Recent Longevity News for the week ending 1/23/19

The invisible reason you're not sleeping well - CNET, 12/7/18 - "You might not know it, but you could be allergic to dust mites. If you are, then there's a really good chance that you're not sleeping well at night ... A dust mite allergy can cause a repetitive sneezing, coughing and wheezing, shortness of breath, inflamed eyelids, blocked sinuses, a tight chest, breathing difficulties and watery eyes" - See dust mite covers at Amazon.com.

How Getting a Flu Shot Could Save Your Life - WebMD, 1/16/19 - "The flu shot can also protect you from other nasty infections ... Your immunity can be altered by having flu, making you more prone to other infections, particularly in the respiratory tract where cells have been damaged. Staph infections are common and mainly not serious, but if you have flu already, Staphylococcus aureus can enter the lungs, causing pneumonia ... Last year's flu season was the worst in four decades, with more than 80,000 flu or pneumonia-related deaths in the United States"

Fish Oil, Particularly EPA, Linked to Reduced Ischemic Stroke - Medscape, 1/17/19 - "It is quite remarkable that we saw a significant 28% reduction in stroke in REDUCE-IT with a highly purified ethyl ester of EPA (icosapent ethyl), and in this study they found a 26% lower rate of stroke associated with higher EPA levels ... "It is also worth noting in this study that while EPA was associated consistently with cardiovascular benefits, the case for DHA was more mixed. This latter observation may in part help explain why all the recent studies of omega-3 fatty acids had been neutral – until REDUCE-IT ... Also, lower rates of large artery atherosclerosis were seen with higher intakes of total marine n-3 PUFA (HR 0.69); EPA (HR 0.66); and DHA (HR, 0.72) and higher adipose tissue content of EPA (HR 0.52), but not with higher adipose tissue content of total marine n-3 PUFA or DHA" - See omega-3 supplements at Amazon.com.

High Fiber, Whole Grains Linked to CVD, Diabetes, Cancer Risk - Medscape, 1/15/29 - "For every 8 g increase in dietary fiber consumed daily, total deaths and incidents of CHD, type 2 diabetes, and colorectal cancer decreased by 5% to 17% ... The greatest benefits in fiber consumption were observed in individuals consuming 25 g to 29 g per day (improvement in six of seven critical outcomes), which was higher than in individuals consuming 15 g to 19 g per day (improvement in three of the seven critical outcomes), or 20 g to 24 g per day (improvement in four of seven critical outcomes)"

Up to an Egg a Day May Ward Off Diabetes: Metabolomic Study - Medscape, 1/15/19 - "those in the highest quartile of egg intake (about 1 egg/day) had a 38% lower risk of type 2 diabetes than men in the lowest quartile (about 1 egg/week)"

Teen brain volume changes with small amount of cannabis use, study finds - Science Daily, 1/14/19 - "this research is the first to find evidence that an increase in gray matter volume in certain parts of the adolescent brain is a likely consequence of low-level marijuana use ... Consuming just one or two joints seems to change gray matter volumes in these young adolescents ... The biggest differences in gray matter were in the amygdala, which is involved in fear and other emotion-related processes, and in the hippocampus, involved in memory development and spatial abilities"

Common Heart, Diabetes Meds May Aid Mental Illness - WebMD, 1/10/19 - "Specifically, the benefit was seen when patients were taking: statins, which lower cholesterol; calcium channel blockers, a group of blood pressure drugs; or the oral diabetes drug metformin, the study findings showed ... The findings do not prove that the medications had a direct effect on mental health symptoms, said lead researcher Dr. Joseph Hayes, of the University College London ... But, he said, they do argue for further research"

Excessive body fat around the middle linked to smaller brain size, study finds - Science Daily, 1/9/19 - "After adjusting for other factors that may affect brain volume, such as age, physical activity, smoking and high blood pressure, researchers found that while a high BMI alone was linked to slightly lower brain volumes, those with high BMI and waist-to-hip ratios had lower gray matter brain volumes than participants who did not have a high waist-to-hip ratio. Specifically, researchers found that 1,291 people who had a high BMI and a high waist-to-hip ratio had the lowest average gray matter brain volume of 786 cubic centimeters, compared to 3,025 people of healthy weight who had an average gray matter brain volume of 798 cubic centimeters and 514 people with a high BMI but without high waist-to-hip ratio who had an average gray matter brain volume of 793 cubic centimeters. They found no significant differences in white matter brain volume."

