Recent Longevity News for the week ending 10/14/20

DO Stigma Had Been Dissipating, Then Came Trump's DO - Medscape, 10/9/20 - "Although osteopathic doctors take a different licensing exam, the curriculum for their medical training — four years of osteopathic medical school — is converging with M.D. training as holistic and preventive medicine becomes more mainstream. And starting this year, both M.D.s and D.O.s were placed into one accreditation pool to compete for the same residency training slots ... But two major principles guiding osteopathic medical curriculum distinguish it from the more well-known medical school route: the 200-plus hours of training on the musculoskeletal system and the holistic look at medicine as a discipline that serves the mind, body and spirit ... There are plenty of things you can criticize him for, but being a D.O. isn't one of them" - Note: That's probably why I don't get along with M.D.'s, they throw something at the disease, and don't worry about the consequences or your health for the rest of your life. 'Hey, I threw T4 at your TSH and got it to the proper number, who cares about T3 and whether T4 will shorten your lifespan kind of thing.

'Love Hormone' Could Hold Key to Treating COVID - WebMD, 10/9/20 - "All of these factors indicate that oxytocin may have potential as a targeted treatment for cytokine storms in COVID-19 patients" - See oxytocin at Amazon.com.

The ‘Evidence Is Clear': Hydroxychloroquine Doesn't Help COVID-19 Patients - NBC, 10/9/20 - "The study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, examined the outcomes of 1,561 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 who received hydroxychloroquine and compared them to 3,155 patients who served as a control group ... Within a month, about a quarter of the patients in each group had died ... "The scientific evidence is clear," said Dr. Caleb Alexander, a professor of epidemiology and medicine at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. "There is no convincing evidence of its effectiveness for treating COVID.""

• Hydroxychloroquine does not counter SARS-CoV-2 in hamsters, high dose of favipiravir does: study - Science Daily, 10/9/20

Cannabis use appears to encourage, not replace, non-medical opioid use - Science Daily, 10/8/20 - "The study, which compared the probability of non-medical opioid use on days when cannabis was used with days when cannabis was not used, included 13,271 days of observation among 211 participants from the greater New York area ... Our results suggest that cannabis seldom serves as a substitute for non-medical opioids among opioid-using adults, even among those who report experiencing moderate or more severe pain ... In other words, our study suggests that cannabis is not an effective way to limit non-medical opioid use"

A New Study Confirms Remdesivir's Effectiveness as a Coronavirus Treatment - Time, 10/8/20 - "In the final analysis, which included 1,062 people who were randomly assigned to receive IV remdesivir or a placebo for up to 10 days while in the hospital, the researchers provide more detailed data on how the drug affected metrics including how long people needed to be given supplemental oxygen or put on ventilators. All of the participants showed evidence of respiratory infection, mostly pneumonia, and 85% were considered to have severe disease, which meant that they had at least one of three symptoms: their blood oxygen levels were below 94% while breathing room air; they required supplemental oxygen; or they needed a ventilator to breathe. Among all the participants—both with severe COVID-19 and with more mild symptoms—those given remdesivir were able to be discharged from the hospital on average five days sooner than those receiving placebo."

Lower Plasma Zinc Levels Associated With Increased Risk of Death in COVID-19 Patients - Medscape, 10/8/20 - "Mean baseline zinc levels among the study cohort of 249 patients was 61 mcg/dl. Among those who died (n=21, 8%), baseline zinc levels were significantly lower at 43mcg/dl vs 63.1mcg/dl in survivors ... Having a plasma zinc level lower than 50mcg/dl at admission was associated with a 2.3 times increased risk of in-hospital death (95% CI 1.06-5.01; P=0.034) compared with the patients with a plasma zinc level of 50mcg/dl or higher ... Higher zinc levels were associated with lower maximum levels of interleukin-6 during the period of active infection" - See Jarrow Zinc Balance at Amazon.com and iHerb.

