Recent Longevity News for the week ending 8/5/15

Regular, Moderate Coffee Drinking Tied to Better Brain Health in Seniors - WebMD, 7/3`/`5 - "looked at the coffee consumption of 1,445 Italians aged 65 to 84. The participants' mental health was also tracked for a median of three-and-a-half years ... people who consistently drank about one or two cups of coffee per day had a lower rate of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) than those who never or rarely drank the brew ... The beneficial association was not found among people whose habitual coffee intake exceeded two cups per day"

Probiotics improve behavioral symptoms of chronic inflammatory diseases in mice - Science Daily, 7/28/15 - "Mice that received the probiotics spent more time engaging in social behaviors compared to mice that received a placebo ... Mice that received the probiotics had lower blood levels of TNF-α and fewer activated immune cells in the brain compared to mice that received a placebo ... The findings suggest that probiotics improved behavioral symptoms by altering communication between the immune system and the brain" - See probiotic products at Amazon.com.

Omega-3 fatty acids may help improve treatment, quality of life in cancer patients - Science Daily, 7/28/15 - "The study found evidence of activity in response and disease stabilization rates, reduction in liver metastasis volume, and improved quality of life scores in this group of patients" - See fish oil supplements at Amazon.com.

Link between intestinal bacteria, depression found - Science Daily, 7/28/15 - "We are starting to explain the complex mechanisms of interaction and dynamics between the gut microbiota and its host. Our data show that relatively minor changes in microbiota profiles or its metabolic activity induced by neonatal stress can have profound effects on host behaviour in adulthood"

Here's Why You're Freezing in the Office - NBC News, 8/4/15 - "Women prefer rooms at about 77 degrees, while men prefer a cooler 72 degrees"

Abstracts from this week:

Dietary flavonoid fisetin binds to β-tubulin and disrupts microtubule dynamics in prostate cancer cells - Cancer Lett. 2015 Jul 30 - "Fisetin significantly inhibited PCa cell proliferation, migration, and invasion. Nudc, a protein associated with microtubule motor dynein/dynactin complex that regulates microtubule dynamics was inhibited with fisetin treatment. Further, fisetin treatment of a P-glycoprotein overexpressing multidrug-resistant cancer cell line NCI/ADR-RES, inhibited the viability and colony formation. Our results offer in vitro proof-of-concept for fisetin as a microtubule targeting agent. We suggest fisetin could be developed as an adjuvant for treatment of prostate and other cancer types" - See fisetin at Amazon.com.

Zinc supplementation and the effects on metabolic status in gestational diabetes: A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial - J Diabetes Complications. 2015 Jul 4 - "zinc-supplemented patients had reduced fasting plasma glucose (FPG) (-6.6±11.2 vs. +0.6±6.7mg/dL, P=0.005), serum insulin levels (-1.3±6.6 vs. +6.6±12.2μIU/mL, P=0.003), homeostasis model of assessment-insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) (-0.5±1.6 vs. +1.5±2.7, P=0.001), homeostatic model assessment-Beta cell function (HOMA-B) (-0.7±25.0 vs. +26.5±49.5, P=0.01) and increased quantitative insulin sensitivity check index (QUICKI) (+0.01±0.01 vs. -0.01±0.02, P=0.004) compared with the placebo. Additionally, significant differences in serum triglycerides (+13.6±61.4 vs. +45.9±36.5mg/dL, P=0.01) and VLDL-cholesterol concentrations (+2.7±12.3 vs. +9.2±7.3mg/dL, P=0.01) were observed following the administration of zinc supplements compared with the placebo" - See Jarrow Zinc Balance at Amazon.com.

Oral magnesium supplementation improves glycaemic status in subjects with prediabetes and hypomagnesaemia: A double-blind placebo-controlled randomized trial - Diabetes Metab. 2015 Jun;41(3):202-7 - "At baseline, there were no significant statistical differences in terms of anthropometric and biochemical variables between individuals in the supplement and placebo groups. At the end of follow-up, fasting (86.9±7.9 and 98.3±4.6mg/dL, respectively; P=0.004) and post-load glucose (124.7±33.4 and 136.7±23.9mg/dL, respectively; P=0.03) levels, HOMA-IR indices (2.85±1.0 and 4.1±2.7, respectively; P=0.04) and triglycerides (166.4±90.6 and 227.0±89.7, respectively; P=0.009) were significantly decreased, whereas HDL cholesterol (45.6±10.9 and 46.8±9.2mg/dL, respectively; P=0.04) and serum magnesium (1.96±0.27 and 1.60±0.26mg/dL, respectively; P=0.005) levels were significantly increased" - [Nutra USA] - See magnesium supplements at Amazon.com.

