Recent Longevity News for the seven days ending 2/22/12.  You should consult your doctor if you are taking any medications.

Fructose off the Hook for Overweight and Obesity? - WebMD, 2/20/12 - "The remaining 10 studies under review were based around adding calories. In each, half of the participants ate their usual diet, while the other half added fructose, a naturally occurring sweetener, to what they normally ate. The fructose groups did gain weight, but no more than would be expected from the amount of additional calories -- or energy -- that they took in as part of the studies ... Our data suggests that fructose plays the same role as any energy-dense substance"

The Body Odd - What's the lifespan of a singer's voice? - MSNBC, 2/17/12 - "vocal cords stiffen with age ... As the vocal membranes are used more, they become fibrous and stiff with a diminished amplitude of vibration" - Note: When I get the yearly checkup from my throat cancer, they stick a scope up your nose all the way down to your vocal cords and tell you to say “eeee”.  One doc remarked how strong my vocals were.  I do karaoke a lot so it would seem to throw out this theory.

Clinical trial supports CLA’s weight management in obese Chinese - Nutra USA, 2/17/12 - "Twelve weeks of supplementation produced an average 0.7 kg decrease in body weight and an average decrease in total body fat of 0.6 kg ... milk supplemented with CLA (3.4 g/d for 12 wk) ... used the Tonalin branded ingredient from BASF" - [Abstract] - See conjugated linoleic acid at Amazon.com.

Catechin-enriched green tea shows fat busting potential: RCT - Nutra USA, 2/17/12 - "Visceral fat levels decreased by 9.5 cm2 after twelve weeks of consuming the catechin-enriched beverage, compared with a control beverage with normal levels of green tea catechins" - See green tea extract at Amazon.com.

Organic food sweetener may be a hidden source of dietary arsenic - Science Daily, 2/16/12 - "Of the 17 toddler milk formulas tested, only two had listed organic brown rice syrup as the primary ingredient. These two formulas, one dairy-based and one soy-based, were extremely high in arsenic, more than 20 times greater than the other formulas. The amount of inorganic arsenic, the most toxic form, averaged 8.6 ppb for the dairy based formula and 21.4 ppb for the soy formula"

Flu may boost Alzheimer's risk, research suggests - MSNBC, 2/16/12 - "Viruses such as influenza and herpes may leave brain cells vulnerable to degeneration later in life, and increase the risk of developing diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, research suggests. That's because these the viruses can enter the brain and trigger an immune response — inflammation — which can damage brain cells"

In the mouth, smoking zaps healthy bacteria - Science Daily, 2/15/12 - "They need a more aggressive form of treatment, because even after a professional cleaning, they're still at a very high risk for getting these pathogens back in their mouths right away"

Glass half empty: Is your tap water safe? - MSNBC, 2/15/12 - "Barium, chromium, copper, lead, nitrate, and other chemicals, as well as E. coli (E. coli!?), have been detected over the past year ... Antibiotics, hormones, a cancer drug, a chemical found in gasoline, antiseizure medication...research shows that hundreds of unregulated contaminants may be flowing from my tap ... a reverse-osmosis system filters out many EPA-regulated contaminants; and an ultraviolet filter kills bacteria and other microorganisms" - See water distillers at Amazon.com.

Is That ‘New Car Smell’ Toxic? - WebMD, 2/15/12 - "new car smell comes from toxic chemicals off-gassing in a car’s interior, like brominated flame retardants (BFRs), chromium, and lead ... At the top of the list for the most healthy car interior is the 2012 Honda Civic ... At the bottom of the list are the 2011 Mitsubishi Outlander Sport and 2011 Chrysler 200 SC"

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):

Choline intake in a large cohort of patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease - Am J Clin Nutr. 2012 Feb 15 - "Decreased choline intake is significantly associated with increased fibrosis in postmenopausal women with NAFLD" - See citicholine at Amazon.com.

