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Recent Longevity News for the week ending 10/12/22

Every 2,000 steps a day could help keep premature death at bay - Washington Post, 10/4/22 - "For every 2,000 steps you take each day, your risk for premature death may fall by 8 to 11 percent, according to research published in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine"

Could Vitamin C Help Reduce Gout? - Medscape, 10/6/22 - "In addition to lowering levels of uric acid in the body, it's thought that vitamin C may also minimize the inflammatory response to urate crystals ... But the jury is still out as to whether vitamin C will have any real benefits. Study co-author Robert H. Shmerling, MD, is the former clinical chief of the Division of Rheumatology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in New York. He says the study shows that the effect of vitamin C in those undiagnosed with gout was rather modest. Also, vitamin C did not show a reduction in gout flare-ups in those who were already diagnosed with the condition. Not to mention that the study lacked diversity, as the people in it were all male and mostly white. Still, there's little downside risk to taking vitamin C, and it might end up being worthwhile." - See vitamin C products at Amazon.com.

Worsening HFpEF Linked With Low T3/T4 Ratio - Medscape, 10/6/22 - "Among those whose ratio of free triiodothyronine (FT3) to free thyroxine (FT4) was in the lowest tertile, there was a significantly increased rate of a composite of urgent heart failure (HF) visits involving diuretic intensification, HF hospitalization, or cardiovascular death compared with those whose ratios were in the higher tertiles" - Note: I seen other studies to support this but I doubt if doctors are current on it. Getting a prescription that includes T3 is like trying to get a prescription for cocaine.

DELIVER May Demystify Med Therapy in Heart Failure With Improved LVEF - Medscape, 10/6/22 - "As recently reported, DELIVER entered HF patients with an LVEF greater than 40%, that is, HF with either mildly reduced or preserved ejection fraction (HFmrEF or HFpEF, respectively). Those assigned to dapagliflozin (Farxiga) vs placebo over 2 years overall showed an 18% drop (P = .0008) in risk for the primary endpoint, worsening HF or cardiovascular (CV) death ... The new analysis centered on the 18% of patients in the trial with an initial LVEF greater than 40%, per entry criteria, but who previously were symptomatic with an LVEF of 40% or lower, that is, HF with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) ... Their ostensible dapagliflozin benefit was comparable as well; they showed a significant 26% decrease in risk for worsening HF or CV death compared to the control group ... The HFimpEF patients in DELIVER benefited significantly from dapagliflozin for both the composite primary endpoint and the CV-death component, for which the risk reduction reached a significant 38%" - See dapagliflozin at reliablerxpharmacy.com.

Higher Levels of Omega-3 Linked to Better Brain Health in Midlife - Medscape, 10/5/22 - "Results showed that every SDU increase of log-transformed omega-3 index was related to 0.003 cm3 larger hippocampal volume relative to intracranial volume (P = .04). Similar results were obtained for DHA or EPA concentrations individually ... There was a threshold effect for DHA levels and the Omega-3 index in which participants in the top three quartile levels had larger hippocampal volumes compared with those in the bottom quartile ... Regarding cognition, the researchers found higher levels of all omega-3 predictors were associated with better abstract reasoning. For the omega-3 index, the SDU was 0.17 ... These results were surprising because study participants were deemed to have normal cognition" - See omega-3 supplements at Amazon.com.

Folic Acid Tied to a Reduction in Suicide Attempts - Medscape, 10/4/22 - "After adjusting for age, sex, diagnoses related to suicidal behavior and folic acid deficiency, history of folate-reducing medications, and history of suicidal events, the estimated hazard ratio (HR) for suicide events when taking folic acid was 0.56 (95% CI, 0.48 to 0.65) — which indicates a 44% reduction in suicide events" - See folic acid products at Amazon.com.

