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Recent Longevity News for the seven days ending 7/27/11.  You should consult your doctor if you are taking any medications.

I finally got around to updating my olive oil mayonnaise video.  Click here.

10 Top-Selling Drugs Coming Off Patent - ABC News, 7/25/11 - "could cost up to 80 percent less ... Plavix ... Lipitor ... Seroquel ... Actos ... Enbrel ... Levaquin ... Zyprexa ...Concerta ... Protonix"

Heavy metal: Titanium implant safety under scrutiny - Science Daily, 7/25/11 - "Titanium implants are routinely used for bone fractures as well as dental work. It has recently been shown that titanium-based implants both corrode and degrade, generating metallic debris. There is some concern over the increased concentrations of circulating metal-degradation products derived from these implants, and their potential harmful biological effects over a period of time, including hepatic injury and renal lesions"

Exercise has numerous beneficial effects on brain health and cognition, review suggests - Science Daily, 7/25/11 - "In a new review article highlighting the results of more than a hundred recent human and animal studies on this topic, Michelle W. Voss, of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and her colleagues show that both aerobic exercise and strength training play a vital role in maintaining brain and cognitive health throughout life ... The review suggests that aerobic exercise is important for getting a head start during childhood on cognitive abilities that are important throughout life. For example, physical inactivity is associated with poorer academic performance and results on standard neuropsychological tests, while exercise programs appear to improve memory, attention, and decision-making. These effects also extend to young and elderly adults, with solid evidence for aerobic training benefiting executive functions, including multi-tasking, planning, and inhibition, and increasing the volume of brain structures important for memory"

Bathing water at Vegas ‘dayclubs’ has ‘a lot of urine,’ some bacteria - The Daily, 7/24/11 - "Pee in the pool is bad, but germs are worse, and that’s what our testers found at Rehab at the Hard Rock Hotel, where water samples tested positive for a bacterium called acintobacter. While not usually considered to be dangerous, strains of the organism can cause pneumonia, urinary tract infections, and skin infections" - Note:  Below the first picture is an icon to go to the second picture which has a graph of the pee factor.

Omega-3 Supplements May Lower Anxiety - Medscape, 7/22/11 - "In a small randomized controlled trial of medical students, those who received omega-3 supplements for 3 months showed a 20% reduction in anxiety scores and a 14% reduction in stimulated interleukin 6 (IL-6) production ... Chronic inflammation has been linked to a broad spectrum of health problems, including cardiovascular disease, stroke, and rheumatoid arthritis ... A total of 68 first- and second-year medical students (56% male; mean age, 23.65 years) were enrolled and randomized to receive 3 times daily either omega-3 supplement capsules (consisting of 2085 mg of EPA and 348 mg of DHA, n = 34) or fish-flavored placebo capsules (n = 34) for 12 weeks ... We chose the 7:1 EPA/DHA balance because of evidence that EPA has relatively stronger anti-inflammatory and antidepressant effects than DHA" - See Mega Twin EPA at Amazon.com and Jarrow Max DHA at Amazon.com.

A novel and potent antioxidant found in tomato plants, initial results suggest - Science Daily, 7/22/11 - "A team of researchers from the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology (IBMCP) -a joint centre of the Universitat Politècnica de València and CSIC, the Spanish National Research Council- have identified a novel and potent natural antioxidant occurring in tomato plants. It is a phenolic substance that is synthesised by the tomato plant when it is subjected to biotic stress. Until now, it was completely unknown ... The UPV and CSIC have registered the national and international patents of the new antioxidant and the laboratory procedures used to isolate and synthesise it chemically ... the antioxidant power of the new compound is much higher -14 times higher, to be precise- than, for example, that of resveratrol, a well-known antioxidant, found in red wine, which can delay cellular aging. In addition, it is 4.5 times more potent than vitamin E and 10 times more potent than vitamin C" - Note:  The patent thing makes you wonder if the claims are overblown though.