Metformin Linked to Reduced Cognitive Decline, Dementia Risk - Medscape, 10/7/20 - "Over the 6 years of evaluation, the incidence of dementia among people with diabetes treated with metformin was 6% (four patients) versus 14.5% (eight patients) in those not treated with metformin and 8.2% (73 patients) among those with no diabetes ... The reduction in the incident dementia risk with metformin use compared with participants with diabetes not receiving metformin was 81% (HR, 0.19; P = .03) after adjusting for factors including age, sex, body mass index, heart disease, diabetes, stroke, hypertension, systolic blood pressure, smoking, non-English speaking, and APOEe4 genotype" - See metformin at ReliableRX.

EMPEROR-Reduced: Empagliflozin's HFrEF Benefit Holds Steady on Top of Sacubitril/Valsartan - Medscape, 10/7/20 - "When there are two very effective treatments, it's common for people to ask: Which should I use?' The goal of my presentation was to emphasize that the answer is both. We shouldn't choose between neprilysin inhibition [sacubitril inhibits the enzyme neprilysin] and SGLT2 [sodium-glucose transporter 2] inhibition; we should use both"

Benefit of the Common Cold? It May Prevent COVID - WebMD, 10/5/20 - "The study authors compared blood samples from 26 people who were recovering from mild to moderate COVID-19 and 21 healthy people whose samples were collected six to 10 years ago, long before they could have been exposed to COVID-19. ... They found that B cells that attacked previous cold-causing coronaviruses appeared to also recognize the coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) that causes COVID-19 ... This could mean that anyone who's ever been infected by a common cold coronavirus -- nearly everyone -- may have some amount of immunity to COVID-19 ... Because memory B cells can survive for decades, they could protect COVID-19 survivors from subsequent infections for a long time"

Pot Users Need More Anesthesia, Painkillers: Study - WebMD, 10/7/20 - "Users of cannabis products who had surgery for a broken leg required higher doses of sevoflurane, an inhaled anesthetic that keeps you asleep during a procedure. These folks also required nearly 60% more opioid painkillers per day while recuperating in the hospita ... marijuana users who have heart or lung health issues might face some danger in the operating room, depending on how much additional anesthetic they need during surgery ... Sevoflurane has a very clear dose-dependent effect on blood pressure ... The more sevoflurane you receive in the OR, the more a patient's blood pressure drops. If you have heart problems or lung problems coming into the OR, it could be dangerous"

Cannabinoids associated with negative respiratory health effects in older adults with COPD - Science Daily, 9/30/20 - "The study analyzed the health data of over 4,000 individuals in Ontario ages 66 years and older with COPD from 2006 to 2016 ... Compared to non-users, new higher-dose cannabinoid users had a 178 per cent relative increase in hospitalizations for COPD or pneumonia, and a 231 per cent relative increase in all-cause death"

WH Update: ‘Fatigued’ Trump Took Regeneron’s Coronavirus Antibody Cocktail, Which Is Still in Testing Phase - CNS, 10/2/20 - "According to the “update from President @RealDonaldTrump’s physician,” Trump “received a single 8 gram dose of Regeneron's polyclonal antibody cocktail.” The president has also been taking zinc, vitamin D, famotidine, melatonin and a daily aspirin" - Hmm!  No hydroxychloroquine?  I'm shocked.  Yes, I'm being factitious.  Famotidine is the generic name for Pepcid, an antacid.

Can the common cold help protect you from COVID-19? - Science Daily, 9/29/20 - "The study, published in mBio, is the first to show that the COVID-19-causing virus, SARS-CoV-2, induces memory B cells, long-lived immune cells that detect pathogens, create antibodies to destroy them and remember them for the future. The next time that pathogen tries to enter the body, those memory B cells can hop into action even faster to clear the infection before it starts ... Because memory B cells can survive for decades, they could protect COVID-19 survivors from subsequent infections for a long time ... The study is also the first to report cross-reactivity of memory B cells -- meaning B cells that once attacked cold-causing coronaviruses appeared to also recognize SARS-CoV-2. Study authors believe this could mean that anyone who has been infected by a common coronavirus -- which is nearly everyone -- may have some degree of pre-existing immunity to COVID-19"

