Recent Longevity News for the seven days ending 2/27/13.  You should consult your doctor if you are taking any medications.

Cortisone can increase risk of acute pancreatitis - Science Daily, 2/25/13 - "people treated with cortisone in tablet form ran a 70 per cent higher risk of developing acute pancreatitis"

Higher levels of several toxic metals found in children with autism - Science Daily, 2/25/13 - "The autism group had significantly higher levels of lead in their red blood cells (+41 percent) and significantly higher urinary levels of lead (+74 percent), thallium (+77 percent), tin (+115 percent), and tungsten (+44 percent) ... Adams previously published a study on the use of DMSA, an FDA-approved medication for removing toxic metals. The open-label study found that DMSA was generally safe and effective at removing some toxic metals. It also found that DMSA therapy improved some symptoms of autism"

• Dimercaptosuccinic acid - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - "Meso 2,3-dimercaptosuccinic acid binds to "soft" heavy metals such as Hg2+ and Pb2+, mobilizing these ions for excretion. It binds to metal cations through the thiol groups, which ionize upon complexation ... Dimercaptosuccinic acid (CHEMET) is indicated for the treatment of lead poisoning in children with blood level measured above 45 µg/dL. The use of DMSA is not approved for prophylactic/prevention of lead poisoning in anticipation of exposure in known lead contaminated environments. Its elimination half-life is 2.5-3.5 h. DMSA can cross the blood–brain barrier of mice,[5] but not that of humans, limiting its use to extracting heavy metals from parts of the body other than the central nervous system"

Statins and Cancer Mortality: Some Comfort - Medscape, 2/25/13 - "They found that, overall, no matter what dose of statin patients were taking, statins reduced cancer mortality by about 15%"

Prenatal DHA reduces early preterm birth and low birth weight - Science Daily, 2/25/13 - "infants of mothers who were given 600 milligrams of the omega-3 fatty acid DHA during pregnancy weighed more at birth and were less likely to be very low birth weight and born before 34 weeks gestation than infants of mothers who were given a placebo ... Previous research has established the effects of postnatal feeding of DHA on infant cognitive and intellectual development, but DHA is accumulated most rapidly in the fetal brain during pregnancy" - See Jarrow Max DHA at Amazon.com.

Mediterranean Diet Fights Heart Disease, Study Finds - ABC News, 2/25/13 - "the researchers randomly assigned 7,447 people, ages 55 to 80, to one of three diets -- a Mediterranean diet with additional extra-virgin olive oil, a Mediterranean diet supplemented with mixed nuts, or a control diet, which consisted essentially of advice to reduce dietary fat ... The olive-oil diet led to a 28 percent reduction in risk, compared with the control diet. The mixed nut diet led to a similar risk reduction"

Antioxidant improves donated liver survival rate to more than 90% - Science Daily, 2/25/13 - "Results indicate that graft survival rates at 3 and 12 months were 93% and 90%, respectively, for patients receiving NAC infused livers; rates were 82% and 70% in the control group. Post-transplant complication rates were 23% for the NAC group and 51% in the control group. Analysis of the 61 patients receiving suboptimal livers the incidence of organ dysfunction was lower in the NAC group compared to controls at 15% and 32%, respectively" - See n-acetyl cysteine at Amazon.com.

New Treatment for Chronic Reflux Disease - Science Daily, 2/22/12 - "The LINX Reflux Management System, manufactured by Minnesota-based Torax Medical, Inc., is like a bracelet made up of magnetic, titanium beads implanted around the end of the esophagus, where the lower esophageal sphincter is located. The lower esophageal sphincter is the valve that prevents reflux, and GERD develops when this valve is weakened ... Implantation of the device is potentially an outpatient procedure that can be completed in 15 to 20 minutes ... More than 9 in 10 patients reported satisfaction with their overall condition after having the procedure, compared to 13 percent before treatment while taking medication ... The most common adverse events experienced with the LINX included difficulty swallowing, pain when swallowing food, chest pain, vomiting, and nausea. It is important to note that patients with LINX will no longer be able to undergo magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) procedures"

FDA Approves New Targeted Breast Cancer Drug - ABC News, 2/22/13 - "Overall, patients taking Kadcyla lived about 2.6 years, compared with 2 years for patients taking the other drugs"

Omega-3s inhibit breast cancer tumor growth, study finds - Science Daily, 2/21/13 - "A lifelong diet rich in omega-3 fatty acids can inhibit growth of breast cancer tumours by 30 per cent ... the researchers created a novel transgenic mouse that both produces omega-3 fatty acids and develops aggressive mammary tumours. The team compared those animals to mice genetically engineered only to develop the same tumours ... Mice producing omega-3s developed only two-thirds as many tumours -- and tumours were also 30-per-cent smaller -- as compared to the control mice" - See Mega Twin EPA at Amazon.com and Jarrow Max DHA at Amazon.com.