The Body Odd - Creative types are full of themselves, study confirms - MSNBC, 7/21/11 - "While the creative personality has many appealing traits -- being curious, broad-minded, and open to new experiences -- it has a few unappealing ones, like less modesty and more arrogance"

Metabolic syndrome increases risk of both major types of primary liver cancer - Science Daily, 7/21/11 - "metabolic syndrome was present in 37% of persons who subsequently developed HCC and 30% of persons who developed ICC, compared to 17% of persons who didn't develop either cancer. Analyses showed metabolic syndrome was significantly associated with increased risk of HCC (odds ratio=2.13) and ICC (odds ratio=1.56). Individual components of metabolic syndrome -- impaired fasting glucose level, dyslipoproteinemia, obesity and hypertension -- were more common among persons who developed either HCC or ICC patients than among persons who did not"

Caffeine consumption linked to female infertility, study suggests - Science Daily, 7/20/11 - "By studying tubes from mice, Ward and his team discovered that caffeine stops the actions of specialized pacemaker cells in the wall of the tubes. These cells coordinate tube contractions so that when they are inhibited, eggs can't move down the tubes. In fact these muscle contractions play a bigger role than the beating cilia in moving the egg towards the womb ... This provides an intriguing explanation as to why women with high caffeine consumption often take longer to conceive than women who do not consume caffeine"

Exercise Sharpens Older Minds - WebMD, 7/20/11 - "Two new studies add to growing evidence that physical activity helps to keep older people's brains sharp ... women in the highest two-fifths of physical activity had substantially lower rates of cognitive decline than women in the lowest exercise bracket ... In the second study, researchers used a more objective measure of energy expended during physical activity, employing the so-called doubly labeled water technique to determine how much water a person loses ... Over the next two to five years, those in the highest third of energy expenditure were substantially less likely to develop clinical cognitive impairment than those in the lowest third ... About 2% of people in the highest third suffered declines in cognitive function, compared with 5% in the middle third and 17% in the lowest third"

Listen up! Antioxidants may slash risk of hearing loss, says study - Nutra USA, 7/19/11 - "People with the highest average intakes of vitamin A had a 47 percent reduced risk of moderate or greater hearing loss, compared to people with the lowest average intakes ... In addition, increasing dietary vitamin E intakes were linked with a 14 percent reduction in hearing loss"

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):

Increased Consumption of Dairy Foods and Protein during Diet- and Exercise-Induced Weight Loss Promotes Fat Mass Loss and Lean Mass Gain in Overweight and Obese Premenopausal Women - J Nutr. 2011 Jul 20 - "Weight loss can have substantial health benefits for overweight or obese persons; however, the ratio of fat:lean tissue loss may be more important. We aimed to determine how daily exercise (resistance and/or aerobic) and a hypoenergetic diet varying in protein and calcium content from dairy foods would affect the composition of weight lost in otherwise healthy, premenopausal, overweight, and obese women. Ninety participants were randomized to 3 groups (n = 30/group): high protein, high dairy (HPHD), adequate protein, medium dairy (APMD), and adequate protein, low dairy (APLD) differing in the quantity of total dietary protein and dairy food-source protein consumed: 30 and 15%, 15 and 7.5%, or 15 and <2% of energy, respectively. Body composition was measured by DXA at 0, 8, and 16 wk and MRI (n = 39) to assess visceral adipose tissue (VAT) volume at 0 and 16 wk. All groups lost body weight (P < 0.05) and fat (P < 0.01); however, fat loss during wk 8-16 was greater in the HPHD group than in the APMD and APLD groups (P < 0.05). The HPHD group gained lean tissue with a greater increase during 8-16 wk than the APMD group, which maintained lean mass and the APLD group, which lost lean mass (P < 0.05). The HPHD group also lost more VAT as assessed by MRI (P < 0.05) and trunk fat as assessed by DXA (P < 0.005) than the APLD group. The reduction in VAT in all groups was correlated with intakes of calcium (r = 0.40; P < 0.05) and protein (r = 0.32; P < 0.05). Therefore, diet- and exercise-induced weight loss with higher protein and increased dairy product intakes promotes more favorable body composition changes in women characterized by greater total and visceral fat loss and lean mass gain" - Note:  See the yogurt recipe on my yogurt page.

