Recent Longevity News for the week ending 7/13/16

Zinc acetate lozenges may reduce the duration of the common cold by nearly 3 days, according to a recent analysis - Science Daily, 7/6/16 - "Zinc acetate lozenges may reduce the duration of the common cold by nearly 3 days ... Common cold patients should be encouraged to try zinc acetate lozenges not exceeding 100 mg of elemental zinc per day for treating their colds" - See zinc acetate lozenges at Amazon.com.

5 Things Wrong With Your Deodorant - Time, 7/5/16 - "You wouldn’t swallow a spoonful of toxic cosmetic ingredients. But in some ways, smearing them under your arms in the form of deodorant or antiperspirant may be worse ... When you eat something, it’s broken down by your liver and digestive system ... But when you put something on your skin, there are times when it can enter your bloodstream without being metabolized"

Pioglitazone Improves Fatty Liver in Prediabetes, Diabetes - Medscape, 7/5/16 - "Long-term treatment with the thiazolidinedione pioglitazone is safe and effective for patients with prediabetes or type 2 diabetes and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) ... found long-term metabolic and histologic improvement associated with 3 years of pioglitazone, suggesting this drug may halt NASH progression and alter the natural history of the disease"

Pasta is not fattening -- quite the opposite, Italian study finds - Science Daily, 7/4/16 - "examined over 23,000 people recruited in two large epidemiological studies ... By analyzing anthropometric data of the participants and their eating habits ... we have seen that consumption of pasta, contrary to what many think, is not associated with an increase in body weight, rather the opposite. Our data show that enjoying pasta according to individuals' needs contributes to a healthy body mass index, lower waist circumference and better waist-hip ratio" - Yeah but I'm sticking with whole grains.  See Annie Chun's Brown Rice Noodle, Maifun, 8-Ounce (Pack of 6) and brown rice pasta at Amazon.com.

Marijuana use dampens brain's response to reward over time, study finds - Science Daily, 7/6/16 - "for people who've been using marijuana, that rush just isn't as big -- and gets smaller over time ... something that would be rewarding to most people was no longer rewarding to them, suggesting but not proving that their reward system has been 'hijacked' by the drug, and that they need the drug to feel reward -- or that their emotional response has been dampened ... the more marijuana use a volunteer reported, the smaller the response in their nucleus accumbens over time ... long-term marijuana use dampens a person's emotional response -- something scientists call anhedonia"

Abstracts from this week:

Protective effects of Urtica dioica L. on experimental testicular ischaemia reperfusion injury in rats - Andrologia. 2016 Jul 8 - "Urtica dioica L. (UD) ... It could be concluded that protective effects of UD on the I/R testicles are via reduction of histological damage, apoptosis, oxidative stress and lipid peroxidation" - See stinging nettle (Urtica dioica) at Amazon.com.

• Urtica dioica - wikipedia.org - "Urtica dioica, often called common nettle or stinging nettle (although not all plants of this species sting), is a herbaceous perennial flowering plant in the family Urticaceae"

Probiotics for the management of type 2 diabetes mellitus: A systematic review and meta-analysis - Diabetes Res Clin Pract. 2016 Jun 18 - "fasting blood glucose (FBG) ... When compared to placebo, FBG was significantly lower with probiotic consumption (MD=-0.98mmol/L; 95% CI: -1.17, 0.78, p<0.00001), with moderate but insignificant heterogeneity noted" - See probiotic products at Amazon.com.

Ingestion of bioactive collagen hydrolysates enhance facial skin moisture and elasticity and reduce facial aging signs in a randomized double-blind placebo-controlled clinical study - J Sci Food Agric. 2016 Feb 3 - "This study demonstrated that the collagen hydrolysate with a higher content of Pro-Hyp and Hyp-Gly, showed more improvement in facial skin condition, including facial skin moisture, elasticity, wrinkles and roughness" - [Nutra USA] - Note: 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.