Endocrine disorder is most common cause of elevated calcium levels - Science Daily, 2/21/13 - "hyperparathyroidism is the leading cause of high blood-calcium levels and is responsible for nearly 90 percent of all cases"

Fish oil component reduces brain damage in newborns, mouse study suggests - Science Daily, 2/20/13 - "the novel use of a component of fish oil reduced brain trauma in newborn mice. The study reports that neonatal brain damage decreased by about 50% when a triglyceride lipid emulsion containing docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) was injected within two hours of the onset of ischemic stroke ... DHA provided protection while EPA did not" - See Jarrow Max DHA at Amazon.com.

Resveratrol shows promise to protect hearing, cognition - Science Daily, 2/20/13 - "Resveratrol is a very powerful chemical that seems to protect against the body's inflammatory process as it relates to aging, cognition and hearing loss ... Noise-induced hearing loss, too, is a growing medical issue among American troops, with more than 12 percent returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan with significant hearing loss ... acoustic over-stimulation causes a time-depended, up-regulation of COX-2 protein expression. And, resveratrol significantly reduces reactive oxygen species formation, inhibits COX-2 expression and reduces noise-induced hearing loss following noise exposure in rats" - See resveratrol products at Amazon.com.

Plasma Adiponectin and Pancreatic Cancer Risk in 5 US Cohorts - Medscape, 2/20/13 - "In this pooled analysis, low prediagnostic levels of circulating adiponectin were associated with an elevated risk of pancreatic cancer"

Telomere Length Linked to Common Cold Risk - Medscape, 2/19/13 - "The researchers saw an association between tertile of telomere length and infection rate in several cell populations, including peripheral blood mononuclear cells (odds ratio [OR] per 1-SD decrease in telomere length, 1.71; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.08-2.72), CD4+ T cells (OR, 1.76; 95% CI, 1.15-2.70), CD8CD28+ T cells (OR, 1.93; 95% CI, 1.21 - 3.09), and CD8CD28 − T cells (OR, 2.02; 95% CI, 1.29 - 3.16)" - Note:  It makes sense.  The older your body thinks it is, the more susceptible it is to infection.

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):

Grape seed extract triggers apoptosis in Caco-2 human colon cancer cells through reactive oxygen species and calcium increase: extracellular signal-regulated kinase involvement - Br J Nutr. 2013 Feb 25:1-13 - "These data suggested that GSE triggers a previously unrecognised ERK-based mechanism, involving both ROS production and intracellular Ca2+ increase, eventually leading to apoptosis in cancer cells" - See Jarrow Formulas, OPCs + 95 at Amazon.com.

Evaluation of an educational video to improve the understanding of radiotherapy side effects in head and neck cancer patients - Support Care Cancer. 2013 Feb 22 - "Only one patient of the video group had doubts about the treatment, compared to seven of the control group" - Note:  I read that and my blood pressure went through the roof.  Eight years ago I had stage III neck cancer with a 25% chance of survival.  The problems with radiotherapy for neck cancer are enormous and I refused it.  I've had at least three doctors tell me they would have done the same.  The video is obviously a propaganda video put out by doctors who specialize in that field and are sugar coating the problems such as dry mouth for the rest of your life (that alone would drive me crazy), having to pull all your teeth and then the bone structure ends up dead from the radiation which causes enormous problems for the dental implants, frying your pituitary gland, stiff neck for the rest of your life, etc.

Associations between Red Meat and Risks for Colon and Rectal Cancer Depend on the Type of Red Meat Consumed - J Nutr. 2013 Feb 20 - "The study aim was to evaluate associations between intake of red meat and its subtypes, processed meat, fish, and poultry and risk for colon cancer or rectal cancer in the Danish Diet, Cancer and Health cohort study. We also evaluated whether fish or poultry should replace red meat intake to prevent colon cancer or rectal cancer ... follow-up (13.4 y) ... No associations were found between intake of red meat, processed meat, fish, or poultry and risk for colon cancer or rectal cancer. The risk associated with specific red meat subtypes depended on the animal of origin and cancer subsite; thus, the risk for colon cancer was significantly elevated for higher intake of lamb [IRR(per 5g/d) = 1.07 (95% CI: 1.02-1.13)], whereas the risk for rectal cancer was elevated for higher intake of pork [IRR(per 25g/d) = 1.18 (95% CI: 1.02-1.36)]. Substitution of fish for red meat was associated with a significantly lower risk for colon cancer [IRR(per 25g/d) = 0.89 (95% CI: 0.80-0.99)] but not rectal cancer. Substitution of poultry for red meat did not reduce either risk. This study suggests that the risks for colon cancer and potentially for rectal cancer differ according to the specific red meat subtype consumed"

