a medical diagnosis of hypertension, and/or being on antihypertensive medications, and/or having a BP measurement ≥ 140/90 mm Hg. Mean values were: systolic = 130 mm Hg (90-182 mm Hg), diastolic = 70 mm Hg (44-98 mm Hg), and pulse pressure (PP) = 60 mm Hg (20-130 mm Hg). Hypercholesterolaemia was only detected in 8% of participants. Hypertension was not associated with increased risk of hypercholesterolaemia. Low systolic BP (SBP) and narrower PP was associated with lower MMSE scores. High SBP and wider PP was associated with better functional status"
Magnesium
supplementation, metabolic and inflammatory markers, and global genomic and
proteomic profiling: a randomized, double-blind, controlled, crossover trial in
overweight individuals - Am J Clin Nutr. 2010 Dec 15 -
"We observed that
magnesium treatment significantly decreased
fasting C-peptide concentrations (change: -0.4 ng/mL after magnesium treatment
compared with +0.05 ng/mL after placebo treatment; P = 0.004) and appeared to
decrease fasting insulin concentrations (change: -2.2 μU/mL after magnesium
treatment compared with 0.0 μU/mL after placebo treatment; P = 0.25) ... Urine
proteomic profiling showed significant differences in the expression amounts of
several peptides and proteins after treatment" - See
magnesium supplements at Amazon.com
Dietary
omega-3 fatty acid supplementation increases the rate of muscle protein
synthesis in older adults: a randomized controlled trial - Am J Clin Nutr.
2010 Dec 15 - "Omega-3
fatty acids stimulate muscle protein synthesis in
older adults and may be useful for the
prevention and treatment of sarcopenia" - See
Mega Twin EPA at Amazon.com
Dose-response effects of omega-3 fatty acids on triglycerides, inflammation, and
endothelial function in healthy persons with moderate hypertriglyceridemia -
Am J Clin Nutr. 2010 Dec 15 - "effects of 0.85 and 3.4 g
EPA+DHA/d ... The higher dose of EPA+DHA
lowered triglycerides by 27% compared with
placebo (173 +/- 17.5 compared with 237 +/- 17.5 mg/dL; P = 0.002), whereas no
effect of the lower dose was observed on lipids. No effects on cholesterol
(total, LDL, and HDL), endothelial function [as assessed by flow-mediated
dilation, peripheral arterial tonometry/EndoPAT (Itamar Medical Ltd, Caesarea,
Israel), or Doppler measures of hyperemia], inflammatory markers
(interleukin-1β, interleukin-6, tumor necrosis factor-α, and high-sensitivity
C-reactive protein), or the expression of inflammatory cytokine genes in
isolated lymphocytes were observed" - See
Mega Twin EPA at Amazon.com
Efficacy and
safety of high-dose α-lipoic acid in the treatment of diabetic polyneuropathy
- Zhonghua Yi Xue Za Zhi. 2010 Sep;90(35):2473-2476 -
"total symptom score (TSS) ... 73.27% patients with symptomatic
polyneuropathy improved after treatment with
α-lipoic acid for 12 weeks versus 18.27% with placebo. TSS declined by 2.6
+/- 2.3 with α-lipoic acid. And it was more than 0.7 +/- 1.4 versus placebo (P <
0.05). TSS decreased quickly after treatment with α-lipoic acid for 2 weeks (P <
0.05). And it was better than placebo. Individual symptom scores of pain,
extremity numbness, burning sensation or resting abnormal sensations were
significantly diminished as compared to those before treatment and placebo group
(all P < 0.05). Nerve conduction velocity had no change. HbA1c further decreased
at the end of trial after α-lipoic acid treatment (P < 0.05). The incidence
rates of adverse effects were 25.4% vs 11.8% in the treatment and control
groups. The major manifestation was burning sensation from throat to stomach
(12.7%)" - See
alpha lipoic acid at Amazon.com
N-acetylcysteine in psychiatry: current therapeutic evidence and potential
mechanisms of action - J Psychiatry Neurosci. 2010 Nov 1;35(6):100057 -
"This review outlines the current literature regarding
the use of
NAC
in disorders including
addiction,
compulsive
and grooming disorders,
schizophrenia
and bipolar
disorder. N-acetylcysteine
has shown promising results in populations with these disorders, including those
in whom treatment efficacy has previously been limited. The therapeutic
potential of this acetylated amino acid is beginning to emerge in the field of
psychiatric research" - See
n-acetyl cysteine at Amazon.com
Epigenetics,
an Early Event in the Modulation of Gene Expression by Inositol Hexaphosphate in
Ethylnitrosourea Exposed Mouse Lungs - Nutr Cancer. 2010 Dec 13:1-11 -
"study indicates the possible role of epigenetics at the
early stage of tumor development and in the regulation of gene expression by
IP6 before the onset of ENU-induced lung
tumors" - See
IP-6 products at Amazon.com Household contact with pets and birds and risk of lymphoma - Cancer Causes Control. 2010 Dec 14 - "Frequent contact with birds was inversely associated with lymphoma, and particularly B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma (odds ratio [OR] = 0.6, 95% confidence interval [95% CI]: 0.4, 0.9). Contact with chickens accounted for this inverse association, which was strongest for first contact occurring at age ≤8 years (OR = 0.4, 95% CI: 0.2, 1.0). No association was observed when first contact occurred at age 9 or older. Contact with any pets was inversely associated with risk of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (OR = 0.4, 95% CI: 0.2, 1.0), but not other lymphoma subtypes"
The effects
of dietary and nutrient interventions on arterial stiffness: a systematic review
- Am J Clin Nutr. 2010 Dec 8 - "Of the 75 relevant
studies located, we considered 38 studies to be appropriate for review. Results
revealed support for intakes of omega-3 (n-3)
fish oils (Cohen's d = 0.21-0.81) and soy
isoflavones
(Cohen's d = 0.35-0.39) in the treatment of
arterial stiffness. There was limited
but consistent evidence to suggest that salt restriction (Cohen's d = 0.28-0.37)
as well as consumption of fermented-milk products (Cohen's d = 0.15-0.33) that
contain bioactive peptides improved arterial stiffness. The evidentiary support
for intakes of vitamins, micronutrients, and herbal medicines was insufficient.
Limited but consistent evidence suggested that caffeine intake acutely increased
arterial stiffness (Cohen's d = 0.34-0.51) ... Current evidence from several
small studies suggests that omega-3 and soy isoflavone supplementation provides
an effective means of reducing arterial stiffness" - See
soy isoflavones at Amazon.com
Supplement Focus (Oxytocin): News and Research:
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