Recent Longevity News for the week ending 9/30/15

Not All Trans Fats Harm the Heart, Study Contends - WebMD, 9/22/15 - "naturally occurring trans fats found in dairy and meat products might actually help protect the heart ... people with higher levels of naturally occurring trans fats were 37 percent less likely to suffer a sudden cardiac death, compared with those who had low levels of natural trans fats"

Unhealthy Diet May Shrink the Brain - Medscape, 9/22/15 - "Consumption of an unhealthy Western diet characterized by meat, hamburgers, chips, and soft drinks, may reduce the volume of the left hippocampus, whereas a healthy diet of fresh vegetables and fish may increase hippocampal volume ... Specifically, a high-fat diet reduces brain-derived neurotrophic factor levels, which impairs neuronal plasticity, learning, and behavior ... The difference in left hippocampal volume between those with a healthy diet and those with an unhealthy diet was 203 cubic millimeters, which accounted for 62% of the average decline in left hippocampal volume during the 4-year study period ... unhealthy diets are linked to mental, neurodegenerative, and neurodevelopmental disorders ... I have a number of cases in my practice of people who just didn't plan their food, who didn't think about how their nutrition is related to their psychiatric condition, and have really changed their lives by enhancing their self-care more nutrient-dense brain food"

Abstracts from this week:

Nutraceutical intervention reverses the negative effects of blood from aged rats on stem cells - Age (Dordr). 2015 Oct - "Aging is associated with a decline in function in many of the stem cell niches of the body. An emerging body of literature suggests that one of the reasons for this decline in function is due to cell non-autonomous influences on the niche from the body ... We examined if we could reverse this effect of aged serum on stem cell proliferation by treating aged rats with NT-020, a dietary supplement containing blueberry, green tea, vitamin D3, and carnosine that has been shown to increase neurogenesis in aged rats. Young and aged rats were administered either control NIH-31 diet or one supplemented with NT-020 for 28 days, and serum was collected upon euthanasia ... Serum from aged rats significantly reduced cell proliferation as measured by the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) and 5-bromo-2'-deoxyuridine (BrdU) assays in both NPCs and MSCs. Serum from aged rats treated with NT-020 was not different from serum from young rats. Therefore, NT-020 rescued the effect of serum from aged rats to reduce stem cell proliferation"

Polyphenol-rich juices reduce blood pressure measures in a randomised controlled trial in high normal and hypertensive volunteers - Br J Nutr. 2015 Jul 31:1-10 - "134 healthy individuals, aged 50-70 years, with high normal range BP (130/85-139/89 mmHg, seventy-two subjects) or stage 1-2 hypertension (140/90-179/109 mmHg, sixty-two subjects), were included. They consumed 500 ml/d of one of either (1) a commercially available polyphenol-rich juice based on red grapes, cherries, chokeberries and bilberries; (2) a juice similar to (1) but enriched with polyphenol-rich extracts from blackcurrant press-residue or (3) a placebo juice (polyphenol contents 245.5, 305.2 and 76 mg/100 g, respectively) ... Systolic BP significantly reduced over time (6 and 12 weeks, respectively) in the pooled juice group compared with the placebo group in the first of the three measurements, both for the whole study group (6.9 and 3.4 mmHg; P= 0.01) and even more pronounced in the hypertensive subjects when analysed separately (7.3 and 6.8 mmHg; P= 0.04). The variation in the BP measurements was significantly reduced in the pooled juice group compared with the placebo group (1.4 and 1.7 mmHg; P= 0.03). In conclusion, the present findings suggest that polyphenol-rich berry juice may contribute to a BP- and BP variability lowering effect, being more pronounced in hypertensive than in normotensive subjects" - [Nutra USA]

The beneficial effects of berries on cognition, motor behaviour and neuronal function in ageing - Br J Nutr. 2015 Sep 22:1-8 - "Previously, it has been shown that strawberry (SB) or blueberry (BB) supplementations, when fed to rats from 19 to 21 months of age, reverse age-related decrements in motor and cognitive performance ... rats consuming the berry diets exhibited enhanced motor performance and improved cognition, specifically working memory. In addition, the rats supplemented with BB and SB diets showed increased hippocampal neurogenesis and expression of insulin-like growth factor 1, although the improvements in working memory performance could not solely be explained by these increases. The diverse polyphenolics in these berry fruits may have additional mechanisms of action that could account for their relative differences in efficacy" - [Nutra USA] - See blueberry extract at Amazon.com.

Curcumin Modulates Muscle Damage but not Oxidative Stress and Antioxidant Defense Following Eccentric Exercise in Rats/a> - Int J Vitam Nutr Res. 2014;84(3-4) - "The results of this study suggest that curcumin has a protective effect on eccentric exercise induced muscle damage, and that this effect might be independent of oxidative stress and antioxidant systems" - See curcumin products at Amazon.com.  Note:  This abstract says 2014 but it was in my news feed on September 26, 2015.

