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Recent Longevity News for the week ending 9/3/14:

Blue light from electronics disturbs sleep, especially for teenagers - The Washington Post, 9/1/14 - "the lights from their computer screens, smartphones and tablets often stay on throughout the night. These devices emit light of all colors, but it’s the blues in particular that pose a danger to sleep. Blue light is especially good at preventing the release of melatonin, a hormone associated with nighttime ... place the tablet farther away from your face than usual, or watch TV instead. Also, turning the brightness setting down on laptops, tablets and phones should help"

Drinking tea reduces non-CV mortality by 24 percent - Science Daily, 8/31/14 - "The study included 131,401 people aged 18 to 95 years who had a health check up at the Paris IPC Preventive Medicine Center between January 2001 and December 2008. During a mean 3.5 years follow up there were 95 deaths from CV and 632 deaths from non-CV causes ... Tea drinking lowered the risk of non-CV death by 24% and the trend towards lowering CV mortality was nearly significant. When we extended our analysis to 2011 we found that tea continued to reduce overall mortality during the 6 year period" - See green tea extract at Amazon.com.

Men who exercise less more likely to wake up to urinate - Science Daily, 8/28/14 - "Among men in the incident group, those who were physically active one or more hours per week were 13 percent less likely to report nocturia and 34 percent less likely to report severe nocturia then men who reported no physical activity. (Nocturia was defined as waking two or more times during the night to urinate; severe nocturia was defined as waking three or more times to urinate.)"

Eat your fruits, vegetables for skin with sun-kissed glow - Science Daily, 8/27/14 - "Skin coloration can arise as a result of two distinct processes," explain the team leading the research: through tanning (melanisation) or the assimilation of fruit and vegetables (carotenoid ingestion) ... Results from both studies showed a clear preference for strong color values; 86% of the attendants to the first study voted for the high carotenoid version, while 78.5% of the participants to the second one opted for the high melanin variant ... in a third and final study, the team pitched 24 high carotenoid and high melanin faces against each other, asking attendants to choose the one deemed more appealing; results showed a 75.9% preference for carotenoid coloring over the melanin one" - See carotenoids at Amazon.com.

Fighting prostate cancer with tomato-rich diet - Science Daily, 8/27/14 - "the first study of its kind to develop a prostate cancer 'dietary index' which consists of dietary components -- selenium, calcium and foods rich in lycopene -- that have been linked to prostate cancer ... Men who had optimal intake of these three dietary components had a lower risk of prostate cancer ... Tomatoes and its products -- such as tomato juice and baked beans -- were shown to be most beneficial, with an 18 per cent reduction in risk found in men eating over 10 portions a week ... This is thought to be due to lycopene, an antioxidant which fights off toxins that can cause DNA and cell damage" - See Jarrow Lyco-Sorb (contains Lyco-O-Mato) at Amazon.com.

Lifetime of fitness: Fountain of youth for bone, joint health? - Science Daily, 8/27/14 - "It long has been assumed that aging causes an inevitable deterioration of the body and its ability to function, as well as increased rates of related injuries such as sprains, strains and fractures; diseases, such as obesity and diabetes; and osteoarthritis and other bone and joint conditions. However, recent research on senior, elite athletes suggests usage of comprehensive fitness and nutrition routines helps minimize bone and joint health decline and maintain overall physical health ... A lot of the deterioration we see with aging can be attributed to a more sedentary lifestyle instead of aging itself ... A minimum of 150 to 300 minutes a week of endurance training, in 10 to 30 minute episodes, for elite senior athletes is recommended. Less vigorous and/or short-duration aerobic regimens may provide limited benefit ... For senior athletes, a daily protein intake of 1.0 to 1.5 g/kg is recommended, as well as carbohydrate consumption of 6 to 8 g/kg (more than 8 g/kg in the days leading up to an endurance event)" - Note:  300/7 = 43 minutes  per day.

Abstracts from this week:

Acute effect of sorghum flour-containing pasta on plasma total polyphenols, antioxidant capacity and oxidative stress markers in healthy subjects: A randomised controlled trial - Clin Nutr. 2014 Aug 14 - "pasta containing red wholegrain sorghum flour enhanced antioxidant status and improved markers of oxidative stress in healthy subjects" - See sorghum flour at Amazon.com.

