Please help my newsletter get noticed by clicking on the Facebook "Like" in the upper right-hand corner or here:

Recent Longevity News for the week ending 1/25/23

New 'Reference Regimen' in Metastatic Pancreatic Cancer? - Medscape, 1/23/23 - "Liposomal irinotecan (Onivyde) plus 5-fluorouracil/leucovorin and oxaliplatin (together known as NALIRIFOX) extended both overall and progression-free survival compared with gemcitabine plus nab-paclitaxel when used as first-line therapy in treatment-naive patients with mPDAC. ... The overall response rate for liposomal irinotecan/NALIRIFOX vs nab-paclitaxel/gemcitabine was 41.8% vs 36.2%, and the complete response rate was 0.3% in both arms"

High HDL-C Levels Linked to Increased - Medscape, 1/20/23 - "In a fully adjusted model, each standard deviation increment in HDL-C level was associated with a 14% higher risk of fractures (HR, 1.14). When analyzed in quintiles, compared with participants in Q1, those in Q5 had a 33% higher risk for fracture"

Eating Enough Oily Fish Tied to Lower Risk of Kidney Disease - Medscape, 1/20/23 - "Participants had a mean baseline eGFR of 76.1-99.8 mL/min/1.73 m2 ... During a median 11-year follow-up, 4944 participants (19.3%) developed incident CKD ... Higher levels of total seafood n-3 PUFAs were associated with an 8% lower risk of incident CKD risk (relative risk [RR] per interquintile range, 0.92; P = .009), after adjusting for a variety of confounders ... Higher levels of total seafood n-3 PUFAs were also associated with a slower annual decline in eGFR. For example, the annual decline in eGFR was 0.07 mL/min/1.73m2 lower for people with total seafood n-3 PUFA levels in the highest versus lowest quintiles ... The association appeared consistent across different subgroups (age ≥ 60 vs < 60 years, eGFR 60-89 vs ≥ 90 mL/min/1.73 m2) and with versus without hypertension, diabetes, or coronary heart disease at baseline" - See omega-3 supplements at Amazon.com.

Unintended Negative Consequences of Managing Chemotherapy Toxicity - Medscape, 1/20/23 - "Clinicians are keenly aware of long-term effects from chemotherapy, such as neuropathy and heart failure, that can negatively impact function and quality of life.[2] However, it is less well appreciated that there can also be long-term consequences from the medications that are used for management of treatment-emergent acute symptoms, such as nausea, anxiety, and insomnia. Prolonged use of both benzodiazepines and nonbenzodiazepine sedative-hypnotics, referred to as Z-drugs, by patients with breast cancer in the postadjuvant treatment period may be an unintended consequence of well-meaning symptom management. ... Given the wide variety of drugs and nonpharmacologic interventions that have evidence demonstrating efficacy for treating or preventing symptoms, avoidance of medications with the potential for dependence should be possible for the vast majority of patients"

Exercise Counters the Age-related Accumulation of Senescent Cells - Medscape, 1/20/23 - "Exercise is, arguably, the most effective means to extend human healthspan. New insights into the mechanisms through which exercise optimizes function and counters disease have the potential to guide public health initiatives to promote physical activity and, concurrently, reveal biology that may be targeted through pharmacological intervention. The literature summarized herein suggests exercise both counters diverse forms of molecular damage that cause cellular senescence and potentially promotes immune-mediated senescent cell clearance. This evidence supports the hypothesis that exercise prevents the age-associated accumulation of senescent cells. Although more comprehensive and confirmatory studies are needed, the senotherapeutic effects of exercise have been demonstrated in multiple tissues in both preclinical models and humans"

Size of Meals, Not Timing, Linked to Weight Loss - Medscape, 1/20/23 - "the total daily number of large and medium-sized meals was associated with weight gain over time, while those who reported more smaller meals showed weight loss. A daily increase of one large, medium, or small meal was associated with an average annual weight change of 0.69 kg, 0.97 kg, and –0.30 kg, respectively"