Coffee consumption and risk of chronic disease in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC)-Germany study - Am J Clin Nutr. 2012 Feb 15 - "A lower risk of T2D was associated with caffeinated (HR: 0.77; 95% CI: 0.63, 0.94; P-trend 0.009) and decaffeinated (HR: 0.70; 95% CI: 0.46, 1.06; P-trend: 0.043) coffee consumption (≥4 cups/d compared with <1 cup/d), but cardiovascular disease and cancer risk were not"

Meat consumption in relation to mortality from cardiovascular disease among Japanese men and women - Eur J Clin Nutr. 2012 Feb 15 - "Moderate meat consumption, up to ~ 100 g/day, was not associated with increased mortality from ischemic heart disease, stroke or total cardiovascular disease among either gender"

Vitamin C and A1c Relationship in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2003-2006 - J Am Coll Nutr. 2011 Dec;30(6):477-83 - "The consumption of foods high in vitamin C has been associated with lower risk of diabetes ... Vitamin C concentrations were inversely associated with A1c (p = 0.0202). Stronger inverse associations were observed in subjects 18-44 years of age (p = 0.0017), as well as in female (p = 0.0035) and Mexican American (p = 0.0149) subgroups. Evidence of a significant interaction between vitamin C and vitamin D was noted in subjects aged 18-44 years and in females (p = 0.0073 and 0.0095 respectively), with the inverse association tending to be evident at lower levels of vitamin D"

Neat Tech Stuff / "How To's":

Health Focus (Hair Loss):

Alternative News:

• Effects of Ginseng Rhizome and Ginsenoside Ro on Testosterone 5α-Reductase and Hair Re-growth in Testosterone-treated Mice - Phytother Res. 2011 May 2 - "Extracts of red ginseng rhizome showed greater dose-dependent inhibitory effects against testosterone 5α-reductase (5αR) when compared with extracts of the main root. Ginsenoside Ro, the predominant ginsenoside in the rhizome, and ginsenoside Rg(3) , a unique ginsenoside in red ginseng, showed inhibitory activity against 5αR with IC(50) values of 259.4 and 86.1 µm, respectively. The rhizome of P. japonicus, which contains larger amounts of ginsenoside Ro, also inhibited 5αR. Topical administration of extracts of red ginseng rhizomes (2 mg/mouse) and ginsenoside Ro (0.2 mg/mouse) to shaved skin inhibited hair re-growth suppression after shaving in the testosterone-treated C57BL/6 mice. These results suggest that red ginseng rhizomes containing both oleanane- and dammarane-type ginsenosides are a promising raw material for cosmetic use. This is the first report that ginsenoside Ro enhances in vivo hair re-growth based on their inhibitory activity against 5αR in the androgenetic alopecia model" - See ginseng at Amazon.com.
• Treating Hair Loss Naturally - WebMD - "Daly says he routinely recommends up to 3 mg of biotin daily for his hair loss patients, while Lessman developed a healthy hair, skin, and nails product containing 2 mg of biotin per daily dosage, which he believes is the minimum for healthy hair"
• Nizoral Shampoo for Hair Loss - DermaDoctor.com - "They found that Nizoral increased hair thickness and decreased hair shedding, whereas the zinc pyrithione shampoo had the opposite effect" - See Nizoral Shampoo at drugstore.com
• Can Lasers Zap Baldness? One Woman Thinks So - CBS Chicago, 2/11/11 - See NEW iGrow Laser Hair Rejuventation System for Home Use - Physician Supported - Click here for the press release.
• Hair loss in long-term or home parenteral nutrition: are micronutrient deficiencies to blame? - Curr Opin Clin Nutr Metab Care. 2010 Sep 4 - "A serum ferritin level of 70 mug/l should be targeted when hair loss is unexplained" - See Slow Fe Slow Release Iron Tablets 90-Count Box at Amazon.com.
• Snack Size Science: Vitamin E and the quest for thick hair - Nutra USA, 5/5/09 - "The experiments used Carotech’s Tocomin SupraBio ingredient, which contains vitamin E in its tocotrienol forms. Vitamin E comes in eight forms, including four types of tocopherols, and four types of tocotrienols ... According to the company, the Malaysian researchers observed significant hair re-growth of about 42 per cent in the tocotrienol group, with eight volunteers experiencing greater than 50 per cent hair growth. No one in the placebo group experienced any hair growth benefits" - See Jarrow FamilE (contains all eight members of the vitamin E family, includes Tocomin) at Amazon.com.
• Vitamin E may reverse male pattern baldness: Study - Nutra USA, 4/28/09 - "Volunteers were randomly assigned to the palm tocotrienol complex (total tocotrienol intake of 100 mg) or the placebo (soft gelatin capsule containing 600 mg soy bean oil) ... Hair counts, measured by the counting the number of hairs in a pre-selected 2x2 cm area, were found to significantly increase by an average of 41.8 per cent in the tocotrienol group, with eight volunteers experiencing greater than 50 per cent hair growth ... There are eight forms of vitamin E: four tocopherols (alpha, beta, gamma, delta) and four tocotrienols (alpha, beta, gamma, delta). Alpha-tocopherol is the main source found in supplements ... While the majority of research on vitamin E has focused on alpha-Toc, studies into tocotrienols account for less than one per cent of all research into vitamin E" - See Jarrow FamilE (contains all eight members of the vitamin E family, includes Tocomin) at Amazon.com.
• An Herbal Solution to Baldness? - Dr. Weil, 4/24/08
• Effect of Dietary Supplementation With INVERSION(R) Femme on Slimming, Hair Loss, and Skin and Nail Parameters in Women - Adv Ther. 2007 Sep-Oct;24(5):1154-71 - "Weight reduction and slimming were measured after INVERSION Femme was taken for 28 and 58 d. All women showed significant reductions in weight, body fat, and thigh circumference. During the second month of treatment, subjects showed an average 50% reduction in hair loss"
• Low Iron Could Help Spur Baldness - HealthDay, 5/31/06 - "Iron deficiency is the world's most common nutritional deficiency ... If iron deficiency is detected and treated in the early stages, patients may be able to grow hair more effectively"
• Hair Loss? It May Be Iron Deficiency - WebMD, 5/17/06 - "whatever the cause of hair loss -- for both women and men -- having too little iron in the blood makes it worse"
• Flax lignans: a cure for hair loss? - Nutra USA, 5/9/05 - "Ten male sufferers of androgenetic alopecia aged between 20- and 70- years received a 50mg daily dose of SDG in the form of one 250 mg capsule of Acatris’ LinumLife Extra ... eight of the participants reported a modest improvement in their hair loss condition, one reported a great improvement and one reported no effect at all" - See iHerb or Vitacost flax products.
• Omega-3 fatty acids might curb hair loss - azcentral.com, 4/12/05
• Reversing Hair Loss? - Dr. Weil, 6/22/04 - "you may be able to prevent further loss and encourage re-growth by including omega-3 fatty acids to your diet"
• Soy: Prevent Prostate Cancer, Male Baldness? - WebMD, 3/30/04 - "A little-known molecule called equol ... is showing promise as a powerful blocker of a potent male hormone involved in prostate cancer, male baldness, even acne ... Actually, the protective effects occur when two chemicals in soy protein -- genistin and daidzin -- reach the digestive system, Setchell explains. There, they are metabolized to form genistein and daidzein. Daidzein is metabolized once again, to form equol" - See iHerb or Vitacost isoflavone products.
