Recent Longevity News for the week ending 2/15/17

Sore Back? Try Heat and Exercise First, Guidelines Say - NBC, 2/13/17 - "Given that most patients with acute or subacute low back pain improve over time regardless of treatment, clinicians and patients should select nonpharmacologic treatment with superficial heat massage, acupuncture, or spinal manipulation ... Exercise, multidisciplinary rehabilitation, acupuncture, mindfulness-based stress reduction, tai chi, yoga, motor control exercise, progressive relaxation, electromyography biofeedback, low level laser therapy, operant therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, and spinal manipulation are shown to improve symptoms with little risk of harm ... If none of those helps, then over-the-counter drugs such as ibuprofen or naproxen can be tried, the group says. Acetaminophen, the active ingredient in Tylenol, has been shown in several studies to do little to help back pain"

Prebiotics may help to cope with stress - Science Daily, 2/10/17 - "regular intake of prebiotics may promote beneficial gut bacteria and recovery of normal sleep patterns after a stressful episode" - See prebiotic supplements at Amazon.com.

Whole-Grain Foods May Help You Stay Slim - WebMD, 2/8/17 - "Those on the whole-grain diet absorbed fewer calories and had greater fecal output. Their resting metabolic rate (calories burned at rest) was also higher ... The energy deficit in those eating whole grains compared to refined grains would be equivalent to the calories you would burn if you were to walk about a mile [in] about 20 or 30 minutes ... ''We don't know over the long term if it would translate to weight loss," Karl said, but his team suspects it would. "This would translate to about 5 pounds in a year," ... In a related study in the same issue of the journal, the same group of researchers found that people who ate whole grains had modest improvements in healthy gut environment and certain immune responses. Whole-grain intake has also been linked with a reduced risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes and some cancers"

Abstracts from this week:

Serum 25-Hydroxyvitamin D Has a Modest Positive Association with Leukocyte Telomere Length in Middle-Aged US Adults - J Nutr. 2017 Feb 8. pii: jn244137 - "analyzed data from the US NHANES 2001-2002 ... Serum 25(OH)D concentrations ≥50 nmol/L were considered optimal ... In the participants aged 40-59 y, an increment in serum 25(OH)D of 10 nmol/L was associated with a 0.03- ± 0.01-kbp longer LTL ... In a nationally representative population of adults, serum 25(OH)D was positively associated with LTL in middle-aged participants (aged 40-59 y), independently of other factors. These findings suggest that decreased 25(OH)D concentrations are associated with genomic instability, although the clinical impact of this observation remains unclear" - [Nutra USA] - See vitamin D at Amazon.com.

Increased Inflammatory Potential of Diet is Associated with Increased Risk of Prostate Cancer in Iranian Men - Int J Vitam Nutr Res. 2017 Jan 27:1-8 - "dietary inflammatory index (DII) ... Multivariable-adjusted analyses revealed that men with higher DII score (>0.23) to be at higher risk of prostate cancer [odds ratio (OR) = 3.96; 95% CI =1.29-12.16, p-value = 0.02)] compared to men with lower DII scores"

Supplementation of Spirulina (Arthrospira platensis) Improves Lifespan and Locomotor Activity in Paraquat-Sensitive DJ-1βΔ93 Flies, a Parkinson's Disease Model in Drosophila melanogaster - J Diet Suppl. 2017 Feb 6:1-16 - "Apart from high protein contents, it also contains high levels of antioxidant and anti-inflammatory compounds, such as carotenoids, β-carotene, phycocyanin, and phycocyanobilin, indicating its possible pharmaco-therapeutic utility ... Our results suggest that antioxidant boosting properties of spirulina can be used as a nutritional supplement for improving the lifespan and locomotor behavior in Parkinson's disease" - See spirulina at Amazon.com.

Oral Adenosine-5'-triphosphate (ATP) Administration Increases Postexercise ATP Levels, Muscle Excitability, and Athletic Performance Following a Repeated Sprint Bout - J Am Coll Nutr. 2017 Jan 12:1-7 - "In a double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized design, 42 healthy male individuals were given either 400 mg of ATP as disodium salt or placebo for 2 weeks prior to an exercise bout ... ATP significantly increased Wingate peak power in later bouts compared to baseline" - [Nutra USA] - See ATP supplements at Amazon.com.

• Effects of oral adenosine-5'-triphosphate supplementation on athletic performance, skeletal muscle hypertrophy and recovery in resistance-trained men - Nutr Metab (Lond). 2013 Sep 22;10(1):57 - "oral ATP supplementation may enhance muscular adaptations following 12-weeks of resistance training, and prevent decrements in performance following overreaching"
• Adenosine-5'-triphosphate (ATP) supplementation improves low peak muscle torque and torque fatigue during repeated high intensity exercise sets - J Int Soc Sports Nutr. 2012 Oct 9;9(1):48 - "Supplementation with 400 mg ATP/d for 15 days tended to reduce muscle fatigue and improved a participant's ability to maintain a higher force output at the end of an exhaustive exercise bout"

Health Focus (BPH/Prostate Cancer):