Pterostilbene-induced changes in gut microbiota composition in relation to obesity - Mol Nutr Food Res. 2016 Jul 5 - "gut microbiota (GM) ... Pterostilbene exerted protective anti-obesity effects, improved metabolic function (insulin sensitivity) and induced structural changes in GM composition ... Pterostilbene modifies intestinal bacteria composition towards a healthier microbial profile and suggests that the anti-obesity effects induced in Zucker rats could be associated with an enrichment of the mucin-degrading bacterial members, namely Akkermansia and Odoribacter genus" - See pterostilbene at Amazon.com.

Reducing the Harmful Effects of Infrared Radiation on the Skin Using Bicosomes Incorporating β-Carotene - Skin Pharmacol Physiol. 2016 Jul 6;29(4):169-177 - "infrared (IR) radiation ... free radicals (FRs) ... β-carotene (Bcb) ... EPR results showed an increase in the hydroxyl radical in the irradiated skin compared to the native skin. The skin collagen was degraded by IR exposure at high temperatures of approximately 65°C. The treatment with Bcb reduced the formation of FRs and kept the structure of collagen" - See carotenoids at Amazon.com.

Supplementation of Diabetic Rats with Leucine, Zinc, and Chromium: Effects on Function and Histological Structure of Testes - Int J Vitam Nutr Res. 2016 Jul 5:1-11 - "Administration of nutritional supplements to the diabetic rats improved testes morphology and reversed, although not completely, impairment of spermatogenesis. Treatment with nutritional supplements increased testicular length, height, width, and volume. All treatments increased the number of live sperm and the total number of epididymal sperm. Furthermore, nutritional supplements increased diameter of tubules, height of epithelium, and the number of cells in seminiferous tubules. These alleviating effects were more pronounced in animals treated with the leucine-zinc-chromium combination. The present results demonstrate beneficial effects of zinc, leucine, and chromium supplements to improve testes morphology and to restore spermatogenesis in type 2 diabetic rats" - See BulkSupplements Pure L-Leucine Powder (1 Kilogram).

Chlorogenic Acid Extends the Lifespan of Caenorhabditis elegans via Insulin/IGF-1 Signaling Pathway - J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 2016 Jul 4 - "Coffee and tea, two of the most popular drinks around the world, share many in common from chemical components to beneficial effects on human health. One of their shared components, the polyphenols, most notably chlorogenic acid (CGA), was supposed to account for many of the beneficial effects on ameliorating diseases occurred accompanying people aging, such as the antioxidant effect and against diabetes and cardiovascular disease ... We found that CGA could extend the lifespan of C. elegans by up to 20.1%, delay the age-related decline of body movement, and improve stress resistance" - See chlorogenic acid at Amazon.com.

Rosmarinic acid protects against chronic ethanol-induced learning and memory deficits in rats - Nutr Neurosci. 2016 Jul 1:1-8 - "Ethanol consumption induces neurological disorders including cognitive dysfunction. Oxidative damage is considered a likely cause of cognitive deficits ... Memory impairment was induced by 15% w/v ethanol (2 g/kg, i.g.) administration for 30 days. RA (8, 16, and 32 mg/kg, i.g.) or donepezil (2 mg/kg, i.g.) was administered 30 minutes before ethanol ... RA 32 mg/kg had comparable effects with donepezil in prevention of acquisition and retention memory impairment. The higher doses of RA not only prevented increased lipid peroxidation and nitrite content but also decreased SOD, CAT, GSH, and FRAP levels in alcoholic groups and exerted antioxidant effects in non-alcoholic rats ... RA represents a potential therapeutic option against chronic ethanol-induced amnesia which deserves consideration and further examination" - See rosmarinic acid at Amazon.com.  Note that it shows rosemary extract but if you look at the label they're standardized to a percentage of rosmarinic acid.

