Recent Longevity News for the week ending 10/28/15

Active body, active mind: The secret to a younger brain may lie in exercising your body - Science Daily, 10/23/15 - "the fitter men performed better mentally than the less fit men, by using parts of their brains in the same way as in their youth ... less fit older men by using the more important brain regions when needed. In fact, the fitter older men are using parts of their brains in the same way as when they were younger ... one possible explanation suggested by the research is that the volume and integrity of the white matter in the part of brain that links the two sides declines with age"

High Thyroid Function Linked to Dementia - Medscape, 10/23/15 - "those with higher thyroid-stimulating-hormone (TSH) levels — typically a sign of an underactive thyroid — had a lower risk of dementia (HR 0.76, 95% CI 0.64–0.91) ... Meanwhile, higher levels of free thyroxine 4 (T4) — a sign of an overactive thyroid — were associated with a significantly higher risk of dementia (HR, 1.04; 95% CI, 1.01–1.07) ... Higher TSH levels in women were linked to an absolute 10-year risk of dementia that was decreased from 6% to nearly 3%; however, a similar effect was not seen in men ... A novel issue is that the effects of thyroid excess are evident only in women, suggesting that this effect is mediated by some other key factor, which may possibly be estrogen exposure"

Marijuana Use, Disorders Double in US Adults - Medscape, 10/23/15 - "marijuana use places individuals at risk for vehicle crashes, emergency department visits, psychiatric symptoms, poor quality of life, cognitive decline, and use of other drugs, note the authors in reference to other published studies ... Furthermore, marijuana use disorders are linked to substantial comorbidity and disability"

Does Vitamin-D Intake During Resistance Training Improve the Skeletal Muscle Hypertrophic and Strength Response in Young and Elderly Men? - Medscape, 10/22/15 - "No additive effect of vitamin-D intake during 12 weeks of resistance training could be detected on either whole muscle hypertrophy or muscle strength, but improved muscle quality in elderly and fiber type morphology in young were observed, indicating an effect of vitamin-D on skeletal muscle remodeling" - See vitamin D at Amazon.com.

Study found high-risk patients who took nicotinamide daily developed fewer non-melanoma lesions - WebMD, 10/21/15 - "A form of vitamin B3 called nicotinamide appears to reduce non-melanoma skin cancers by 23 percent when taken twice daily ... The vitamin supplement also appeared to reduce the numbers of thick, scaly patches of skin that can become cancer. Those patches were reduced in the nicotinamide group by 11 percent at three months, and by 20 percent at nine months of treatment"

• What Is the Difference Between Niacin & Niacinamide? - LiveStrong.com - "Your body can convert niacin into niacinamide ... Niacin and niacinamide have identical function when used as vitamins ... their pharmacologic properties differ. For example, high doses of niacin can cause skin flushing. Niacinamide, however, does not have the same vasodialating, or blood-vessel widening, effects, that niacin has, so it does not lead to skin flushing" - Note:  You'll find contradictory information on the Internet but niacinamide will not raise HDL (the good cholesterol) and niacin will.  See niacin at Amazon.com.

Seniors who ate more foods tied to the eating plan, especially fish, had bigger brains, study says - WebMD, 10/21/15 - "eating too much meat might shrink your brain ... people over 65 who ate more fish, vegetables, fruit, grains and olive oil had a larger brain volume than a similar group who didn't follow a Mediterranean diet ... The difference was minor in overall size -- equated to about five years of aging ... eating more fish and less meat was associated with even less brain shrinkage ... a higher intake of fish and vegetables and a lower intake of meat are beneficial for brain cell growth"

Abstracts from this week:

Fruit, vegetable and vitamin C intakes and plasma vitamin C: cross-sectional associations with insulin resistance and glycaemia in 9-10 year-old children - Diabet Med. 2015 Oct 24 - "a one interquartile range higher plasma vitamin C concentration (30.9 μmol/l) was associated with a 9.6% (95% CI 6.5, 12.6%) lower homeostatic model assessment of insulin resistance value, 0.8% (95% CI 0.4, 1.2%) lower fasting glucose, 4.5% (95% CI 3.2, 5.9%) lower urate and 2.2% (95% CI 0.9, 3.4%) higher HDL cholesterol" - See American Health Products - Ester C W/Citrus Bioflavonoids, 1000 mg, 180 veg tablets at Amazon.com.

