Recent Longevity News for the week ending 3/20/19

Study explaining side effects of statins finds drug can have unexpected benefits - Science Daily, 3/19/19 - "The cholesterol-lowering drugs reduce the ability of migratory cells, such as cancer and immune cells, to travel ... statins reduced movement more than 10-fold compared to the control group ... This indicated that GPCR-governed cancer cell migration also can be reduced by statins"

Taking statins for heart disease cuts risk in half, yet only 6 percent of patients taking as directed - Science Daily, 3/18/19 - "patients with optimal adherence -- who took their statins as prescribed at least 80 percent of the time -- reduced their risk of dying or having a heart attack or stroke by nearly 50 percent. Unfortunately, though, only 351 out of those 5,468 patients fell into the optimal adherence category -- which is about six percent ... 25 percent of patients never filled their statin prescription in the first place, and 25 percent didn't fill their second one"

Novel electrocardiogram uses signals from ear and hand to check heart rhythm - Science Daily, 3/17/19 - "Mobile ECG devices present a major opportunity to detect atrial fibrillation, the most common heart rhythm disorder, and thereby prevent strokes and reduce hospitalisations. All commercially available portable ECG devices require both hands, but what if symptoms happen while driving?" - See heart rate monitors at Amazon.com.

Higher egg and cholesterol consumption hikes heart disease and early death risk - Science Daily, 3/15/19 - "Eating 300 mg of dietary cholesterol per day was associated with 17 percent higher risk of incident cardiovascular disease and 18 percent higher risk of all-cause deaths. The cholesterol was the driving factor independent of saturated fat consumption and other dietary fat ... Eating three to four eggs per week was associated with 6 percent higher risk of cardiovascular disease and 8 percent higher risk of any cause of death" - Note: One egg has about 187 mg of cholesterol.  It does, it doesn’t, it does. The problem with 'associated' studies is that they don’t track what’s eaten with a typical egg breakfast and what oils they cook it with.  I eat an egg a day.  The frying pan is sprayed with avocado oil and it’s on bread spread with olive oil margarine.  Compare that with the person who eats two eggs fried in grease, hash browns fried in grease alone with bacon and buttered white bread toast at Denny’s.  There's also the calories associated with those with that lifestyle.  That could easily account for the 17% right there.  That's the problem with 'association' studies.  It doesn't account for the lifestyle and other factors of people who consume that type of food.

U.S. Dementia-Linked Death Rate More Than Doubles - WebMD, 3/14/19 - "Overall, age-adjusted death rates for dementia increased from 30.5 deaths per 100,000 in 2000 to 66.7 in 2017 ... the new analysis of death certificate data shows that dementia was noted as the primary cause for nearly 262,000 deaths in 2017, with 46 percent of those deaths due to Alzheimer's disease"

Oral bacteria in pancreas linked to more aggressive tumors - Science Daily, 3/14/19 - "We were surprised to find oral bacteria in the pancreas, but it wasn't totally unexpected ... The bacteria we identified has already been shown in an earlier, smaller study to be higher in the saliva of patients with pancreatic cancer ... maybe we can reduce the risk of transferring oral bacteria to the pancreas by rinsing the mouth with an antibacterial agent and ensuring good oral hygiene prior to examination"

Stress hormones promote breast cancer metastasis - Science Daily, 3/13/19 - "Concentrations of the stress hormones cortisol and corticosterone were higher in mice with metastases that in those with no metastases. The scientists show that increased levels of these stress hormones activate the GR, which cause increased colonization and heterogeneity of the cancer cells -- and ultimately, shortened survival"

Green tea cuts obesity, health risks in mice - Science Daily, 3/14/19 - "Green tea cut obesity and a number of inflammatory biomarkers linked with poor health ... Mice fed a diet of 2 percent green tea extract fared far better than those that ate a diet without it ... The benefits seen in the new study, published in the Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry, appear to stem from improved gut health, including more beneficial microbes in the intestines of the mice and less permeability in the intestinal wall -- a condition typically called "leaky gut" in people ... The mice fed a high-fat diet supplemented with green tea gained about 20 percent less weight and had lower insulin resistance than mice fed an otherwise identical diet without tea ... Those mice also had less inflammation within fat tissue and the intestine. Furthermore, the green tea appeared to protect against the movement of endotoxin, the toxic bacterial component, out of their guts and into the bloodstream ... Green tea consumption in the experiment would be equivalent to about 10 cups of green tea throughout the day for a person" - See  green tea extract at Amazon.com.