DHA supplementation and pregnancy outcomes - Am J Clin Nutr. 2013 Feb 20 - "We tested the hypothesis that 600 mg/d of the n-3 LCPUFA DHA can increase maternal and newborn DHA status, gestation duration, birth weight, and length ... A supplement of 600 mg DHA/d in the last half of gestation resulted in overall greater gestation duration and infant size. A reduction in early preterm and very-low birth weight could be important clinical and public health outcomes of DHA supplementation" - See Jarrow Max DHA at Amazon.com.

Effects of green tea catechins with or without caffeine on glycemic control in adults: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials - Am J Clin Nutr. 2013 Feb 20 - "green tea catechins (GTCs) ... A comprehensive literature search was conducted to identify relevant trials of GTCs with or without caffeine on markers of glycemic control [fasting blood glucose (FBG), fasting blood insulin (FBI), glycated hemoglobin (Hb A(1c)), and HOMA-IR] ... Pooled analyses showed that FBG (-1.48 mg/dL; 95% CI: -2.57, -0.40 mg/dL) decreased significantly with GTCs with or without caffeine, whereas FBI (0.04 μU/mL; 95% CI: -0.36, 0.45 μU/mL), Hb A(1c) (-0.04%; 95% CI: -0.15, 0.08%), and HOMA-IR (-0.05; 95% CI: -0.37, 0.26) did not" - See green tea extract at Amazon.com.

Esophageal sphincter device for gastroesophageal reflux disease - N Engl J Med. 2013 Feb 21;368(8):719-27 - "assessed 100 patients ... The primary outcome was achieved in 64% of patients (95% confidence interval [CI], 54 to 73). For the secondary outcomes, a reduction of 50% or more in the use of proton-pump inhibitors occurred in 93% of patients, and there was improvement of 50% or more in quality-of-life scores in 92%, as compared with scores for patients assessed at baseline while they were not taking proton-pump inhibitors. The most frequent adverse event was dysphagia (in 68% of patients postoperatively, in 11% at 1 year, and in 4% at 3 years). Serious adverse events occurred in six patients, and in six patients the device was removed"

Curcumin: An Orally Bioavailable Blocker of TNF and Other Pro-inflammatory Biomarkers - Br J Pharmacol. 2013 Feb 20 - "TNF blockers are now being used for the treatment of osteoarthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, psoriasis, and ankylosis at a total cumulative market value of more than $20 billion/year. Besides being expensive ($15,000-20,000/person/year), these drugs must be injected and have enough adverse effects to be given a black label warning by the FDA. In the current report, we describe an alternative, curcumin (diferuloylmethane), a component of turmeric (Curcuma longa) that is very inexpensive, orally bioavailable, and highly safe in humans, yet can block TNF-α action and production in in vitro models, in animal models, and in humans. In addition, we provide evidence for curcumin's activities against all of the diseases for which TNF blockers are being used. Mechanisms by which curcumin inhibits the production and the cell signaling pathways activated by this cytokine are also discussed. With health care costs and safety being major issues today, this golden spice may help provide the solution" - See curcumin products at Amazon.com.

Vitamin D deficiency and depression in adults: systematic review and meta-analysis - Br J Psychiatry. 2013 Feb;202:100-7 - "One case-control study, ten cross-sectional studies and three cohort studies with a total of 31 424 participants were analysed. Lower vitamin D levels were found in people with depression compared with controls (SMD = 0.60, 95% CI 0.23-0.97) and there was an increased odds ratio of depression for the lowest v. highest vitamin D categories in the cross-sectional studies (OR = 1.31, 95% CI 1.0-1.71). The cohort studies showed a significantly increased hazard ratio of depression for the lowest v. highest vitamin D categories (HR = 2.21, 95% CI 1.40-3.49)" - See vitamin D at Amazon.com.

