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Recent Longevity News for the seven days ending 9/18/13. You should consult your doctor if you are taking any medications. Oxidative Stress in Prostate Cancer - Medscape, 9/17/13 - "increased production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) is linked to aging processes and to the etiopathogenesis of aging-related diseases, such as cancer, diabetes, atherosclerosis and degenerative diseases like Parkinson's and Alzheimer's. Excess ROS are deleterious to normal cells, while in cancer cells, they can lead to accelerated tumorigenesis ... Reactive oxygen species (ROS), also termed oxidants, are common by-products of the standard aerobic cellular metabolism, continuously formed in the cell and synchronously scavenged by an array of antioxidant mechanisms ... At the molecular level, ROS production takes place continuously at redox-active centers within enzymes or when ubiquinone (coenzyme Q10 (CoQ)), the essential electron carrier, accepts or donates electrons ... At the molecular level, ROS production takes place continuously at redox-active centers within enzymes or when ubiquinone (coenzyme Q10 (CoQ)), the essential electron carrier, accepts or donates electrons. Unique bioenergetic conditions are required to occur, such as high NADH-H+/NAD ratio or a high proton-motive force across the inner mitochondrial membrane (Δp) and concomitantly reduced CoQ pool (CoQH2), to accelerate ROS formation in the mitochondria ... Adiponectin, a hormone inversely associated with obesity, inhibits oxidative stress in human PC cells in a dose-dependent manner. Lower levels of adiponectin in obese individuals may result in higher levels of prostatic oxidative stress, which may explain the clinical association between obesity, hypoadiponectinemia and PC ... Several foods containing natural antioxidants, such as polyphenols and flavonoids, and other phytonutrients, such as vitamins and minerals, are proposed to facilitate ROS detoxification ... Several potential suggestions have been put forth to explain the results of the study, which were contrary to the original prevention hypothesis. (i) The high dose of vitamin E (400 IU), which was eight times higher than the 50 IU used in the ABTC study, may abolish the preventive effect or even contribute to the increased risk of PC demonstrated in the study.[82] (ii) Animal studies demonstrate cancer preventive activity of γ- and δ-tocopherols, as well as for the naturally occurring mixture of tocopherols, but not by α-tocopherol,[83] the source of vitamin E used in the SELECT trail. (iii) Different individuals may respond inconsistently to antioxidant treatment depending on specific, intrinsic genetic risk factors" - See Jarrow FamilE (contains all eight members of the vitamin E family, includes Tocomin) at Amazon.com. Arginine Therapy Shows Promise for Sickle Cell Pain - Science Daily, 9/16/13 - "A deficiency of nitric oxide, a potent vasodilator, has been identified in sickle cell disease and may contribute to episodes of blocked vessels and pain. Since arginine is a building block of nitric oxide, researchers hypothesized that arginine could be a beneficial treatment for pain related to sickle cell disease ... a randomized, double blind placebo control clinical trial of 38 children with sickle cell disease hospitalized for 56 episodes of pain. The research team discovered a 54 percent reduction in the use of opioid pain medication and significantly lower pain scores at hospital discharge in those treated with arginine over those receiving placebo" - See L-arginine products at Amazon.com. Healthy diet may reverse aging, study finds - today.com, 9/16/13 - "Ornish and Blackburn’s team examined 10 prostate cancer patients who had chosen to try Ornish’s program, and compared them to 25 patients who had not. They all had early stage prostate cancer that wasn’t considered dangerous ... The program includes eating a diet high in whole foods, fruits, vegetables, unrefined grains and keeping fat to 10 percent of calories. The average American gets more than a third of calories from fat ... The 10 men who followed the Ornish plan had significantly longer telomeres five years later -- on average 10 percent longer. The 25 men who had not followed the program had shorter telomeres -- 3 percent shorter on average" - [Science Daily] Gut Microbes Closely Linked to Proper Immune Function, Other Health Issues - Science Daily, 9/16/13 - "Problems ranging from autoimmune disease to clinical depression and simple obesity may in fact be linked to immune dysfunction that begins with a "failure to communicate" in the human gut ... Health care of the future may include personalized diagnosis of an