Curcumin enhances parental reproductive lifespan and progeny viability in Drosophila melanogaster - Age (Dordr). 2014 Oct;36(5):9702 - "We have used the well-established model organism, Drosophila melanogaster, and ascertained the consequence of diet supplementation with curcumin. Flies reared on curcumin-supplemented diet had significantly higher lifespan. The progeny of flies reared on curcumin had a higher viability. The activity of a key mitochondrial enzyme-aconitase was significantly higher in flies reared on curcumin-supplemented diet. The results suggest that curcumin can not only correct a key step in the citric acid cycle and help in the release of additional energy but also permanently correct developmental and morphogenetic processes" - See curcumin products at Amazon.com.

Resveratrol Preserves Mitochondrial Function, Stimulates Mitochondrial Biogenesis, and Attenuates Oxidative Stress in Regulatory T Cells of Mice Fed a High-Fat Diet - J Food Sci. 2014 Aug 23 - "Consumption of high-fat diet (HFD) is related with increased oxidative stress and dysfunctional mitochondria in many organs. The effects of resveratrol (trans-3,5,4'-trihydroxystilbene) that can protect T lymphocytes in various disease conditions on the HFD-induced apoptosis of CD4+ CD25+ CD127low/- regulatory T cells (Tregs) were studied, and the possible mechanism was postulated. Resveratrol significantly decreased Tregs death induced by 20-wk HFD, being associated with the reduction of reactive oxygen species production and the alleviation of HFD-induced loss of mitochondrial membrane potential (Δψm) in Tregs. Furthermore, resveratrol increased the expression of factors that regulated mitochondrial biogenesis in Tregs. Finally, resveratrol recovered the HFD-induced activation of apoptotic markers in Tregs. Resveratrol protected Tregs against HFD-induced apoptosis by reducing oxidative stress, restoring mitochondrial functional activities, and stimulating mitochondrial biogenesis" - [Nutra USA] - See resveratrol products at Amazon.com.

Gender differences in associations of serum ferritin and diabetes, metabolic syndrome, and obesity in China Health and Nutrition Survey - Mol Nutr Food Res. 2014 Aug 27 - "Ferritin concentrations were higher in men than women (201.55±3.6 vs. 80.46±1.64 ng/mL, p<0.0001). The prevalences of MetS, diabetes, obesity, and overweight were 8.05%, 8.97%, 4.67%, 25.88% among men and 14.23%, 6.58%, 5.81%, 26.82% among women, respectively. Elevated ferritin concentrations were associated with higher body mass index, waist circumference, lipids, insulin, glucose (all p<0.0001). Serum ferritin concentrations increased gradually with aging among women. The inverted U shaped association between serum ferritin and age was observed among men. Elevated concentration of ferritins were significantly related with higher risk of MetS (p<0.0001), obesity (p = 0.010), overweight (p<0.0001), and diabetes (p<0.0001) among men, but not among women"

Curcumin enhances cell-surface LDLR level and promotes LDL uptake through down-regulation of PCSK9 gene expression in HepG2 cells - Mol Nutr Food Res. 2014 Aug 27 - "Curcumin exhibits hypolipidemic activity and may serve as a useful supplement to statin treatment for hypercholesterolemia" - See curcumin products at Amazon.com.

The Influence of Urinary pH on Antibiotic Efficacy Against Bacterial Uropathogens - Urology. 2014 Sep;84(3):731.e1-7 - "Because human urine can substantially vary from acidic (pH 4.5) to alkaline (pH 8) conditions and can be easily clinically manipulated, it would be a great advantage to better understand the role of pH in antibiotic treatment of urinary tract infection ... The fluoroquinolones, co-trimoxazole, aminoglycosides, and macrolides all functioned optimally at alkaline pH, whereas the tetracyclines, nitrofurantoin, and many of the β-lactams tested exhibited their highest activity under more acidic conditions. Sulfamethoxazole, oxacillin, amoxicillin and clavulanic acid, vancomycin, imipenem, and clindamycin were largely unaffected by pH"

Assessing the Associations of Sodium Intake With Long-Term All-Cause and Cardiovascular Mortality in a Hypertensive Cohort - Am J Hypertens. 2014 Aug 26 - "In adjusted models, sodium intake was not significantly associated with cardiovascular mortality (QI vs. QIV: hazard ratio (HR) = 1.00; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.71-1.42; P = 0.99). A borderline significant direct association with all-cause mortality was observed (QI vs. QIV: HR = 0.81; 95% CI = 0.66-1.00; P = 0.05) driven partly by noncardiovascular deaths"

Resveratrol enhanced FOXO3 phosphorylation via synergetic activation of SIRT1 and PI3K/Akt signaling to improve the effects of exercise in elderly rat hearts - Age (Dordr). 2014 Oct;36(5):9705 - "Our experimental results strongly suggest that resveratrol treatment improves the beneficial effects of exercise training in aging rat hearts" - See resveratrol products at Amazon.com.