The Hunt for N-Acetylcysteine: Medicine or Dietary Supplement? - Medscape, 10/4/22 - "while the FDA investigation continues, the agency will essentially look the other way ... It's a win for the consumer who wants the supplement, and a half-win for the supplement manufacturers and their advocacy organizations who would like NAC to be an official dietary supplement. But just to be clear, the issue is one of a technicality: If NAC had been marketed as a supplement before it was a drug, it would just be a dietary supplement without all the controversy and scrutiny. It was not pulled because of a clinical concern" - See n-acetyl cysteine at Amazon.com.

Coffee vs. tea: Which beverage will claim the title for healthiest drink? - Washington Post, 10/4/22 - "In this battle over health benefits, coffee comes out on top. Coffee drinkers can raise a mug to fiber, microbiome health and lowering risk for cancer and diabetes. But tea drinkers, do not despair. Tea is undoubtedly good for your blood pressure, cholesterol, stress levels, mental health and productivity. And both drinks are winners when it comes to heart health and longevity. And for tea, especially, there are likely more health benefits that are yet to be discovered."

Abstracts from this week:

The Preventive Effects of Naringin and Naringenin against Paclitaxel-Induced Nephrotoxicity and Cardiotoxicity in Male Wistar Rats - Evid Based Complement Alternat Med 2022 Sep 30 - "This study assessed the preventive properties of naringin and naringenin on paclitaxel-induced nephrotoxicity and cardiotoxicity in adult male Wistar rats. Intraperitoneal injection of paclitaxel 2 mg/kg body weight, two days/week on the 2nd and 5th days of each week, with or without oral administration of naringin and/or naringenin 10 mg/kg body weight every other day, was continued for six weeks. Treatment of rats with naringin and/or naringenin significantly reversed elevated serum creatinine, urea, and uric acid levels caused by paclitaxel, reflecting improved kidney function. Similarly, heart dysfunction induced by paclitaxel was alleviated after treatment with naringin and/or naringenin, as evidenced by significant decreases in elevated CK-MB and LDH activities. After drug administration, histopathological findings and lesion scores in the kidneys and heart were markedly decreased by naringin and/or naringenin. Moreover, the treatments reversed renal and cardiac lipid peroxidation and the negative impacts on antioxidant defenses via raising GSH, SOD, and GPx. The preventive effects of naringin and naringenin were associated with suppressing oxidative stress and reestablishing antioxidant defenses. A combination of naringin and naringenin was the most efficacious in rescuing organ function and structure" - See naringin at Amazon.com and naringenin at Amazon.com.

Cordyceps militaris Carotenoids Protect Human Retinal Endothelial Cells against the Oxidative Injury and Apoptosis Resulting from H2O2 - Evid Based Complement Alternat Med 2022 Sep 30 - "Vision loss is primarily caused by age-related macular degeneration (AMD) due to oxidative retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cell injury. Carotenoid utilization is deemed a possible strategy for treating AMD. Cordyceps militaris has advantages like immunomodulatory, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidative characteristics ... The findings demonstrated that CMCT safeguarded the ARPE-19 cells against the damage and apoptosis caused by H2O2 and oxidative stress via Bcl-2 protein upregulation, as well as the expression of Bax and cleaved caspase-3 protein. In addition, CMCT treatment increased cell survival and restricted the generation of H2O2-induced reactive oxygen species (ROS) and the protein expression of NADPH oxidase-1 (NOX1). Additionally, the CMCT treatment of H2O2-induced ARPE-19 cells ameliorated high malondialdehyde (MDA) levels in oxidative stress-induced cells. The catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD), and glutathione peroxidase (GSH) returned to standard levels, which were governed by the higher expression of nuclear Nrf2 protein in the ARPE-19 cells. Moreover, this study showed that CMCT safeguarded the ARPE-19 cells against the damage caused by oxidative stress via its antioxidant activity and antiapoptotic functionality, suggesting the potential therapeutic role of CMCT in AMD prevention and mitigation" - See cordyceps militaris at Amazon.com.