Scientists Say This Popular Bathroom Accessory Really Does Help You Poop Better - Time, 1/10/19 - "Products like the Squatty Potty (which are known scientifically as “defecation postural modification devices,” or DPMDs) have in recent years gained a cult following for purportedly helping people relieve themselves in the most natural position: squatting. People can mimic a squat by simply placing their feet on a stool while using the toilet, raising their knees above their hips ... 90% of people who used a Squatty Potty strained less, and 71% had faster bowel movements. Fewer users also reported feeling like they still had to go after using the bathroom" - [WebMD] - See the Squatty Potty at Amazon.com.

Sodium Restriction in HF: Take It With a Grain of Salt? - Medscape, 1/10/19 - "There was a beautiful paper in JAMA Internal Medicine by Mahtani and colleagues[1] out of Oxford that went deeply into the literature to figure out why we are so insistent on low-sodium diets. It is in every guideline. I have been cantankering patients for years, having them look at everything that they eat, read the labels, add up the sodium, and never exceed that famous [threshold of] 2 g sodium. I think we probably extrapolated it from the hypertension literature, as we know that there are salt-sensitive individuals who have significant hypertension ... They reviewed every paper and found 2700 articles that dealt with sodium. However, when it came down to having good data and good analysis, they came down to fewer than 30.—therefore, less than 100 patients per study. Most of them did not have accurate or very thorough measurements of the diet and what the recommendations have been. Some studies showed benefits, some did not. Some were neutral ... The bottom of this is that we really have no good evidence, yet we are so evidence-driven"

Abstracts from this week:

Vitis vinifera (grape) seed extract and resveratrol alleviate bisphenol-A-induced metabolic syndrome: Biochemical and molecular evidences - Phytother Res. 2019 Jan 17 - "The mechanisms of bisphenol-A (BPA)-induced metabolic syndrome as well as the protective role of grape seed extract (GSE) and resveratrol were investigated. Rats were treated with BPA (0 and 35 mg·kg-1 ·day-1 , gavage) plus resveratrol (25, 50, and 100 mg·kg-1 ·day-1 , i.p.) or GSE (3, 6, 12 mg·kg-1 ·day-1 , i.p.) or vitamin E (200 IU/kg/every other day, i.p.). After 2 months, mean systolic blood pressure, serum lipid profile, glycaemia, and fat index were examined ... BPA increased mean systolic blood pressure, total cholesterol, and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and reduced paraoxonase1 and the hepatic expression of both ABCG5 and ABCG8. It increased the body fat index, leptin, adiponectin, insulin, and glycaemia level and decreased the hepatic protein expression of p-Akt/Akt and p-PI3K/PI3k. GSE, resveratrol, or vitamin E coadministration along with BPA restored the detrimental effects of BPA in some levels. Herein, the predisposing effects of BPA-induced metabolic syndrome were restored by GSE and resveratrol, linked to the regulation of insulin signaling, ABCG8 expression, and their antioxidant properties" - See grape seed extract at Amazon.com and resveratrol products at Amazon.com.

Does turmeric/curcumin supplementation improve serum alanine aminotransferase and aspartate aminotransferase levels in patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease? A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials - Phytother Res. 2019 Jan 17 - "Results from pooled analysis revealed that turmeric/curcumin supplementation reduced ALT (MD: -7.31 UL/L, 95% CI [-13.16, -1.47], p = 0.014) and AST (MD: -4.68 UL/L, 95% CI [-8.75 -0.60], p = 0.026). When RCTs stratified on the basis of their treatment duration, the significant reduction in serum concentrations of ALT and AST was observed only in studies lasting less than 12 weeks. This review suggests that turmeric/curcumin might have a favorable effect on serum concentrations of ALT and AST in patients with NAFLD" - See curcumin products at Amazon.com.