Metformin and Sulfonylureas in Relation to Cancer Risk in Type II Diabetes Patients: A Meta-analysis using primary data of published studies - Metabolism. 2013 Feb 15 - "This analysis using pooled primary data demonstrates that metformin use reduces, while sulfonylurea use may be associated with an increased cancer risk in subjects with T2DM"

Dietary intake of vegetables, folate, and antioxidants and the risk of Barrett's esophagus - Cancer Causes Control. 2013 Feb 19 - "When highest tertile of intake was compared with the lowest, the OR (95 % CI) was 0.46 (0.26-0.81) for dark green vegetables, 0.52 (0.30-0.90) for legumes, 0.50 (0.28-0.90) for total fiber, 0.45 (0.25-0.81) for isoflavones, 0.52 (0.30-0.67) for total folate, and 0.45 (0.26-0.79) for lutein, adjusting for multiple confounding factors including use of aspirin or proton pump inhibitor, gastro-esophageal reflux symptoms, and physical activity. The association for dark green vegetables was attenuated after adjustment for lutein, total fiber, and total folate (OR = 0.82; 95 % CI 0.30-2.22)"

Neat Tech Stuff / "How To's":

• Carhartt Men's Long Sleeve Workwear Pocket T-Shirt, Ash, Medium Regular - These are the best T-shirts I’ve found. It's nearly impossible to find beefy 6.75 ounce cotton long sleeve t-shirts these days. That pocket has to go through or why not just have the word “geek” tattooed to your forehead? If you carefully take off the pocket with a razor or small scissors before you wash it you won't see where the stitches were. The “ash” is the best color but I’ve always gone for the lighter colors.
• Starmaid Microwave Soup Mug with Lid, 15-Ounce, Granite Gray - These are perfect for the 15 ounce cans of Healthy Choice soup.  The 15 ounces fills it to about three fourth of an inch from the brim.  The cover keeps things like the carrots from popping all over the microwave.
• Logitech Rechargeable Touchpad T650 with Windows 8 Multi-Touch Navigation - Black (910-003057)

Health Focus (Whey):

Specific Recommendations:

• whey protein at Amazon.com

News & Research:

• Eating protein throughout the day preserves muscle and physical function in dieting postmenopausal women, study suggests - Science Daily, 8/10/11 - "higher protein intake during weight loss can offset negative effects on muscle mass by maintaining more muscle relative to the amount of weight lost. Women who ate more protein lost 3.9 percent more weight and had a relative gain of 5.8 percent more thigh muscle volume than woman who did not ... 31 healthy, postmenopausal obese women were divided into two groups. Each group followed a 1,400-calorie weight-loss diet based on USDA's My Pyramid, but one group received a powdered whey protein supplement in the morning and again in the afternoon or evening; the other received a placebo that contained carbohydrates ... We hypothesize that more vigorous exercise -- in particular, resistance training -- would preserve even more muscle" - See whey protein at Amazon.com or try the yogurt recipe at the top of my yogurt page.
• Whey Protein May Be Helpful for Weight Loss - WebMD, 7/15/11 - "Researchers at the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Human Nutrition Research Center randomly assigned 90 overweight and obese middle-aged adults to one of three groups. The first group was asked to add protein drinks made with whey to their normal diets, the second group drank protein drinks made with soy protein, and the third group drank carbohydrate drinks ... the drinks, which were drunk twice daily, at breakfast and dinner, had the same number of calories: 200. They also all had had 52 grams per packet, for a daily total of 104 grams of added protein or carbs ... After six months, people drinking the carbohydrate shakes had gained a little bit of weight, about 2 pounds, which appeared to be mainly added fat ... People drinking the soy shakes had stayed about the same weight as where they started ... But people drinking the whey protein had lost a little bit of weight and body fat, about 2 pounds. Additionally, while the other groups saw little change in the size of their waists, the whey protein group lost about an inch around the middle ... a couple of things may help to explain the weight and fat loss seen with whey protein ... People in the whey protein group had significantly lower blood levels of the hormone ghrelin than people eating the soy protein or carbohydrate ... And though researchers really can't explain why this happened or what it means, they found that people drinking the whey protein had cut back on their carbohydrate intake by the end of the study, even though they weren't eating fewer total calories and didn't know what kind of supplement they were getting ... researchers advise picking a whey product that is also low in calories and fat"
• Whey protein may cut metabolic risk of high-fat diet: Mouse study - Nutra USA, 3/24/11
• Whey protein holds fat fighting potential, suggests study - Nutra USA, 2/3/11 - "The amount of fat inside liver cells (known as intra-hepatocellular lipid concentrations – IHCL) in subjects fed a short term high fat diet has been previously shown to be reduced again through increasing dietary protein intake ... four weeks of supplementation with whey protein led to a significant decrease in IHCL of 21 percent, whilst fasting plasma triglyceride was observed to decrease by 15 percent, and total plasma cholesterol concentration decreased by over 7 percent" - [Abstract]
• Cheese whey may protect against IBD: Study - Nutra USA, 12/9/10
• Whey supplements lower blood pressure: Low-cost protein gets big results in people with elevated blood pressure - Science Daily, 12/8/10 - "Beverages supplemented by whey-based protein can significantly reduce elevated blood pressure, reducing the risk of stroke and heart disease ... daily doses of commonly available whey brought a more than six-point reduction in the average blood pressure of men and women with elevated systolic and diastolic blood pressures ... blood-pressure reductions like those seen by Fluegel can reduce cardiovascular disease and bring a 35 to 40 percent reduction in fatal strokes"

