Recent Longevity News for the week ending 12/23/15

Periodontal disease associated with increased breast cancer risk in postmenopausal women - Science Daily, 12/21/15 - "among all women, the risk of breast cancer was 14 percent higher in women who had periodontal disease ... Among women who had quit smoking within the past 20 years, those with periodontal disease had a 36 percent higher risk of breast cancer ... One possible explanation for the link between periodontal disease and breast cancer is that those bacteria enter the body's circulation and ultimately affect breast tissue"

Magnesium intake may be beneficial in preventing pancreatic cancer - Science Daily, 12/18/15 - "The study found that every 100-milligrams-per-day decrease in magnesium intake was associated with a 24 percent increase in the occurrence of pancreatic cancer. The study also found that the effects of magnesium on pancreatic cancer did not appear to be modified by age, gender, body mass index or non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug use, but was limited to those taking magnesium supplements either from a multivitamin or individual supplement ... For those at a higher risk of pancreatic cancer, adding a magnesium supplement to their diet may prove beneficial in preventing this disease" - See Jarrow Formulas, MagMind at Amazon.com.

Stroke recovery in mice improved by Ambien, study shows - Medscape, 12/18/15 - "In almost every case, zolpidem-treated mice recovered at a faster rate than control mice did. It took about a month, for example, for mice not given zolpidem to fully recover their stroke-impaired ability to notice the tape stuck to their paw. Mice given zolpidem recovered that ability within a few days of treatment"

Study: Up to 90 percent of cancers not ‘bad luck,’ but due to lifestyle choices, environment - Washington Post, 12/17/15 - "Led by a team at Stony Brook, the research used four approaches, including stem cell experiments, computer modeling and molecular "fingerprinting" of cancers, to conclude that 70 to 90 percent of your lifetime cancer risk could be due to external factors"

Bone drug protects stem cells from aging - Science Daily, 12/17/15 - "the drug zoledronate is able to extend the lifespan of mesenchymal stem cells by reducing DNA damage ... DNA damage is one of the most important mechanisms of aging where stem cells lose their ability to maintain and repair the tissues in which they live and keep it working correctly"

Fish oil helps transform fat cells from storage to burning - Science Daily, 12/17/15 - "fish oil transforms fat-storage cells into fat-burning cells, which may reduce weight gain in middle age. Fish oil activates receptors in the digestive tract, fires the sympathetic nervous system, and induces storage cells to metabolize fat ... The team fed a group of mice fatty food, and other groups fatty food with fish oil additives. The mice that ate food with fish oil, they found, gained 5-10% less weight and 15-25% less fat compared to those that did not consume the oil" - See fish oil supplements at Amazon.com.

Face cream ingredient found to mimic life-extending effects of a calorie restriction diet - Science Daily, 12/16/15 - "scientists have shown for the first time that allantoin, which is found in botanical extracts of the comfrey plant and is an ingredient of many anti-ageing creams, can mimic the effect of calorie restriction and increase lifespan in worms by more than 20% ... worms treated with allantoin, rapamycin, trichostatin A and LY-294002 not only lived longer, but also stayed healthier longer. Additionally, when the same compounds were tested in mutant worms they extended lifespan in a way expected from calorie restriction" - See allantoin products at Amazon.com.

Abstracts from this week:

Soft drink consumption, mainly diet ones, is associated with increased blood pressure in adolescents - J Hypertens. 2015 Dec 16 - "SBP was 5.4 mmHg higher in the diet soft drink consumers group compared with the nonconsumers group and 3.3 mmHg higher compared with the sugar-sweetened consumers group (P value of trend = 0.01). Moreover, DBP was also higher among diet soft drink consumers compared with nonconsumers, with a difference of 3.3 mmHg, and compared with sugar-sweetened consumers, with a difference of 2.3 mmHg"