Lower BP Linked to Cognitive Decline in Frail Elderly - Medscape, 3/13/19 - "For older patients undergoing treatment for hypertension, having a systolic blood pressure (SBP) lower than 130 mmHg is linked to additional cognitive decline ... Among those receiving antihypertensive therapy (1057; 83.5%) whose SBP was lower than 130 mmHg, the crude cognitive decline on the MMSE was 0.90 points, compared with 0.14 points in participants whose SBP was higher than 150 mmHg (0.76-point less decline; P for trend, .013) ... When the researchers restricted their analysis to participants with complex health problems (n = 674; 53%), the findings were similar. Compared with those with SBP lower than 130 mmHg, participants with SBP of 130 – 150 mmHg demonstrated less cognitive decline after 1 year by 0.99 points (95% confidence interval, 0.32 – 1.66 points; P = .004) on the MMSE and by 1.39 points (95% confidence interval, 0.68 - 2.11 points;P < .001) among those with SBP higher than 150 mmHg (P for trend, < .001)"

Type 2 Diabetes Ups Odds of VTE, Metformin Reduces It - Medscape. 3/8/19 - "venous thromboembolism (VTE) ... is two to three times more common in patients with type 2 diabetes, compared with people with type 1, or those without diabetes ... The wonders of metformin just go on and on. It is a wonder drug ... Aspirin reduced odds of VTE, as expected, but interestingly metformin use also reduced the odds of VTE [approximately OR 0.92"

Zinc could help as non-antibiotic treatment for UTIs - Science Daily, 3/8/19 -"UTIs are one of the most common bacterial infections worldwide with about 150 million cases each year, and can lead to serious conditions such as kidney infection and sepsis ... We confirmed by direct visualisation that cells in our immune system known as macrophages deploy zinc to clear bacterial infections ... Treatment strategies that don't use antibiotics have the advantage of bacteria not developing resistance; if we can reprogram our immune cells to make them stronger, or change the way they respond to bacteria, we would be better equipped to fight superbugs"

Better Late Than Never: Exercising Helps You Live Longer No Matter When You Start, Study Says - Time, 3/8/19 - "they asked more than 315,000 U.S. adults — between ages 50 and 71 — about their leisure-time activity at four different points in their lives: when they were 15-18 years, 19-29 years, 35-39 years and 40-61 years ... People who said they exercised anywhere from two to eight hours a week at each time period had a 29% to 36% lower risk of dying from any cause during the study’s 20-year period, compared to people who rarely or never exercised. They also lowered their risk of dying from heart disease by up to 42% and cancer by up to 14% compared to inactive people. The more people exercised, the greater their risk reductions"

An Afternoon Nap May Lower Your Blood Pressure - WebMD, 3/7/19 - "Taking a low-dose blood pressure drug, for example, can lower your level an average of 5 to 7 mm Hg, while a nap can reduce overall blood pressure an average of 5 mm Hg ... These findings are important because a drop in blood pressure as small as 2 mm Hg can reduce the risk of cardiovascular events such as heart attack by up to 10 percent"

High Testosterone Levels Bad News for the Heart - WebMD, 3/7/19 - "Men with a genetic predisposition to high testosterone levels have a nearly eightfold increased risk of heart failure and twice the risk of thromboembolism (blood clots that can block veins or arteries leading to the brain or lungs) ... Although the study focuses on men with naturally high testosterone, it has implications for aging men who are taking testosterone supplements to boost their energy levels and improve their sex drive ... Testosterone is believed to contribute to hardening of the arteries"

Could Common Germs Be Tied to Alzheimer's? - WebMD, 3/7/19 - "They found that people who had had gum disease for 10 years were 70% more likely to develop Alzheimer's. However, the study did not say that gum disease caused Alzheimer’s" - Note:  I'm all for oral hygiene but this may be the chicken or the egg.  People whose minds are slipping may also be neglecting oral hygiene.

