Recent Longevity News for the seven days ending 2/3/10.  You should consult your doctor if you are taking any medications.

Fish oil may reduce the risk of psychotic disorders in high-risk individuals - Science Daily, 2/1/10 - "For 12 weeks, 41 individuals were assigned to take daily fish oil capsules containing 1.2 grams of omega-three polyunsaturated fatty acids and 40 were assigned to take placebo; a total of 76 (93.8 percent) completed the intervention. By the end of the study, two (4.9 percent) in the omega-3 group and 11 (27.5 percent) in the placebo group had transitioned to psychotic disorder. The difference between progression to psychosis was 22.6 percent ... Polyunsaturated fatty acids also significantly reduced symptoms and improved functioning compared with placebo" - [WebMD] - See Mega Twin EPA at Amazon.com and Jarrow Max DHA at Amazon.com.

Omega-3 may reduce risk of Alzheimer’s: Rat study - Nutra USA, 2/1/10 - "This study, for the first time, reported […] a clear correlation between the decrease in acetylcholine release and memory deficit, [and] E-EPA improves memory by attenuating the reduction of acetylcholine release and nerve growth factor expression ... In this study, our findings add further evidence that E-EPA may improve memory by the modulation of acetylcholineand neurotrophin functions" - [Abstract] - See Mega Twin EPA at Amazon.com.

What You Eat After Working Out Matters - WebMD, 1/29/10 - "A new study shows that eating a low-carbohydrate meal after aerobic exercise enhances insulin sensitivity. Increased insulin sensitivity makes it easier for the body to take up sugar from the bloodstream and store it in muscles and other tissues where it can be used for fuel ... Impaired insulin sensitivity, or insulin resistance, increases the risk for type 2 diabetes and heart disease"

Drinking Tea May Trim Men's Waistlines - WebMD, 1/29/10 - "In men, the use of sugar in tea was associated with a nearly 1-inch smaller waist measurement, but the use of artificial sweeteners was linked to a nearly 2-inch larger waistline ... Among women, the use of milk in tea was associated with a two-thirds-of-an-inch smaller waistline. But women who used artificial sweeteners had an average of nearly an inch larger waistline" - See green tea extract at Amazon.com. Related studies:

• Artificial Sweeteners Linked To Weight Gain - Science Daily, 2/10/08 - "relative to rats that ate yogurt sweetened with glucose (a simple sugar with 15 calories/teaspoon, the same as table sugar), rats given yogurt sweetened with zero-calorie saccharin later consumed more calories, gained more weight, put on more body fat, and didn't make up for it by cutting back later, all at levels of statistical significance"

Fats of any kind may boost prostate cancer risk: Study - Nutra USA, 1/29/10 - "Last year, a study from Harvard reported that increased intakes of trans-fatty acids may increase the risk of non-aggressive prostate tumors by about 100 per cent ... the highest blood levels of trans oleic acid and linoleic acids (18:1n-9t and 18:2t) were associated with a 116 and 97 per cent increase in the risk of non-aggressive prostate tumors, respectively, compared to the lowest levels. The study followed almost 15,000 men over 13 years"

Overweight Older People Live Longer - WebMD, 1/28/10 - "people who met the criteria for being overweight were 17% less likely to die compared to people of normal weight ... In the newly reported research, overweight study participants in their 70s followed for up to 10 years had a 13% lower risk of death than participants classified as normal weight ... Obese and normal-weight study participants had a similar risk of death over the 10 years of follow-up. Underweight study participants had the highest risk of death, even after the researchers adjusted for the wasting effects of disease"

Omega-3 may reduce risk of dental disease: Study - Nutra USA, 1/28/10 - "The average number of dental disease events was 1.5 times higher in people with low DHA levels, compared to those with the highest average levels of DHA" - [Abstract] - See Jarrow Max DHA at Amazon.com.

Increased Cancer Risk Seen With Higher Blood Glucose Levels - Medscape, 1/28/10 - "in men, each 1 mmol/L (18 mg/dL) increment in blood glucose level was associated with a 5% increase in incident cancer risk and a 15% increase in fatal cancer risk ... In women, each 1 mmol/L increase in blood glucose level was associated with an 11% increase in incident cancer risk and a 21% increase in fatal cancer risk ... For men, there were glucose-related increases in the risks of incident and fatal cancer of the liver, gallbladder, and respiratory tract; incident thyroid cancer and multiple myeloma; and fatal rectal and colon cancer .... For women, there were glucose-related increases in the risks of incident and fatal pancreatic and stomach cancer; incident urinary bladder cancer and endometrial cancer; and fatal cervical and uterine corpus cancer. In women, there was also an inverse association of blood glucose with incident thyroid cancer risk ... For men and women combined, higher glucose increased the risk of death from oropharyngeal and esophageal cancers" - See my Insulin and Aging page.