Magnesium in Prevention and Therapy - Nutrients. 2015 Sep 23 - "Magnesium is the fourth most abundant mineral in the body. It has been recognized as a cofactor for more than 300 enzymatic reactions, where it is crucial for adenosine triphosphate (ATP) metabolism. Magnesium is required for DNA and RNA synthesis, reproduction, and protein synthesis. Moreover, magnesium is essential for the regulation of muscular contraction, blood pressure, insulin metabolism, cardiac excitability, vasomotor tone, nerve transmission and neuromuscular conduction. Imbalances in magnesium status-primarily hypomagnesemia as it is seen more common than hypermagnesemia-might result in unwanted neuromuscular, cardiac or nervous disorders. Based on magnesium's many functions within the human body, it plays an important role in prevention and treatment of many diseases. Low levels of magnesium have been associated with a number of chronic diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease, insulin resistance and type-2 diabetes mellitus, hypertension, cardiovascular disease (e.g., stroke), migraine headaches, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)" - See Jarrow Formulas, MagMind at Amazon.com.

Rutin Increases Muscle Mitochondrial Biogenesis with AMPK Activation in High-Fat Diet-Induced Obese Rats - Nutrients. 2015 Sep 22 - "Supplementation with rutin reduced body weight and adipose tissue mass, despite equivalent energy intake (p < 0.05). Rutin significantly increased mitochondrial size and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) content as well as gene expression related to mitochondrial biogenesis, such as peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ coactivator-1α (PGC-1α), nuclear respiratory factor-1 (NRF-1), transcription factor A (Tfam), and nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD)-dependent deacetylase, sirtulin1 (SIRT1) in skeletal muscle (p < 0.05). Moreover, rutin consumption increased muscle adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase (AMPK) activity by 40% (p < 0.05). Taken together, these results suggested at least partial involvement of muscle mitochondria and AMPK activation in the rutin-mediated beneficial effect on obesity" - See rutin at Amazon.com.

Egg consumption and risk of heart failure, myocardial infarction, and stroke: results from 2 prospective cohorts - Am J Clin Nutr. 2015 Sep 23 - "There was no statistically significant association between egg consumption and risk of MI or any stroke type in either men or women or HF in women. In men, consumption of ≤6 eggs/wk was not associated with HF risk; however, daily egg consumption (≥1/d) was associated with a 30% higher risk of HF (RR: 1.30; 95% CI: 1.01, 1.67). Egg consumption was not associated with any CVD outcome in individuals with diabetes"

Two-Year Whey Protein Supplementation Did Not Enhance Muscle Mass and Physical Function in Well-Nourished Healthy Older Postmenopausal Women - J Nutr. 2015 Sep 23 - "in protein-replete healthy ambulant postmenopausal women, 30 g/d of extra protein did not improve the maintenance of muscle mass or physical function despite evidence of deterioration in muscle measurements in the upper limb"

Effect of the probiotic strain Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. lactis, BB-12®, on defecation frequency in healthy subjects with low defecation frequency and abdominal discomfort: a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-group trial - Br J Nutr. 2015 Sep 18 - "The OR for having a defecation frequency above baseline for ≥50 % of the time was 1.31 (95 % CI 0.98, 1.75), P=0.071, for probiotic treatment overall. Tightening the criteria for being a responder to an increase of ≥1 d/week for ≥50 % of the time resulted in an OR of 1.55 ... A treatment effect on average defecation frequency was found (P=0.0065), with the frequency being significantly higher compared with placebo at all weeks for probiotic treatment overall (all P<0.05). Effects on defecation frequency were similar for the two doses tested, suggesting that a ceiling effect was reached with the one billion dose. Overall, 4 weeks' supplementation with the probiotic strain BB-12® resulted in a clinically relevant benefit on defecation frequency" - [Nutra USA] - See probiotic products at Amazon.com.

Association between magnesium intake and risk of colorectal cancer among postmenopausal women - Cancer Causes Control. 2015 Sep 21 - "After adjustment for potential confounding variables, an inverse association was observed in the highest quintile of total magnesium intake compared to the lowest quintile for risk of CRC (HR 0.79, 95 % CI 0.67, 0.94, p trend < 0.0001) and colon cancer (HR 0.80" - See Jarrow Formulas, MagMind at Amazon.com.

Serum ferritin levels are associated with carotid atherosclerosis in Chinese postmenopausal women: the Shanghai Changfeng Study - Br J Nutr. 2015 Oct;114(7):1064-71 - "these results suggest that serum ferritin is independently and positively associated with carotid atherosclerosis in postmenopausal women and that ferritin may be implicated in atherosclerosis"

Longitudinal association of dairy consumption with the changes in blood pressure and the risk of incident hypertension: the Framingham Heart Study - Br J Nutr. 2015 Sep 23 - "incident hypertension (HTN) ... Greater intakes of total dairy foods, total low-fat/fat-free dairy foods, low-fat/skimmed milk and yoghurt were associated with smaller annualised increments in SBP and a lower risk of projected HTN incidence. However, with the exception of total dairy foods and yoghurt, these inverse associations with HTN risk were attenuated as the follow-up time increased. For yoghurt, each additional serving was associated with 6 (95 % CI 1, 10) % reduced risk of incident HTN. Total dairy and total low-fat/fat-free dairy intakes were found to be inversely related to changes in DBP. Dairy consumption, as part of a nutritious and energy-balanced diet pattern, may benefit BP control and prevent or delay the onset of HTN"

Speaking of yogurt, I bought this neat gadget at Amazon which turns my homemade yogurt to Greek yogurt.  See Euro Cuisine GY50 Greek Yogurt Maker at Amazon.com:

Health Focus (Alzheimer's Disease):