• Laser Comb [Hairmax] May Stimulate Hair Growth - thesandiegochannel.com, 5/8/03 - ""In our clinical trials in Canada, (the comb) does both," said Dr. Martin Unger, plastic surgeon. "We are getting over 97 percent -- sorry, 95 percent -- of the people who are using this are either stopping their hair loss or regrowing hair, and over 75 percent of the patients regrew hair to a significant amount." ... The Hairmax laser comb costs about $700." - See HairMax at drugstore.com or Amazon.com.
• Laser Comb May Stimulate Hair Growth - NBCSandiego.com, 5/8/03
• Can I Stop My Hair from Thinning? - Dr. Weil, 9/13/02 - "Make sure you’re getting enough omega-3 fatty acids ... supplement your diet with GLA (gamma-linolenic acid) in the form of black currant oil or evening primrose oil"
• Natural Treatment for Male Pattern Baldness - New Hope Natural Media, 7/3/02 - "Those with male pattern baldness may increase hair growth by taking a preparation containing saw palmetto (Serenoa repens) and beta-sitosterol ... Conventional medicines used to treat male pattern baldness are designed to block the conversion of testosterone to DHT. Topical application of minoxidil (Rogaine®) and taking oral finasteride (Propecia®) have been shown to inhibit this conversion and to increase hair growth, but both medications have been linked with several adverse side effects, including fast heart rate, headaches, impotence, and decreased libido ... 400 mg of a standardized extract of saw palmetto and 100 mg of beta-sitosterol per day ... After about five months, hair growth in 60% of the men taking the herbal combination had improved compared with their initial evaluation. In contrast, only 11% of those receiving the placebo improved"
• Nutritional factors and hair loss - Clinical & Experimental Dermatology, 7/02 - "serum ferritin concentrations were a factor in female hair loss ... The role of the essential amino acid, l-lysine in hair loss also appears to be important. Double-blind data confirmed the findings of an open study in women with increased hair shedding, where a significant proportion responded to l-lysine and iron therapy" - See iHerb and Vitacost l-lysine products.
• Monthly Updates - Hair Loss Research, 10/01 - "While finasteride (Propecia/Proscar) decreases serum DHT, it also is thought to increase estrogen which suggests that men over 35 may want to consider using it in conjunction with a systemic aromatase inhibitor such as Chrysin/Piperine (Super Miraforte), Arimidex, or stinging nettle extract, to maximize its hair growth effects and minimize potential side effects (that are listed in the PDR) such as Gynocaemastia (breast enlargement in males), sexual side effects, and an increase in fat deposition. These compounds have been reliably shown to increase testosterone and reduce excess estrogen, resulting in a youthful hormone profile that optimizes immune function and to some degree, body composition"
• Antiaging Products for Skin, Hair and Nails - Nutrition Science News, 10/00 - "A lack of silicon is known to reduce normal growth and repair of the skin, hair and nails.  However, studies show that silicon supplementation has delivered few benefits. The reason for this in most cases is that a nonbioavailable silicon source has been used. Silicon is a nonmetallic element that is very reactive. It occurs naturally almost exclusively in silicates, the geologic rock-forming minerals. Although silicates are the most abundant materials on earth, they don't provide a bioavailable form of dietary silicon. Moreover, silica, often used as a dietary supplement, is a polymeric silicon-hydroxide-oxide-water complex from hard stone, such as quartz, that has anywhere from two to trillions of silicon atoms, and is also very poorly bioavailable. On the other hand, orthosilicic acid, which consists of only one Si bonded to four hydroxides instead of oxygen, is the form of Si that is found in our bloodstream. Therefore, stabilized orthosilic acid is the only form of supplemental silicon that has been shown conclusively to be bioavailable for humans. Silicates, silica gel, colloidal silica, clays, horsetail (Equisetum arvense) and most foods don't contain the orthosilicic acid form of silicon."
• Hair Graying and Loss - Nutrition Science News, 10/00 - "Japanese researchers found that topical application of procyanidin-B2 from grape seed and apple extracts activate hair follicles in mice, resulting in increased hair growth. Furthermore, Italian researchers found that a topical preparation containing esculin (an oxolinic acid) from horse chestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum) reduced hair loss and increased circulation to the hair follicles in men and women suffering from hair loss.3 Reduced scalp microcirculation is also one of the factors causing hair loss."
• Essential Oils Can Help Regrow Hair - Nutrition Science News, 9/00
• Proanthocyanidin Power - Nutrition Science News, 6/00 - "Japanese researchers shaved mice and found that 40 percent of their hair grew back naturally. When a 1 percent solution of any of three proanthocyanidins was applied to the skin, however, between 70 and 80 percent of the hair grew back. Test tube studies confirm that OPCs actually stimulate the hair keratinocytes to produce three times more hair than the controls."
• Hair Loss- MinSaw-A, Nizoral and Dercos- The bald truth! - By Phil Micans PharmB - "the addition of retinolic acid (the active ingredient in the famous anti-wrinkle skin cream- Retin-A), helps to further stimulate the blood supply on the scalp surface and therefore to the hair follicle"