Vitamin D May Ease Asthma - WebMD, 1/28/10 - "people with higher vitamin D levels had better lung function measures than people with lower vitamin D levels. In particular, people with low vitamin D performed worse on tests of lung function and airway hyper-responsiveness, two hallmarks of asthma ... researchers say vitamin D levels were directly related to the participants’ score on the breathing tests: the lower the vitamin D levels, the worse their performance"

More folate may mean less depression: Study - Nutra USA, 1/27/10 - "Men with the highest blood levels of folate were50 per cent less likely to have symptoms of depression, compared to men with the lowest levels" - [Abstract] - See folic acid products at Amazon.com.

Vitamin D supplements could fight Crohn's disease - Science Daily, 1/27/10 - "Vitamin D acts directly on the beta defensin 2 gene, which encodes an antimicrobial peptide, and the NOD2 gene that alerts cells to the presence of invading microbes. Both Beta-defensin and NOD2 have been linked to Crohn's disease. If NOD2 is deficient or defective, it cannot combat invaders in the intestinal tract ... Siblings of patients with Crohn's disease that haven't yet developed the disease might be well advised to make sure they're vitamin D sufficient" - See vitamin D at Amazon.com.

'Good' bacteria keep immune system primed to fight future infections - Science Daily, 1/27/10 - "The investigators show that "good" bacteria in the gut keep the immune system primed to more effectively fight infection from invading pathogenic bacteria. Altering the intricate dynamic between resident and foreign bacteria -- via antibiotics, for example -- compromises an animal's immune response, specifically, the function of white blood cells called neutrophils" - See probiotics at Amazon.com.

Magnesium May Improve Memory - WebMD, 1/27/10 - "increasing brain magnesium using a newly developed compound, magnesium-L-threonate (MgT), improves learning abilities, working memory, and short- and-long-term memory in rats. The magnesium also helped older rats perform better on a battery of learning tests ... The researchers cite that only 32% of Americans get the recommended daily allowance of magnesium" - See magnesium supplements at Amazon.com.

Coffee Break Boosts Memory - WebMD, 1/27/10 - "Taking a coffee break after class can actually help you retain that information you just learned"

Abstracts from this week's Doctor's Guide Nutrition/Dietetics plus abstracts from my RSS feeds (Click here for the journals, the PubMed ones at the top):

Reductions of acetylcholine release and nerve growth factor expression are correlated with memory impairment induced by interleukin-1beta administrations: effects of omega-3 fatty acid EPA treatment - J Neurochem. 2009 Dec 3 - "E-EPA treatment significantly improved the memory, which was correlated with normalizing ACh release, and expressions of NGF and IL-1beta" - See Mega Twin EPA at Amazon.com.

The Ginkgo biloba extract EGb 761((R)) and its main constituent flavonoids and ginkgolides increase extracellular dopamine levels in the rat prefrontal cortex - Br J Pharmacol. 2010 Jan 25 - "A single oral dose of EGb 761 (100 mg.kg(-1)) had no effect on monoamine levels. However, following chronic (100 mg.kg(-1)/14 days/once daily) treatment, the same dose significantly increased extracellular dopamine and noradrenaline levels, while 5-HT levels were unaffected. Chronic treatment with EGb 761 showed dose-dependent increases in frontocortical dopamine levels and, to a lesser extent, in the striatum. The extracellular levels of HVA and DOPAC were not affected by either acute or repeated doses. Treatment with the main constituents of EGb 761 revealed that the increase in dopamine levels was mostly caused by the flavonol glycosides and ginkgolide fractions, whereas bilobalide treatment was without effect. Conclusions and implications: The present results demonstrate that chronic but not acute treatment with EGb 761 increased dopaminergic transmission in the PFC. This finding may be one of the mechanisms underlying the reported effects of G. biloba in improving cognitive function" - See Ginkgo biloba at Amazon.com.

Longitudinal relationship between dietary omega-3 fatty acids and periodontal disease - Nutrition. 2010 Jan 22 - "Low DHA intake was significantly associated with more periodontal disease events. The mean number of periodontal disease events for participants who consumed the lowest tertile of DHA was approximately 1.5 times larger (lowest tertile, incidence rate ratio 1.49, 95% confidence interval 1.01-2.21) than the reference group (highest tertile of DHA consumption), after simultaneously adjusting for possible confounders" - See Jarrow Max DHA at Amazon.com.