Mediterranean-Style Diet Improves Systolic Blood Pressure and Arterial Stiffness in Older Adults - Hypertension. 2019 Jan 14 - "The intervention group received individually tailored standardized dietary advice and commercially available foods to increase adherence to a Mediterranean diet. The control group continued on their habitual diet and was provided with current national dietary guidance. In the 1142 participants who completed the trial (88.2%), after 1 year the intervention resulted in a significant reduction in systolic blood pressure (-5.5 mm Hg; 95% CI, -10.7 to -0.4; P=0.03), which was evident in males (-9.2 mm Hg, P=0.02) but not females (-3.1 mm Hg, P=0.37). The -1.7 mm Hg (95% CI, -4.3 to 0.9) decrease in diastolic pressure after intervention did not reach statistical significance. In a subset (n=225), augmentation index, a measure of arterial stiffness, was improved following intervention (-12.4; 95% CI, -24.4 to -0.5; P=0.04) with no change in pulse wave velocity"

The citrus flavanone hesperetin preferentially inhibits slow-inactivating currents of an LQT3 syndrome Na+ channel mutation - Br J Pharmacol. 2019 Jan 16 - "lethal ventricular arrhythmias in the Long QT syndrome subtype 3 (LQT3) ... HSP preferentially inhibits the slow inactivation phase of INa , more markedly in the mutant R1623Q. HSP could be used as a template to develop drugs against lethal cardiac arrhythmias in LQT3" - See hesperidin at Amazon.com.

Should Viscous Fiber Supplements Be Considered in Diabetes Control? Results From a Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials - Diabetes Care. 2019 Jan 7 - "Viscous fiber supplements improve conventional markers of glycemic control beyond usual care and should be considered in the management of type 2 diabetes" - See viscous fiber supplements at Amazon.com.

• Rich Sources of Viscous Fiber - "A very large review study found that psyllium and guar gum — both soluble, viscous fibers — are ineffective as weight loss supplements ... Viscous, soluble fiber is only found in plant foods. Whole plant foods such as beans, asparagus, Brussels sprouts and oats are rich in viscous fiber"

Women Remain at Risk of Iodine Deficiency during Pregnancy: The Importance of Iodine Supplementation before Conception and Throughout Gestation - Nutrients. 2019 Jan 15;11(1) - "Commencing an I-supp of 150 µg/day prior to conception and continuing throughout pregnancy is required to ensure adequacy. Timely advice regarding the importance of adequate iodine nutrition, including supplementation is needed to reduce the risk of irreversible in utero neurocognitive damage to the foetus" - See iodine at Amazon.com.

Increasing Iron Status through Dietary Supplementation in Iron-Depleted, Sedentary Women Increases Endurance Performance at Both Near-Maximal and Submaximal Exercise Intensities - J Nutr. 2019 Jan 10 - "Iron deficiency persists as the most common micronutrient deficiency globally, despite having known detrimental effects on physical performance ... ron-depleted, nonanemic (IDNA) women ... Seventy-three sedentary, previously untrained IDNA (serum ferritin <25 µg/L and hemoglobin >110 g/L) women aged 18-26 y with a body mass index (kg/m2) of 17-25 participated in a double-blind, 8-wk, randomized controlled trial with a 2 × 2 factorial design including iron supplementation (42 mg elemental Fe/d) or placebo and aerobic exercise training (5 d/wk for 25 min at 75-85% of age-predicted maximum heart rate) or no training ... Iron supplementation increases endurance performance at submaximal and maximal (VO2peak) exercise intensities in IDNA women. However, increasing iron status does not increase eVO2max" - See iron supplements at Amazon.com.

The effects of melatonin supplementation on blood pressure in patients with metabolic disorders: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials - J Hum Hypertens. 2019 Jan 15 - "In summary, the current meta-analysis demonstrated that melatonin supplementation significantly decreased SBP and DBP in patients with metabolic disorders" - See melatonin at Amazon.com.

Inactive matrix Gla protein is a novel circulating biomarker predicting retinal arteriolar narrowing in humans - Scientific Reportsvolume 8, Article number: 15088 (2018) - "Our observations highlight the possibility that vitamin K supplementation might promote retinal health" - [Nutra USA] - See MK-7 at Amazon.com.

