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Recent Longevity News for the week ending 4/26/23

Metformin Linked to Reduced Osteoarthritis Risk - Medscape, 4/24/23 - "Risk of osteoarthritis was 17% lower in patients taking metformin (95% confidence interval, –0.18 to 0.09), whose odds of osteoarthritis were approximately half the odds of those taking a sulfonylurea (OR, 0.5; 95% CI, 0.21-1.67). Risk of a total knee replacement was 10% lower in metformin users (95% CI, –0.28 to 0.08) with a similar reduction in odds, compared with those taking a sulfonylurea" - See metformin at ReliableRX.

Ablation for Atrial Fibrillation May Protect the Aging Brain - Medscape, 4/24/23 - "After adjusting for potential confounding factors such as heart disease, renal disease, sleep apnea, and AF risk score, those who underwent catheter ablation were 36% less likely to develop cognitive impairment over 2 years than those who were treated only with medication"

Rethinking the Goal of 10,000 Steps a Day - WebMD, 4/23/23 - "The study, which appeared in JAMA Network Open, collected data from over 3,100 people for a week’s worth of activity in 2005 and 2006, then followed their mortality data in 2019. The results reject the idea that 10,000 daily steps are necessary to lower deaths caused by trouble with your heart and blood vessels and deaths from other causes. Instead, the authors found that people in the study who walked at least 8,000 steps 1 to 2 days per week were less likely to die within 10 years. After that marker, the benefits largely hit a plateau ... “Regular walking of any distance has multiple health benefits,” said Karla Robinson, MD, medical editor at GoodRx. A report in JAMA Internal Medicine found that walking a minimum of 4,400 steps a day for older adults had significant health benefits when compared to those who walked fewer than 4,400 steps per day. Health benefits increase with the number of steps you take up until you hit about 7,500 steps per day, she said"

Insomnia Med Tied to Lower Alzheimer's Pathology - Medscape, 4/21/23 - "A 20-milligram dose of suvorexant (Belsomra, Merck) over a 2-night period was associated with a 10%-20% drop in amyloid-beta (Aβ) levels and a 10%-15% reduction in hyperphosphorylated tau in a group of cognitively healthy individuals ... The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved suvorexant, a dual orexin receptor antagonist, a Schedule IV controlled substance, in 2014, and it was first marketed in 2015."

Most Adults, More Than 1 in 3 Kids Take Dietary Supplements: Report - Medscape, 4/18/23 - "In 2007, 48% of adults took supplements, and that figure has reached nearly 59% in this latest count."

Abstracts from this week:

Effect of vitamin D supplementation on glucose control in mid-late gestation: A randomized controlled trial - Clin Nutr 2023 Apr 14 - "Vitamin D supplementation significantly protected glucose homeostasis in mid-late gestation" - See vitamin D at Amazon.com.

Pomegranate polyphenol punicalagin improves learning memory deficits, redox homeostasis, and neuroinflammation in aging mice - Phytother Res 2023 Apr 24 - "Punicalagin (PU) is an active antioxidant polyphenol found in pomegranates, raspberries, blueberries, and chestnuts that has attracted considerable attention owing to its strong antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. The current study focused on the neuroprotective effect of PU on aging mice and its potential mechanisms ... PU ameliorated deficits in learning and memory and prevented neuroinflammation, which was evident from the decrease in microglial activation and astrocytosis. Furthermore, PU reduced the levels of malondialdehyde (MDA) and reactive oxygen species (ROS) and inhibited NLRP3 inflammasome activation, reducing the levels of inflammatory cytokines, such as interleukin-6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor-a (TNF-a), interleukin-18 (IL-18), and interleukin-1 beta (IL-1β) in both accelerated aging and naturally senescent mouse models. PU effectively improved neuroinflammation, learning and memory deficits, and redox homeostasis in aging mice, and it could be a potential therapeutic agent for AD" - See pomegranate extract at Amazon.com.

