Recent Longevity News for the week ending 11/23/16

Gut bacteria affect our metabolism - Science Daily, 11/21/16 - "Mice that receive gut bacteria transplants from overweight humans are known to gain more weight than mice transplanted with gut bacteria from normal weight subjects, even when the mice are fed the same diet" - See Garden of Life Primal Defense ULTRA 180 Capsules at Amazon.com.

High-Protein Diet May Reduce Liver Fat in Patients With NAFLD - Medscape, 11/16/16 - "High-protein diets (30% energy from protein, 40% from carbohydrates, 30% from fats) with a favorable fatty acid composition potently reduced liver fat content in patients with type 2 diabetes and fatty liver independently of protein origin or body weight changes ... Eighteen patients ate animal protein (AP) and 19 consumed plant protein (PP) ... Intrahepatic lipids (IHL) were reduced by 48% in the AP group and 35.7% in the PP group after six weeks, both statistically significant decreases. Nine patients (three from the AP group, six from the PP group) had IHL levels below 5.56%, meaning they no longer had NAFLD"

Vitamin D reduces respiratory infections - Science Daily, 11/16/16 - "could help reduce one of the leading causes of serious illness, debilitation and death among patients in nursing homes and other long-term care facilities ... Vitamin D can improve the immune system's ability to fight infections because it bolsters the first line of defense of the immune system ... 55 received high doses of vitamin D or 100,000 units monthly (averaging 3,300-4,300 units daily). And 52 received lower doses averaging between 400-1,000 units daily. Those with higher doses saw ARIs cut nearly in half. They also had over double the incidence of falls ... This is a potentially life-saving discovery ... here is very little in a doctor's arsenal to battle ARI, especially since most are viral infections where antibiotics don't work. But vitamin D seems able to potentially prevent these infections" - See vitamin D at Amazon.com.

Popular heartburn medication may increase ischemic stroke risk - heart.org, 11/15/16 - "PPIs have been associated with unhealthy vascular function, including heart attacks, kidney disease and dementia ... Researchers determined if the stroke occurred while patients were using 1 of 4 PPIs: omeprazole (Prilosec), pantoprazole (Protonix), lansoprazole (Prevacid) and esomeprazole (Nexium) ... At the highest dose for these 4 PPI’s, stroke risk increased from 30 percent for lansoprazole (Prevacid) to 94 percent for pantoprazole (Protonix) ... There was no increased risk of stroke associated with another group of acid-reducing medications known as H2 blockers, which include famotidine (Pepcid) and ranitidine (Zantac)"

Omega-3s a Recipe for Healthy BP in Young Adults - WebMD, 11/13/16 - "We found adults in the highest quarter [group] had about 4 millimeters of mercury [mm Hg] lower systolic pressure and 2 mm Hg lower diastolic pressure, compared to those with the least omega-3 fatty acids in their blood"

Abstracts from this week:

Pomegranate Intake Protects Against Genomic Instability Induced by Medical X-rays In Vivo in Mice - Nutr Cancer. 2016 Nov-Dec;68(8):1349-1356 - "Ionizing radiation (IR) is a well-documented human carcinogen. The increased use of IR in medical procedures has doubled the annual radiation dose and may increase cancer risk. Genomic instability is an intermediate lesion in IR-induced cancer. We examined whether pomegranate extract (PE) suppresses genomic instability induced by x-rays ... glutathione (GSH) ... Thus, ingestion of pomegranate polyphenols is associated with inhibition of x-ray-induced genomic instability and elevated GSH, which may reduce cancer risk" - See pomegranate extract at Amazon.com.

Randomized Prospective Double-Blind Studies to Evaluate the Cognitive Effects of Inositol-Stabilized Arginine Silicate in Healthy Physically Active Adults - Nutrients. 2016 Nov 18;8(11) - "Inositol-stabilized arginine silicate (ASI; Nitrosigine®) has been validated to increase levels of arginine, silicon and nitric oxide production. To evaluate potential enhancement of mental focus and clarity, ASI (1500 mg/day) was tested in two double-blind placebo-controlled crossover (DBPC-X) studies using the Trail Making Test (TMT, Parts A and B) ... These findings show that ASI significantly improved the ability to perform complex cognitive tests requiring mental flexibility, processing speed and executive functioning" - See Nitrosigine® at Amazon.com.

Dose-Response Relationship between Dietary Magnesium Intake and Risk of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: A Systematic Review and Meta-Regression Analysis of Prospective Cohort Studies - Nutrients. 2016 Nov 19;8(11). pii: E739 - "Compared with the lowest magnesium consumption group in the population, the risk of T2D was reduced by 17% across all the studies; 19% in women and 16% in men. A statistically significant linear dose-response relationship was found between incremental magnesium intake and T2D risk. After adjusting for age and body mass index, the risk of T2D incidence was reduced by 8%-13% for per 100 mg/day increment in dietary magnesium intake" - See Magtein at Amazon.com.

Vitamin C-enriched gelatin supplementation before intermittent activity augments collagen synthesis - Am J Clin Nutr. 2016 Nov 16 - "These data suggest that adding gelatin to an intermittent exercise program improves collagen synthesis and could play a beneficial role in injury prevention and tissue repair" - [Nutra USA] - See gelatin supplements at Amazon.com. 

Health Focus (Resveratrol):