Metformin mitigates cholesterol accumulation via the AMPK/SIRT1 pathway to protect osteoarthritis chondrocytes - Biochem Biophys Res Commun 2022 Sep 29 - "metformin activated AMPK and SIRT1, mediated by the activation of SREBP-2 and HMGCR in OA chondrocytes. Inhibiting AMPK/SIRT1 activity by its specific inhibitor could suppress IL-1β-induced expression of LXRα, ABCA1 and ApoA1 and cholesterol efflux. Thus, metformin inhibits cholesterol synthesis and promotes cholesterol efflux by activating the AMPK/SIRT1 pathway in OA chondrocytes. This study improves our understanding of the effect of metformin on cholesterol accumulation in OA chondrocytes" - See metformin at ReliableRX.

The role of dietary carotenoids in preventing the development of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma - Int J Vitam Nutr Res 2022 Oct 6 - "In comparison of the highest with lowest intake quartiles, intake of total carotene (OR: 0.70, 95% CI: 0.52-0.96, Ptrend: 0.024), α-carotene (OR: 0.62, 95% CI: 0.46-0.83, Ptrend: 0.014), β-carotene (OR: 0.63, 95% CI: 0.46-0.86, P-trend: 0.005), and the sum of lutein and zeaxanthin (OR: 0.41, 95% CI: 0.29-0.56, Ptrend<0.001) was significantly associated with a decreased risk of ESCC after adjustment for confounders" - See mixed carotenoids at Amazon.com.

The effects of fenugreek seed extract supplementation in patients with Alzheimer's disease: A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial - Phytother Res 2022 Oct 5 - "The aim of the current randomized control trial (RCT) study was to investigate the effects of fenugreek seed extract on memory, depression, quality of life, blood pressure, and serum malondialdehyde (MDA) and total antioxidant capacity (TAC) levels in adult AD patients ... There was a significant increase in serum levels of TAC (p < 0.001) and a reduction in serum MDA status (p < 0.001) after 4 months of fenugreek seed extract supplementation. In addition, increasing levels of memory (p < 0.001) and quality of life (p < 0.001), as well as reduction of depression (p = 0.002), systolic BP (p < 0.001), and diastolic BP (p < 0.001) levels were detected in the intervention group compared with baseline. Fenugreek seed extract supplementation in AD patients shows promising positive effects on memory, quality of life, BP, and selective oxidative indices levels" - See fenugreek at Amazon.com.

Quercetin ameliorates memory impairment by inhibiting abnormal microglial activation in a mouse model of paradoxical sleep deprivation - Biochem Biophys Res Commun 2022 Sep 27 - "Paradoxical sleep deprivation (PSD) is prevalent in modern society, and impaired memory is one of its serious consequences. The pathogenic mechanism is still unclear, and the therapeutic strategies for PSD are limited. Here, we found that quercetin treatment ameliorated memory impairments caused by PSD in a dose-dependent manner in an animal model ... Our results provided experimental evidence for the therapeutic effects of quercetin on PSD-related memory impairments by suppressing TLR4/MyD88/NF-κB signaling that mediated abnormal microglia activation in the hippocampus" - See quercetin at Amazon.com.

The role of metformin as a treatment for neuropsychiatric illness - Eur Neuropsychopharmacol 2022 Sep 29 - "Metformin is a widely used hypoglycaemic agent that is now being studied for use beyond diabetes management. Evidence is emerging that metformin has multiple effects on diverse neurobiological pathways and consequently may be repurposed for treating mental illness. Metformin may have beneficial neuroimmunological, neuroplastic, neuro-oxidative and neuro-nitrosative effects across a range of psychiatric and neurodegenerative illnesses. Mechanisms include glucose lowering effects and effects on AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) signalling, however the best evidence for clinical benefit is through the glucose lowering effects, with other mechanisms less supported by the current evidence base" - See metformin at ReliableRX.

Neat Tech Stuff / "How To's":

Prime Day, Oct 11-12. This is the only thing I would want. It's a new Apple product so the discount is only 10%:

Health Focus (Hot Flashes):