Aortic Stiffness is Associated with Increased Risk of Incident Dementia in Older Adults - Alzheimers Dis. 2018; 66(1): 297–306 - "The Cardiovascular Health Study Cognition Study followed 532 non-demented older adults with annual cognitive exams from 1998–99 through 2013. CfPWV was measured on 356 (mean age = 78, 59% women) between 1996–2000. Over 15 years, 212 (59.6%) developed dementia (median time from cfPWV measurement = 4 years). In age and sex-adjusted Cox models, cfPWV was significantly associated with increased risk of dementia, but systolic blood pressure, mean arterial pressure and pulse pressure were not. CfPWV (transformed as –1/cfPWV) remained significantly associated with dementia risk when further adjusted for education, race, APOE4, diabetes, body mass index, mean arterial pressure, and anti-hypertensive medication (hazard ratio = 1.60, 95%CI = 1.02, 2.51). Results were similar when further adjusted for baseline global cognition, subclinical brain measures, and coronary artery calcification. Finally, higher cfPWV was related to lower physical activity intensity and higher systolic blood pressure, heart rate, and waist circumference measured 5 years prior. An important unanswered question is whether interventions to slow arterial stiffening can reduce the risk of dementia" - [Nutra USA] - Note: Some studies support vitamin K for aortic stiffness:

• Menaquinone-7 supplementation improves arterial stiffness in healthy postmenopausal women - Thromb Haemost 2015; 113(05): 1135-1144 - "Indices of local carotid stiffness (intimamedia thickness IMT, Diameter end-diastole and Distension) were measured by echotracking. Regional aortic stiffness (carotid-femoral and carotid-radial Pulse Wave Velocity, cfPWV and crPWV, respectively) was measured using mechanotransducers. Circulating desphospho-uncarboxylated matrix Gla-protein (dp-ucMGP) as well as acute phase markers Interleukin-6 (IL-6), high-sensitive C-reactive protein (hsCRP), tumour necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and markers for endothelial dysfunction Vascular Cell Adhesion Molecule (VCAM), E-selectin, and Advanced Glycation Endproducts (AGEs) were measured. At baseline dp-ucMGP was associated with IMT, Diameter, cfPWV and with the mean z-scores of acute phase markers (APMscore) and of markers for endothelial dysfunction (EDFscore). After three year MK-7 supplementation cfPWV and the Stiffness Index β significantly decreased in the total group, whereas distension, compliance, distensibility, Young’s Modulus, and the local carotid PWV (cPWV) improved in women having a baseline Stiffness Index β above the median of 10.8. MK-7 decreased dp-ucMGP by 50 % compared to placebo, but did not influence the markers for acute phase and endothelial dysfunction. In conclusion, long-term use of MK-7 supplements improves arterial stiffness in healthy postmenopausal women, especially in women having a high arterial stiffness" - [Nutra USA] - See MK-7 at Amazon.com.
• Inactive Matrix Gla-Protein and Arterial Stiffness in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus - American Journal of Hypertension, Volume 30, Issue 2, 1 February 2017 - "In our cross-sectional analysis, circulating dp-ucMGP was independently associated with CF-PWV in type 2 diabetes. This suggests that deficient vitamin K-dependent activation of MGP may lead to large artery stiffening and could be targeted with vitamin K supplementation in the patients with diabetes" - [Nutra USA]

Quercetin phytosome® in triathlon athletes: a pilot registry study - Minerva Med. 2018 Aug;109(4):285-289 - "In total, 23 subjects used the supplement and 25 did not. No side effects were reported. The improvement of time to complete the run was greater in subjects on quercetin supplementation compared with the control group (-11.3% vs. -3.9%; P<0.05). Training was considered more valuable in the quercetin group compared with controls (P<0.05). Similarly, post-run muscular pain, cramps, localized pain and the post-exercise recovery time were all considered better with the supplementation (P<0.05). Oxidative stress was also reduced (P<0.05)" - [Nutra USA] - See Quercetin Phytosome® at Amazon.com.

Neat Tech Stuff / "How To's":

I think this price is in error for $223. It's the #1 selling toilet at Amazon. I had it in my shopping cart when it was $358 while I checked for a lower price. Everyone was sold out including Wal-Mart who had back ordered for $325 except the WoodBridgeBath.com site who wants $365 and  Houzz who wants $378.  Then it disappeared from my cart so I searched for it and it wasn't available. Then I searched again 5 hours later and it was there for the much cheaper price. See the Honey price history below. Go for it and throw in the bidet.