Recent Longevity News for the week ending 7/21/21

Coffee Won't Upset Your Heartbeat. It Might Even Calm It - WebMD, 12/9/21 - "most people can enjoy their morning joe or afternoon diet cola free from worry -- caffeine doesn't seem to increase most people's risk of arrhythmias ... In fact, results indicate that every additional cup of coffee a person drinks daily might lower their risk of arrhythmia by about 3% on average"

Common medication used to reduce cholesterol levels may reduce COVID-19 severity - Science Daily, 7/15/21 - "the use of statins or an anti-hypertension medication was associated with a 32 percent lower risk of death among COVID-19 inpatients with a history of cardiovascular disease or hypertension"

Metformin Use May Curb BCC Risk - Medscape, 7/15/21 - "In addition to general anticarcinogenic effects, metformin has also been shown to directly inhibit the sonic hedgehog pathway, a key pathway in basal cell carcinoma (BCC) pathogenesis ... Overall, metformin use was associated with a significantly lower risk of developing BCC, compared with nonuse (adjusted odds ratio, 0.71" - See metformin at ReliableRX.

Does Optimal Iron Absorption Include Vitamin C? - Medscape, 7/15/21 - "Less frequent administration of iron supplements (every other day) is as effective as more frequent administration, with less GI symptoms. Also, adding vitamin C does not appear to improve absorption of iron supplements" - See vitamin C products at Amazon.com and iHerb.com.

Stop Using Neutrogena and Aveeno Spray Sunscreen, J&J Warns - WebMD, 7/15/21 - "Consumers should stop using certain brands of spray-on sunscreen products made by Johnson & Johnson. The company has issued a voluntary recall after finding low levels of benzene, a known cancer-causing agent, in some samples"

Antibiotics in early life could affect brain development - Science Daily, 7/14/21 - "The study compared mice that were exposed to low-dose penicillin in utero or immediately after birth to those that were not exposed. They found that mice given penicillin experienced substantial changes in their intestinal microbiota and had altered gene expression in the frontal cortex and amygdala, two key areas in the brain responsible for the development of memory as well as fear and stress responses"

Compound derived from turmeric essential oil has neuroprotective properties - Science Daily, 7/14/21 - "a component derived from turmeric essential oil, aromatic turmerone (ar-turmerone), and its derivatives act directly on dopaminergic nerves to create a neuroprotective effect on tissue cultures of a Parkinson's disease model. This appears to be due to enhanced cellular antioxidant potency from the activation of Nrf2. The researchers believe that the ar-turmerone derivatives identified in this study can be used as new therapeutic agents for Parkinson's disease" - See turmeric essential oil at Amazon.com.

New study links moderate alcohol use with higher cancer risk - Science Daily, 7/14/21 - "Alcohol causes cancer in numerous ways ... The main mechanism of how alcohol causes cancer is through impairing DNA repair. Additional pathways include chronic alcohol consumption resulting in liver cirrhosis, and alcohol leading to a dysregulation of sex hormones, leading to breast cancer. Alcohol also increases the risk of head and neck cancer for smokers as it increases the absorption of carcinogens from tobacco"

Whole Grains May Lower Risk of Heart Disease in Older Adults - WebMD, 7/13/21 - "An analysis of over 3,000 middle- and older-age adults over many years found that those who ate at least three servings of whole grains daily had smaller increases in blood sugar levels, blood pressure, and waist size, compared to those who ate less than one-half serving per day ... For each 4-year interval, the researchers found that waist size increased by about one-half inch in people who had high whole-grain intake, compared to 1 inch in those who had low intake. Average increases in blood pressure and blood sugar levels were also lower in high-intake adults" -

Athletes Face Twice the Odds for A-Fib - WebMD, 7/13/21 - "Overall, athletes had about a 2.5 times higher risk of a-fib than non-athletes. But when the researchers focused on participants without heart disease risk factors (such as type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure), they found that athletes had nearly four times the risk of a-fib compared to non-athletes"

Iron Therapy May Help More Patients With Kidney Disease - Medscape, 7/12/21 - "Patients with the greatest levels of iron deficiency, with iron saturation levels of 15% or lower on the transferrin saturation index (TSAT), showed the highest risks for all-cause mortality (hazard ratio [HR], 1.44) and MACE (HR, 1.77) compared to those with iron levels of 26%-35% on the TSAT" - See iron supplements at Amazon.com and iHerb.

