Recent Longevity News for the week ending 3/9/16

Peanuts, peanut butter may hold key to preventing obesity - Science Daily, 3/4/16 - "Instructors guided 257 Latino adolescents from three Houston-area charter schools through a program of physical activity and nutrition education. About half the students received a snack of peanuts or peanut butter three to four times a week, while the rest received the snack fewer than once a week ... At the end of the period, those students who received the snack more regularly experienced a decrease in their overall BMI (-.7kg/m2) compared to those who did not receive the regular peanut snack (-.3kg/m2). The researchers conclude that afterschool programs and schools can replace energy dense, unhealthy snacks with peanuts to provide a healthier alternative for children" - See Planters Trail Mix, Fruit & Nut, 2-oz. Bags (Count of 72) which is what I have for dessert every evening.  They're also great for hiking.

Broccoli may offer protection against liver cancer, study shows - Science Daily, 3/3/16 - "including broccoli in the diet may also protect against liver cancer, as well as aid in countering the development of fatty liver or nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) which can cause malfunction of the liver and lead to hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), a liver cancer with a high mortality rate ... in mice on the Westernized diet both the number of cancer nodules and the size of the cancer nodules increased in the liver. But when broccoli was added to the diet, the number of nodules decreased ... There are actually two ways of getting fatty liver; one, by eating a high-fat, high-sugar diet and the other by drinking too much alcohol ... Broccoli stopped too much uptake of fat into the liver by decreasing the uptake and increasing the output of lipid from the liver"

Talk about yourself on social media? - Science Daily, 3/7/16 - "participants who share more about themselves on Facebook had greater connectivity of both the medial prefrontal cortex and precuneus, to the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. There was also greater connectivity between the precuneus and the lateral orbitofrontal corte"

Using a computer, social activities tied to reduced risk of memory decline - Science Daily, 3/3/16 - "people who used a computer once per week or more were 42 percent less likely to develop memory and thinking problems than those who did not ... People who engaged in social activities were 23 percent less likely to develop memory problems than those who did not engage in social activities ... People who reported reading magazines were 30 percent less likely to develop memory problems. Those who engaged in craft activities such as knitting were 16 percent less likely to develop memory problems"

Priapism Caused by 'Tribulus Terrestris' - Medscape, 3/3/16 - "Jungmo et al.[3] demonstrated that TT extract may improve erectile function through a double mechanism: it involves NO/NOS signaling in the CC endothelium and causes direct relaxation effect of the cavernous smooth muscle in a concentration-dependent manner ... All patients consuming TT should be warned about the possible serious side effects"

Low vitamin D predicts aggressive prostate cancer - Science Daily, 3/1/16 - "Men with dark skin, low vitamin D intake or low sun exposure should be tested for vitamin D deficiency when they are diagnosed with an elevated PSA or prostate cancer. Then a deficiency should be corrected with supplements ... Of that group, 87 men had aggressive prostate cancer. Those with aggressive cancer had a median level of 22.7 nanograms per milliliter of vitamin D, significantly below the normal level of more than 30 nanograms/milliliter. The average D level in Chicago during the winter is about 25 nanograms/milliliter ... Most people in Chicago should be on D supplements, particularly during winter months" - See vitamin D at Amazon.com.

Abstracts from this week:

An Increase in the Omega-6/Omega-3 Fatty Acid Ratio Increases the Risk for Obesity - Nutrients. 2016 Mar 2;8(3) - "In the past three decades, total fat and saturated fat intake as a percentage of total calories has continuously decreased in Western diets, while the intake of omega-6 fatty acid increased and the omega-3 fatty acid decreased, resulting in a large increase in the omega-6/omega-3 ratio from 1:1 during evolution to 20:1 today or even higher ... Experimental studies have suggested that omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids elicit divergent effects on body fat gain through mechanisms of adipogenesis, browning of adipose tissue, lipid homeostasis, brain-gut-adipose tissue axis, and most importantly systemic inflammation. Prospective studies clearly show an increase in the risk of obesity as the level of omega-6 fatty acids and the omega-6/omega-3 ratio increase in red blood cell (RBC) membrane phospholipids, whereas high omega-3 RBC membrane phospholipids decrease the risk of obesity. Recent studies in humans show that in addition to absolute amounts of omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acid intake, the omega-6/omega-3 ratio plays an important role in increasing the development of obesity via both AA eicosanoid metabolites and hyperactivity of the cannabinoid system, which can be reversed with increased intake of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA)" - See fish oil supplements at Amazon.com.

