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Recent Longevity News for the week ending 3/29/23

Melatonin a New Way to Reduce Self-Harm? - Medscape, 3/27/23 - "While there were no statistically significant changes in relative risk for body injuries, falls, and transport accidents, the relative risk for self-injury was statistically significantly lower during the months following melatonin-treatment initiation ... The incidence rate ratio (IRR) in the month following treatment was 0.58 (95% CI, 0.46-0.73) for self-harm and 0.59 (95% CI, 0.45-0.78) for poisoning" - See melatonin at Amazon.com.

Common Chemical Linked to Parkinson’s Disease - WebMD, 3/21/23 - "The roots of Lindberg’s disease likely lie in a 4-year period when she was exposed to trichloroethylene (TCE), a common chemical that’s found in gun cleaners, cleaning products, and many other commercial products. According to a new paper by an international team of scientists, TCE may be associated with as much as a 500% increased risk for Parkinson’s disease."

Dapagliflozin's HFpEF Benefit Tied to Lower Filling Pressure - Medscape, 3/23/23 - "Treatment of patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) with the SGLT2 inhibitor dapagliflozin (Farxiga) for 24 weeks produced significant and beneficial reductions in left-heart filling pressures in a mechanistic, randomized clinical study ... Results from prior studies documented the benefit of dapagliflozin for improving clinical outcomes in patients with HFpEF in the DELIVER trial, and for the related sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitor empagliflozin (Jardiance) in the EMPEROR-Preserved trial. The new findings presented by Dr. Borlaug provide evidence from a placebo-controlled, prospective study for one way by which these SGLT2 inhibitors exert this benefit in patients with HFpEF" - See dapagliflozin at reliablerxpharmacy.com.

What To Know About New Research on Coffee and Heart Risks - Time, 3/23/23 - "Coffee has been associated with multiple health benefits and even a lower risk of dying, based on large studies that observed participants’ behavior. Despite research that has shown moderate coffee consumption doesn’t raise the risk of heart rhythm problems, some professional medical societies still caution against consuming caffeine ... Researchers found that drinking caffeinated coffee did not result in more daily episodes of extra heartbeats, known as premature atrial contractions. These extra beats that begin in the heart’s upper chambers are common and typically don’t cause problems. But they have been shown to predict a potentially dangerous heart condition called atrial fibrillation ... They also found slight evidence of another kind of irregular heartbeat that comes from the lower heart chambers, called premature ventricular contractions. Such beats are also common and not usually serious, but they have been associated with a higher risk of heart failure. The researchers found more of these early beats in people on the days they drank coffee, but only in those who drank two or more cups per day" - See JAHA if you're not a Time subscriber.

Longer Telomeres Tied to Better Brain Health - Medscape, 3/22/23 - "They found that longer leucocyte telomere length (LTL) was associated with a larger volume of global and subcortical grey matter and a larger hippocampus — both of which shrink in patients with AD. Longer telomeres were also associated with a thicker cerebral cortex, which thins as AD progresses"

California bill could ban the sale of Skittles, Hot Tamales, and more - Hill, 3/22/23 - "Introduced by Assemblymembers Jesse Gabriel and Buffy Wicks, AB 418 proposes that California stop manufacturing, selling, or distributing foods that contain Red Dye No. 3, Titanium Dioxide, Potassium Bromate, Brominated Vegetable Oil, or Propyl Paraben ... These chemicals can cause significant health problems like increased risk of cancer, damage to the immune system and behavioral issues in children, Gabriel’s office said in a news release"

Abstracts from this week:

Beta-blockers in Atrial Fibrillation—Trying to Make Sense of Unsettling Results - Europace. 2023;25(2):260-262 - "There are no long-term safety and efficacy data for beta-blockers in the treatment of atrial fibrillation and there are several emerging concerns regarding their use. Considering the uncertain evidence basis, the known unfavourable side-effect profile, and the availability of alternative medications we avoid beta-blockers in patients with atrial fibrillation in the absence of a clear and specific indication. When considering the high prevalence of atrial fibrillation, there is an urgent need for larger randomized outcomes trials that compare rate-control strategies"

N-acetyl-L-cysteine attenuates oxidative stress-induced bone marrow endothelial cells apoptosis by inhibiting BAX/caspase 3 pathway - Biochem Biophys Res Commun 2023 Mar 17 - "Bone marrow endothelial cells (BMECs) play a crucial role in the maintenance of bone homeostasis. The decline in BMECs is associated with abnormal bone development and loss ... In conclusion, this study could improve our understanding of the mechanism of oxidative stress-induced BMECs injury and whether NAC has therapeutic potential in senile osteoporosis" - See n-acetyl cysteine at Amazon.com.