More Than Just a Hill of Beans: The Health Effects of Coffee - Medscape, 7/12/21 - ""The consensus around coffee has evolved over time from being concerned about increased risks of cancer and cardiovascular disease in the 1970s and '80s, to being quite confident of no overall increase in risk of noncommunicable diseases, and a good likelihood of benefit for cardiometabolic risk," he said ... As Willet and colleagues noted in a recent review paper in the New England Journal of Medicine, habitual coffee consumption (around 3 to 5 cups a day) has now been consistently linked to the prevention of several chronic conditions, acting on various organ systems as both a potent delivery system for caffeine and a dietary cornerstone with plenty of uniquely advantageous properties of its own ... Here's a look at some of the more convincing data of coffee's proposed benefits" -

• Which Coffee Maker Makes the Hottest Coffee? [SCAA-Certified] - coffeelifious.com, 1/6/21 - "No other coffee machine brews the coffee at higher temperatures, meaning that the Touch Plus coffeemaker brews the hottest coffee out there" - See Touch Essential Single Serve Coffee Brewer at Amazon.com.

Testosterone Replacement Shows CV Benefit in Hypogonadal Men - Medscape, 7/12/21 - "The latest results come from a study of 805 men with hypogonadism from Germany and Qatar who were followed for nearly a decade. For those who received parenteral testosterone 1000 mg every 12 weeks, there were improvements in classical cardiovascular risk factors, such as obesity, lipid level, and inflammatory markers, whereas among those who chose not to take testosterone (control patients), all of these factors worsened ... In addition, there were only 16 deaths among patients in the TRT group, and none of the deaths were from myocardial infarction (MI) or stroke ... In contrast, there were 74 deaths among the control patients, as well as 70 cases of MI and 59 strokes"

No Evidence Muscle Relaxers Ease Low Back Pain - WebMD, 7/9/21 - "But while the studies suggested that muscle relaxants might ease pain in the short term, "on average, the effect is probably too small to be important," said study author James McAuley. "And most patients wouldn't be able to feel any difference in their pain compared to taking a placebo, or sugar pill.""

After Metformin, Which Drug Makes the GRADE? - Medscape, 7/9/21 - "Patients treated with liraglutide and sitagliptin had more weight loss than those treated with glimepiride. All participants treated with glargine had stable weight over time ... GRADE didn't include an SGLT2 inhibitor. One of the reasons for that is that GRADE was started before SGLT2 inhibitors were even approved in the United States. This is a very long-term trial that looked at outcomes in a low-risk population over time, and we unfortunately don't have the comparison between SGLT2 inhibitors and the medications included in GRADE"

Meta-analysis Supports Cardiovascular Benefits of EPA - Medscape, 7/8/21 - "The meta-analysis of 38 randomized controlled trials found that omega-3 fatty acids improved cardiovascular outcomes, with a greater reduction in cardiovascular risk in studies of EPA alone rather than of combined eicosapentaenoic plus docosahexaenoic (DHA) supplements" - See omega-3 supplements at Amazon.com and iHerb.

Stress May Turn Hair Gray, but Calm May Reverse It - Medscape, 7/8/21 - "They developed a mathematical model to predict what might happen to human hair over time and suggest there is a point in a person's life when stress can temporarily induce loss of color, but that can be reversed if tensions ease"

Many Generic Meds Cheaper at Costco Than Medicare - Medscape, 7/7/21 - "Medicare plan participants paid more than Costco members on nearly 53% of 90-day fills in 2018. On all 30- and 90-day prescription fills, Medicare plans overpaid 43% of the time, the University of Southern California (USC) researchers found"

Characterization of the Gut-Liver-Muscle Axis in Cirrhotic Patients With Sarcopenia - Medscape, 7/6/21 - "Alterations in the gut-liver-muscle axis are associated with sarcopenia in patients with cirrhosis. Detrimental but also compensatory functions are involved in this complex network" - See probiotic supplements at Amazon.com and iHerb.