Resveratrol ameliorates hepatic steatosis and inflammation in methionine/choline-deficient diet-induced steatohepatitis through regulating autophagy - Lipids Health Dis. 2015 Oct 24;14(1):134 - "Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) ... Resveratrol can attenuate hepatic steatosis and inflammation in MCD-induced NASH by regulating autophagy. Thus, resveratrol may be a promising agent for inhibiting lipid accumulation and inflammatory processes associated with NASH" - See ReserveAge Resveratrol Vegetarian Capsules, 500 Mg, 60-Count at Amazon.com.

A high protein diet (3.4 g/kg/d) combined with a heavy resistance training program improves body composition in healthy trained men and women - a follow-up investigation - J Int Soc Sports Nutr. 2015 Oct 20;12:39 - "Consuming a high protein diet (3.4 g/kg/d) in conjunction with a heavy resistance-training program may confer benefits with regards to body composition. Furthermore, there is no evidence that consuming a high protein diet has any deleterious effects"

Tri-iodothyronine preconditioning protects against liver ischemia reperfusion injury through the regulation of autophagy by the MEK/ERK/mTORC1 axis - Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 2015 Oct 20 - "After 70% liver ischemia reperfusion injury, mice that were preconditioned with appropriate T3 displayed significantly preserved liver function, less histological damage, less apoptosis, and enhanced antioxidant capacity ... T3 preconditioning could be a potential therapeutic approach to prevent liver IR injury related to various clinical conditions" - See T3 at International Anti-aging Systems.

Adherence to the Mediterranean diet is inversely associated with visceral abdominal tissue in Caucasian subjects - Clin Nutr. 2015 Oct 20 - "visceral (VAT) ... a 1-unit increase in MEDscore was associated with a -0.118 kg/m2 decrease in BMI (p < 0.01), a -0.292 cm decrease in waist circumference (p < 0.01), a -0.002 cm:cm decrease in waist to height ratio (p < 0.001), a -1.125 mm decrease in the sum of 4 skinfolds (p < 0.001), and with a -0.045 cm decrease in VAT (p < 0.05)"

Konjac Glucomannan Dietary Supplementation Causes Significant Fat Loss in Compliant Overweight Adults - J Am Coll Nutr. 2015 Oct 22 - "supplement containing either 3 g of konjac glucomannan ... 30 minutes before eating ... when subjects were classified as either compliant or partially compliant using the compliance measures, statistically significant reductions in scale weight, percentage body fat, fat mass, total cholesterol, and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol were found in the glucomannan group compared to the placebo group" - See konjac glucomannan at Amazon.com.

French Maritime Pine Bark Extract (Pycnogenol®) Effects on Human Skin: Clinical and Molecular Evidence - Skin Pharmacol Physiol. 2015 Oct 23 - "the existing data provide compelling evidence that Pycnogenol® intake does not only provide photoprotection, but may be used to (i) reduce hyperpigmentation of human skin and (ii) improve skin barrier function and extracellular matrix homeostasis" - See Pycnogenol at Amazon.com.

Proton Pump Inhibitors and Risk of Periampullary Cancers - a Nested Case-Control Study - Int J Cancer. 2015 Oct 21 - "considerable attention has been focused on long-term use of proton pump inhibitors (PPI) in relation to increased risk of cancer via stimulation of DNA-damaged cells ... The odds of PPI exposure in patients with periampullary cancers were higher than that of control patients with an adjusted OR of 1.35"

• Periampullary cancers - "Periampullary cancer is a cancer that forms near the ampulla of Vater, an enlargement of the ducts from the liver and pancreas where they join and enter the small intestine"

Health Focus (Alpha Lipoic Acid):