individual's "microbiome" to determine what prebiotics or probiotics are needed to provide balance ... Appropriate sanitation such as clean water and sewers are good. But some erroneous lessons in health care may need to be unlearned -- leaving behind the fear of dirt, the love of antimicrobial cleansers, and the outdated notion that an antibiotic is always a good idea. We live in a world of "germs" and many of them are good for us" - See Garden of Life, Primal Defense at Amazon.com. FDA OKs New Device to Treat BPH - Medscape, 9/13/13 - "The UroLift system relieves the urine flow by pulling back the prostate tissue that is pressing on the urethra ... found a 30% increase in urine flow and a steady amount of residual urine in the bladder" Diet during pregnancy and early life may affect children's behavior and intelligence - Science Daily, 9/13/13 - "Blood samples were taken from 493 schoolchildren, aged between seven and nine years, from 74 mainstream schools in Oxfordshire. All of the children were thought to have below-average reading skills ... Analyses of their blood samples showed that, on average, just under two per cent of the children's total blood fatty acids were Omega-3 DHA (Docosahexaenoic acid) and 0.5 per cent were Omega-3 EPA (Eicosapentaenoic acid), with a total of 2.45 per cent for these long-chain Omega-3 combined. This is below the minimum of 4 per cent recommended by leading scientists to maintain cardiovascular health in adults, with 8-12 per cent regarded as optimal for a healthy heart ... levels of Omega-3 fatty acids in the blood significantly predicted a child's behaviour and ability to learn. Higher levels of Omega-3 in the blood, and DHA in particular, were associated with better reading and memory, as well as with fewer behaviour problems as rated by parents and teachers" - See Mega Twin EPA at Amazon.com and Jarrow Max DHA at Amazon.com. Diet during pregnancy and early life may affect children's behavior and intelligence - Science Daily, 9/13/13 - "folic acid, which is recommended in some European countries, to be taken by women during the first three months of pregnancy, can reduce the likelihood of behavioural problems during early childhood. Eating oily fish is also very beneficial, not only for the omega-3 fatty acids they which are 'building blocks' for brain cells, but also for the iodine content which has a positive effect on reading ability in children when measured at age nine" Diets low in polyunsaturated fatty acids may be a problem for youngsters - Science Daily, 9/13/13 - "A proper ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 PUFAs plays an important role in cell function, inflammation, eye development and neural functioning. However, the ideal dietary intake of PUFAs for young children is unclear ... of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, decided to estimate the average intake of PUFAs in the diet for children between infancy and kindergarten ... The ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 intake was high -- about 10. Some experts use this as an indicator of diet quality, with a high ratio being less healthy ... In addition, intake of a key fatty acid known as DHA in children 12 to 60 months of age was low -- lower than what infants generally consume -- and it did not increase with age ... At present, there is no official dietary recommendation in the U.S. for DHA and EPA intake or supplementation among children, although the Institute of Medicine has issued what they call a "reasonable intake" level of two 3-oz servings of fish per week for children ... children are clearly not consuming this much fish" - See Jarrow Max DHA at Amazon.com. Fruit and Vegetable Consumption and Mortality - Medscape, 9/13/13 - "Survival analyses were performed, including 451,151 participants from 10 European countries, recruited between 1992 and 2000 and followed until 2010 ... Consumption of fruits and vegetables was inversely associated with all-cause mortality (for the highest quartile, hazard ratio = 0.90, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.86, 0.94), with a rate advancement period of 1.12 years (95% CI: 0.70, 1.54), and with a preventable proportion of 2.95%. This association was driven mainly by cardiovascular disease mortality (for the highest quartile, hazard ratio = 0.85, 95% CI: 0.77, 0.93). Stronger inverse associations were observed for participants with high alcohol consumption or high body mass index and suggested in smokers. Inverse associations were stronger for raw than for cooked vegetable consumption. These results support the evidence that fruit and vegetable consumption is associated with a lower risk of death" Association Between Metformin Use and Risk of Prostate Cancer - Medscape, 9/13/13 - "This large study did not find an association between metformin use and risk of prostate cancer among older men with diabetes, regardless of cancer grade or method of diagnosis" - Note: I usually don't publish studies that don't show anything but people might see the headlines elsewhere and think otherwise on this one with the way it's worded. Bacteria Responsible for Gum Disease Facilitates Rheumatoid Arthritis - Science Daily, 9/12/13 - "Taken together, our results suggest that bacterial PAD may constitute the mechanistic link between P. gingivalis periodontal infection and rheumatoid arthritis, but this ground-breaking conclusion will need to be verified with further research ... compared to the general population, people with periodontal disease have an increased prevalence of RA and, periodontal disease is at least two times more prevalent in RA patients. Other research has shown that a P. gingivalis infection in the mouth will precede RA, and the bacterium is the likely culprit for onset and continuation of the autoimmune inflammatory responses that occur in the disease" - See the top of my dental page for my Periogard suggestion which was the only thing that worked to get my periodontal disease under control. 5 Foods for Healthy Skin - ABC News, 9/12/13 - "Strawberries ... Olive oil ... Green tea ... Pumpkin ... Pomegranate" Middle-Aged Men Can Blame Estrogen, Too - NYTimes.com, 9/11/13 - "Estrogen, the female sex hormone, turns out to play a much bigger role in men’s bodies than previously thought, and falling levels contribute to their expanding waistlines just as they do in women’s" - [WebMD] [Abstract] - Note: Here's the study they cite but something isn't making sense. It says "the percentage of body fat increased in groups receiving placebo or 1.25 g or 2.5 g of testosterone daily without anastrozole". Anastrozole increases testosterone and decreases estrogen yet they're saying that body fat increased without the anastrozole implying that body fat decreased with the anastrozole (more testosterone, less estrogen). See my aromatization page. Personally I feel that this study is doing to way too many things that affect the endocrine system that makes the outcome suspect. It's disturbing how the media is taking off with it like it's written in stone. For example, how do they know that suppressing all those hormones at the beginning then artificially replacing some didn't also alter others such as insulin, cortisol, the thyroid hormones, etc. which might affect fat? I feel that blaming it on estrogen seems like a long shot when you're tinkering with the endocrine system that much. Plus highest mortality was around 25 pg/mL for estradiol and I'll bet most are higher than that.
'Love Hormone' May Play Wider Role in Social Interaction Than Previously Thought - Science Daily, 9/11/13 - "The new study suggests that oxytocin's role in one-on-one bonding probably evolved from an existing, broader affinity for group living ... The new study, published Sept. 12 in Nature, pinpoints a unique way in which oxytocin alters activity in a part of the brain that is crucial to experiencing the pleasant sensation neuroscientists call "reward." The findings not only provide validity for ongoing trials of oxytocin in autistic patients, but also suggest possible new treatments for neuropsychiatric conditions in which social activity is impaired ... The new discovery shows that mice do indeed have oxytocin receptors at a key location in the nucleus accumbens and, importantly, that blocking oxytocin's activity there significantly diminishes these animals' appetite for socializing" - Note: Way too much detail in that article. A good read for insomnia. See Oxy Pro (Oxytocin) Nasal Spray at International Anti-aging Systems. Drop the cookie: Sweet, starchy foods 'probably' cause women’s cancer - today.com, 9/10/13 - "AICR now estimates that most cases of endometrial cancer (59 percent, or about 29,500 every year) could be prevented in the U.S. if women were active for at least 30 minutes a day and maintained a healthy body weight ... Estrogen is one known cause and women who take hormones, as in hormone replacement therapy, are usually given a form of progesterone, also, to protect against endometrial cancer ... Women who are obese have two to three times the rate of endometrial cancer .. There were eight studies showing coffee lowers the risk ... The team also found at least six studies that indicate glycemic load affects the risk ... The bottom line is you want to eat whole grains instead of refined grains and sugary foods" Some Painkillers Tied to Certain Birth Defects in Study - WebMD, 9/10/13 - "Women taking prescription painkillers such as Oxycontin, Vicodin and Percocet early in pregnancy are twice as likely to give birth to babies with devastating neural tube defects such as spina bifida" 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): Alcohol consumption and breast cancer risk among women from five ethnic groups with light to moderate intakes: The multiethnic cohort study - Int J Cancer. 