Time-Restricted Eating Shows No Weight Loss Benefit in RCT - Medscape, 10/1/20 - "At baseline, participants had a mean weight of 99.2 kg (approximately 219 lb). Their mean age was 46.5 years and 60.3% were men. They were drawn from anywhere in the United States and received study surveys through a custom mobile study application (app) on the Eureka Research Platform. They were given a Bluetooth weight scale to use daily, which was connected with the app, and randomized to one of the two interventions. A subset of 50 participants living near San Francisco underwent in-person testing ... At the end of the 12 weeks, those in the time-restricted eating group (n = 59) did have a significant decrease in weight compared with baseline (−0.94 kg; P = .01), while weight loss in the consistent meal group (n = 57) was not significant (−0.68 kg; P = .07) ... But importantly, the difference in weight loss between the groups was not significant" - [NYT] - Note:  You watch.  It will be like the fish oil studies where they said for years that it was great for heart disease.  Then someone came out with a study saying it was worthless so everyone believed that study.  Now they're saying again that fish oil is great for heart disease.

Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine Seems Safe and Working in Older Adults - ENewsTrends, YouTube, 9/30/20 - Now they're they're saying that it does induce sufficient t-cells.

Moderna and Pfizer Vaccine Trial Participants Confirmed Serious Side Effects - ENewsTrends, YouTube, 10/7/20

Abstracts from this week:

Vitamin K metabolism as the potential missing link between lung damage and thromboembolism in Covid-19 - Br J Nutr 2020 Oct 7;1-25 - "Coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19), caused by SARS-CoV-2, exerts far-reaching effects on public health and socioeconomic welfare. The majority of infected individuals have mild to moderate symptoms but a significant proportion develops respiratory failure due to pneumonia. Thrombosis is another frequent manifestation of Covid-19 that contributes to poor outcomes. Vitamin K plays a crucial role in activation of both pro- and anticlotting factors in the liver, and the activation of extrahepatically synthesised protein S which seems to be important in local thrombosis prevention. However, the role of vitamin K extends beyond coagulation. Matrix Gla protein (MGP) is a vitamin K-dependent inhibitor of soft tissue calcification and elastic fibre degradation. Severe extrahepatic vitamin K insufficiency was recently demonstrated in Covid-19 patients, with high inactive MGP levels correlating with elastic fibre degradation rates. This suggests that insufficient vitamin K-dependent MGP activation leaves elastic fibres unprotected against SARS-CoV-2 induced proteolysis. In contrast to MGP, Covid-19 patients have normal levels of activated factor II, in line with previous observations that vitamin K is preferentially transported to the liver for activation of procoagulant factors. We therefore expect that vitamin K-dependent endothelial protein S activation is also compromised, which would be compatible with enhanced thrombogenicity. Taking these data together, we propose a mechanism of pneumonia-induced vitamin K depletion, leading to a decrease in activated MGP and protein S, aggravating pulmonary damage and coagulopathy, respectively" - [Nutra USA] - See vitamin k2 at Amazon.com and iHerb.

Intratrial Exposure to Vitamin D and New-Onset Diabetes Among Adults With Prediabetes: A Secondary Analysis From the Vitamin D and Type 2 Diabetes (D2d) Study - Diabetes Care 2020 Oct 5 - "The hazard ratio for diabetes for an increase of 25 nmol/L in intratrial 25(OH)D level was 0.75 (95% CI 0.68-0.82) among those assigned to vitamin D and 0.90 (0.80-1.02) among those assigned to placebo. The hazard ratios for diabetes among participants treated with vitamin D who maintained intratrial 25(OH)D levels of 100-124 and ≥125 nmol/L were 0.48 (0.29-0.80) and 0.29 (0.17-0.50), respectively, compared with those who maintained a level of 50-74 nmol/L" - See vitamin D at Amazon.com and vitamin D at iHerb.

Vitamin B6, vitamin B12 and methionine and risk of pancreatic cancer: a meta-analysis - Nutr J 2020 Oct 4 - "Our study suggests that high intake of vitamin B6 and high concentration of blood PLP levels may be protective against the development of pancreatic cancer" - See vitamin B6 at Amazon.com.