Abstracts:

• Post-exercise whey protein hydrolysate supplementation induces a greater increase in muscle protein synthesis than its constituent amino acid content - Br J Nutr. 2013 Feb 7:1-7 - "Male Sprague-Dawley rats swam for 2 h to depress muscle protein synthesis. Immediately after exercise, the animals were administered either carbohydrate (CHO), CHO plus an amino acid mixture (AA) or CHO plus WPH. At 1 h after exercise, the supplements containing whey-based protein (AA and WPH) caused a significant increase in the fractional rate of protein synthesis (FSR) compared with CHO ... These results indicate that WPH may include active components that are superior to amino acids for stimulating muscle protein synthesis and initiating translation" - See whey protein at Amazon.com.
• Similar effects of leucine rich and regular dairy products on muscle mass and functions of older polymyalgia rheumatica patients: a randomized crossover trial - J Nutr Health Aging. 2011;15(6):462-7 - "Patients performed as many stand ups as possible twice a day after which they ingested a regular (Control) or a whey protein enriched dairy product with high leucine content (Test). The 8-week intervention periods were separated by a 4-week wash-out ... The 16-week home-based post-exercise supplementation resulted in a 1.8% increase (p = 0.052) in lower limb muscle mass. Walking speed (+5.3%, p = 0.007) and chair stand test performance (-12.2 %, p < 0.001) were also improved. Furthermore, a tendency for increased jump power (+3.0%, p = 0.084) was observed. However, significant and consistent differences were not found in the changes of muscle mass indices or muscle functions between supplements, but the test supplement tended to prevent accumulation of body fat. Conclusion: A low intensity home based exercise program combined with post-exercise milk protein supplementation is feasible despite some gastrointestinal complaints and seems effective in improving the muscle mass and functions of older persons with a inflammatory disease. Further studies are needed to establish, whether and to what extent the use of leucine-enriched whey products prevent or treat age-associated sarcopenia and whether they are superior to the present commercial milk products"
• Protective effect of whey proteins against nonalcoholic fatty liver in rats Lipids Health Dis. 2011 Apr 13;10(1):57 - "Oral administration of the studied whey proteins products reduced the final body weight of rats. There was a significant reduction effect (P<0.05) of the tested proteins on hepatic triglycerides, liver enzymes (ALT and AST), lipid peroxidation (malondialdehyde level) and serum glucose. Feeding on whey proteins caused an increase in the reduced glutathione. Hepatic content of reduced glutathione was not affected by any of the used whey proteins, but it showed an increasing tendency (P>0.05). Liver histology showed an improvement of fatty infiltration in hepatocytes from whey protein groups and gives the histology of liver a normal appearance"
• Dietary Whey Protein Lowers the Risk for Metabolic Disease in Mice Fed a High-Fat Diet - J Nutr. 2011 Feb 10 - "whey protein isolate (WPI) ... Livers from WPI mice had significantly fewer hepatic lipid droplet numbers and less deposition of nonpolar lipids. Furthermore, WPI improved glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity. We conclude that in mice receiving a HF diet, consumption of WPI results in higher basal metabolic rates and altered metabolism of dietary lipids. Because WPI mice had less hepatosteatosis and insulin resistance, WPI dietary supplements may be effective in slowing the development of fatty liver disease and type 2 diabetes"
• Effects of a whey protein supplementation on intrahepatocellular lipids in obese female patients - Clin Nutr. 2011 Jan 31 - "intrahepatocellular lipids (IHCL) ... 60 g/day whey protein supplement (WPS) for 4-weeks ... total liver volume (MR) ... IHCL were positively correlated with visceral fat and total liver volume at inclusion. WPS decreased significantly IHCL by 20.8 +/- 7.7%, fasting total TG by 15 +/- 6.9%, and total cholesterol by 7.3 +/- 2.7%. WPS slightly increased fat free mass from 54.8 +/- 2.2 kg to 56.7 +/- 2.5 kg, p = 0.005). Visceral fat, total liver volume, glucose tolerance, creatinine clearance and insulin sensitivity were not changed"