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 2/15/23

The Five-Year Survival Rate for Pancreatic Cancer Is Increasing - Medscape, 2/13/23 - "That means that more than 600 people in the United States will hug a loved one five years after that diagnosis of pancreatic cancer. It is a very deadly disease. But we're going to, by continuing to make progress, it gives those moments to those people. And it means that we're making progress against the disease in general."

I tried ketamine to treat my depression. It was terrifying - Washington Post, 2/12/23 - "My ears perked up in recent months when I began to hear the buzz about ketamine, the anesthetic and hallucinogenic drug that has found a new market as an antidepressant. Numerous credible studies have documented benefits, including that it is fast-acting, with patients sometimes showing improvement within a couple of days. And social and other media have featured doctors and patients describing it as “life changing,” with one user commenting that “I felt like a completely new person.” ... There is a risk that some patients will have extremely upsetting experiences during treatment [with] ketamine or psychedelics,” he said. “The experience of losing control of the form and content of their thought processes and the altered sensory experiences are, themselves, potentially traumatic experiences ... I was glad to hear that the negative feelings would probably dissipate — and they did over a period of six weeks — and I might even discover some delayed benefits to the treatment (still waiting). Perhaps this wasn’t the right time for me to try ketamine. But this was when I felt that I needed it most. And I — like so many others who suffer from debilitating depression — had been willing to grab for a much-talked about lifeline to help me through the storm. It was not, however, a lifesaver for me"

Vitamin D Could Be Weapon Against Type 2 Diabetes - WebMD, 2/7/23 - "On average, the study found, supplements lowered the risk of progressing to type 2 diabetes by 15%" - See vitamin D at Amazon.com.

Vitamin D Deficiency Can Lead to Major Muscle Loss - Medscape, 2/9/23 - "Vitamin D plays an important role in the regulation of calcium and phosphorus absorption and helps keep the brain and immune system working ... Endocrine disorders such as vitamin D deficiency or insufficiency can lead to loss of bone mineral density as well as a reduction in muscle mass, strength, and function ... Vitamin D deficiency increases the risk of developing an age-associated loss of muscle strength called dynapenia, which is a major risk factor for physical incapacity later in life ... Vitamin D supplementation reduces the risk of dynapenia in older people by 78%." - See vitamin D at Amazon.com.

Researchers May Have Found a Way to Slow Human Aging - Time, 2/9/23 - "For decades, researchers have studied calorie restriction as a potential method of extending lifespan. Numerous promising trials, some dating back almost a century, have been conducted in animals—but the new study, published Feb. 9 in Nature Aging, is significant because it demonstrates that calorie restriction may also slow aging in humans ... The third model was meant to find the rate at which someone is aging, rather than their current biological age. Under that framework, the researchers found that two years of calorie restriction led to a 2% to 3% slower pace of aging. That may not sound like much, but, according to the study’s authors, previous research suggests a similar slow-down in biological aging could reduce someone’s risk of death by up to 15%—roughly the same longevity benefit associated with quitting a smoking habit."

Pot is making people sick. Congress is playing catch-up - Politico: 2/6/23 - "Now that a growing body of evidence says marijuana is bad for you, more regulation is in the offing ... the policymakers overseeing legalization were flying surprisingly blind about its effect on public health. Only recently has a steady flow of data emerged on health impacts, including emphysema in smokers and learning delays in adolescents" - Note: "Now that a growing body of evidence says marijuana is bad for you, more regulation is in the offing ... the policymakers overseeing legalization were flying surprisingly blind about its effect on public health. Only recently has a steady flow of data emerged on health impacts, including emphysema in smokers and learning delays in adolescents" - React then think. Who couldn't see this coming but we had to bow to the pot lobby's propaganda. Now it's going to be impossible to reverse the legalization.

Abstracts from this week:

N-3 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids in Elder with Mild Cognitive Impairment: A Systemic Review and Meta-Analysis - J Alzheimers Dis 2023 Feb 9 - "Compared with placebo, n-3PUFAs supplements have benefits on global cognition [SMD = 0.51 ... Our findings indicated DHA and/or EPA supplements have benefits on global cognition, and it may also reduce the level of blood amyloid-β (Aβ)-related biomarkers (e.g., Aβ 40, Aβ 42) and inflammatory factors (e.g., 1L-6, 1L-10)" - See omega-3 supplements at Amazon.com.

Serum testosterone and sex hormone-binding globulin are inversely associated with leucocyte telomere length in men: a cross-sectional analysis of the UK Biobank Study - Eur J Endocrinol 2023 Feb 8 - "Older men on average have lower testosterone concentrations compared with younger men, and more age-related comorbidities. Whether lower testosterone concentrations contribute to biological ageing remains unclear. Shorter telomeres are a marker for biological age. We tested the hypothesis that testosterone concentrations are associated with leucocyte telomere length (LTL), in middle to older aged men ... Total testosterone and SHBG were independently and inversely associated with LTL. Men with higher testosterone or SHBG had shorter telomeres, arguing against a role for testosterone to slow biological ageing in men" - But what about the argument for lowering SHBG? See my SHBG page for ways to lower it.

Baicalin ameliorates high fat diet-induced nonalcoholic fatty liver disease in mice via adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase-mediated regulation of SREBP1/Nrf2/NF-κB signaling pathways - Phytother Res 2023 Feb 8 - "Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a prevalent chronic liver disease around the world, imposing severe threats on human health. Unfortunately, no clinically approved drugs are available for use as yet. Baicalin (BA) is reported to have hepatoprotective effects, and it is not clear whether BA can treat NAFLD and how ... Taken together, our study reveals the protective roles of BA against HFD-caused NAFLD through AMPK-mediated modulation of SREBP1/Nrf2/NF-κB pathways, suggesting that BA has potential drug development implications" - See baicalin at Amazon.com.

