Recent Longevity News for the week ending 3/29/17

A probiotic stress fix - Science Daily, 3/27/17 - "U.S. sailors and Marines face continuous periods of excessive stress in "fight-or-flight" situations, triggering surges of chemical messengers called neurotransmitters, often known as an adrenaline rush. While these surges are important for relaying messages in the brain, prolonged high levels can cause long-term health problems, including anxiety and susceptibility to infection ... Tae Seok Moon, an engineer in the School of Engineering & Applied Science at Washington University in St. Louis, is working to create a probiotic from a commercially-available, beneficial bacterial strain of Escherichia coli after receiving a three-year, $508,635 grant from the Office of Naval Research's 2017 Young Investigator Program ... We tend to think the gut and the brain are separate, but recently, more researchers think they are connected through the microbiota-gut-brain axis" - See probiotic products at Amazon.com.  Note:  It sounds like the military has finally figured out that high stress increases cortisol.  I was an army helicopter pilot in Vietnam for 17 months then an aircraft carrier jet pilot in the navy.  My cortisol was through the roof for years after I retired.  Military endocrinologists basically told be "tough, now get lost".

Army develops new nutritional bed-time snack bar for basic trainees - Army Times, 3/23/17 - "Military health experts have found that recruits often arrive to basic with poor vitamin D status, making their bones more vulnerable to fracture and injury ... Up to 18 percent of recruits suffer from these stress fractures ... Roughly 60 percent of those who suffer from stress fractures end up dropping out of the military, while long term injuries can occur later in life for those that push through ... The new nutritional snack bar developed at the Natick facility boosts calcium and vitamin D levels ... Trainees don’t get a lot of treats during basic training, and since this bar is made of chocolate, we know compliance won’t be an issue. It’s a lot more enticing than having to swallow a bunch of pills" - Note:  Two pills are a "bunch of pills".  Plus vitamin D can be taken less frequently in higher doses so you're just talking about the calcium pill every day and a vitamin D capsule once per week or month.  It just makes me wonder if the procurement officer was getting something under the table.  When you've got a tight budget you don't go with the option that costs 50 times as much because someone would rather eat a bar than take a pill plus obesity is a problem in the military as with everywhere else. Put a bottle of the vitamins at the mess table like they did in Nam with the malaria pills.

Better learning through zinc? - Science Daily, 3/21/17 - "Our results finally provide a connection between zinc and the regulation of neurotransmitter release. This could be important for the formation and storage of memories" - See Jarrow Zinc Balance at Amazon.com.

Insulin resistance may lead to faster cognitive decline - Science Daily, 3/21/17 - "We know that insulin resistance can be prevented and treated by lifestyle changes and certain insulin-sensitizing drugs. Exercising, maintaining a balanced and healthy diet, and watching your weight will help you prevent insulin resistance and, as a result, protect your brain as you get older"

Abstracts from this week:

Sperm DNA fragmentation as a result of ultra-endurance exercise training in male athletes - Andrologia. 2017 Mar 15 - "Sperm DNA fragmentation and the T/C ratio, however, were correlated in a positive manner (p = .03). As evidenced by the observed results, sperm DNA fragmentation is affected by high-level sports practice; therefore, high loads of endurance training could potentially interfere with the athlete's fertility potential"

Effects of taking tadalafil 5 mg once daily on erectile function and total testosterone levels in patients with metabolic syndrome - Andrologia. 2017 Mar 15 - "All the patients received 5 mg tadalafil once a day for 3 months ... International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF) questionnaire ... At the end of 3 months, mean testosterone values and IIEF scores showed an improvement from baseline values (from 3.6 ± 0.5 to 5.2 ± 0.3, from 11.3 ± 1.9 to 19 ± 0.8 respectively). After the treatment, serum LH levels were decreased (from 5.6 ± 0.6 to 4.6 ± 0.5). There was significantly difference in terms of baseline testosterone and luteinising hormone values and IIEF scores (p < .05). Based on our findings, we recommend tadalafil 5 mg once daily in those men with erectile dysfunction especially low testosterone levels accompanied by metabolic syndrome" - Note: That's a 44% increase in testosterone by my calculations.