Low-carb diet tied to common heart rhythm disorder - Science Daily, 3/6/19 - "People getting a low proportion of their daily calories from carbohydrates such as grains, fruits and starchy vegetables are significantly more likely to develop atrial fibrillation (AFib), the most common heart rhythm disorder ... People with AFib are five times more likely to have a stroke than people without the condition. It can also lead to heart failure ... Restricting carbohydrates has become a popular weight loss strategy in recent years. While there are many different low-carbohydrate diets including the ketogenic, paleo and Atkins diets, most emphasize proteins while limiting intake of sugars, grains, legumes, fruits and starchy vegetables ... Low carbohydrate diets were associated with increased risk of incident AFib regardless of the type of protein or fat used to replace the carbohydrate ... Participants reporting low carbohydrate intake were the most likely to develop AFib. These participants were 18 percent more likely to develop AFib than those with moderate carbohydrate intake and 16 percent more likely to develop AFib than those with high carbohydrate intake"

Bedtime protein for bigger gains? Here's the scoop - Science Daily, 3/6/19 - "His team put 44 healthy young men on a 12-week lifting program. Half were given a nightly pre-sleep protein shake with about 30g of casein and 15 grams of carbs, while the other half got an energy-free drink ... The training was effective -- both groups ended with a bigger squat (one rep max) and bigger quads -- but the protein-before-bed group gained significantly more muscle strength and size ... But are muscle gains boosted by pre-sleep protein per se, or just higher total intake of protein and calories? ... Just one study has attempted -- unsuccessfully -- to test this question. It showed that fat-free mass gains over 8 weeks of unaltered training in regular lifters were greater (+1.2 kg vs +0.4 kg) with a nightly casein supplement, compared to the same supplement taken in the morning. The difference was not statistically significant however, perhaps because there were only 26 participants ... In the 8-week morning vs evening casein study, the additional consumption of protein calories did not result in any increase in fat mass despite the fact that exercise volume did not change ... Supporting this, another group found in 11 young active men that a pre-sleep casein shake actually increased the rate of fat burning the following day. This might be because casein ingestion reduces the insulin response to subsequent meals, which pushes your body to use more fat ... Based on the results of these studies at least, pre-bed protein consumption, especially casein, doesn't appear to 'make you fat.' Indeed, it appears to actually increase fat metabolism" - See casein at Amazon.com.

Mediterranean diet boosts endurance exercise within days, study finds - Science Daily, 3/6/19 - "participants ran a 5K six percent faster after eating a Mediterranean diet than after eating a Western diet. Researchers found no difference between the two diets in performance in anaerobic exercise tests ... The Mediterranean diet includes whole fruits and vegetables, nuts, olive oil and whole grains, and avoids red and processed meats, dairy, trans and saturated fats and refined sugars"

Here’s How Strokes Happen When You’re as Young as Luke Perry - NYT, 3/5/19 - "The lining of an artery tears and separates from the vessel wall. A blood clot forms at the site of the tear and travels to the brain, eventually blocking the flow of blood to brain tissue ... This can happen after a sudden movement of the neck, including neck manipulation by a chiropractor or when playing sports. In some cases, Dr. Wechsler said, it has happened to people riding roller coasters ... A patent foramen ovale, or “a hole in the heart.” When a baby takes its first breath, a passageway between the left side and right side of the heart is supposed to close. In about 25 percent of people, it remains open. In some of these people, the hole can raise the odds of stroke ... Blood clots ... A heart defect or rhythm disturbance ... Clots also can form because a person has a heart rhythm disturbance such as atrial fibrillation ... Artery narrowing ... An aneurysm or an arteriovenous malformation"

Abstracts from this week:

The neuroprotective properties of carnosine in a mouse model of manganism is mediated via mitochondria regulating and antioxidative mechanisms - Nutr Neurosci. 2019 Mar 11:1-13 - "These data indicate that carnosine is a potential neuroprotective agent against Mn neurotoxicity. Antioxidative and mitochondria protecting effects of carnosine might play a fundamental role in its neuroprotective properties against Mn toxicity" - See carnosine products at Amazon.com.