Achieving the Benefits of a High-Potassium, Paleolithic Diet, Without the Toxicity - Mayo Clin Proc. 2016 Mar 3 - "The average US dietary intake of K+ is well below the current recommended nutritional requirements. This deficiency is even more striking when comparing our current intake with that of our ancestors, who consumed large amounts of dietary K+. K+ deficiency has been implicated in many diseases including cardiovascular disease, kidney stones, and osteoporosis. Importantly, dietary supplementation of K+ has favorable effects on reducing blood pressure, decreasing the risk of stroke, improving bone health, and reducing the risk of nephrolithiasis ... There are widely prescribed hypertensive medications that cause hyperkalemia and thus require dietary K+ restriction. We conclude by discussing newly approved drugs capable of binding K+ in the gastrointestinal tract and speculate that this new pharmacology might allow diet liberalization in patients at risk for hyperkalemia, affording them the numerous benefits of a K+-rich diet" - It seems like you should go by what your blood test says, not what medications you're taking.  See potassium citrate at Amazon.com.

Serum magnesium is inversely associated with coronary artery calcification in the Genetics of Atherosclerotic Disease (GEA) study - Nutr J. 2016 Mar 1;15(1):22 - "After full adjustment, subjects in the highest quartile of serum magnesium had 48 % lower odds of hypertension (p = 0.028), 69 % lower odds of DM2 (p = 0.003), and 42 % lower odds of CAC score > 0 (p = 0.016) compared to those with the lowest serum magnesium. The analyses also showed that a 0.17 mg/dL (1SD) increment in serum magnesium was independently associated with 16 % lower CAC" - See Jarrow Formulas, MagMind at Amazon.com.

Greater flavonoid intake is associated with improved CVD risk factors in US adults - Br J Nutr. 2016 Mar 2:1-8 - "This study showed that higher flavonoid intake was associated with improved CVD risk factors. Further research is warranted to confirm the findings from this study as these associations were moderate in strength"

Effects of l-Carnitine Supplementation on Serum Inflammatory Factors and Matrix Metalloproteinase Enzymes in Females with Knee Osteoarthritis: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Pilot Study - J Am Coll Nutr. 2016 Mar 2:1-7 - "72 females with mild to moderate knee osteoarthritis started the study, divided into 2 groups to receive 750 mg/day L-carnitine (n = 36) or placebo (n = 36) for 8 weeks. Serum levels of Interleukine-1β (IL-1β), high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs)-1 and -13, and visual analog scale (VAS) for pain were assessed before and after supplementation ... The mean VAS score decreased significantly in the L-carnitine and placebo groups by 52.67% and 21.82%, respectively" - See l-carnitine at Amazon.com.

Flavonoid intake and incident hypertension in women - Am J Clin Nutr. 2016 Mar 2 - "In this large prospective cohort of French middle-aged women, participants with greater flavonol, anthocyanin, and polymeric flavonoid intakes and greater total flavonoid intake were less likely to develop hypertension"

Protective effect of resveratrol against chronic intermittent hypoxia-induced spatial memory deficits, hippocampal oxidative DNA damage and increased p47Phox NADPH oxidase expression in young rats - Behav Brain Res. 2016 Feb 29 - "Long-term intermittent hypoxia (IH) is a characteristic hallmark of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and causes most of the neurological aspects of OSA, such as spatial memory and learning deficits ... Resveratrol ameliorates IH-induced anxiety and spatial learning deficits through multiple beneficial effects on hippocampal oxidative pathways that involve decreased expression of the p47Phox subunit of NADPH oxidase. Hence, the potential therapeutic role of resveratrol in OSA may be utilized in the near future and deserves further exploration" - See Reserveage Nutrition - Resveratrol with Pterostilbene 500mg, Cellular Age-Defying Formula, 60 veg capsules.

Docosahexaenoic acid induces growth suppression on epithelial ovarian cancer cells more effectively than eicosapentaenoic acid - Nutr Cancer. 2016 Mar 4:1-8 - "Omega-3 fatty acids, especially eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), have been shown to possess definitively suppressive effects on the growth of epithelial ovarian cancer cells ... In all cases, the effect of DHA was significantly more potent than that of EPA (P < 0.05). Our findings suggested that DHA may be more effective than EPA in growth suppression of TOV-21G cells and the biologic effects may be partly mediated by PPARγ and p53 activation" - See docosahexaenoic acid at Amazon.com.