Association Between Vitamin B6 and the Risk of Colorectal Cancer: A Meta-analysis of Observational Studies - Nutr Cancer 2023 Mar 24 - "The combined OR for the association between colorectal cancer risk and vitamin B6 intake was 0.80 (95% CI: 0.68-0.94), while the combined OR between blood PLP levels and colorectal cancer risk was 0.54 (95% CI: 0.35-0.84). In addition, the subgroup analysis revealed that vitamin B6 could reduce the risk of colorectal cancer in women [vitamin B6 intake OR = 0.79, 95% CI (0.65-0.96); blood PLP levels OR = 0.41, 95% CI (0.30-0.57)] and also reduce the risk of colon cancer in men and women [vitamin B6 intake OR = 0.76, 95% CI (0.64-0.91); blood PLP levels OR = 0.56" - See vitamin B6 at Amazon.com.

Dietary calcium intake and the risk of stroke: Meta-analysis of cohort studies - Nutr Metab Cardiovasc Dis 2023 Feb 24 - "Compared with the lowest value of zero assumed as the reference, the RRs (95% CI) of stroke across levels of calcium intake were 0.95 (0.92, 0.98) for 200 mg/day, 0.94 (0.90, 0.98) for 300 mg/day, 0.95 (0.90, 0.99) for 500 mg/day, 0.98 (0.93, 1.03) for 700 mg/day, and 1.04 (0.97, 1.11) for 1000 mg/day ... his meta-analysis suggests that dietary calcium intake might play an effective role in the prevention of stroke, especially in Asian countries"

Whey Protein Concentrate Ameliorates the Methotrexate-Induced Liver and Kidney Damage - Br J Nutr 2023 Mar 23 - "Methotrexate (MTX) is a cytotoxic immunosuppressant that is widely used in the treatment of tumours, rheumatoid arthritis, and psoriasis ... Liver and kidney damage can be prevented by using whey proteins as a nutraceutical in MTX therapy.In conclusion, whey proteins demonstrated a protective effect against MTX-induced liver and kidney damage" - See whey protein at Amazon.com.

Serum vitamin D concentration, vitamin D-related polymorphisms, and colorectal cancer risk - Int J Cancer 2023 Mar 22 - "Higher serum 25(OH)D concentrations were significantly associated with lower CRC incidence in a dose-response manner, with HR (95% CIs) being 0.94 (0.91-0.97) per 1 standard deviation (SD) increment of serum 25(OH)D level (Ptrend < 0.001). When separated by anatomic site, we observed a significant association between higher 25(OH)D and lower incidence of colon cancer (Ptrend < 0.001), but not rectal cancer (Ptrend = 0.880). The inverse associations between 25(OH)D level and CRC risk were demonstrated in almost all individuals carrying different GC or VDR genotypes, except for those with rs1544410 TT genotypes or rs4588 TT genotypes" - See vitamin D at Amazon.com.

An oral French maritime pine bark extract improves hair density in menopausal women: A randomized, placebo‐controlled, double blind intervention study - Health Sci Rep. 2023 Jan - "Pycnogenol® intake significantly increased hair density by 30% and 23% after 2 and 6 months of treatment, respectively, as detected by Trichoscan® evaluation of digital photographs. Interestingly, photoplethysmography revealed that this beneficial effect was associated with a decrease in resting flux of the scalp skin, which might indicate an improvement of microcirculation. None of these effects were observed in the placebo taking group. In addition, a significant transient decrease of transepidermal water loss was observed in scalp skin under Pycnogenol,® but not placebo treatment" - See Pycnogenol at Amazon.com.

Health Focus (Whey)