Correction: Hypertension guidelines - Cleve Clin J Med. 2019 Mar;86(3):210 - ""In 2017, the American College of Physicians (ACP) and the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) recommended a relaxed systolic blood pressure target, ie, below 150 mm Hg, for adults over age 60, but a tighter goal of less than 130 mm Hg for the same age group if they have transient ischemic attack, stroke, or high cardiovascular risk.9" In fact, the ACP and AAFP recommended a tighter goal of less than 140 mm Hg for this higher-risk group. This has been corrected online"

The effects of curcumin supplementation on high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, serum adiponectin, and lipid profile in patients with type 2 diabetes: A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial - Phytother Res. 2019 Mar 12 - "Curcumin, which is a natural polyphenol found in turmeric, can be used in treatment of diabetes complications for its antidiabetic, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant properties ... Patients consumed either 1,500-mg curcumin or placebo daily for 10 weeks ... The mean serum level of TG decreased in curcumin group compared with baseline (109 ± 36 vs. 124 ± 36; p < 0.05). At the end of study, the mean concentration of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein decreased in the curcumin group compared to the control (2.9 ± 2.9 vs. 3.4 ± 4.2; p < 0.05). The mean serum concentration of adiponectin increased (64 ± 3 vs. 63 ± 4; p < 0.05) in the treatment group compared with the placebo at the end of the study. The results of the current study indicate that curcumin consumption may reduce diabetes complications through decreasing TG level as well as indicators of inflammation" - See curcumin products at Amazon.com.

Risk of Gynecomastia with Users of Proton Pump Inhibitors - Pharmacotherapy. 2019 Mar 13 - "The crude HR for PPI use compared to amoxicillin use was 1.70 (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.461-1.976). The adjusted HR for the sensitivity analysis was 1.299 (95% CI: 1.146-1.473). The adjusted HR was 1.4795 (95% CI: 1.2431-1.7609) for patients over 50 years old and 1.324 (95% CI: 1.1133-1.5745) for patients 50 years old or younger"

Nano-curcumin improves glucose indices, lipids, inflammation, and Nesfatin in overweight and obese patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD): a double-blind randomized placebo-controlled clinical trial - Nutrition & Metabolism 2019 16:8 - "We aimed to determine the effects of nano-curcumin (NC) on overweight/obese NAFLD patients by assessing glucose, lipids, inflammation, insulin resistance, and liver function indices, especially through nesfatin ... randomly divided into two equal NC (n = 42) and placebo (n = 42) groups. Interventions were two 40 mg capsules/day after meals for 3 months ... NC compared with placebo significantly increased HDL, QUICKI, and nesfatin and decreased fatty liver degree, liver transaminases, waist circumference (WC), FBS, FBI, HbA1c, TG, TC, LDL, HOMA-IR, TNF-α, hs-CRP, and IL-6 (P < 0.05). The mean changes in weight, BMI, body composition (BC), and blood pressure were not significant (P > 0.05)" - [Nutra USA] - See nano-curcumin at Amazon.com.

Leucine, Not Total Protein, Content of a Supplement Is the Primary Determinant of Muscle Protein Anabolic Responses in Healthy Older Women - J Nutr. 2018 Jul 1;148(7):1088-1095 - "Evidence suggests that this anabolic resistance can be overcome by consuming greater quantities of leucine ... whey protein isolate (WPI) ... randomly assigned with the use of a single-blind, parallel-group design to twice-daily consumption of either WPI [25 g WPI (3 g l-leucine)] or leucine (LEU; 10 g milk protein with 3 g total l-leucine) for 6 d ... A lower-protein (10 compared with 25 g/dose), leucine-matched beverage induced similar increases in acute and integrated myoPS in healthy older women. Lower-protein supplements with added leucine may represent an advantageous approach in older adults to maintain skeletal muscle anabolic sensitivity and attenuate muscle loss" - See leucine products at Amazon.com.

Effect of vitamin E supplementation on blood pressure: a systematic review and meta-analysis - J Hum Hypertens. 2019 Mar 7 - "Results of this study showed that compared to placebo, SBP decreased significantly in vitamin E group (WMD = -3.4 mmHg, 95% CI = -6.7 to -0.11, P < 0.001), with a high heterogeneity across the studies (I2 = 94.0%, P < 0.001). Overall, there were no significant effects on DBP and MAP" - Yeah, but isn't systolic and pulse pressure the main problem as people age? - See vitamin E products at Amazon.com.