Dutasteride Improves Outcomes of Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia When Evaluated for Prostate Cancer Risk Reduction: Secondary Analysis of the REduction by Dutasteride of Prostate Cancer Events (REDUCE) Trial - Urology. 2011 Jul 14 - "During the 4-year study, the International Prostate Symptom Score increased in placebo-treated patients, while dutasteride-treated patients had a stabilized or decreased International Prostate Symptom Score and improved BPH Impact Index and quality of life due to urinary symptom scores across all prostate volume quintiles (including prostate glands smaller than those studied in previous dutasteride trials). 48 months, the incidence of acute urinary retention or BPH-related surgery was significantly less in the dutasteride group (2.5%) than in the placebo group (9%) overall (P < .001) and in each baseline prostate volume quintile (P < .01)" - See dutasteride at OffshoreRx1.com.

Meat Consumption and Risk of Lung Cancer Among Never-Smoking Women - Nutr Cancer. 2011 Jul 20 - "Among these never smokers, fruit and vegetable intake were inversely associated with lung cancer risk. Seventy-two percent of meat consumed was white meat (chicken or fish). Meat consumption overall was inversely associated with lung cancer [adjusted odds ratio (OR), 0.88, 0.59 for second, third tertiles, P (trend) = .012]. An inverse relationship between fish consumption and lung cancer (adjusted OR, 0.81, 0.47 for 2nd, 3rd tertiles, P (trend) < .001) was observed. No association was seen between consumption of processed meats and lung cancer, nor between dietary heterocyclic amines and lung cancer. Our data suggest that fish consumption may be protective against lung cancer in never smokers"

Impact of Consumption of Vegetable, Fruit, Grain, and High Glycemic Index Foods on Aggressive Prostate Cancer Risk - Nutr Cancer. 2011 Jul 20 - "Here we further investigate such potential relationships with a case-control study of 982 men (470 more aggressive prostate cancer cases and 512 control subjects). Comparing the highest to lowest quartiles of intake, we found that increasing intakes of leafy vegetables were inversely associated with risk of aggressive prostate cancer [adjusted odds ratio (OR) = 0.66, 95% CI: 0.46, 0.96; P trend = 0.02], as was higher consumption of high carotenoid vegetables (OR = 0.71, 95% CI: 0.48, 1.04; P trend = 0.04). Conversely, increased consumption of high glycemic index foods were positively associated with risk of aggressive disease (OR = 1.64, 95% CI: 1.05, 2.57; P trend = 0.02). These results were driven by a number of specific foods within the food groups. Our findings support the hypothesis that diets high in vegetables and low in high glycemic index foods decrease risk of aggressive prostate cancer"

Effect of valerian on sleep quality in postmenopausal women: a randomized placebo-controlled clinical trial - Menopause. 2011 Jul 14 - "About 50% of postmenopausal women experience sleep disturbances such as insomnia ... A randomized, triple-blind, controlled trial design was used for this study. Participants consisted of 100 postmenopausal women aged 50 to 60 years who were experiencing insomnia. A demographic data form and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index were used to collect data. The women were randomly divided into two groups. Each group received either 530 mg of concentrated valerian extract or a placebo twice a day for 4 weeks. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data ... A statistically significant change was reported in the quality of sleep of the intervention group in comparison with the placebo group (P < 0.001). Also, 30% of the participants in the intervention group and 4% in the placebo group showed an improvement in the quality of sleep" - Note:  My sleep combo is two Nature's Way, Valerian Nighttime, Odor Free, 100 Tablets, one Jarrow Formulas, Theanine 200, 200 mg, 60 Capsules and three Source Naturals, Melatonin, Peppermint Flavored Sublingual, 1 mg, 300 Tablets.

