Recent Longevity News for the week ending 6/10/15

Cannabis Harms Brain, Imaging Shows - Medscape, 6/8/15 - "The heavy, long-term use of cannabis is associated with negative changes in parts of the brain not previously implicated ... the investigators showed that heavy chronic cannabis use is associated with lower dopamine release in the associative striatum and the sensory motor striatum, regions involved in cognition ... An exploratory analysis showed a significant association between lower dopamine release capacity in the associative striatum and decreased cognitive measures in probabilistic category learning and working memory tasks"

Impact of Metformin on Clinical Outcomes in Prostate Cancer - Medscape, 6/9/15 - "Metformin may reduce the risk of biochemical recurrence in prostate cancer" - See metformin at The Antiaging Store.

Fears, Not Facts, Support G.M.O.-Free Food - NYTimes.com, 6/8/15 - "The often-voiced concern that introducing genes from different species is unnatural and potentially dangerous ignores the fact that all living organisms, including humans, share thousands, even millions of genes with other species"

Should Antidiabetics Be Prescribed in Prediabetes? - Medscape, 6/4/15 - "it's imperative that we talk to the patient about their prediabetes as soon as their fasting blood glucose level exceeds 100 mg/dL ... As for metformin, based on the ADA guidelines, we could prescribe it as soon as lifestyle and dietary measures fail"

Key to maintaining muscle strength while we age - Science Daily, 6/2/15 - "Previous research by Steinberg's team has shown that this "metabolic switch" is turned on with exercise as well as commonly-used medications including metformin and salicylate (the active ingredient in Aspirin) ... We know we can turn on the AMPK pathway with intense exercise and commonly-used Type 2 diabetes medications" - See metformin at The Antiaging Store.

Abstracts from this week:

Secoiridoids delivered as olive leaf extract induce acute improvements in human vascular function and reduction of an inflammatory cytokine: a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, cross-over trial - Br J Nutr. 2015 Jun 8:1-9 - "The present study provides the first evidence that OLE positively modulates vascular function and IL-8 production in vivo, adding to growing evidence that olive phenolics could be beneficial for health" - See olive leaf extract at Amazon.com.

A review of the effect of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids on blood triacylglycerol levels in normolipidemic and borderline hyperlipidemic individuals - Lipids Health Dis. 2015 Jun 6 - "In summary, a 9-26 % reduction in circulating TG was demonstrated in studies where ≥ 4 g/day of n-3 PUFA were consumed from either marine or EPA/DHA-enriched food sources, while a 4-51 % reduction was found in studies where 1-5 g/day of EPA and/or DHA was consumed through supplements"  - See fish oil supplements at Amazon.com.

Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids in treating non-alcoholic steatohepatitis: A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial - Clin Nutr. 2015 May 21 - "In NASH patients, the supplementation of omega-3 PUFA from flaxseed and fish oils significantly impacts on plasma lipid profile of patients with NASH. Plasma increase of these PUFAs was associated with better liver histology" - See fish oil supplements at Amazon.com.

Curcumin prophylaxis mitigates the incidence of hypobaric hypoxia-induced altered ion channel expression and impaired tight junction protein integrity in rat brain - J Neuroinflammation. 2015 Jun 6 - "The present study was proposed to elucidate the prophylactic role of curcumin in the prevention of hypoxia-induced cerebral edema (HACE) ...These results indicate that curcumin is a potent drug in amelioration of HACE as it effectively attenuated inflammation as well as fluid influx by maintaining the tight junction protein integrity with increased ion channel expression in the brain of rats under hypoxia"

The triglyceride-lowering effect of supplementation with dual probiotic strains, Lactobacillus curvatus HY7601 and Lactobacillus plantarum KY1032: Reduction of fasting plasma lysophosphatidylcholines in nondiabetic and hypertriglyceridemic subjects - Nutr Metab Cardiovasc Dis. 2015 May 14 - "After 12 weeks of treatment, the probiotic group displayed a 20% reduction (p = 0.001) in serum TGs and 25% increases (p=0.001) in apolipoprotein A-V (apoA-V). At the 12-week follow-up assessment, the following 11 plasma metabolites were significantly reduced in the probiotic group than the placebo group" - See probiotic products at Amazon.com.

Resveratrol Decreases TXNIP mRNA and Protein Nuclear Expressions With an Arterial Function Improvement in Old Mice - J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 2015 Jun 3 - "Aging leads to a high prevalence of glucose intolerance and cardiovascular diseases, with oxidative stress playing a potential role. Resveratrol has shown promising effects on glucose tolerance and tends to improve endothelial function in elderly patients ... In conclusion, we demonstrated that resveratrol helped to restore several aging impaired processes in old mice, with a decrease of aortic TXNIP mRNA and protein nuclear expressions" - See ReserveAge Resveratrol Vegetarian Capsules, 500 Mg, 60-Count at Amazon.com.

Daily potassium intake and sodium-to-potassium ratio in the reduction of blood pressure: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials - J Hypertens. 2015 Jun 2 - "Potassium supplementation resulted in reduction of SBP by 4.7 mmHg [95% confidence interval (CI) 2.4-7.0] and DBP by 3.5 mmHg (95% CI 1.3-5.7) in all patients. The effect was found to be greater in hypertensive patients, with a reduction of SBP by 6.8 mmHg (95% CI 4.3-9.3) and DBP by 4.6 mmHg (95% CI 1.8-7.5)" - See potassium citrate at Amazon.com.

Berberine attenuates vascular remodeling and inflammation in a rat model of metabolic syndrome - Biol Pharm Bull. 2015;38(6):862-8 - "metabolic syndrome (MS) ... our data show that berberine improves vascular inflammation and remodeling in the MS condition, and this is correlated with the ability of berberine to inhibit p38 MAPK activation, ATF-2 phosphorylation, and MMP-2 expression" - See berberine at Amazon.com.

Neat Tech Stuff / "How To's":

​Top tips for great travel videos on your iPhone - CNET, 6/7/15 - "A tripod is worth considering too to help stabilise your video -- essential if you want to take time-lapse sequences of clouds passing overheard. Again, Manfrotto has a great little one, called the Pixi (pictured above) that can slip into a backpack unnoticed and costs only £18 ($25), or you could go for the Joby GorillaPod, with its endlessly-bendable legs (£15, $17). Finally, make sure you take an external battery pack with you, such as the Mophie JuicePack Duo -- shooting video all day will drain your battery fast, so you'll want to have a backup on hand"

Health Focus (BPH/Prostate Cancer):