US Ketamine Poisonings Up 81% - Medscape, 1/19/23 - "Ketamine poisonings in the United States increased 81% between 2019 and 2021, according to a new analysis of calls to poison control centers ... Ketamine is by no means the most dangerous drug, but it could be dangerous if combined with drugs such as alcohol or if used in potentially hazardous situations — physically hazardous or socially hazardous ... Nearly 40% of callers reported intentional misuse or abuse of ketamine, while 19.7% involved a suspected suicide or suicide attempt. The ketamine exposure was unintended in 18.9% of cases, and 10.6% of calls involved an adverse drug reaction ... One third of cases involved co-use of other substances, most commonly benzodiazepines, opioids, or alcohol."

What Older Americans Need to Know About Taking Paxlovid - Medscape, 1/19/23 - "Unlike in other studies, most of the patients in this one had been vaccinated. Still, Paxlovid conferred a notable advantage: Those who took it were 44% less likely to be hospitalized with severe covid-related illnesses or die. Among those who'd gotten fewer than three vaccine doses, those risks were reduced by 81%."

HRT May Prevent Alzheimer's in High-Risk Women - Medscape, 1/17/23 - "Results from a cohort study of almost 1200 women showed that use of HRT was associated with higher delayed memory scores and larger entorhinal and hippocampal brain volumes ― areas that are affected early by Alzheimer's disease (AD) pathology ... HRT was also found to be most effective, as seen by larger hippocampal volume, when introduced during early perimenopause"

Abstracts from this week:

(-)-Epigallocatechin-3-gallate, a Polyphenol from Green Tea, Regulates the Liquid-Liquid Phase Separation of Alzheimer's-Related Protein Tau - J Agric Food Chem 2023 Jan 23 - "Complementary to the inhibitory activity of EGCG in tau fibrillization, our findings provide novel insights into the biological activity of EGCG and offer new clues for future studies on the molecular mechanism by which EGCG alleviates neurodegenerative diseases" - See green tea extract at Amazon.com.

Caloric restriction delays age-related muscle atrophy by inhibiting 11β-HSD1 to promote the differentiation of muscle stem cells - Front Med (Lausanne) 2023 Jan 5 - "Calorie restriction (CR) is an important direction for the delay of sarcopenia in elderly individuals. However, the specific mechanisms of CR against aging are still unclear ... Together, our findings highlight promising sarcopenia protection with 40% CR in older ages. Furthermore, we speculated that targeting an 11β-HSD1-dependent metabolic pathway may represent a novel strategy for developing therapeutics against age-related muscle atrophy"

Pancreatic enzyme supplementation versus placebo for improvement of gastrointestinal symptoms in non-responsive celiac disease: A cross-over randomized controlled trial - Front Med (Lausanne) 2023 Jan 4 - "Pancreatic Exocrine Insufficiency (PEI) is a possible cause of recurrent/persistent symptoms in celiac disease. Although pancreatic enzyme supplementation may be used to treat non-responsive celiac disease (NRCD) in clinical practice, clinical outcomes are variable and there is limited and low quality evidence to support this practice. The aim of this study was to assess the efficacy of pancreatic enzyme supplements (PES) for improvement of gastrointestinal symptoms in NRCD ... In this prospective, cross-over randomized, placebo-controlled study, PES did not improve symptoms in patients with NRCD. It is unclear whether this is a trial effect or related to administration of omeprazole."

Early and late preterm birth rates in participants adherent to randomly assigned high dose docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) supplementation in pregnancy - Clin Nutr 2023 Jan 11 - "To determine the rate of early preterm birth (EPTB, <34 weeks gestation) and preterm birth (PTB, <37 weeks gestation) in participants who adhered to a randomly assigned docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) dose of 1000 mg/day ... Adherence to high dose DHA reduced EPTB and PTB. The largest effect of adherence on reducing EPTB was observed in women with low baseline DHA levels" - See docosahexaenoic acid at Amazon.com.