Serum folate and homocysteine and depressive symptoms among Japanese men and women - Eur J Clin Nutr. 2010 Jan 20 - "The multivariate-adjusted odds ratios (95% confidence interval) of depressive symptoms for the lowest to highest quartiles of serum folate were 1.00 (reference), 0.53 (0.27-1.03), 0.33 (0.16-0.68) and 0.51 (0.25-1.03), respectively" - See folic acid products at Amazon.com.

Health Focus (Mediterranean Diet):

News & Research:

• Mediterranean Diet Linked to Lower Risk for Stomach Cancer - Medscape, 12/29/09 - "For every 1-unit increase in relative Mediterranean diet score, the risk for gastric adenocarcinoma decreased by 5% to 7%"
• Mediterranean Diet May Fight Depression - WebMD, 10/5/09
• Mediterranean Diet May Boost Eye Health - WebMD, 5/11/09 - "people who ate one serving of fish per week had a 31% lower risk of early signs of AMD. Those who ate one to two servings of nuts rich in omega-3 fatty acids had a 35% lower risk" - See Mega Twin EPA at Amazon.com and Jarrow Max DHA at Amazon.com.
• Mediterranean diet may lower blood pressure: Study - Nutra USA, 5/11/09
• Mediterranean Diet May Preserve Memory - WebMD, 2/9/09 - "The Mediterranean diet consists of larger doses of fish, vegetables, legumes, fruits, cereals, and unsaturated fatty acids; low amounts of dairy products, meat, and saturated fats; and a moderate amount of alcohol ... average 4.5 year follow-up period. Those in the top one-third of Mediterranean diet scores had a 28% lower risk (compared to those in the bottom third) of developing a cognitive impairment"
• Mediterranean Diet Reduces Long-term Risk Of Subsequent Weight Gain And Obesity Among Adults - Science Daily, 1/22/09 - "increased fruit and vegetable intake was associated with significantly lower risk of a medium WG (3,41 kg) over 10 years among adults of a Spanish Mediterranean population. Dietary strategies to increase fruit and vegetable intake to prevent and control overweight and obesity should be promoted more vigorously"
• Metabolic Syndrome? Nuts! - WebMD, 12/8/08 - "A group that was given personalized advice on the Mediterranean diet and about 2 tablespoons of mixed nuts (1/2 walnuts, 1/4 almonds, and 1/4 hazelnuts) each day ... A year later, nobody lost weight. And about the same number of people developed newly diagnosed metabolic syndrome in each group ... But among patients who already had metabolic syndrome, those in the nut group were 70% more likely to have reversal of metabolic syndrome than those in the control group"
• Accolades for Mediterranean Diet - WebMD, 9/11/08 - "people who followed a strict Mediterranean diet were: ... 9% less likely to die from heart disease or other cardiovascular problems ... 6% less likely to develop cancer or die from it ... 13% less likely to have Parkinson's or Alzheimer's disease"
• Ornish: Why Atkins Still Doesn't Beat Low-Fat Diet -  Newsweek, 7/16/08 - "A new study comparing the Atkins diet, a Mediterranean diet and a low-fat diet published on July 17 in The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), is likely to inspire headlines saying that the Atkins diet is better for your waistline and your health than a low-fat diet ... I believe this study is extremely flawed. Here's why: ... funded in part by the Atkins Foundation ... quality of data in this study ..."
• The Traditional Mediterranean Diet Protects Against Diabetes, Study Suggests - Science Daily, 5/30/08 - "A high adherence to the diet was associated with an 83% relative reduction in the risk of developing diabetes"
• Med diet linked to longer life - study - Nutra USA, 12/12/07 - "greater adherence to a Med-style diet reduced the risk of death from cardiovascular disease (CVD) and cancer by 22 and 17 per cent in men, and 12 per cent for women ... so-called all-cause mortality (death from all causes) was reduced by 21 per cent among men and 20 per cent among women with the greatest adherence ... The Mediterranean diet also includes other important dietary constituents such as fiber and a low omega-6:omega-3 fatty acid ratio, both of which potentially prevent cancer initiation and progression" - [Abstract]
• Mediterranean Diet May Help Alzheimer's Patients Live Longer - Science Daily, 9/10/07 - "Alzheimer's patients who adhered to the diet to a moderate degree lived an average 1.3 years longer than those people who least adhered to the diet. And those Alzheimer's patients who followed the diet very religiously lived an average four years longer"
• Mediterranean Diet Halves Risk Of Progressive Lung Disease - Science Daily, 5/15/07
• Diet May Influence Alzheimer's Risk - WebMD, 10/9/06 - "Long suspected of lowering the risk of heart disease and diabetes, the Mediterranean diet consists of large amounts of fruits, vegetables, beans, grains, and nuts. Red meats are eaten only rarely and poultry, eggs, and dairy products are eaten in moderation. Olive oil and fatty fish are the main sources of fat in the diet ... People who most closely adhered to the diet had an Alzheimer's risk that was 40% to 65% lower than people who were least likely to follow the diet"