The Neuroprotective Effect of Dark Chocolate in Monosodium Glutamate-Induced Nontransgenic Alzheimer Disease Model Rats: Biochemical, Behavioral, and Histological Studies - J Diet Suppl. 2015 Dec 16:1-12 - "we examined the effect of oral administration of dark chocolate (DC) containing 70% cocoa solids and 4% total polyphenol content for three months at a dose of 500 mg/Kg body weight per day to 17-month-old monosodium glutamate treated obese Sprague-Dawley rats, earlier characterized as a nontransgenic AD (NTAD) rat model after reversal of obesity, diabetes, and consequent cognitive impairments. The results demonstrated that DC reduced the hyperglycemia, inhibited the cholinesterase activity in the hippocampal tissue homogenates, and improved the cognitive performance in spatial memory related Barnes maze task. Histological studies revealed an increase in cell volume in the DC treated rats in the CA3 region of the hippocampus. These findings demonstrated the benefits of DC in enhancing cognitive function and cholinergic activity in the hippocampus of the aged NTAD rats while correcting their metabolic disturbances"

Intakes of folate, vitamin B6 and B12 and risk of depression in community-dwelling older adults: the Quebec Longitudinal Study on Nutrition and Aging - Eur J Clin Nutr. 2015 Dec 9 - "Women in the highest tertile of B6 intake from food were 43% less likely to become depressed when adjusting for demographic and health factors (multivariate odds ratio (OR) 0.57, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.39-0.96), but adjustment for energy intake attenuated the effect. Men in the highest tertile of dietary B12 intake had decreased risk of depression (energy-adjusted multivariate OR 0.42, 95% CI 0.20-0.90)"

The COFU3 Study. Improvement in cognitive function, attention, mental performance with Pycnogenol® in healthy subjects (55-70) with high oxidative stress - J Neurosurg Sci. 2015 Dec;59(4):437-46 - "Oxidative stress was comparable in both groups at inclusion. It was significantly decreased with Pycnogenol® (-28.07%; P<0.05) at 12 months; there was no decrease in controls. The short blessed test (SBT) value was significantly increased in controls (P<0.05); but significantly decreased in the Pycnogenol® group ... Pycnogenol® supplementation for 12 months appears to improve cognitive function and oxidative stress in normal subjects between 55 and 70 years of age" - [Nutra USA] - See Pycnogenol at Amazon.com.

Oral carnitine supplementation reduces body weight and insulin resistance in women with polycystic ovary syndrome: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial - Clin Endocrinol (Oxf). 2015 Dec 15 - "60 overweight patients diagnosed with PCOS were randomized to receive either 250 mg carnitine supplements (n=30) or placebo (n=30) for 12 weeks ... At the end of the 12 weeks, taking carnitine supplements resulted in a significant reduction in weight (-2.7±1.5 vs. +0.1±1.8 kg, P<0.001), BMI (-1.1±0.6 vs. +0.1±0.7 kg/m2 , P<0.001), waist circumference (WC) (-2.0±1.3 vs. -0.3±2.0 cm, P<0.001) and hip circumference (HC) (-2.5±1.5 vs. -0.3±1.8 cm, P<0.001) compared with placebo. In addition, compared with placebo, carnitine administration in women with PCOS led to a significant reduction in fasting plasma glucose (-0.38±0.36 vs. +0.11±0.97 mmol/L, P=0.01), serum insulin levels (-14.39±25.80 vs. +3.01±37.25 pmol/L, P=0.04), homeostasis model of assessment-insulin resistance (-0.61±1.03 vs. +0.11±1.43, P=0.04) and dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (-3.64±7.00 vs. -0.59±3.20 μmol/L, P=0.03)" - See L-carnitine at Amazon.com.

Neuroprotective effects of curcumin on endothelin-1 mediated cell death in hippocampal neurons - Nutr Neurosci. 2015 Dec 12 - "Curcumin, the main ingredient of the spice turmeric, has been shown to have anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, and neuroprotective effects ... Our data suggests that one mechanism by which curcumin protects against ET-1-mediated cell death is through blocking an increase in c-Jun levels. Other possible mechanisms include decreasing pro-apoptotic signaling activated by ET-1 in primary hippocampal neurons" - See curcumin products at Amazon.com. 

Health Focus (Acetyl-L-Carnitine):