Inhibitory Effect and Mechanism of Ursolic Acid on Cisplatin-Induced Resistance and Stemness in Human Lung Cancer A549 Cells - Evid Based Complement Alternat Med 2023 Apr 14; - "The survival rate of lung cancer patients remains low largely due to chemotherapy resistance during treatment, and cancer stem cells (CSCs) may hold the key to targeting this resistance. Cisplatin is a chemotherapy drug commonly used in cancer treatment, yet the mechanisms of intrinsic cisplatin resistance have not yet been determined because lung CSCs are hard to identify ... When UA was applied to the cisplatin-resistant cells, levels of the pluripotent stem cell transcription factors were restrained by the inhibition of the Jak2/Stat3 signaling pathway, which reduced the enrichment of tumor stem cells, and in turn, reversed cisplatin resistance in lung cancer cells. Hence, as a potential antitumor drug, UA may be able to inhibit the enrichment of the lung CSC population by inhibiting the activation of the Jak2-Stat3 pathway and preventing the resistance of lung cancer cells to cisplatin" - See ursolic acid at Amazon.com.

Clinical Efficacy and Safety of Tumor Cytoreductive Surgery plus Hyperthermic Intraperitoneal Chemotherapy for Ovarian Cancer - Evid Based Complement Alternat Med 2023 Apr 12 - "CRS plus HIPEC effectively improves the clinical efficacy of ovarian cancer patients, prolongs the survival of patients, and improves the level of VEGF and T-lymphocyte subpopulation cells, with a manageable safety. In addition, the treatment method can improve the therapeutic effect, reduce the toxic and side effects, and improve the immunity of the body, which is worthy of clinical promotion"

Effects of green tea on lipid profile in overweight and obese women - Int J Vitam Nutr Res 2023 Apr 21 - "The combined effect size revealed a significant reduction in total cholesterol (TC) (WMD: -4.45 mg/dl, 95% CI: -6.63, -2.27, P<0.001) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) (WMD: -4.49 mg/dl, 95% CI: -7.50 to -1.47, P=0.003) concentrations following green tea supplementation in overweight and/or obese women. In addition, a more pronounced reduction of triglyceride (TG) levels occurred when the baseline TG value was ≥150 mg/dL (WMD: -24.45 mg/dL, 95% CI: -40.63 to -8.26, P=0.003). Moreover, a significant decrease in TG concentrations occurred in RCTs conducted on overweight subjects (BMI: 25-29.99 kg/m2) (WMD: -5.88 mg/dl, 95% CI: -10.76 to -0.99, P=0.01). In the subgroup analyses based on the study population, a notable increase in high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) values was observed in obese individuals (>30 kg/m2) (WMD: 2.63 mg/dl, 95% CI: 0.10 to 5.16, P=0.041). Consumption of green tea causes a reduction in LDL-C and TC concentrations in overweight and obese women. The decline in TG levels was notable particularly in overweight patients with hypertriglyceridemia at baseline. In addition, a significant increase in HDL-C was detected in obese subjects following intake of green tea" - See green tea extract at Amazon.com.

Oral Administration of Mixed Probiotics Improves Photoaging by Modulating the Cecal Microbiome and MAPK Pathway in UVB-Irradiated Hairless Mice - Mol Nutr Food Res 2023 Apr 20 - "Continuous ultraviolet (UV) exposure causes skin photoaging, wrinkle formation, and skin barrier damage. In this study, the protective effect of mixed probiotics (MP) against photoaging in UVB-irradiated Hs68 fibroblasts and SKH-1 hairless mice was investigated ... Collectively, these findings suggest that MP modulates the gut microbiome and ameliorates UVB-induced photoaging by downregulating the MAPK pathway" - See probiotic supplements at Amazon.com.

Prebiotics alleviate cartilage degradation and inflammation in post-traumatic osteoarthritic mice by modulating the gut barrier and fecal metabolomics - Food Funct 2023 Apr 20 - "Osteoarthritis (OA) is a degenerative joint disease characterized by articular cartilage degeneration, subchondral bone sclerosis, synovial hyperplasia and inflammation as the main pathological manifestations. This study aims to investigate the protective effect of prebiotics in post-traumatic osteoarthritic (PTOA) mice by modulating the gut barrier and fecal metabolomics. The results suggested that cartilage degeneration, osteophyte formation and inflammation were significantly reduced by prebiotics in PTOA mice. In addition, the gut barrier was protected by the increased expression of tight junction proteins ZO-1 and occludin in the colon. High-throughput sequencing found that 220 fecal metabolites were affected by joint trauma, 81 of which were significantly recovered after probiotic intervention, and some metabolites (valerylcarnitine, adrenic acid, oxoglutaric acid, etc.) were closely associated with PTOA. Our study demonstrates that prebiotics can delay the progression of PTOA by regulating the metabolites of the gut microbiota and protecting the gut barrier, which is expected to be an intervention method for PTOA" - See probiotic supplements at Amazon.com.

The Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids Eicosapentaenoic Acid and Docosahexaenoic Acid, and Vitamin K1 Modulate the Gut Microbiome: A Study Using an In Vitro Shime Model - J Diet Suppl 2023 Apr 20;1-19 - "Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) and vitamins exert multiple beneficial effects on host health, some of which may be mediated through the gut microbiome. We investigated the prebiotic potential of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and lipid-soluble phylloquinone (vitamin K1), each at 0.2x, 1x and 5x using the simulator of the human intestinal microbial ecosystem (SHIME®) to exclude in vivo systemic effects and host-microbe interaction ... In conclusion, our in vitro data further establish a role of PUFAs and vitamin K to modulate the gut microbiome with effects on the production of SCFAs and barrier integrity" - See omega-3 supplements at Amazon.com and vitamin K at Amazon.com.

Ginkgolide B facilitates muscle regeneration via rejuvenating osteocalcin-mediated bone-to-muscle modulation in aged mice - J Cachexia Sarcopenia Muscle 2023 Apr 19 - "The progressive deterioration of tissue-tissue crosstalk with aging causes a striking impairment of tissue homeostasis and functionality, particularly in the musculoskeletal system. Rejuvenation of the systemic and local milieu via interventions such as heterochronic parabiosis and exercise has been reported to improve musculoskeletal homeostasis in aged organisms. We have shown that Ginkgolide B (GB), a small molecule from Ginkgo biloba, improves bone homeostasis in aged mice by restoring local and systemic communication, implying a potential for maintaining skeletal muscle homeostasis and enhancing regeneration ... GB treatment restored the bone-to-muscle endocrine axis to reverse aging-related declines in muscle regeneration and thus represents an innovative and practicable approach to managing muscle injuries. Our results revealed the critical and novel role of osteocalcin-GPRC6A-mediated bone-to-muscle communication in muscle regeneration, which provides a promising therapeutic avenue in functional muscle regeneration" - See Ginkgo biloba at Amazon.com.

Prevention effect of total ginsenosides and ginseng extract from Panax ginseng on cyclophosphamide-induced immunosuppression in mice - Phytother Res 2023 Apr 18 - "total ginsenosides (TGS) and ginseng extract (GE) ... both TGS and GE protected the hematopoietic function of bone marrow by inhibiting cell apoptosis, and recovering the normal cell cycle of BM; maintained the dynamic balance between the Th1 and Th2 cells; also protected the spleen, thymus, and liver. Meanwhile, TGS and GE protected the intestinal bacteria of immunosuppressed mice by increasing the abundance of lactobacillus and decreasing the abundance of the odoribacter and clostridia_UCG-014. The prevention effect of GE was superior to TGS in some parameters. In conclusion, TGS and GE protected the immune function of immunosuppressed mice induced by cyclophosphamide. Meanwhile, GE showed higher bioavailability and bioactivity compared with TGS, because the synergistic effect of polysaccharides and ginsenosides plays an important role in protecting the immune function" - See Panax ginseng at Amazon.com.

Neat Tech Stuff / "How To's":

Could Ice Cream Possibly Be Good for You? - Atlantic. 4/13/23 - "One of his studies had led him to an unusual conclusion: Among diabetics, eating half a cup of ice cream a day was associated with a lower risk of heart problems. Needless to say, the idea that a dessert loaded with saturated fat and sugar might actually be good for you raised some eyebrows at the nation’s most influential department of nutrition" - See ice cream makers at Amazon.com.

'It didn't make any sense': Inside the 'ice-cream conspiracy' linking the treat to health - MSNBC, YouTube

Here's my healthier recipe modified from the basic Cuisinart recipe:

Health Focus (Carotenoids):