• Erectile Function in Subjects With the Metabolic Syndrome - Medscape, 7/19/06 - "consumption of a Mediterranean-style diet in men with the metabolic syndrome and ED at baseline produced significant improvement of erectile and endothelial functions, together with a significant reduction of systemic vascular inflammation, as indicated by the reduced levels of CRP"
• Mediterranean Beats Low-Fat Diet - WebMD, 6/5/06 - "Compared with the low-fat group, the two Mediterranean diet groups had bigger improvements in blood pressure, insulin resistance (a problem which accompanies or precedes type 2 diabetes), markers of inflammation, and levels of cholesterol and other lipids (blood fats)"
• Mediterranean Diet May Cut Alzheimer's - WebMD, 4/18/06 - "Scores ranged from 0-9, with higher scores showing greater adherence to a Mediterranean diet ... those with middle scores were 15% less likely to have been found to have developed Alzheimer's disease, and those with the highest scores were 40% less likely to have been found to have Alzheimer's disease"
• Olive oil—key to Mediterranean diet's benefits - MSNBC, 3/10/06
• Tufts Expert Examines The Cardiovascular Benefits Of A Mediterranean-style Diet - Science Daily, 2/7/06
• The Disease-Preventive Power of the Mediterranean Diet - Life Extension Magazine, 7/05
• Mediterranean Diet Linked to Longer Life - WebMD, 4/7/05 - "a healthy man of 60 who follows the diet, which is rich in fruits and vegetables and low in meat and dairy, can expect to live a year longer than a man of the same age who doesn't follow the diet ... The Mediterranean diet was nearly vegetarian, with fish and very little meat, and was rich in green vegetables"
• Mediterranean Diet Helps Lower Death Rates - WebMD, 12/9/04 - "those seniors adhering to the Mediterranean diet had a 23% lower risk of death from all causes ... seniors who exercised at least 30 minutes every day lowered their risk of death by 37%. Nonsmoking seniors reduced their risk by 35%. Seniors who drank alcohol moderately reduced their risk by 22% ... a senior who adhered to all of these lifestyle changes reduced his risk of death by 65%"
• More good news about the Mediterranean diet - MSNBC, 10/29/04 - "people who ate a mostly Mediterranean diet, exercised moderately, drank little to moderate amounts of alcohol, and didn’t smoke had 65 percent fewer deaths than those who followed none or only one of these healthy habits"
• Is the Mediterranean Diet Really Healthier? - Dr. Weil, 10/8/04
• Mediterranean Diet May Be Effective in Reducing Metabolic Syndrome and Associated Symptoms - Doctor's Guide, 9/22/04 - "after 2 years, patients in the Mediterranean diet intervention group had significant decreases in body weight, blood pressure, levels of glucose, insulin, total cholesterol, and triglycerides and a significant increase in levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol ... Serum concentrations of interleukins 6 (IL-6), 7 (IL-7), and 18 (IL-18) and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) were significantly reduced in patients in the intervention group"
• Mediterranean Diet Improves Survival in Elderly - Medscape, 9/21/04 - "Among 70- to 90-year-olds, adherence to a Mediterranean diet and healthful lifestyle is associated with a more than 50% lower rate of all-cause and cause-specific mortality"
• A Lifestyle Blueprint for Long Life - WebMD, 9/21/04
• Is It Better to Eat Like the French? - Dr. Weil, 8/3/04
• Mediterranean Diet Fights Heart Disease - WebMD, 11/11/03
• Mediterranean Diet Lowers C-reactive Protein Levels - Medscape, 11/11/03 - "For each 10-point increase in diet score, there was a corresponding 0.22 mg/dL reduction in C-reactive protein levels, a 0.21 pg/ml reduction in interleukin-6, a 12.5 mg/dL decrease in fibrinogen, and a 0.87 mmol/L decrease in homocysteine levels (P < .05), he said. Also, white blood cell count decreased significantly"
• Mediterranean Diet Independently Lowers Cardiovascular Disease Risk - Doctor's Guide, 11/10/03
• Mediterranean diet evidence - jr2.ox.ac.uk. 8/03
• Mediterranean diet 'extends life' - bbc.co.uk. 8/24/03 - "The[y] found that quercetin, which is abundant in olive oil, has a similar effect"
• Mastering the Mediterranean Diet? - Dr. Weil, 8/14/03
• Add 1 lb. of veggies, olive oil - USA Today, 6/25/03 - "participants were rated on a scale of 0 to 9, based on how closely they stuck to the traditional Mediterranean diet. The higher the score, the better the adherence ... A two-point increase in the adherence score was associated with a 25% reduced risk of death from all causes, a 33% reduced risk of death from heart disease and a 24% reduced risk of death from cancer ... People in Greece eat about a pound of vegetables a day, mostly cooked ... Salads are served with fish, and vegetables like zucchini and spinach are boiled and seasoned with lemon and olive oil"
• Mediterranean Diet: More Than Olive Oil - WebMD, 6/25/03 - "In addition to having olive oil with most meals, the typical Mediterranean diet is very high in vegetables, fruits, legumes, nuts, and cereals; moderate in fish intake; and has lower amounts of meat and dairy than the typical American diet. Drinking alcohol is also a frequently practiced dining ritual"
• Mediterranean Diet Cuts Risk Of Cancer In Half - Doctor's Guide, 6/16/98

