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

Vitamin C: The exercise replacement? - Science Daily, 9/4/15 - "The blood vessels of overweight and obese adults have elevated activity of the small vessel-constricting protein endothelin (ET)-1. Because of the high ET-1 activity, these vessels are more prone to constricting, becoming less responsive to blood flow demand and increasing risk of developing vascular disease. Exercise has been shown to reduce ET-1 activity, but incorporating an exercise regimen into a daily routine can be challenging ... daily supplementation of vitamin C (500 mg/day, time-released) reduced ET-1-related vessel constriction as much as walking for exercise did" - See American Health Products - Ester C W/Citrus Bioflavonoids, 1000 mg, 180 veg tablets at Amazon.com.

Blueberry extract could help fight gum disease and reduce antibiotic use - Science Daily, 9/2/15 - "In the lab, the researchers tested extracts from the wild lowbush blueberry, Vaccinium angustifolium Ait., against F. nucleatum. The polyphenol-rich extracts successfully inhibited the growth of F. nucleatum, as well as its ability to form biofilms. It also blocked a molecular pathway involved in inflammation, a key part of gum disease"

Could Common Diabetes Drugs Help Fight Leukemia? - WebMD, 9/2/15 - "patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) who received a glitazone -- a class of drug for type 2 diabetes -- along with the standard CML drug imatinib remained disease-free for up to nearly five years ... Actos and Avandia are two well-known glitazone"

Vitamin A implicated in development of alcoholic liver disease - Science Daily, 9/1/15 - "Long-term drinking lowers vitamin A levels in the liver, which is the main site of alcohol breakdown and vitamin A storage, while raising vitamin A levels in many other tissues"

Your heart is a lot older than you are. But you can turn back the clock - Washington Post, 9/1/15 - "U.S. men's hearts are an average of 7.8 years older than their chronological ages. Women do a little better, with hearts an average of 5.4 years older than chronological age ... The average age of people in the study was 47.8 for men and 47.9 for women. But the men's hearts were 55.6 years old and women's were 53.3 years old ... The study pointed out that a 50-year-old man with a variety of risk factors could lower his heart age by 14 years by quitting smoking for a year, and another six years by controlling his blood pressure"

Abstracts from this week:

The effects of chronic trans-resveratrol supplementation on aspects of cognitive function, mood, sleep, health and cerebral blood flow in healthy, young humans - Br J Nutr. 2015 Sep 7 - "Subjective ratings of 'fatigue' were significantly lower across the entire 28 d in the resveratrol condition" - See ReserveAge Resveratrol Vegetarian Capsules, 500 Mg, 60-Count at Amazon.com.

Effects of sodium and potassium supplementation on endothelial function: a fully controlled dietary intervention study - Br J Nutr. 2015 Sep 7 - "High Na and low K intakes have adverse effects on blood pressure, which increases the risk for CVD ... After 1-week run-in, subjects received capsules with supplemental Na (3.0 g/d), supplemental K (2.8 g/d) or placebo, for 4 weeks each, in random order ... flow-mediated dilation (FMD) ... a 4-week increase in Na intake increased endothelin-1, but had no effect on other endothelial or inflammatory markers. Increased K intake had a beneficial effect on FMD and possibly IL-8, without affecting other circulating endothelial or inflammatory biomarkers" - See potassium citrate at Amazon.com.

Synergistic effects of metformin in combination with EGFR-TKI in treatment of patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer and type 2 diabetes - Cancer Lett. 2015 Sep 1 - "epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) treatment ... Metformin use is associated with improved survival and delayed onset of acquired resistance to EGFR-TKI" - See metformin at The Antiaging Store.

Silymarin Accelerates Liver Regeneration after Partial Hepatectomy - Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2015;2015:603529 - "The results showed that silymarin enhanced liver regeneration by accelerating the cell cycle in PHx liver. Silymarin led to increased G1 phase (cyclin D1/pRb), S phase (cyclin E/E2F), G2 phase (cyclin B), and M phase (cyclin A) protein and mRNA at 6 hrs, 24 hrs, and 72 hrs PHx. HGF, TGFα, and TGFβ1 growth factor expressions were also enhanced. We suggest that silymarin plays a crucial role in accelerated liver regeneration after PHx" - See silymarin at Amazon.com.

Similar eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid plasma levels achieved with fish oil or krill oil in a randomized double-blind four-week bioavailability study - Lipids Health Dis. 2015 Sep 2 - "A few studies suggested that the phospholipid form (krill) is better absorbed than the fish oil ethyl ester (EE) or triglyceride (TG) forms. Yet studies did not match the doses administered nor the concentrations of DHA and EPA per supplement across such comparisons, leading to questionable conclusions ... Similar plasma and RBC levels of EPA + DHA were achieved across fish oil and krill oil products when matched for dose, EPA, and DHA concentrations in this four week study, indicating comparable oral bioavailability irrespective of formulation"

Olive Leaf Extract Improves the Atherogenic Lipid Profile in Rats Fed a High Cholesterol Diet - Phytother Res. 2015 Aug 29 - "Total cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol levels were found to be increased in cholesterol-fed rats, and both doses of olive leaf extract and atorvastatin significantly decreased those levels. In conclusion, because the olive leaf extract attenuates the increased cholesterol levels, it may have beneficial effects on atherosclerosis" - See olive leaf extract at Amazon.com.