Improvement in erectile function in a rat model of high cholesterol diet-induced atherosclerosis by atorvastatin in a manner that is independent of its lipid-lowering property - Andrologia. 2017 Mar 10 - "This effect on erectile function preservation of atorvastatin was attributed to its preservation of endothelial function, possibly through amelioration of oxidative stress and improvement in eNOS expression"

Long-term feeding of hydroalcoholic extract powder of Lepidium meyenii (maca) enhances the steroidogenic ability of Leydig cells to alleviate its decline with ageing in male rats - Andrologia. 2017 Mar 10 - "Overall testosterone production by cultured Leydig cells decreased to about a half from 35 to 48 weeks of age. These results suggest that feeding the maca extract for a long time to male rats may enhance the steroidogenic ability of Leydig cells to alleviate its decline with ageing, whereas it may cause only a transient increase in blood testosterone concentration in sexually maturing male rats" - See maca extract at Amazon.com.

Effect of Kaempferia parviflora on sexual performance in streptozotocin-induced diabetic male rats - Andrologia. 2017 Mar 10 - "A significant increase in sperm density in diabetic rats was observed (p < .05) at highest dose of KP. Furthermore, KP treatment demonstrated a significant recovery of sexual behaviour and serum testosterone levels in diabetic rats. These results confirm that KP exhibits aphrodisiac properties that improve the sperm density, testosterone level and sexual performance of STZ-induced diabetic rats" - See Kaempferia parviflora at Amazon.com.

Association of Proton Pump Inhibitors Usage with Risk of Pneumonia in Dementia Patients - J Am Geriatr Soc. 2017 Mar 21 - "PPI usage in dementia patients is associated with an 89% increased risk of pneumonia"

Green Tea Polyphenols Inhibit Colorectal Tumorigenesis in Azoxymethane-Treated F344 Rats - Nutr Cancer. 2017 Mar 21:1-9 - "In studying the cancer-preventive activities of green tea polyphenols, we previously demonstrated that dietary administration of polyphenon E (PPE) inhibited the formation of aberrant crypt foci (ACF) in the colon of azoxymethane (AOM)-treated F344 rats ... In the control group, 83% of rats developed colorectal tumors. Dietary PPE treatment significantly increased the plasma and colonic levels of tea polyphenols, and decreased tumor multiplicity and tumor size. Histological analysis indicated that PPE significantly decreased the incidence of adenocarcinoma, and the multiplicity of adenocarcinoma as well as the multiplicity of adenoma. PPE treatment significantly decreased plasma levels of proinflammatory eicosanoids, prostaglandin E2, and leukotriene B4. It also decreased β-catenin nuclear expression, induced apoptosis, and increased expression levels of RXRα, β, and γ in adenocarcinomas" - See green tea extract at Amazon.com.

Normalization of cardiovascular risk factors in peri-menopausal women with Pycnogenol® - Minerva Ginecol. 2017 Feb;69(1):29-34 - "Pycnogenol®, 100mg/day, was used as a supplement for 8 weeks by a group of 35 women. A comparable group of 35 women with identical cardiovascular risk factors was included as the control group ... Plasma free radicals dropped significantly by 22% (P<0.05). Homocysteine and CRP levels decreased sharply by 43% and 60%, respectively ... Almost all menopausal symptoms, scored by The Menopausal Symptoms Questionnaire 34, improved significantly following supplementation with Pycnogenol®" - [Nutra USA] - See Pycnogenol at Amazon.com.  Some say grape seed extract is similar without the patent markup.  See Best Naturals Grape Seed Extract 400 mg Veggie Capsule, 120 Count.

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