Recent Longevity News for the week ending 12/14/16

Cholesterol-fighting drugs lower risk of Alzheimer's disease - Science Daily, 12/13/16 - "The greatest drop in incidence of Alzheimer's disease -- 29 percent -- was among Hispanic men. Among white men, high users of statins had an 11-percent lower risk of incidence of the disease. A similar reduction in risk -- 12-percent -- was found among Hispanic women ... The risk of Alzheimer's disease was also lower for white women who were high users (15 percent lower than women who took statins less frequently)"

High Dietary Magnesium Intake Tied to Less Stroke, Diabetes, Heart Failure - Medscape, 12/9/16 - "the highest magnesium intake is associated with a 10% lower risk of CHD (relative risk [RR] 0.90; 95% CI 0.80–0.99) ... They found a significant inverse correlation between the highest and lowest levels of magnesium and risk of stroke (RR 0.88; 95% CI 0.82–0.95). For each 100-mg/day increase in magnesium intake, risk of stroke decreased by 7% ... They found the pooled relative risk for type 2 diabetes to be 0.74 (95% CI 0.69–0.80), with every 100-mg/day magnesium increase yielding a relative risk of 0.81 (95% CI 0.77–0.86) ... For all-cause mortality, although the association with dietary magnesium was not statistically significant, for each 100-mg/day increase in dietary magnesium intake yielded a 10% lower risk (RR 0.90" - See Jarrow Formulas, MagMind at Amazon.com.

The nutrient you didn’t know you were missing - NYT, 12/8/16 - "Did you misplace your keys again or forget to call someone back? Choline plays a role in processing and storing memories, functions that are critical for learning and knowledge retention. In animal studies, having enough choline appears to have an impact on activating parts of the brain responsible for memory ... Choline intake appears to have an inverse relationship with homocysteine levels, spurring further investigation into the role choline may play in brain health in older adults ... Choline helps move fat out of the liver, helping prevent nonalcoholic fatty liver disease ... In animal models, when muscles don’t get enough choline, muscle cells start to break down. The movement of fat out of the liver to be used as energy also decreases when choline levels are too low ... Wallace says most people will need a choline supplement. “According to the 2015 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, modeling of different healthy diet patterns found people would still fall short of their daily choline needs.”" - See citicholine at Amazon.com.

There’s no magic bullet for fitness, but magnesium comes close - NYT, 11/17/16 - "Ensuring my son has healthy levels of this mineral is not going to secure his spot on the eighth-grade basketball team, but it will help him sleep well, boost his mood and lower his stress; make it less likely that his muscles cramp; and more likely that he is flexible and energetic. These are good outcomes any week of the year" - See Magtein at Amazon.com.

Brain Blood Flow Abnormally Low in Marijuana Smokers - Medscape, 12/9/16 - "Using single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) in marijuana users and healthy nonusers, researchers found abnormally low blood flow in multiple brain regions in marijuana users, particularly in areas known to be affected by Alzheimer's pathology, and this "reliably" distinguished marijuana users from nonusers ... This work suggests that marijuana use has damaging influences in the brain — particularly regions important in memory and learning and known to be affected by Alzheimer's"

Abstracts from this week:

Leucine supplementation enhances integrative myofibrillar protein synthesis in free-living older men consuming lower- and higher-protein diets: a parallel-group crossover study - Am J Clin Nutr. 2016 Dec;104(6):1594-1606 - "We examined the impact of leucine co-ingestion with mixed macronutrient meals on integrated 3-d rates of myofibrillar protein synthesis (MyoPS) in free-living older men who consumed higher protein (HP) (1.2 g · kg-1 · d-1) or LP (0.8 g · kg-1 · d-1) in rested and resistance exercise (REX) conditions ... Leu co-ingestion with daily meals enhances integrated MyoPS in free-living older men in rested and REX conditions and is equally effective in older men who consume daily protein intakes greater than or equal to the RDA" - See BulkSupplements Pure L-Leucine Powder (1 Kilogram).

A Comprehensive Nutrition-Focused Quality Improvement Program Reduces 30-Day Readmissions and Length of Stay in Hospitalized Patients - JPEN J Parenter Enteral Nutr. 2016 Dec 6 - "We tested effects of a nutrition-focused quality improvement program (QIP) on hospital readmission and length of stay (LOS) ... oral nutrition supplements (ONS) ... QIP-basic (QIPb) and QIP-enhanced (QIPe) ... Thirty-day readmissions and LOS were significantly lowered for malnourished inpatients by use of an EMR-cued MST, prompt provision of ONS, patient/caregiver education, and sustained nutrition support" - [Nutra USA] 

Health Focus (Aromatization/Gynecomastia):