Abstracts from this week:

Whole- and Refined-Grain Consumption and Longitudinal Changes in Cardiometabolic Risk Factors in the Framingham Offspring Cohort - J Nutr 2021 Jul 13 - "whole grain (WG) ... refined grain (RG) ... waist circumference (WC) ... Greater WG intake was associated with smaller increases in WC (1.4 ± 0.2 compared with 3.0 ± 0.1 cm in the highest compared with the lowest category, respectively; P-trend < 0.001), fasting glucose concentration (0.7 ± 0.4 compared with 2.6 ± 0.2 mg/dL; P-trend < 0.001), and systolic blood pressure (SBP; 0.2 ± 0.5 compared with 1.4 ± 0.3 mm Hg; P-trend < 0.001) per 4-y interval. ... Higher intake of WG was associated with greater increases in HDL cholesterol and declines in triglyceride concentrations; however, these differences did not remain significant after adjustment for change in WC. Conversely, greater RG intake was associated with greater increases in WC (2.7 ± 0.2 compared with 1.8 ± 0.1 cm, P-trend < 0.001) and less decline in triglyceride concentration (-0.3 ± 1.3 compared with -7.0 ± 0.7 mg/dL, P-trend < 0.001)" - See Annie Chun's Brown Rice Noodle, Maifun, 8-Ounce (Pack of 6).

Nighttime ambulatory pulse pressure predicts cardiovascular and all-cause mortality among middle-aged participants in the 21-year follow-up - J Clin Hypertens (Greenwich) 2021 Jul 3 - "high ambulatory nighttime PP was detected as a long-term risk factor for CV and all-cause mortality in middle-aged individuals"

Safety of a single intra-articular injection of LBSA0103 hyaluronic acid in patients with osteoarthritis of the knee: a multicenter, single-arm, prospective, cohort study - Curr Med Res Opin 2021 Jul 15 - "LBSA0103 is a recently developed high-molecular-weight, cross-linked, non-animal hyaluronic acid (HA) ... A single intra-articular injection of LBSA0103 in patients with OA of the knee joint was safe, and no significant safety concerns were observed. As such, LBSA0103 could be safely applied as an intra-articular injection for the management of knee OA" - See hyaluronic acid at Amazon.com.

Interaction between testosterone and obesity on hypertension: A population-based cross-sectional study - Atherosclerosis 2021 Jun 24 - "Elevated levels of serum testosterone were associated with decreased BP parameters and prevalent hypertension in males, and obesity modifying effects of serum testosterone on BP parameters and hypertension"

Anxiolytic effect of chronic intake of supplemental magnesium chloride in rat - Behav Brain Res 2021 Jul 9 - "Evidence suggest that magnesium dietary supplementation has several health benefits including lowering blood pressure, reducing insulin resistance, and improving symptoms of depression, anxiety, and migraine ... Our results show that rats supplemented with magnesium had a statistically significant decrease in anxiety levels with not effects on locomotion and a statistically significant increase in concentration of magnesium in plasma and cerebrospinal fluid. However, the anxiolytic effect of magnesium supplementation washes-out in 12 days" - See magnesium supplements at Amazon.com.

Strawberry fruit (Fragaria x ananassa Romina) juice attenuates oxidative imbalance with concomitant modulation of metabolic indices linked to male infertility in testicular oxidative injury - Andrologia 2021 Jul 13 - "High-performance liquid chromatography analysis of SFE revealed the presence of rutin, caffeic acid, p-coumarin and cinnamic acid. These data imply the protective potentials of strawberry fruits against testicular oxidative injury" - See strawberry powder at Amazon.com.

The effect of Quercetin on the quality of sperm parameters in frozen-thawed semen of patients with Asthenospermia - Andrologia 2021 Jul 5 - "The mean percentage of total motility and progressive motility, normal morphology, viability and antioxidant enzyme activity had significant increase in the Quercetin group than the control group. In the Quercetin group, the MDA level and DNA damage also had significant reduction in comparison with the control group (p ≤ 0.001). Therefore, the Quercetin supplementation improves the quality of cryopreserved human semen" - See quercetin at Amazon.com and iHerb.