Retinol, vitamins A, C, and E and breast cancer risk: a meta-analysis and meta-regression - Cancer Causes Control. 2011 Jul 15 - "Overall, 51 studies met the inclusion criteria. Comparing the highest with the lowest intake, total vitamin A intake reduced the breast cancer risk by 17% (pooled OR = 0.83, 95% CI: 0.78-0.88). Further subgroup analysis based on study design did not change the significant reduction. Although the dietary vitamin A, dietary vitamin E, and total vitamin E intake all reduced breast cancer risk significantly when data from all studies were pooled, the results became nonsignificant when data from cohort studies were pooled. The significant association between total retinol intake and breast cancer in all studies became nonsignificant in case-control studies but remain significant in cohort studies. No significant dose-response relationship was observed in the higher intake of these vitamins with reduced breast cancer risk"

The association between height and prostate cancer grade in the Early Stage Prostate Cancer Cohort Study - Causes Control. 2011 Jul 20 - "Overall, participants in the highest quartile of height were more than twice as likely to have a Gleason score ≥ 7 (4 + 3) than participants in the lowest quartile of height, OR 2.14 (95% CI 1.11, 4.14), after multivariate adjustment. Participants in the highest quartile of height were more likely to be diagnosed with high-grade prostate cancer than participants in the lowest quartile of height among participants who were black, OR 8.00 (95% CI 1.99, 32.18), and participants who had diabetes mellitus, OR 5.09 (95% CI 1.30, 19.98)"

Fish intake and type 2 diabetes in Japanese men and women: the Japan Public Health Center-based Prospective Study - Am J Clin Nutr. 2011 Jul 20 - "During the 5-y period, 971 new cases (572 men and 399 women) of type 2 diabetes were self-reported. In men, fish intake was significantly associated with a decreased risk of type 2 diabetes; multivariable-adjusted ORs of type 2 diabetes for the highest compared with the lowest quartile of intake were 0.73 (95% CI: 0.54, 1.00; P-trend = 0.04) for total fish and seafood and 0.68 (95% CI: 0.50, 0.92; P-trend = 0.016) for small and medium fish (horse mackerel and sardine, saury and mackerel, and eel). Additional analysis by fat content of fish did not detect any significant association for each category. In women, fish intake was not appreciably associated with type 2 diabetes risk" - See Mega Twin EPA at Amazon.com and Jarrow Max DHA at Amazon.com.

French adults' cognitive performance after daily supplementation with antioxidant vitamins and minerals at nutritional doses: a post hoc analysis of the Supplementation in Vitamins and Mineral Antioxidants (SU.VI.MAX) trial - Am J Clin Nutr. 2011 Jul 20 - "This study included 4447 French participants aged 45-60 y who were enrolled in the SU.VI.MAX study (1994-2002), which was a double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized trial. From 1994 to 2002, participants received daily vitamin C (120 mg), β-carotene (6 mg), vitamin E (30 mg), selenium (100 μg), and zinc (20 mg) in combination or as a placebo. In 2007-2009, the cognitive performance of participants was assessed with 4 neuropsychological tests (6 tasks). Principal components analysis (PCA) was performed to identify cognitive-function summary scores. Associations between antioxidant supplementation and cognitive functions, in the full sample and by subgroups, were estimated through ANOVA and expressed as mean differences and 95% CIs. Subgroup analyses were performed according to baseline characteristics ... Subjects receiving active antioxidant supplementation had better episodic memory scores (mean difference: 0.61; 95% CI: 0.02, 1.20). PCA indicated 2 factors that were interpreted as showing verbal memory and executive functioning. Verbal memory was improved by antioxidant supplementation only in subjects who were nonsmokers or who had low serum vitamin C concentrations at baseline"

Dietary fiber intake and risk of breast cancer: a meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies - Am J Clin Nutr. 2011 Jul 20 - "We identified 10 prospective cohort studies of dietary fiber intake and risk of breast cancer involving 16,848 cases and 712,195 participants. The combined RR of breast cancer for the highest compared with the lowest dietary fiber intake was 0.89 (95% CI: 0.83, 0.96), and little evidence of heterogeneity was observed. The association between dietary fiber intake and risk of breast cancer did not significantly differ by geographic region, length of follow-up, or menopausal status of the participants. Omission of any single study little changed the combined risk estimate. Dose-response analysis showed that every 10-g/d increment in dietary fiber intake was associated with a significant 7% reduction in breast cancer risk. Little evidence of publication bias was found"