Supplementation with Vitamin B6 Reduces Side Effects in Cambodian Women Using Oral Contraception - Nutrients. 2014 Aug 26;6(9):3353-3362 - "1011 women obtaining oral contraception through the public health system in rural Cambodia were allocated to either intervention or control groups, receiving either daily Vitamin B6 supplement or care as usual (without placebo). Results: The intervention participants (n = 577) reported fewer side effects in three categories: nausea/no appetite, headache, and depression compared with control group participants (n = 434)"

Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D, vitamin D binding protein, and risk of colorectal cancer in the prostate, Lung, colorectal, and Ovarian cancer screening trial - Int J Cancer. 2014 Aug 23 - "vitamin D binding protein (DBP) ... We conducted a prospective study of serum 25(OH)D and DBP concentrations and colorectal cancer risk in the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian Cancer Screening Trial ... Circulating 25(OH)D was inversely associated with colorectal cancer (OR=0.60, 95% CI 0.38-0.94 for highest versus lowest quintile, p-trend 0.01)" - See vitamin D at Amazon.com.

Neat Tech Stuff / "How To's":

Get a zBoost Soho Max cell-phone signal booster for $199.99 - CNET, 8/28/14 - "for a limited time, and while supplies last, Best Buy has the zBoost Soho Max ZB545M cellular signal booster for $199.99 shipped (plus tax). Regular price: $299.99. Price at Amazon: $285 ... That base unit promises a range of 3,500 square feet, far better than some of the lower-end models. Also, unlike some boosters, this one is dual-band -- it works with both CDMA and GSM networks, meaning it should help regardless of which Big Four carrier you use" - Note:  A lot of people I know could use something like this. Think of the people receiving your calls. Some are so bad it's like making a cross country phone call back in the '50's.

Health Focus (Gallstones):

Popular Supplements:

Alternative News:

Other News:

  • An easier way to remove gallstones - Science Daily, 1/18/12 - "A tiny ultrasonic probe at the tip of the endoscope locates gallstones, even small ones embedded in the organ's lining. Surgeons can use the horn-shaped "absorbing box" to get rid of fine, difficult-to-remove "sludge-like" gallstones - which the authors say can be compared with "sand sprinkled on a carpet" - by sucking them out like a vacuum cleaner ... Approximately ten percent of the population suffers from gallstones"
  • Long-term Statin Use Associated With Decreased Risk Of Gallstones Requiring Surgery - Science Daily, 11/10/09 - "Use of the cholesterol-lowering drugs statins for more than a year is associated with a reduced risk of having gallstones requiring surgery"
  • Statins Cut Gallstones Risk - WebMD, 10/16/07 - "The study suggested that overall, current statin use slashed the risk of having gallbladder removal surgery by 18% -- no matter how long a woman had been taking the drug ... Women with diabetes who had been taking statins for two or more years reduced their risk of surgery by 75% ... Statins improve insulin resistance in people with diabetes but not in nondiabetics"
  • Yo-Yo Dieting Ups Men's Gallstone Risk - WebMD, 11/27/06 - "men who repeatedly lose, then regain 20 or more pounds through dieting are up to 76% more likely to develop gallstones later in life than men who maintain a constant weight"
  • Trans Fats May Raise Risk of Gallstones - WebMD, 5/11/05 - "those who consumed the most trans fats had a 23% higher risk of gallstone disease than those who ate the least amount of trans fats"
  • Hormone Therapy May Increase Risk of Gallstones - WebMD, 10/1/01 - "women taking HRT, consisting of the female hormones estrogen and progestin, were 30% to 40% more likely to need gallbladder surgery ... Although the chance of HRT leading to gallstones was not great, the study of more than 2,200 postmenopausal women does raise concerns ... women taking statins -- the most popular type of cholesterol-lowering drug -- had a 45% drop in the chance they would need gallbladder surgery"