Combining citrulline to atorvastatin preserves glucose homeostasis in a murine model of diet-induced obesity - Br J Pharmacol. 2015 Jul 30 - "Citrulline-atorvastatin combination prevents fat mass accumulation and maintains glucose homeostasis in DIO fed mice. Furthermore, it potentiates inhibition of hepatic de novo lipogenesis activity. This combination is thus promising for preservation of glucose homeostasis in patients under statin therapy" - See Stimulin at Amazon.com.

Probiotics Improve Inflammation-Associated Sickness Behavior by Altering Communication between the Peripheral Immune System and the Brain - J Neurosci. 2015 Jul 29 - "Patients with systemic inflammatory diseases (e.g., rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, chronic liver disease) commonly develop debilitating symptoms (i.e., sickness behaviors) that arise from changes in brain function. The microbiota-gut-brain axis alters brain function and probiotic ingestion can influence behavior ... This research shows that probiotics, when eaten, can improve the abnormal behaviors (including social withdrawal and immobility) that are commonly associated with inflammation. Probiotics are able to cause this effect within the body by changing how the immune system signals the brain to alter brain function. These findings broaden our understanding of how probiotics may beneficially affect brain function in the context of inflammation occurring within the body and may open potential new therapeutic alternatives for the treatment of these alterations in behavior that can greatly affect patient quality of life" - See probiotic products at Amazon.com.

Fish Oil Enhances T Cell Function and Tumor Infiltration and Is Correlated With a Cancer Prevention Effect in HER-2/neu But Not PyMT Transgenic Mice - Nutr Cancer. 2015 Jul 30 - "FO significantly reduced the incidence and multiplicity of tumors (P < 0.001) in HER-2/neu, but not PyMT mice" - See fish oil supplements at Amazon.com.

Increased Dietary Inflammatory Index (DII) Is Associated With Increased Risk of Prostate Cancer in Jamaican Men - Nutr Cancer. 2015 Jul 30 - "We examined the association between a newly developed dietary inflammatory index (DII) and prostate cancer in a case-control study of 40-80 yr old Jamaican males ... Men in the highest quartile of the DII were at higher risk of prostate cancer [odds ratio (OR) = 2.39; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.14-5.04; Ptrend = 0.08] compared to men in the lowest DII quartile"

Exclusive olive oil consumption has a protective effect on coronary artery disease; overview of the THISEAS study - Public Health Nutr. 2015 Jul 30:1-7 - "Exclusive olive oil consumption was associated with 37 % lower likelihood of developing coronary artery disease, even after taking into account adherence to the Mediterranean diet"

Resveratrol improved the spatial learning and memory in subclinical hypothyroidism rat induced by hemi-thyroid electrocauterization - Endocr J. 2015 Jul 29 - "resveratrol (RES) ... subclinical hypothyroidism (SCH) ... hypothalamus-pituitary-thyroid (HPT) axis ... brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) ... These findings indicated an amelioration effect of RES on the spatial learning and memory in the SCH rats, the mechanism of which might be involved with its ability of modifying the hyperactive HPT axis and up-regulating the hippocampal hypo-expression of syt-1 and BDNF" - See ReserveAge Resveratrol Vegetarian Capsules, 500 Mg, 60-Count at Amazon.com.

Vitamin D deficiency is associated with increased risk of Alzheimer's disease and dementia: evidence from meta-analysis - Nutr J. 2015 Aug 1;14(1):76 - "Results of our meta-analysis showed that subjects with deficient vitamin D status (25(OH)D level < 50 nmol/L) were at increased risk of developing AD by 21 % compared with those possessing 25(OH)D level > 50 nmol/L. Similar analysis also found a significantly increased dementia risk in vitamin D deficient subjects" - See vitamin D at Amazon.com.

Coffee consumption and risk of hypertension in the Polish arm of the HAPIEE cohort study - Eur J Clin Nutr. 2015 Jul 29 - "Relation between coffee consumption and incidence of hypertension was related to smoking status. Consumption of 3-4 cups of coffee per day decreased the risk of hypertension in non-smoking men and women only"

Coenzyme Q Protects Against Age-Related Alveolar Bone Loss Associated to n-6 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acid Rich-Diets by Modulating Mitochondrial Mechanisms - J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 2015 Jul 28 - "An age-dependent model of the periodontium was reproduced to evaluate the effect of life-long feeding on a low coenzyme Q10 dosage in n-6, n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid or monounsaturated fatty acid-based diets on periodontal tissues of young and old rats. Results shown that exacerbated age-related alveolar bone loss previously associated to n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acid diet was attenuated by coenzyme Q10. Gene expression analysis suggests that involved mechanisms might be related to a restored capacity of mitochondria to adapt to aging in gingival cells from rats fed on n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acid. In particular, this could be due to an age-related increase of the rate of mitochondrial biogenesis and a better oxidative and respiratory balance in these animals" - See ubiquinol products at Amazon.com.

Health Focus (Interleukin 6 (IL-6)):