Recent Longevity News for the week ending 9/2/15

Getting less than 6 hours of sleep makes you 4x more likely to get a cold - Washington Post, 8/31/15 - "lack of sleep was the most important factor in predicting the likelihood of someone catching a cold, more so than age, stress levels and whether someone was a smoker, factors that were previously associated with a cold risk ... Available data suggests insufficient sleep disrupts the immune system and makes it less able to fight off a virus"

Vitamin D may play key role in preventing macular degeneration - Science Daily, 8/31/15 - "women who are deficient in vitamin D and have a specific high-risk genotype are 6.7 times more likely to develop AMD than women with sufficient vitamin D status and no high risk genotype ... Vitamin D shows promise for protecting against macular degeneration because of its anti-inflammatory and antiangiogenic properties; antiangiogenic refers to slowing the growth of new blood vessels, often seen in late stages of AMD ... Our study suggests that being deficient for vitamin D may increase one's risk for AMD, and that this increased risk may be most profound in those with the highest genetic risk for this specific variant in the CFH protein" - See vitamin D at Amazon.com.

Midday naps associated with reduced blood pressure and fewer medications - Science Daily, 8/30/15 - "midday sleepers had 5% lower average 24 hour ambulatory systolic BP (6 mmHg) compared to patients who did not sleep at all midday. Their average systolic BP readings were 4% lower when they were awake (5 mmHg) and 6% lower while they slept at night (7 mmHg) than non-midday sleepers ... Although the mean BP decrease seems low, it has to be mentioned that reductions as small as 2 mmHg in systolic blood pressure can reduce the risk of cardiovascular events by up to 10% ... midday sleepers pulse wave velocity levels were 11% lower and left atrium diameter was 5% smaller. "These findings suggest that midday sleepers have less damage from high blood pressure in their arteries and heart," ... midday sleep is associated with lower 24 hour blood pressure, an enhanced fall of BP in night, and less damage to the arteries and the heart. The longer the midday sleep, the lower the systolic BP levels and probably fewer drugs needed to lower BP" 

High protein foods boost cardiovascular health, as much as quitting smoking or getting exercise - Science Daily, 8/27/15 - "those who consumed the highest amounts of amino acids had lower measures of blood pressure and arterial stiffness ... But they found that the food source was important -- with a higher intake of amino acids from plant-based sources associated with lower blood pressure, and a higher intake from animal sources associated with lower levels of arterial stiffness ... Increasing intake from protein-rich foods such as meat, fish, dairy produce, beans, lentils, broccoli and spinach could be an important and readily achievable way to reduce people's risk of cardiovascular disease"

Using Antidiabetic Therapies to Treat Alzheimer Disease - Medscape, 8/27/15 - "There are other treatments, such as metformin and the new generation of antidiabetic drugs known as incretins, that have been shown in animal models to have a pro-cognitive effect ... Inflammatory molecules have a negative effect on the brain and also contribute to insulin resistance" - See metformin at The Antiaging Store.

Many pregnant women have insufficient iodine; may impair baby's neurological development - Science Daily, 8/26/15 - "the median urinary iodine concentration (UIC) in the study group was 98 μg/l, which is far less that the recommended minimum levels of 150 μg/l" - See iodine at Amazon.com.

Abstracts from this week:

Beneficial effects of oral chromium picolinate supplementation on glycemic control in patients with type 2 diabetes: A randomized clinical study - J Trace Elem Med Biol. 2015 Oct - "A four month controlled, single blind, randomized trial was performed with 71 patients with poorly controlled (hemoglobin A1c [HbA1c]>7%) T2DM divided into 2 groups: Control (n=39, using placebo), and supplemented (n=32, using 600μg/day CrPic) ... CrPic supplementation significantly reduced the fasting glucose concentration (-31.0mg/dL supplemented group; -14.0mg/dL control group; p<0.05, post- vs. pre-treatment, in each group) and postprandial glucose concentration (-37.0mg/dL in the supplemented group; -11.5 mg/dL in the control group; p<0.05). HbA1c values were also significantly reduced in both groups (p<0.001, comparing post- vs. pre-treatment groups). Post-treatment HbA1c values in supplemented patients were significantly lower than those of control patients. HbA1c lowering in the supplemented group (-1.90), and in the control group (-1.00), was also significant, comparing pre- and post-treatment values, for each group (p<0.001 and p<0.05, respectively) ... HDL-c and LDL-c were significantly lowered, comparing pre- and post-treatment period, in the control group" - [Nutra USA] - See chromium supplements at Amazon.com.