2013 Sep 12 - "Higher alcohol consumption, even at moderate levels, has been associated with an increased risk of breast cancer in epidemiological studies ... we prospectively examined the association in 85,089 women enrolled in the Multiethnic Cohort in Hawaii and California ... mean follow-up of 12.4 years ... Higher alcohol consumption was associated with increased risk of breast cancer: compared to nondrinkers, HRs were 1.23 (95% CI: 1.06-1.42), 1.21 (95% CI: 1.00-1.45), 1.12 (95% CI: 0.95-1.31), and 1.53 (95% CI: 1.32-1.77) for 5-9.9, 10-14.9, 15-29.9, and ≥30 g/day of alcohol, respectively" Vitamin D3 effects on lipids differ in statin and non-statin treated humans: superiority of free 25-OH D levels in detecting relationships - J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2013 Sep 12 - "D3 group: 14 men, 12 women, age 60 +/- 8y (mean +/-SD); placebo: 12 men, 11 women: 59 +/-12y with inadequate D status ... 12 week oral vitamin D3 titrated (1000-3000 IU/day) to achieve 25-OH D levels ≥ 25 ng/mL compared to placebo ... Vitamin D lipid lowering effects appear limited to statin-treated patients and are likely due to decreased cholesterol absorption" - See vitamin D at Amazon.com. Effects of pioglitazone on visceral fat metabolic activity in impaired glucose tolerance or type 2 diabetes mellitus - J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2013 Sep 12 - "using 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG)-positron emission tomography (PET) and computed tomography (CT) imaging ... These patients were randomized to treatment with either pioglitazone or glimepiride for 16 weeks ... The metabolic activity of the visceral fat tissues as assessed by FDG uptake was expressed as a target-to-background ratio (TBR) of blood-normalized standardized uptake value ... Pioglitazone significantly decreased the visceral fat volume (130.5+/-53.0 to 122.1+/-51.0 cm2, P=0.013) and TBR values (0.57+/-0.16 to 0.50+/-0.11, P=0.007); glimepiride did not influence visceral fat volume or TBR values. Neither pioglitazone nor glimepiride treatment showed any effect on the volume or TBR values of subcutaneous fat. After 16-week treatment with pioglitazone reduction in visceral fat TBR was correlated to increase in HDL cholesterol levels" - Note: Pioglitazone is one that I take in low doses for anti-aging. Prediagnostic plasma vitamin C and risk of gastric adenocarcinoma and esophageal squamous cell carcinoma in a Chinese population - Am J Clin Nutr. 2013 Sep 11 - "China has some of the highest incidence rates for gastric adenocarcinoma (GA) and esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) in the world ... Two cohort studies and the current study were included to assess the body of evidence ... For GA, each 20-μmol/L increase in plasma vitamin C was associated with a 14% decrease in risk ... Compared with individuals with low plasma vitamin C concentrations (≤28 μmol/L), those with normal concentrations (>28 μmol/L) had a 27% reduced risk of GA ... No association between vitamin C concentrations and ESCC was seen" - See Jarrow Formulas, C 1000, Ascorbic Acid + Oleaselect Olive Fruit Extract, 250 Veggie Caps. Dairy consumption, type 2 diabetes and changes in cardiometabolic traits-a prospective cohort study of middle-aged and older Chinese in Beijing and Shanghai - Diabetes Care. 2013 Sep 11 - "2,091 middle-aged and older Chinese men and women were recruited and followed for 6 years. Baseline dairy consumption was assessed by a 74-item food frequency questionnaire ... Compared to non-consumers, relative risks (RR) and 95%CIs of type 2 diabetes among those having 0.5-1 serving/day and >1 serving/day were 0.70(0.55, 0.88) and 0.65(0.49, 0.85), respectively, after multivariate adjustment (Ptrend<0.001), which was attenuated by further adjusting for changes in glucose during follow-up (Ptrend=0.07). Total dairy consumption was associated with favorable changes in glucose, waistline, BMI, diastolic blood pressure (All Ptrend<0.05) and systolic blood pressure (Ptrend=0.05) after multivariate adjustment including baseline values of dependent variables ... Dairy consumption was associated with a significantly lower risk of type 2 diabetes and favorable changes of cardiometabolic traits in Chinese" Relationship between metformin use, vitamin B12 deficiency, hyperhomocysteinemia and vascular complications in patients with type 