Recent Longevity News for the week ending 9/28/16

Body fat link to bacteria in faeces - BBC, 9/26/16 - "The researchers found the strongest links with visceral fat, where participants with a high diversity of bacteria in their faeces had lower levels of visceral fat ... This type of body fat is bad news because it is stored in the stomach area around important organs such as the liver, pancreas and intestines and is linked with higher risks of cardiovascular disease and diabetes ... One theory is that a lack of variety in faecal bacteria could lead to the domination of high levels of gut microbes which are good at turning carbohydrates into fat" - See probiotic products at Amazon.com.

OTC Supplement May Reduce Brain Atrophy in SPMS - Medscape, 9/25/16 - "The small, 51-patient pilot trial showed that those randomly assigned to 1200 mg of lipoic acid daily had a significantly lower annualized rate of whole-brain atrophy at 96 weeks, as measured by MRI, than the participants who were assigned to matching placebo ... At 96 weeks, the group receiving placebo had a whole-brain atrophy rate of 0.65% per year, "which is comparable to rates in other progressive MS natural history cohorts," ... On the other hand, use of lipoic acid resulted in a significantly lower annualized atrophy rate of 0.22%, which represented a 66% reduction vs placebo" - See alpha lipoic acid products at Amazon.com and alpha lipoic acid at iHerb.

Daily Yogurt Consumption Leads to Better Bone Health - Medscape, 9/23/16 - "Healthy postmenopausal women who eat at least one serving of yogurt a day have a lower body mass index (BMI), less fat, and better bone density — at least at some skeletal sites — than women who never consume yogurt ... Yogurt is a source of nutrients, in particular calcium and protein, but it also contains fermented daily products and probiotics, all of which are potentially beneficial for bone health ... At baseline, women who consumed yogurt (over 91% of the cohort) had a 4.4% higher BMD value at the lumbar spine than women who never consumed yogurt ... Women who consumed yogurt were also 6.4% leaner than those who never ate it, again independent of total energy intake and physical activity ... the prevalence of low trauma fractures trended toward a lower rate, at 19% among yogurt consumers vs 29% for nonconsumers" - See my yogurt recipe at the top of my yogurt page.

Vitamin B levels during pregnancy linked to eczema risk in child - Science Daily, 9/23/16 - "offspring of mothers with higher levels of nicotinamide had a 30 per cent lower chance of developing atopic eczema at 12 months. There was an even stronger association with higher levels of anthranilic acid, a tryptophan metabolite ... Nicotinamide can improve the overall structure, moisture and elasticity of skin and therefore could potentially alter the disease processes associated with eczema" - See nicotinamide at Amazon.com.

The 'Love Hormone' May Quiet Tinnitus - WebMD, 9/23/16 - "patients who received oxytocin reported a significant reduction in tinnitus, compared with those who received the placebo" - See oxytocin at Amazon.com.

Fish oil may help improve mood in veterans - Science Daily, 9/23/16 - "Kreider says fish oil contains Omega-3 fatty acids that help to boost brain function. He says studies also show that fish oil acts as an anti-inflammatory within the body -- helping athletes and soldiers manage intense training better. Fish oil content is especially important for soldiers due to the consistent training and physical regiments performed in and out of combat and risk to traumatic brain injury" - See fish oil supplements at Amazon.com.

Oxytocin enhances spirituality: The biology of awe - Science Daily, 9/21/16 - "men reported a greater sense of spirituality shortly after taking oxytocin and a week later. Participants who took oxytocin also experienced more positive emotions during meditation ... Spirituality and meditation have each been linked to health and well-being in previous research ... Participants who received oxytocin were also more inclined to view themselves as interconnected with other people and living things, giving higher ratings to statements such as "All life is interconnected" and "There is a higher plane of consciousness or spirituality that binds all people." - See oxytocin at Amazon.com.

Sleep paralysis: Fully awake and unable to move - Science Daily, 9/19/16 - "Sleep paralysis is an episode where your brain tells the body that you're still in the rapid eye movement (REM) stage of sleep in which the limbs are temporarily paralyzed (to prevent physically acting out dreams), heart rate and blood pressure rise, and breathing becomes more irregular and shallow. This is the stage of sleep where your most vivid dreams occur, which can explain why some people may hallucinate during sleep paralysis ... Sleep paralysis is a frightening event ... Someone is awake, but they have no control of their body and might possibly even see things that aren't there because their brain still thinks it's in REM sleep" - Note:  It says that about 8% of the population have it so someone else reading this probably has it. I’ve had it happen about a dozen times in my life and it’s scary. The first time was in Vietnam after going about three days with nearly no sleep because of the work load. I thought it was some form of schizophrenia so I was afraid to tell anyone.

Abstracts from this week:

Grape seed procyanidin extract mediates antineoplastic effects against lung cancer via modulations of prostacyclin and 15-hete eicosanoid pathways - Cancer Prev Res (Phila). 2016 Sep 22 - "Our findings support the continued investigation of GSE as an anti-neoplastic and chemopreventive agent against lung cancer" - See OPCs+95 at Amazon.com and OPCs+95 at iHerb. 

Health Focus (Apolipoprotein A-I (ApoA-I)):