Dairy Consumption and Risk of Frailty in Older Adults: A Prospective Cohort Study - J Am Geriatr Soc. 2015 Aug 27 - "Participants consuming seven or more servings per week of low-fat milk and yogurt had lower incidence of frailty (OR = 0.52; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.29-0.90; P for trend = .03) than those consuming less than one serving per week. Specifically, consumers of seven or more servings per week of low-fat milk and yogurt had less risk of slow walking speed (OR = 0.64, 95% CI = 0.44-0.92, P trend = .01) and of weight loss (OR = 0.54, 95% CI = 0.33-0.87, P trend = .02). Consuming seven or more servings per week of whole milk or yogurt (OR = 1.53, 95% CI = 0.90-2.60, P trend = .10) or of cheese (OR = 0.91, 95% CI = 0.52-1.61; P trend = .61) was not associated with incident frailty" - Note:  The "Results" paragraph of this abstract seems to contradict itself.

Higher Plasma Phospholipid n-3 PUFAs, but Lower n-6 PUFAs, Are Associated with Lower Pulse Wave Velocity among Older Adults - J Nutr. 2015 Aug 26 - "Plasma phospholipid PUFAs were measured by GC at baseline, and fish oil intake was assessed at 3 time points, namely, early life (ages 14-19), midlife (ages 40-50), and late life (ages 66-96, AGES-Reykjavik baseline) with the use of a validated food-frequency questionnaire ... Our results show a positive association between plasma n-6 PUFAs and arterial stiffness, and suggest that higher concentrations of plasma long-chain n-3 PUFAs are associated with less arterial stiffness and therein may be one of the mechanisms behind n-3 PUFAs and lower CVD risk" - See fish oil supplements at Amazon.com.

Ferulic acid alleviates Aβ25-35- and lipopolysaccharide-induced PC12 cellular damage: a potential role in Alzheimer's disease by PDE inhibition - Int J Clin Pharmacol Ther. 2015 Aug 26 - "Taken together, our results suggested that one of the therapeutic effects of FA on AD was potentially mediated by modulating the PDE/cAMP pathway" - See ferulic acid at Amazon.com.

The impact of supplemental macular carotenoids in Alzheimer's disease: a randomized clinical trial - J Alzheimers Dis. 2015;44(4):1157-69 - "supplemented for six months with either Macushield (10 mg meso-zeaxanthin [MZ]; 10 mg lutein [L]; 2 mg zeaxanthin [Z]) or placebo (sunflower oil) ... supplementation with the macular carotenoids (MZ, Z, and L) benefits patients with AD, in terms of clinically meaningful improvements in visual function and in terms of MP augmentation" - [Nutra USA] - See Macushield at Amazon.com.

Association between serum folic acid level and erectile dysfunction - Andrologia. 2015 Aug 25 - "The mean serum FA concentrations were 7.2 ± 3.7, 7.1 ± 3.2, 10.2 ± 4.6 and 10.7 ± 4.6 ng ml(-1) in the severe, moderate and mild ED and control groups respectively. The mean serum FA concentration was significantly higher in the control group than in the severe and moderate ED groups (both P < 0.001), but not the mild ED group (P = 0.95). Considering the significant differences in the serum FA levels between the control and ED groups, serum FA deficiency might reflect the severity of ED" - See folic acid products at Amazon.com. 

Health Focus (C-reactive protein):