The Therapeutic Alliance between Pomegranate and Health Emphasizing on Anticancer Properties - Antioxidants (Basel) 2023 Jan 12 - "Pomegranate is a fruit bearing-plant that is well known for its medicinal properties. Pomegranate is a good source of phenolic acids, tannins, and flavonoids. Pomegranate juice and by-products have attracted the scientific interest due to their potential health benefits. Currently, the medical community has showed great interest in exploiting pomegranate potential as a protective agent against several human diseases including cancer. This is demonstrated by the fact that there are more than 800 reports in the literature reporting pomegranate's anticancer properties" - See pomegranate extract at Amazon.com.

Astragalus polysaccharide prevents heart failure-induced cachexia by alleviating excessive adipose expenditure in white and brown adipose tissue - Lipids Health Dis 2023 Jan 21 - "Astragalus polysaccharide (APS) is a key active ingredient isolated from Astragalus membranaceus that has been reported to be a potential treatment for obesity and diabetes by regulating lipid metabolism and adipogenesis, alleviating inflammation, and improving insulin resistance ... APS prevented lipolysis and adipose browning in WAT and decreased BAT thermogenesis. These effects may be related to suppressed sympathetic activity and inflammation. This study provides a potential approach to treat HF-induced cardiac cachexia" - See astragalus at Amazon.com.

• Cardiac Cachexia - Kaiser Permanente - "Cardiac cachexia is unintentional severe weight loss caused by severe heart failure. The weight loss might be life-threatening ... Even with a very good appetite and high calorie intake, some people lose muscle mass ... Cardiac cachexia can require supplemental nutrition"

Limited physician knowledge of sarcopenia: A survey - J Am Geriatr Soc 2023 Jan 20 - "Sarcopenia, a condition that can have a major impact on older adults as they age, has not been fully incorporated into the knowledge base and practices of active physicians" - No shit. It's that way with a lot of health issues.

Higher Dietary Vitamin K Intake is Associated with Better Physical Function and Lower Long-Term Injurious Falls Risk in Community-Dwelling Older Women - J Nutr Health Aging 2023 - "A higher habitual Vitamin K1 intake was associated with better physical function and lower long-term injurious falls risk in community-dwelling older women. In the context of musculoskeletal health, Vitamin K1 found abundantly in green leafy vegetables should be promoted" - See vitamin K at Amazon.com.

Monounsaturated fatty acid-enriched olive oil exacerbates chronic alcohol-induced hepatic steatosis and liver injury in C57BL/6J mice - Food Funct 2023 Jan 19 - "Dietary oil composition determines the pathological processes of alcoholic fatty liver disease (AFLD). Oil rich in saturated fatty acids protects, whereas oil rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids aggravates the alcohol-induced liver injury. However, limited studies have been conducted to address how monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs) enriched oil controls the pathological development of AFLD. Therefore, this study was designed to evaluate the effect of MUFA-enriched extra virgin olive oil (OO) on AFLD ... In conclusion, MUFA-enriched OO exacerbated liver dysfunction in vivo. OO should be cautiously considered as a unique dietary oil source for individuals with AFLD"

Linolenic acid ameliorates sarcopenia in C. elegans by promoting mitophagy and fighting oxidative stress - Food Funct 2023 Jan 18 - "Sarcopenia is a syndrome of age-related loss of muscle mass and strength that seriously affects human health, and there are currently no effective drugs to treat the disease. Linolenic acid as a common n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid (n-3 PUFA) is known to have many beneficial functions. Some studies have found that n-3 PUFA might have the potential to improve sarcopenia. In this study, Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) was used as a model animal to investigate the effects of linolenic acid on C. elegans muscles. The results showed that 50 μg mL-1 linolenic acid significantly improved sarcopenia by repairing mitochondrial function by promoting mitophagy and fighting oxidative stress (p < 0.05). This included the increase of the expression of the mitophagy gene pink-1 and DAF-16/FOXO transcription factors, respectively, by linolenic acid. This study could provide some evidence for the application of n-3 PUFA in improving sarcopenia" - See linolenic acid at Amazon.com.