Association between egg consumption and arterial stiffness: a longitudinal study - Nutr J 2021 Jul 13 - "In this large-scale longitudinal analysis, we did not find a significant difference in arterial stiffness, as assessed by baPWV level, between low and high egg consumption groups. However, moderate egg consumption (3-3.9 eggs/wk) appeared to have beneficial effects on arterial stiffness"

COVID-19: Up to 82% critically ill patients had low Vitamin C values - Nutr J 2021 Jul 9 - "There are limited proven therapeutic options for the prevention and treatment of COVID-19. We underwent an observational study with the aim of measure plasma vitamin C levels in a population of critically ill COVID-19 adult patients who met ARDS criteria according to the Berlin definition. This epidemiological study brings to light that up to 82% had low Vitamin C values. Notwithstanding the limitation that this is a single-center study, it nevertheless shows an important issue. Given the potential role of vitamin C in sepsis and ARDS, there is gathering interest of whether supplementation could be beneficial in COVID-19" - See vitamin C products at Amazon.com and iHerb.com.

Statin use and mortality in COVID-19 patients: Updated systematic review and meta-analysis - Atherosclerosis 2021 Jun 25 - "This meta-analysis of retrospective observational studies showed that statin therapy was associated with an about 35% decrease in the adjusted risk of mortality in hospitalized COVID-19 patients"

Omega-3 fatty acids in adipose tissue and risk of atrial fibrillation - Eur J Clin Invest 2021 Jul 7 - "Participants in the highest vs. the lowest quintile of EPA experienced a 45% lower risk of AF (men HR 0.55 (95% CI 0.41-0.69); women HR 0.55 (0.41-0.72)). For DHA, no clear association was found in men, whereas in women, participants in the highest quintile of DHA in adipose tissue had a 30% lower risk of incident AF (HR 0.70 (0.54-0.91)) compared to participants in the lowest quintile" - See omega-3 supplements at Amazon.com and iHerb.

Effects of melatonin supplementation on diabetes: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials - Clin Nutr 2021 Jun 16 - "Our results showed that melatonin supplementation was useful for reducing diabetes parameters when compared to placebo" - See melatonin at Amazon.com and iHerb.

Association between plasma S-adenosylmethionine and risk of mortality in patients with coronary artery disease: A cohort study - Am J Clin Nutr 2021 Jun 30 - "Our data show a significant inverse relation between plasma SAM and risk of mortality in patients with CAD after adjustment for homocysteine, SAH, and other cardiovascular disease risk factors" - See SAM-e at Amazon.com and iHerb.

The effects of dietary nitrate supplementation on endurance exercise performance and cardiorespiratory measures in healthy adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis - J Int Soc Sports Nutr 2021 Jul 9 - "The available evidence suggests that dietary nitrate supplementation benefits performance-related outcomes for endurance sports" - See nitric oxide at Amazon.com.

• 5 Ways to Increase Nitric Oxide Naturally - healthline.com - "Eat Vegetables High in Nitrates"

Increasing Nitrate-Rich Vegetable Intake Lowers Ambulatory Blood Pressure in (pre)Hypertensive Middle-Aged and Older Adults: A 12-Wk Randomized Controlled Trial - J Nutr 2021 Jun 3 - "A prolonged dietary intervention focusing on high-nitrate vegetable intake is an effective strategy to lower SBP in (pre)hypertensive middle-aged and older adults" -

Alpha-Tocopherol Protects Human Dermal Fibroblasts by Modulating Nitric Oxide Release, Mitochondrial Function, Redox Status, and Inflammation - Skin Pharmacol Physiol 2021 Jul 8 - "human dermal fibroblasts (HDF) ... α-Tocopherol exerts protective effects in HDF which underwent oxidative stress by modulating the redox status, inflammation, iNOS-dependent NO release, and mitochondrial function. These observations have a potential role in the prevention and treatment of photoaging-related skin cancers" - See vitamin E at Amazon.com and iHerb.