Abstracts:

• Are there specific treatments for the metabolic syndrome? - Am J Clin Nutr. 2008 Jan;87(1):8-11 - "Although there is no "all-inclusive" diet yet, it seems plausible that a Mediterranean-style diet has most of the desired attributes, including a lower content of refined carbohydrates, a high content of fiber, a moderate content of fat (mostly unsaturated), and a moderate-to-high content of vegetable proteins"
• Adherence to the Mediterranean Diet Is Inversely Associated With Circulating Interleukin-6 Among Middle-Aged Men. A Twin Study - Circulation. 2007 Dec 17 - "A 1-unit within-pair absolute difference in the diet score was associated with a 9% (95% CI, 4.5 to 13.6) lower interleukin-6 level"
• Mediterranean Dietary Pattern and Prediction of All-Cause Mortality in a US Population: Results From the NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study - Arch Intern Med. 2007 Dec 10;167(22):2461-8 - "The Mediterranean diet was associated with reduced all-cause and cause-specific mortality. In men, the multivariate HRs comparing high to low conformity for all-cause, CVD, and cancer mortality were 0.79 (95% CI, 0.76-0.83), 0.78 (95% CI, 0.69-0.87), and 0.83 (95% CI, 0.76-0.91), respectively. In women, an inverse association was seen with high conformity with this pattern: decreased risks that ranged from 12% for cancer mortality to 20% for all-cause mortality (P = .04 and P < .001, respectively, for the trend)"
• Mediterranean Diet, Alzheimer Disease, and Vascular Mediation - Arch Neurol, 10/9/06 - "Higher adherence to the MeDi was associated with lower risk for AD (odds ratio, 0.76; 95% confidence interval, 0.67-0.87; P<.001). Compared with subjects in the lowest MeDi tertile, subjects in the middle MeDi tertile had an odds ratio of 0.47 (95% confidence interval, 0.29-0.76) and those at the highest tertile an odds ratio of 0.32 (95% confidence interval, 0.17-0.59) for AD"
• Mediterranean diet improves erectile function in subjects with the metabolic syndrome - Int J Impot Res. 2006 Jan 5 - "Mediterranean-style diet rich in whole grain, fruits, vegetables, legumes, walnut, and olive oil might be effective per se in reducing the prevalence of ED in men with the metabolic syndrome"
• Effect of a mediterranean-style diet on endothelial dysfunction and markers of vascular inflammation in the metabolic syndrome: a randomized trial - JAMA. 2004 Sep 22;292(12):1440-6 - "A Mediterranean-style diet might be effective in reducing the prevalence of the metabolic syndrome and its associated cardiovascular risk"
• Metabolic syndrome: dietary interventions - Curr Opin Cardiol. 2004 Sep;19(5):473-9 - "Although there is no "all-inclusive" diet yet, it seems plausible that a Mediterranean-style diet exhibits most of the desired attributes"
• Mediterranean diet improves lipid profiles over three months - Asia Pac J Clin Nutr. 2004;13(Suppl):S138 - "A Mediterranean diet is effective for weight loss over three months and has early favourable effect on HDL and Triglyceride levels and a neutral effect on TC and LDL levels"

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