2 diabetes - Endocr J. 2013 Sep 8 - "Metformin-induced B12 lowering in diabetes was associated with elevation of homocysteine, and hyperhomocysteinemia was independently related to retinopathy" - See vitamin B12 at Amazon.com. An encapsulated juice powder concentrate improves markers of pulmonary function and cardiovascular risk factors in heavy smokers - J Am Coll Nutr. 2013 Feb;32(1):18-25 - "75 apparently healthy smokers (aged 49.2 +/- 10.6 years, >20 cigarettes/d, duration ≥10 years) randomized into 3 groups: placebo (P), fruit/vegetable (FV) and fruit/vegetable/berry (FVB) ... FVB showed a significant improvement in forced expiratory flow at 25% (FEF25; p < 0.0001 vs P and FV) and significant improvement in CO diffusion lung/alveolar volume (DLCO/VA). FV and FVB (50%) showed significant reduction in tHcy and tCys compared to T 0" - See Garden of Life, Radical Fruits Antioxidant Complex at Amazon.com. Green Tea and Vitamin E Enhance Exercise-Induced Benefits in Body Composition, Glucose Homeostasis, and Antioxidant Status in Elderly Men and Women - J Am Coll Nutr. 2013 Feb;32(1):31-40 - "For 12 weeks, 22 elderly men and women (age: 71.1 +/- 1.2 years; body mass index: 28.3 +/- 0.5 kg/m(2) [mean +/- SE]) undertook 30 minutes of moderately intense walking 6 d/wk. They were randomly assigned to ingest either green tea plus vitamin E (GTVE; 3 cups and 400 IU, respectively; n = 11) or placebo (n = 11) ... Though dietary intake was unchanged, improved exercise capacity was followed by a significant reduction in body weight and fasting insulin levels in all participants. Additional consumption of GTVE resulted in a twofold increase in serum vitamin E (from 20.4 to 40.6 μmol/L, p < 0.001) and a decrease of men's and women's waist circumferences (from 100.8 and 95.7 to 96.9 and 85.0 cm, p < 0.05 and p < 0.01, respectively) and fasting glucose levels (from 5.30 to 4.98 mmol/L, p < 0.01)" - Note the decrease in waist circumference from 95.7 to 85.0 cm in men. That's a 10.7 cm reduction or 4.2 inches. - See green tea extract at Amazon.com and Jarrow FamilE (contains all eight members of the vitamin E family, includes Tocomin) at Amazon.com. The effects of soy and whey protein supplementation on acute hormonal reponses to resistance exercise in men - J Am Coll Nutr. 2013 Feb;32(1):66-74 - "For many resistance-trained men concerns exist regarding the production of estrogen with the consumption of soy protein when training for muscle strength and size. Thus, the purpose of this investigation was to examine the effects of soy and whey protein supplementation on sex hormones following an acute bout of heavy resistance exercise in resistance trained men ... Ten resistance-trained men (age 21.7 +/- 2.8 [SD] years; height 175.0 +/- 5.4 cm; weight 84.2 +/- 9.1 kg) volunteered to participate in an investigation ... all subjects completed 3 experimental treatment conditions supplementing with whey protein isolate (WPI), soy protein isolate (SPI), and maltodextrin placebo control for 14 days with participants ingesting 20 g of their assigned supplement each morning at approximately the same time each day ... This investigation observed lower testosterone responses following supplementation with soy protein in addition to a positive blunted cortisol response with the use of whey protein at some recovery time points. Although sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG) was proposed as a possible mechanism for understanding changes in androgen content, SHBG did not differ between experimental treatments. Importantly, there were no significant differences between groups in changes in estradiol concentrations" - See whey protein at Amazon.com. Whey protein supplementation during resistance training augments lean body mass - J Am Coll Nutr. 2013 Apr;32(2):122-35 - "Compared to soy, whey protein is higher in leucine, absorbed quicker and results in a more pronounced increase in muscle protein synthesis ... randomized non-resistance-trained men and women into groups who consumed daily isocaloric supplements containing carbohydrate (carb; n = 22), whey protein (whey; n = 19), or soy protein (soy; n = 22) ... Lean body mass gains were significantly (p < 0.05) greater in whey (3.3 +/- 1.5 kg) than carb (2.3 +/- 1.7 kg) and soy (1.8 +/- 1.6 kg). Fat mass decreased slightly but there were no differences between groups. Fasting concentrations of leucine were significantly elevated (20%) and postexercise plasma leucine increased more than 2-fold in whey. Fasting leucine concentrations were positively correlated with lean body mass responses" - See whey protein at Amazon.com. Health Focus (Cataracts): Related Topics: Popular Supplements:
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