Skin photoprotective and antiageing effects of a combination of rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis) and grapefruit (Citrus paradisi) polyphenols - Food Nutr Res. 2016 Jul 1;60:31871 - "We investigated the efficacy of a combination of rosemary (R. officinalis) and grapefruit (C. paradisi) in decreasing the individual susceptibility to UVR exposure (redness and lipoperoxides) and in improving skin wrinkledness and elasticity ... Treated subjects showed a decrease of the UVB- and UVA-induced skin alterations (decreased skin redness and lipoperoxides) and an improvement of skin wrinkledness and elasticity. No differences were found between the 100 and 250 mg extracts doses, indicating a plateau effect starting from 100 mg extracts dose. Some of the positive effects were noted as short as 2 weeks of product consumption ... The long-term oral intake of Nutroxsun™ can be considered to be a complementary nutrition strategy to avoid the negative effects of sun exposure" - [Nutra USA] - See Nutroxsun™ at Amazon.com.

Dairy Intake Enhances Body Weight and Composition Changes during Energy Restriction in 18-50-Year-Old Adults-A Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials - Nutrients. 2016 Jul 1;8(7) - "Participants consumed between 2 and 4 standard servings/day of dairy food or 20-84 g/day of whey protein compared to low dairy control diets, over a median of 16 weeks. A greater reduction in body weight (-1.16 kg [-1.66, -0.66 kg], p < 0.001, I² = 11%, QR = high, n = 644) and body fat mass (-1.49 kg [-2.06, -0.92 kg], p < 0.001, I² = 21%, n = 521, QR = high) were found in studies largely including women (90% women). These effects were absent in studies that imposed resistance training (QR = low-moderate). Dairy intake resulted in smaller loss of lean mass (all trials pooled: 0.36 kg [0.01, 0.71 kg], p = 0.04, I² = 64%, n = 651, QR = moderate)"

Neat Tech Stuff / "How To's":

The Spectre 13.3 is the most intriguing thing HP has made in years - Engadget.com, 7/6/16 - "The Spectre 13.3 is almost everything I hoped it would be, but HP is no closer to creating a perfect device than its competitors are. In the pursuit of a fast and record-breakingly thin machine, HP had to make some compromises, including settling for a lower-res, non-touch display, an occasionally loud fan and a dip in battery life compared with the competition. Some of these things won't necessarily be deal breakers: The screen is crisp enough as it is, and though the battery life isn't best in class, it's still acceptable. Meanwhile, I'm sure some folks will appreciate the speed boost over competing systems, especially where transfer speeds are concerned"

How HDCP Breaks Your HDTV and How to Fix It - howtogeek.com - "HDMI’s DRM protocol is known as High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection ... Unfortunately, however, there are a host of situations where HDCP gets in the way of consumers doing perfectly legal things with their devices and content. If any device in the chain is not HDCP compliant, the video stream will fail ... There’s nothing illegal or unethical about hooking a Blu-ray player up to an old TV, trying to recycle an old computer monitor into a little Chromecast-powered streaming station, recording and streaming your video game play, or trying to capture menus and screen shots to write tutorials and guides, but thanks to a flawed DRM protocol anyone who wants to any or all of those things is left in the dark ... Short of buying a new television or giving up on your video game project the only way to deal with your HDCP compliance problem is to buy a cheap HDMI splitter that ignores HDCP requests ... Specifically, we use the ViewHD 2-Port 1×2 Powered HDMI Splitter (Model: VHD-1X2MN3D) ($24) because even among cheap HDMI splitters there is no consistency as to whether or not they will be HDMI compliant (even, sometimes, among products from the very same company)" -  I’ve got two of the VHD-1X2MN3D splitters. One so that I can view my computer on my treadmill and my bedroom TV (using a wireless keyboard/mouse combo in bed, the computer had two ports but I needed three) and another to break the Time Warner encryption to view the TiVo videos on my computer monitor via a Hauppauge - HD PVR 2 (See before and after below).

Health Focus (Deprenyl/Selegiline):