The Omega-3 Index Is Inversely Associated with Depressive Symptoms among Individuals with Elevated Oxidative Stress Biomarkers - J Nutr. 2016 Mar 2 - "An inverse association between the omega-3 index and depressive symptoms was observed among participants with elevated oxidative stress biomarkers. These data suggest that oxidative stress status may identify those who might benefit from ω-3 FA consumption to improve depressive symptoms" - See fish oil supplements at Amazon.com.

Melatonin Secretion and Muscle Strength in Elderly Individuals: A Cross-Sectional Study of the HEIJO-KYO Cohort - J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 2016 Mar 1 - "Recently, oxidative stress and inflammation have been shown to contribute to the loss of muscle strength, and although melatonin has antioxidative and anti-inflammatory properties, the association between melatonin secretion and muscle strength remains unclear ... elderly individuals (mean age, 71.0 years), we measured overnight urinary 6-sulfatoxymelatonin excretion (UME) and grip strength and quadriceps strength ... On dividing participants into quartiles by their UME level (lowest-highest UME, Q1-Q4), higher quartiles were significantly associated with increased grip strength and quadriceps strength" - See melatonin at Amazon.com.

Association between leukocyte telomere length and serum carotenoid in US adults - Eur J Nutr. 2016 Jan 27 - "Telomere length is a biomarker for aging. It is known that oxidative stress can accelerate telomere shortening, whereas antioxidants can delay their shortening ... A doubling of blood alpha-carotene, beta-carotene (trans + cis), and beta-cryptoxanthin was associated with approximately 2 % longer telomeres. Compared with the lowest carotenoid quartile of alpha-carotene, beta-carotene (trans + cis), and beta-cryptoxanthin, telomere length for adults with the highest quartiles was significantly increased by 5-8 %" - [Nutra USA] - See carotenoids at Amazon.com.

Chocolate intake is associated with better cognitive function: The Maine-Syracuse Longitudinal Study - Appetite. 2016 Feb 10;100:126-132 - "Habitual chocolate intake was related to cognitive performance, measured with an extensive battery of neuropsychological tests. More frequent chocolate consumption was significantly associated with better performance on the Global Composite score, Visual-Spatial Memory and Organization, Working Memory, Scanning and Tracking, Abstract Reasoning, and the Mini-Mental State Examination" - [Nutra USA] - See Ghirardelli Chocolate Intense Dark Squares, Midnight Reverie, 4.12 oz., 86% Cacao (Pack of 4) at Amazon.com.

Perinatal Resveratrol Supplementation to Spontaneously Hypertensive Rat Dams Mitigates the Development of Hypertension in Adult Offspring - Hypertension. 2016 Feb 29 - "perinatal maternal Resv supplementation mitigated the development of hypertension and causes persistent alterations in vascular responsiveness in spontaneously hypertensive rats" - See Reserveage Nutrition - Resveratrol with Pterostilbene 500mg, Cellular Age-Defying Formula, 60 veg capsules.

Dietary Supplementation with Specific Collagen Peptides Has a Body Mass Index-Dependent Beneficial Effect on Cellulite Morphology - J Med Food. 2015 Dec;18(12):1340-8 - "specific bioactive collagen peptides (BCP) on the cellulite treatment of normal and overweight women. In total, 105 women aged 24-50 years with moderate cellulite ... 105 women aged 24-50 years with moderate cellulite were randomized to orally receive a daily dosage of 2.5 g BCP or a placebo over 6 months ... The results of the study demonstrated that a regular ingestion of BCP over a period of 6 months led to a clear improvement of the skin appearance in women suffering from moderate cellulite. Based on the current data, it can be concluded that a long-term therapy with orally administered BCP leads to an improvement of cellulite and has a positive impact on skin health" - [Nutra USA] - See Verisol at Amazon.com or here's what I take: Peptan® Hydrolyzed Collagen Protein Powder - For Hair - Nails - Joint Pain Relief - Skin Care - Appetite Suppressant - Building Muscle - Bone Density - Osteopenia at Amazon.com.

Health Focus (Potassium):