Resveratrol induces DNA damage-mediated cancer cell senescence through the DLC1-DYRK1A-EGFR axis - Food Funct 2023 Jan 18 - "Inducing cell senescence is widely regarded as a potent tumor suppression mechanism. Resveratrol has attracted increasing attention for its capacity to prevent and suppress cancer. However, the mechanism of resveratrol on the induction of cancer cell senescence has not been well clarified. Our results showed that resveratrol inhibited cell viability and colony formation and promoted cell senescence along with augmentation of SA-β-gal activity and modulation of senescence-associated molecular markers p53, p21 and LaminB protein in breast and liver cancer cells ... This is the first report to investigate whether resveratrol induces DNA damage-mediated cancer cell senescence through the DLC1-DYRK1A-EGFR axis, which could provide a solid base for resveratrol's application in cancer prevention and clinical treatment as a food additive or adjuvant therapies." - See resveratrol products at Amazon.com.

Effects of the timing of acute mulberry leaf extract intake on postprandial glucose metabolism in healthy adults: a randomised, placebo-controlled, double-blind study - Eur J Clin Nutr 2023 Jan 17 - "Glucose tolerance is controlled by the internal clock and is worse in the evening. From a chrononutrition perspective, diabetes prevention requires evaluating the antidiabetic effects of the timing of functional ingredients and nutrient intake ... MLE intake in the evening, but not in the morning, was effective in improving glucose tolerance" - See mulberry leaf extract at Amazon.com.

A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials investigating the effect of the curcumin and piperine combination on lipid profile in patients with metabolic syndrome and related disorders - Phytother Res 2023 Jan 17 - "Metabolic syndrome is characterized by multiple metabolic disorders. Several studies indicated that curcumin plus piperine could affect lipids profiles in various diseases. The present meta-analysis aims to assess the effect of curcumin plus piperine on lipid profiles in patients with MetS and associated disorders using a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials ... Our results showed that co-administration of piperine and curcumin supplementation improves the lipid profile in metabolic syndrome. However, further long-term RCTs are required to ascertain their clinical benefit" - See curcumin at Amazon.com and piperine extract at Amazon.com.

Lycopene abolishes palmitate-mediated myocardial inflammation in female Wistar rats via modulation of lipid metabolism, NF-κB signalling pathway, and augmenting the antioxidant systems - Nutr Metab Cardiovasc Dis 2022 Dec 5 - "Obesity-related heart failure is exacerbated by excessive intake of saturated fats such as palmitate (PA). Lycopene (LYC) possesses anti-lipidemic, antioxidant, cytoprotective, and anti-inflammatory effects. This study, therefore, evaluated the impact of LYC against PA-invoked cardiotoxicity ... LYC might be an appropriate remedy to manage PA-induced cardiotoxicity in female rats" - See lycopene at Amazon.com.

Survival Benefit of Metformin Adjuvant Treatment For Pancreatic Cancer Patients: a Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis - Cell Physiol Biochem 2018;49:837–847 - "The current systematic review and meta-analysis based on 17 studies involving 36791 patients suggests that pancreatic cancer patients with metformin adjuvant treatment may have a prolonged survival compared with those not receiving metformin, though there is evidence of moderate heterogeneity across studies" - See metformin at ReliableRX. Note: I get so pissed at doctors who seems to be locked in to cookie cutter approaches that they learned as an intern 30 years ago and seem to not have read any research since. They don’t even want to hear about more recent studies. Metformin is an example. What would be the downside to adding it, but they don’t even want to hear suggestions. Endocrinologists are the worst. I showed an endocrinologist a study in Medscape and he basically said Medscape wasn't a reliable source when the Medscape article was summarizing a NIH study. I don't think he had even heard of Medscape. He was an old-timer good-old-boy that thought he knew everything when he didn't seem to know shit. He reminded me of my grandfather who was a car mechanic. When I got into the books and started talking about torque settings for reinstalling head bolts and that you should tighten in increments from the center out so the head wouldn't warp or the gasket blow, he told me I was an overeducated idiot.

Neat Tech Stuff / "How To's":

Health Focus (Kidney Disease):