Other News:

• Latisse for your dome? Drug thickens thin hair - MSNBC, 11/14/11 - "The appeal of using Latisse for hair loss is its ease and convenience, as it seems to only require one drop to the affected area once a day ... The major drawback: It's expensive. Each 2-ounce bottle costs $100 to $150 — and some patients will run through two or three bottles a month"
• Regrowing hair: Researchers may have accidentally discovered a solution - Science Daily, 2/16/11 - "a short-duration treatment with this compound causes an astounding long-term hair regrowth in chronically stressed mutant mice ... the researchers had been using mice that were genetically altered to overproduce a stress hormone called corticotrophin-releasing factor, or CRF. As these mice age, they lose hair and eventually become bald on their backs, making them visually distinct from their unaltered counterparts. The Salk Institute researchers had developed the chemical compound, a peptide called astressin-B, and described its ability to block the action of CRF. Stenzel-Poore had created an animal model of chronic stress by altering the mice to overproduce CRF ... researchers injected the astressin-B into the bald mice to observe how its CRF-blocking ability affected gastrointestinal tract function. The initial single injection had no effect, so the investigators continued the injections over five days to give the peptide a better chance of blocking the CRF receptors. They measured the inhibitory effects of this regimen on the stress-induced response in the colons of the mice and placed the animals back in their cages with their hairy counterparts ... About three months later, the investigators returned to these mice to conduct further gastrointestinal studies and found they couldn't distinguish them from their unaltered brethren. They had regrown hair on their previously bald backs" - Note:  To the best of my knowledge there's nothing non-experimental on the market, either conventional or alternative, that inhibits CRF.  If there were people would be taking it to reduce cortisol.
• Drugs for hair loss and benign prostatic hyperplasia may result in loss of libido, erectile dysfunction in men - Science Daily, 1/11/11 - "5a-reductase inhibitors (5a-RIs), while improving urinary symptoms in patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) and possible hair loss prevention, produces significant adverse effects in some individuals including loss of libido, erectile dysfunction (ED), ejaculatory dysfunction and potential depression" - Note:  That goes back and forth.  One study claimed that finasteride improved sex after after six months of taking it.  Regarding gynaecomastia, if you're taking low dose letrozole to increase testosterone and to prevent aromatization it many also help prevent gynaecomastia.
  • Prostate Drug May Not Dim Sex - WebMD, 6/26/07 - "Six months after the men started taking their assigned drugs, the survey scores were about three points higher for the men taking Proscar. By the end of the study, that gap narrowed to about two points"
  • Prostate Drug Doesn't Limit Sexual Function In Most Men - Science Daily, 7/19/07 - "The study suggests that finasteride will cause little or no sexual dysfunction for most men who decide to take it"
  • Ask a Medical Question - Can letrozole cure gynecomastia - JustAnswer - "Letrozole may be effective in preventing and reversing the gynaecomastia provided it is used early enough in steroid induced gynaecomastia" - See letrozole at OffshoreRx1.com.  I believe the recommended dose is something like a quarter tablet every three days but don't quote me on it.  That's what I take.
• Types of Hair Loss and Treatment Options, Including Low-Level Light Therapy - Medscape, 10/7/10
• Finasteride Treatment of Hair Loss in Women (June) - Ann Pharmacother. 2010 May 4
• Dermatologists Can Help Women Win the Fight Against Common Forms of Hair Loss - Science Daily, 3/6/10
• Shining a Light on 9 Hair Loss Treatments - ABC News, 7/8/09
• Scientists Inch Closer to Figuring Out How Hair Grows - WebMD, 7/31/08
• Quick Test May Help Spot Male Hair Loss - WebMD, 6/16/08
• Getting To The Roots Of Hair Loss - Science Daily, 2/24/08
• Asian Men Who Smoke May Have Increased Risk For Hair Loss - Science Daily, 11/19/07
• Treatment Found To Reverse Hair Loss - Science Daily, 6/11/07 - "one of each pair of twins was given 0.5 mg/day of the medication, the other receiving a placebo ... After both 6 and 12-month intervals, hair loss was found to not only have been halted in twins using dutasteride, but hair growth was actively improved" - Note:  Dutasteride is Avodart®.  See dutasteride at OffshoreRx1.com.
• New Hair Follicles Created For The First Time, Mouse Study - Science Daily, 5/16/07
• Grasping at strands for baldness remedies - USA Today, 3/18/07 - "So where does the laser comb fit in? Leavitt points to the six-month study reviewed by the FDA that shows men who used the comb grew an average of 19 more "terminal" (thick, rather than thin) hairs per square centimeter than those who used sham devices. That's a "medically significant" amount, he says, though the average healthy scalp has 160 to 260 hairs per square centimeter" - See the HairMax at drugstore.com or Amazon.com.
• Drug May Fight Women's Hair Loss, Too - WebMD, 3/20/06 - "Propecia, a drug used to treat male hair loss, may help fix women's hair loss when taken with birth control pills"

Abstracts:

• Production rates of testosterone and of dihydrotestosterone in female pattern hair loss - Metabolism. 2003 Jul;52(7):927-929
• A randomized clinical trial of 5% topical minoxidil versus 2% topical minoxidil and placebo in the treatment of androgenetic alopecia in men - Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, 9/02 - "In men with AGA, 5% topical minoxidil was clearly superior to 2% topical minoxidil and placebo in increasing hair regrowth, and the magnitude of its effect was marked (45% more hair regrowth than 2% topical minoxidil at week 48)." - See 5% minoxidil at drugstore.com