Mononucleosis-related fatigue: supplementary management with Robuvit® - Minerva Pediatr. 2018 Oct;70(5):425-429: - "After 4 weeks of treatment, a significant reduction in the rate of symptoms was evident in the Robuvit® group compared to the control group ... Supplementation with Robuvit® is safe, well tolerated, and effective in controlling oxidative stress levels and improving fatigue and other symptoms related to IM episodes during the convalescence period" - [Nutra USA] - See Robuvit® at Amazon.com.

Effect of a leucine-enriched essential amino acids mixture on muscle recovery - J Phys Ther Sci. 2019 Jan;31(1):95-101 - "leucine-enriched essential amino acid mixture (LEAA) ... LEAA consumption suppressed exercise-induced elevation of muscle damage markers in blood, which suggests that LEAA could attenuate muscle damage and aid muscle recovery" - [Nutra USA] -Note:  I drink a protein mixture that includes leucine every day.  It tastes really bad.  If you can't take it, go with the capsules but then you have to take a ridiculous amount of tablets plus it's expensive doing it that way.  The casein shake I take after that gets some of the taste out of my mouth. - See leucine products at Amazon.com.

Protein supplementation improves lean body mass in physically active older adults: a randomized placebo-controlled trial - J Cachexia Sarcopenia Muscle. 2019 Mar 7 - "A randomized double-blinded controlled trial was performed among 116 physically active older adults [age 69 (interquartile range: 67-73) years, 82% male] who were training for a 4 day walking event of 30, 40, or 50 km/day. Participants were randomly allocated to either 31 g of milk protein or iso-caloric placebo supplementation for 12 weeks ... In physically active older adults with relatively low habitual dietary protein consumption, an improvement in physical performance, an increase in lean body mass, and a decrease in fat mass were observed after walking exercise training. A larger increase in relative lean body mass and larger reduction in fat mass were observed in participants receiving 12 weeks of daily protein supplementation compared with controls, whereas this was not accompanied by differences in improvements between groups in muscle strength and physical performance" - But 50 km/day is 31 miles.  At a walking speed of 3.1 miles per hour, that's 10 hours.

Metabolic effect of berberine–silymarin association: A meta‐analysis of randomized, double‐blind, placebo‐controlled clinical trials - Phytotherapy research, Jan 11, 19 - "Berberine and silymarin combination treatment exerted a positive effect on TC (mean difference [MD]: −25.3, 95% CI [−39.2, −11.4] mg/dl; p < 0.001), TG (MD: −28, 95% CI [−35.3, −20.6] mg/dl; p < 0.001), HDL‐C [MD: 6, 95% CI [3.2, 8.8] mg/dl; p < 0.001), LDL‐C (MD: −29.1, 95% CI [−39.7, −18.6] mg/dl; p < 0.001), and FPG (MD: −7.5, 95% CI [−13, −1.9] mg/dl; p = 0.008). The present findings suggest that the coadministration of berberine and silymarin is associated with an advantageous improvement in lipid and glucose profile, suggesting the possible use of this nutraceutical combination in order to promote the cardiometabolic health" - [Nutra USA] - See silymarin at Amazon.com and berberine at Amazon.com.

The Effects of Lactobacillus casei on Glycemic Response, Serum Sirtuin1 and Fetuin-A Levels in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: A Randomized Controlled Trial - ibj 2019, 23(1): 68-77 - "daily capsule containing 108 cfu of L. casei for eight weeks ... Fasting blood sugar, insulin concentration, and insulin resistance significantly decreased in probiotic group compared with placebo group (-28.32 [-50.23 to -6.41], 0.013; -3.12 [-5.90 to -0.35], 0.028; -32.31 [-55.09 to -9.54], 0.007, respectively). Moreover, HbA1c reduced after intervention, but the reduction was not significant (-0.45 [-0.96 to 0.05], 0.077). In comparison with placebo, the L. casei supplementation significantly increased SIRT1 and decreased fetuin-A levels at the end of the trial (0.52 [0.026 to 1.02], 0.040; -17.56 [-32.54 to -2.58], 0.023, respectively)" - [Nutra USA] - See probiotic products at Amazon.com.

Health Focus (Acetyl-L-Carnitine):