Nicotinamide mononucleotide supplementation enhances aerobic capacity in amateur runners: a randomized, double-blind study - See nicotinamide mononucleotide at Amazon.com - J Int Soc Sports Nutr 2021 Jul 8 - "Recent studies in rodents indicate that a combination of exercise training and supplementation with nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+) precursors has synergistic effects. However, there are currently no human clinical trials analyzing this ... This study investigates the effects of a combination of exercise training and supplementation with nicotinamide mononucleotide (NMN), the immediate precursor of NAD+, on cardiovascular fitness in healthy amateur runners ... The participants were randomized into four groups: the low dosage group (300 mg/day NMN), the medium dosage group (600 mg/day NMN), the high dosage group (1200 mg/day NMN), and the control group (placebo) ... NMN increases the aerobic capacity of humans during exercise training, and the improvement is likely the result of enhanced O2 utilization of the skeletal muscle" - See nicotinamide mononucleotide at Amazon.com.

• NMN and NR: How These NAD+ Precursors Measure Up - elysiumhealth.com - "NMN is a precursor to NAD+, or nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide, meaning it becomes NAD+ through a series of chemical transformations ... However, NMN is like a large bed that movers are trying to get through a door: It doesn’t enter the cell easily. One way for NMN to enter the cell is for it to chemically transform into another molecule (called nicotinamide riboside, or NR) before it can enter the cell. NR has earned a name for itself as a highly efficient precursor to NAD+ and can enter the cell as is. NMN, meanwhile, sometimes becomes NR before entering the cell, where it chemically transforms back to NMN and then ultimately becomes NAD+"
• What’s the Difference Between NAD+ and NADH? - Elysiumhealth.com - "When NAD+ is converted to NADH, it gains two things: First, a charged hydrogen molecule (H+) and next, two electrons. As electrons are negatively charged, the combination of the positively charged NAD+ and H+, coupled with two electrons, effectively cancel each other out and neutralize the resulting NADH molecule. This is why NADH does not have a "+" sign next to it. The charge of a molecule informs how it interacts with other molecules. For example, NADH can’t do what NAD+ does, and vice versa."

Effectiveness of Curcuma longa extract versus placebo for the treatment of knee osteoarthritis: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials - Phytother Res 2021 Jul 2 - "The pooled analysis showed that Curcuma longa extract was associated with significantly better pain relief and functional improvement compared with placebo for knee OA ... Current evidence indicates that, compared with placebo, Curcuma longa extract has more benefit in pain relief and functional improvement for symptomatic knee OA" - See curcumin at Amazon.com and iHerb.

Aging, cardiovascular risk and SHBG levels in men and women from the general population - J Clin Endocrinol Metab 2021 Jul 1 - "Among men, a linear increase in SHBG levels with age and among women a U-shaped pattern was observed. Participants with larger number of cardiovascular risk factors had lower SHBG levels. When stratified by age, older participants had higher SHBG levels. A multivariate model including total testosterone and triglyceride levels in men and total testosterone, triglycerides, BMI, and fasting insulin in women explained, respectively, 46.2% and 31.8% of the variance in SHBG levels" -

Comparing cardiovascular benefits between GLP-1 receptor agonists and SGLT2 inhibitors as an add-on to metformin among patients with type 2 diabetes: A retrospective cohort study - J Diabetes Complications 2021 Jun 11 - "significantly lower CHF risks (HR: 0.47, 95% CI: 0.28-0.79) and cardiovascular composite (HR: 0.67, 95% CI: 0.47-0.97) were observed in SGLT2i users compared with GLP-1RA users, among individuals with established cardiovascular diseases ... Results suggest greater cardioprotective benefit from SGLT2i compared to GLP-1RA when used for secondary prevention among adults with T2D"

Effects of empagliflozin on lipoprotein subfractions in patients with type 2 diabetes: data from a randomized, placebo-controlled study - Atherosclerosis 2021 Jun 25 - "Empagliflozin treatment of patients with T2D increased LDL-C and LDL apolipoprotein B levels but had no effect on calculated LDL particle size"

The Effect of Dapagliflozin on Albuminuria in DECLARE-TIMI 58 - Diabetes Care 2021 Jul 7 - "Urinary albumin-to-creatinine ratio (UACR) ... dapagliflozin demonstrated a favorable effect on UACR and renal-specific outcome across baseline UACR categories, including patients with normal albumin excretion. The results suggest a role for SGLT2i also in the primary prevention of diabetic kidney disease" - See dapagliflozin at reliablerxpharmacy.com.

Health Focus (Apolipoprotein A-I (ApoA-I)):