Sucrose, high-sugar foods and risk of endometrial cancer - a population-based cohort study - Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2011 Jul 15 - "During 18.4 years of follow-up, 729 participants were diagnosed with incident endometrial cancer. Total sucrose intake and consumption of sweet buns and cookies was associated with increased risk of endometrial cancer. RRs (with 95% CIs) for consuming more than 35 grams of sucrose/day and consuming sweet buns and cookies more than 3 times/week were 1.36 (1.04-1.77) and 1.42 (1.15-1.75) as compared to less than 15 grams of sucrose/day and consuming sweet buns and cookies less than 0.5 times/week, respectively. RRs for consuming more than 15 grams of sucrose/day as compared to 15 grams or less were 1.97 (1.27-3.04) among obese women and 1.56 (1.20-2.04) among women with low fat intake"

Effect of Dietary Protein Supplementation on Blood Pressure: A Randomized, Controlled Trial - Circulation. 2011 Jul 18 - "The trial participants were assigned to take 40 g/d soy protein, milk protein, or carbohydrate supplementation each for 8 weeks in a random order. A 3-week washout period was implemented between the interventions. Three BPs were measured at 2 baseline and 2 termination visits during each of 3 intervention phases with a random-zero sphygmomanometer. Compared with carbohydrate controls, soy protein and milk protein supplementations were significantly associated with -2.0 mm Hg (95% confidence interval -3.2 to -0.7 mm Hg, P=0.002) and -2.3 mm Hg (-3.7 to -1.0 mm Hg, P=0.0007) net changes in systolic BP, respectively. Diastolic BP was also reduced, but this change did not reach statistical significance. There was no significant difference in the BP reductions achieved between soy or milk protein supplementation"

Endogenous subclinical thyroid disorders, physical and cognitive function, depression and mortality in older individuals - Eur J Endocrinol. 2011 Jul 18 - "To what extent endogenous subclinical thyroid disorders contribute to impaired physical and cognitive function, depression and mortality in older individuals remains a matter of debate ... Participants with overt thyroid disease or use of thyroid medication were excluded ... Sixty-four (5.3%) individuals had subclinical hypothyroidism and 34 (2.8%) had subclinical hyperthyroidism. As compared to euthyroidism (n=1121), subclinical hypo- and hyperthyroidism were not significantly associated with impairment of physical or cognitive function, or depression. On the contrary, participants with subclinical hypothyroidism did less often report more than one activity limitation (odds ratio 0.44, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.22 to 0.86). After a median follow-up of 10.7 years 601 participants were deceased. Subclinical hypo- and hyperthyroidism were not associated with increased overall mortality risk (hazard ratio 0.89 , 95% CI 0.59 to 1.35 and 0.69, 95% CI 0.40 to 1.20, respectively). Conclusions. The present study does not support disadvantageous effects of subclinical thyroid disorders on physical or cognitive function, depression or mortality in an older population"

Effect of Dietary Fish Oil on Atrial Fibrillation After Cardiac Surgery - Am J Cardiol. 2011 Jul 13 - "Two hundred patients were randomized to receive fish oil (providing 4.6 g/day of long-chain ω-3 fatty acids) or a control oil starting 3 weeks before surgery; 194 subjects completed the study, with 47 of 97 subjects in the control group and 36 of 97 subjects in the fish oil group developing AF (odds ratio 0.63, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.35 to 1.11). There was a nonstatistically significant delay in time to onset of AF in the fish oil group (hazard ratio 0.66, 95% CI 0.43 to 1.01). There was a significant decrease in mean length of stay in the intensive care unit in the fish oil group (ratio of means 0.71, 95% CI 0.56 to 0.90). In conclusion, in a mixed cardiac surgery population, supplementation with dietary fish oil did not result in a significant decrease in the incidence of postsurgical AF. However, there was a significant decrease in time spent in the intensive care unit" - See Mega Twin EPA at Amazon.com and Jarrow Max DHA at Amazon.com.

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