Thyroid hormones are associated with longitudinal cognitive change in an urban adult population - Neurobiol Aging. 2015 Aug 8 - "Within-reference ranges, a higher thyroid stimulating hormone was related to faster decline on the clock-command test scores in women. In sum, higher baseline thyroid stimulating hormone was associated with faster cognitive decline over-time among urban US adults, specifically in domains of working memory and visuospatial and/or visuoconstruction abilities"

Associations between cruciferous vegetable intake and selected biomarkers among women scheduled for breast biopsies - Public Health Nutr. 2015 Sep 2 - "The present study sought to provide additional evidence for the potential role of sulforaphane in histone acetylation and cell proliferation. Here, we report that total cruciferous vegetable intake is associated with decreased cell proliferation in breast DCIS tissue" - See sulforaphane at Amazon.com.

Anticancer Effects of γ-Tocotrienol Are Associated with a Suppression in Aerobic Glycolysis - Biol Pharm Bull. 2015 - "γ-Tocotrienol is a natural isoform within the vitamin E family of compounds that displays potent antiproliferative and apoptotic activity against a wide range of cancer cell types at treatment doses that have little or no effect on normal cell viability. Studies were conducted to determine the effects of γ-tocotrienol on aerobic glycolysis in mouse +SA and human MCF-7 breast cancer cells. Treatment with γ-tocotrienol resulted in a dose-responsive inhibition of both +SA and MCF-7 mammary tumor cell growth, and induced a relatively large reduction in glucose utilization, intracellular ATP production and extracellular lactate excretion. These effects were also associated with a large decrease in enzyme expression levels involved in regulating aerobic glycolysis, including hexokinase-II, phosphofructokinase, pyruvate kinase M2, and lactate dehydrogenase A. γ-Tocotrienol treatment was also associated with a corresponding reduction in the levels of phosphorylated (active) Akt, phosphorylated (active) mTOR, and c-Myc, but not HIF-1α or glucose transporter 1 (GLUT-1). In summary, these findings demonstrate that the antiproliferative effects of γ-tocotrienol are mediated, at least in the part, by the concurrent inhibition of Akt/mTOR signaling, c-Myc expression and aerobic glycolysis" - See Jarrow FamilE (contains all eight members of the vitamin E family, includes Tocomin) at Amazon.com.

Effects of a quercetin-rich onion skin extract on 24 h ambulatory blood pressure and endothelial function in overweight-to-obese patients with (pre-)hypertension: a randomised double-blinded placebo-controlled cross-over trial - Br J Nutr. 2015 Sep 2 - "randomised to receive 162 mg/d quercetin from onion skin extract powder or placebo in a double-blinded, placebo-controlled cross-over trial with 6-week treatment periods ... In the total group, quercetin did not significantly affect 24 h ABP parameters and office BP. In the subgroup of hypertensives, quercetin decreased 24 h systolic BP by -3.6 mmHg (P=0·022) when compared with placebo (mean treatment difference, -3.9 mmHg; P=0.049). In addition, quercetin significantly decreased day-time and night-time systolic BP in hypertensives, but without a significant effect in inter-group comparison ... In conclusion, supplementation with 162 mg/d quercetin from onion skin extract lowers ABP in patients with hypertension, suggesting a cardioprotective effect of quercetin" - See quercetin at Amazon.com.

Total, insoluble and soluble dietary fibre intake in relation to blood pressure: the INTERMAP Study - Br J Nutr. 2015 Sep 2 - "After multivariable adjustment, total fibre intake higher by 6.8 g/4184 kJ (6.8 g/1000 kcal) was associated with a 1.69 mmHg lower systolic blood pressure (SBP; 95 % CI -2.97, -0.41) and attenuated to -1.01 mmHg (95 % CI -2.35, 0.34) after adjustment for urinary K. Insoluble fibre intake higher by 4.6 g/4184 kJ (4.6 g/1000 kcal) was associated with a 1.81 mmHg lower SBP (95 % CI -3.65, 0.04), additionally adjusted for soluble fibre and urinary K excretion, whereas soluble fibre was not associated with BP. Raw fruit was the main source of total and insoluble fibre, followed by whole grains and vegetables. In conclusion, higher intakes of fibre, especially insoluble, may contribute to lower BP, independent of nutrients associated with higher intakes of fibre-rich foods"

Dietary recommendations for the prevention of depression - Nutr Neurosci. 2015 Aug 28 - "Five key dietary recommendations for the prevention of depression emerged from current published evidence. These comprise: (1) follow 'traditional' dietary patterns, such as the Mediterranean, Norwegian, or Japanese diet; (2) increase consumption of fruits, vegetables, legumes, wholegrain cereals, nuts, and seeds; (3) include a high consumption of foods rich in omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids; (4) replace unhealthy foods with wholesome nutritious foods; (5) limit your intake of processed-foods, 'fast' foods, commercial bakery goods, and sweets" 

Health Focus (Deprenyl/Selegiline):