Diet Supplementation of Luteolin Before Fatty Liver Formation Improves Hepatic Steatosis in Obese Mice by Inhibiting Visceral Adipose Tissue Lipolysis - Mol Nutr Food Res 2023 Feb 9 - "Serotonin (5-HT)-induced visceral adipocyte lipolysis is essential for the development of obesity-related complications. Diet supplementation of luteolin prevents high-fat diet (HFD)-fed mice against obesity and associated fatty liver. However, independent of the body weight loss, whether dietary luteolin can substantially reduce hepatic steatosis remains unclear ... Diet supplementation of luteolin before the formation of fatty liver protects HFD-fed mice against ectopic lipid deposition in liver by inhibiting visceral adipocyte lipolysis" - See luteolin products at Amazon.com.

Resveratrol regulates inflammation and improves oxidative stress via Nrf2 signaling pathway: Therapeutic and biotechnological prospects - Phytother Res 2023 Feb 8 - "Usually, in aerobic metabolism, natural materials including nucleic acids, proteins, and lipids can experience auxiliary injury by oxidative responses. This damage produced by reactive oxygen/nitrogen species has been identified as "oxidative stress." As a natural polyphenol got from red wine and peanuts, resveratrol is one of the most eminent anti-aging mixtures. Based on many studies', resveratrol hinders destructive effects of inflammatory causes and reactive oxygen radicals in several tissues. The nuclear erythroid 2-related factor 2 is a factor related to transcription with anti-inflammatory, antioxidant possessions which is complicated by enzyme biotransformation and biosynthesis of lipids and carbohydrates" - See resveratrol products at Amazon.com.

Effects of empagliflozin on left ventricular diastolic function in addition to usual care in individuals with type 2 diabetes mellitus-results from the randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled EmDia trial - Clin Res Cardiol 2023 Feb 10 - "After 12 weeks of intervention, empagliflozin resulted in a significant higher decrease in the primary endpoint E/e´ ratio by - 1.18 ([95% confidence interval (CI) - 1.72/- 0.65]; P < 0.0001) compared with placebo. The beneficial effect of empagliflozin was consistent across all subgroups and also occurred in subjects with heart failure and preserved ejection fraction (n = 30). Additional effects of empagliflozin on body weight, HbA1c, uric acid, red blood cell count, hemoglobin, mean corpuscular hemoglobin, and hematocrit were detected (all P < 0.001). Approximately one-third of the reduction in E/e´ by empagliflozin could be explained by the variables examined" - See empagliflozin inhousepharmacy.vu.

Ginsenoside Rg3 Ameliorates DSS-Induced Colitis by Inhibiting NLRP3 Inflammasome Activation and Regulating Microbial Homeostasis - J Agric Food Chem 2023 Feb 8 - "Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a recurrent inflammatory disease without a specific cure or treatment for improvement. Here, we investigated the potential therapeutic effect and mechanism of ginsenoside Rg3 (Gin Rg3) on UC ... In summary, Gin Rg3 alleviated DSS-induced UC by inhibiting NLRP3 inflammasome activation and regulating gut microbiota homeostasis" - See ginseng at Amazon.com.

Ginsenoside Rg1 attenuates the NASH phenotype by regulating the miR-375-3p/ATG2B/PTEN-AKT axis to mediate autophagy and pyroptosis - Lipids Health Dis 2023 Feb 10 - "Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is one of the most frequent liver diseases at present, and there is no radical treatment ... This study showed that Rg1 participates in autophagy and pyroptosis through the miR-375-3p/ATG2B/PTEN-AKT pathway, thereby alleviating the occurrence and development of NASH, for that reason revealing Rg1 as a candidate drug for NASH" - See ginseng at Amazon.com.

Associations between genetically predicted levels of blood metabolites and pancreatic cancer risk - Int J Cancer 2023 Feb 9 - "Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is one of the most aggressive solid malignancies, which is featured by systematic metabolism. Thus, a better understanding of metabolic dysregulation in PDAC is important to better characterize its etiology ... The flavonoid-degrading bacteria Flavonifractor sp90199495 was found to be associated with metabolite X - 21849, and it was also shown to be associated with PDAC risk. Collectively, our study identified novel candidate metabolites for PDAC risk, which could lead to new insights into the etiology of PDAC and improved treatment options" - Note: Bottom line, even if you live a healthy lifestyle, genetics can still do you in.

Serum levels of n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids and colorectal cancer risk in Chinese population - Br J Nutr 2023 Feb 7 - "Higher level of serum α-linolenic acid (ALA), docosapentaenoic acid (DPA), docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), long-chain n-3 PUFAs, and total n-3 PUFAs were associated with lower odds of CRC. The adjusted ORs and 95% CI were 0.34 (0.24-0.49, Ptrend< 0.001) for ALA, 0.57 (0.40-0.80, Ptrend<0.001) for DPA, 0.48 (0.34-0.68, Ptrend< 0.001) for DHA, 0.39 (0.27-0.56, Ptrend< 0.001) for long-chain n-3 PUFAs, and 0.31 (0.22-0.45, Ptrend< 0.001) for total n-3 PUFAs comparing the highest with the lowest quartile. However, there was no statistically significant association between eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and odds of CRC. Analysis stratified by sex showed that ALA, DHA, long-chain n-3 PUFAs and total n-3 PUFAs were inversely associated with odds of CRC in both sexes. This study indicated that serum ALA, DPA, DHA, long-chain n-3 PUFAs and total n-3 PUFAs was inversely associated with odds of having CRC in Chinese population."

Neat Tech Stuff / "How To's":

Health Focus (Cancer Cures?):