Licorice flavonoid oil supplementation promotes a reduction of visceral fat in exercised rats - J Sports Med Phys Fitness 2020 Oct 1 - "Exercise or licorice flavonoid oil supplementation resulted in the reduction of the visceral fat mass and adipocyte size, respectively. In addition, exercise combined with licorice flavonoid oil supplementation more effectively decreased both of these measures. Exercise alone increased the β-hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydrogenase (β-HAD) and citrate synthase (CS) activities from the soleus and plantaris muscles, and licorice flavonoid oil supplementation alone increased the hepatic carnitine palmitoyl transferase-2 (CPT-2) activity. Furthermore, the combination of exercise and licorice flavonoid oil supplementation enhanced the both muscular β-HAD and CS activities, and hepatic CPT-2 activity" - See licorice supplements at Amazon.com and iHerb.

• The strange case of the man who died after eating too much licorice - CNN, 9/25/20 - "Doctors wrote that he had "a poor diet, consisting primarily of several packages of candy daily," and that three weeks before, he switched from eating fruit-flavored soft candy to licorice candy, which contained glycyrrhizic acid ... Glycyrrhizic acid, or glycyrrhizin, a sweetening compound derived from licorice root, can cause a drop in potassium levels in the body, which in turn may cause high blood pressure, swelling, abnormal heart rhythms and even heart failure, according to the FDA ... While black licorice is safe in small quantities, it can be dangerous when consumed in large amounts or even in more moderate amounts on a regular basis"

Fish oil supplementation reduces osteoarthritis-specific pain in older adults with overweight/obesity - Rheumatol Adv Pract 2020 Jul 2 - "A 16-week randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, 2 × 2 factorial design supplementation trial with fish oil (2000 mg/day docosahexaenoic acid + 400 mg/day eicosapentaenoic acid), curcumin (160 mg/day) or a combination of both was undertaken in sedentary overweight/obese older adults ... Fish oil significantly reduced OA-specific pain (P = 0.002, Cohen’s d = 0.56) and burden (P = 0.015, Cohen’s d = 0.45) compared with no fish oil treatment; reductions were correlated with improvements in microvascular function and well-being. Curcumin, alone or in combination with fish oil, did not reduce pain measures" - [Nutra USA] - See omega-3 supplements at Amazon.com and iHerb.

Supplement with whey protein hydrolysate in contrast to carbohydrate supports mitochondrial adaptations in trained runners - J Int Soc Sports Nutr 2020 Sep 7 - "Intake of whey PRO hydrolysate before and whey PRO hydrolysate plus CHO after each exercise session during a six-week endurance training period may augment training effects on specific mitochondrial proteins compared to intake of iso-caloric CHO but does not alter VO2max or 6 K TT performance" - [Nutra USA] - See whey protein at Amazon.com and iHerb.

Neat Tech Stuff / "How To's":

I just started the online version but I'm still in the process of adding all the products.  See https://qualitycounts-com.myshopify.com/collections/all .  I'm adding all the products shown on: https://qualitycounts.com/tshirt/ .

My t-shirt design of the week. Bella+Canvas 6004, 4.2 oz. cotton, $17 delivered.  Same design available with Hanes (5.2 oz cotton) and Gildan (5.3 oz cotton).  Hanes and Gildan are $16 delivered.  I haven't seen a short sleeve brand higher than 5.3 oz.  Hanes and Comfort Colors have 6.1 oz. cotton in men's long-sleeve and only Gildan has a women's long sleeve but it's 5.3 oz. cotton.  Hanes and Comfort Colors is 100% ringspun cotton.  I think Gildan is carded open end cotton because they don't say.  Bella+Canvas claims their cotton is 100% combed ringspun cotton, Airlume and has 20% of the impurities removed which they claim is better than non-combed ringspun (https://youtu.be/rQivpKEG73k/https://youtu.be/j3BvRCNoHG4).  Carded open end cotton is the lowest grade.  Personally, I prefer the heavier 5.3 or 6.1 oz cotton over the higher quality Bella+Canvas 4.2 oz.  Most t-shirt ads won't even tell you the weight of the cotton and sell you the 4.2 ounce ringspun at best.  I'm betting it's 4.2 oz. carded open end cotton.  I bought a 'Big Bad John' McCain t-shirt once and it was so flimsy that I threw it away.  All my t-shirts are available in most major colors, most major brands and in long and short sleeve.  I can email you a mockup.  To order: https://qualitycounts.com/tshirt/.

Don't see what you want? Go to https://crella.net/ and select something and tell me how you want it personalized.

Health Focus (Head & Neck Cancer):