The Skinny Kid

Four questions on resveratrol and other anti-aging drugs - Jan. 31, 2007

Still, many experts believe that drugs are on the horizon which could extend average life span by perhaps five to ten years. That may seem unimpressive. But their boost to life expectancy would “far exceed” that from totally eliminating cancer, says S. Jay Olshansky, a University of Illinois expert on the demographics of aging. That’s because the risk of many deadly diseases skyrockets as we age, so even if one were vanquished, the others would soon get us, limiting the gain in average life span.

Fortune says we won’t live to 250, which would at least make retirement financial planning less complicated.

I got depressing news today: Despite having lost 15 pounds recently my cholesterol levels were WAY too high for comfort. Then, to add insult to injury, I see this:

Disease Proof: Cholesterol Levels and Heart Attack

There is irrefutable evidence that high cholesterol levels are associated with increased risk of coronary heart disease (CHD). Make no doubt about it: lowering your LDL cholesterol below 100 offers powerful protection against heart disease. The evidence is overwhelming today that heart attacks, which kill half of all Americans, are entirely preventable. Heart disease is a condition that is preventable and reversible through aggressive nutritional intervention and cholesterol-lowering.The latest recommendation from most medical authorities and medical organizations such as the American College of Cardiology is to lower LDL cholesterol level below 100. This is in accordance with what has been observed for years in epidemiology studies. People in countries who ate a more simple plant-based diet did not have heart attacks and those populations are always found to have much lower cholesterol levels than was thought to be acceptable in the past. For instance, the average total cholesterol in rural China was 127 and the average LDL was below 80. Heart attacks in rural China were exceedingly rare. The same thing was observed in multiple interventional and population studies, such as the Harvard Health Study; those with LDL’s below 100 were not observed to have heart attacks.

At least it served as a wake-up call to tell me that while my progress so far is good, it is not enough.

Wired News: Hacking the Human Life Span

Having recently witnessed his mother’s death following a devastating eight-year illness, Cracraft, an IT worker, decided he wanted to try and spare his own daughters such an experience with him.So he changed his diet, cutting back on sugars and adding plenty of egg protein and fish. He started drinking tea and taking fish-oil supplements and multivitamins. It wasn’t exactly a radical regimen, but he was willing to go further.

After three years researching a compound found in red wine called resveratrol, which has been shown to extend life and reduce disease in lab animals, he began taking 50 milligrams a day.

“It seems it’s more powerful than all the antioxidants put together,” Cracraft says. “You get all that in one pill, and it’s too good to pass up.”

Leave it to Wired to put health in engineering terms.

United Press International - Consumer Health - Eat To Live: Rice the new weight-loss food

Before you reach into the freezer for that carton of ice cream, they don’t give you license to go mad with your favorite candies and potato chips. You can only consume them at specific times of day in carefully calculated amounts. Otherwise, you will put on weight.The carbohydrates you consume must be fat free or low in fat. Fat slows the serotonin-making process. Besides, it makes you feel lethargic, and the sofa and a bowl of potato chips will develop an irresistible appeal. Nor should they contain protein because it interferes with the brain’s ability to make serotonin.

You have to eat the right foods at the right times. This will be when your serotonin levels are naturally lower, which seems to be late afternoon or early evening, when people can tend to crave a quick boost from a gooey lemon bar, a hot chocolate or a sandwich.

While you can’t have those, you can have a fat-free cookie or a few pretzels. Then later on for dinner, the authors write on buzzle.com, you can “dine on low fat carbohydrate dishes like pasta marinara sprinkled with parmesan cheese or a large bowl of butternut squash soup with crusty bread followed by fat free hot chocolate and vanilla wafers. This afternoon and evening comfort food soothes the appetite and makes you feel good when otherwise you would suffer from cravings and a bad mood.”

I’ve found that a CRON plan will give you the right mix, as nothing is explicitly cut off but getting the nutrients needed requires balancing out the major food groups.

Ivanhoe’s Medical Breakthroughs - Blood Pressure Drugs: A Gamble?

Previous research suggests some blood pressure medications put patients at increased risk for new onset diabetes. Many of these drugs have never been directly compared, so how do doctors determine which medications are safest?Researchers at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago took a hint from oddsmakers when comparing drugs in a recent study. They conducted a network meta-analysis of 22 clinical trials with 143,153 participants to determine which blood pressure medications put patients at risk for diabetes. Their meta-analysis shows angiotensin-receptor blockers (ARBS) and angiotensin-converting-enzyme inhibitors (ACE), two common blood pressure medications, are least likely to cause new cases of diabetes.

Probably better still if you control your blood pressure and diabetes through diet.

RED HERRING | Cancer Curing Omelets?

The same research institution that cloned Dolly the Sheep has pulled off another genetic exploit. Researchers at the Roslin Institute in Edinburgh have genetically engineered chickens that could one day produce medicines to fight diseases like cancer and multiple sclerosis in their eggs.Lead researcher Helen Sang and team have stated they have bred hens whose egg whites contain high level of proteins that may well yield drugs for such ailments.

The hope is that these types of breakthroughs could be developed to offer a low cost manufacturing alternative for the production of many protein-based drugs. Raising chickens is simply a lot cheaper and easier than running the industrial-scale vats—known as bioreactors—often used to brew up proteins for drugs.

Creepy. Hope they don’t accidentally get shipped to stores instead of drug companies. It’s one thing to ingest something that could potentially cure cancer - if you have it. Quite another if you don’t.

A vitamin a day may do more harm than good - Diet & Nutrition - MSNBC.com

Of 21 brands of multivitamins on the market in the United States and Canada selected by ConsumerLab.com and tested by independent laboratories, just 10 met the stated claims on their labels or satisfied other quality standards.Most worrisome, according to ConsumerLab.com president Dr. Tod Cooperman, is that one product, The Vitamin Shoppe Multivitamins Especially for Women, was contaminated with lead.

If you eat well you should be able to get all of the necessary vitamins and minerals. And if you use a program like CRON-o-meter to log your food intake you can find out what, if anything, you are missing and either make dietary adjustments or use specific supplements to make up any shortfall.

MedlinePlus: Being overweight ups risk of Parkinson’s disease

Middle-aged men and women who are overweight may be at increased risk of developing Parkinson’s disease, a progressive, irreversible neurodegenerative disease, study shows.

I’m in favor of avoiding progressive, irreversible neurodegenerative diseases when possible.

Refrigerator Raider has a four-step process to start eating healthier. One of the steps is so obvious its a shame it needs to be repeated. However, we will do just that.

Refrigerator Raid: The Simple Trick That Can Change Your Diet Overnight

Step 2: Buy only healthy foods! Head to the supermarket to re-stock your kitchen with healthy foods. Choose whole grains, vegetables, fruits and legumes. Pick healthy fats like avocados and flaxseed oil. Opt for lean proteins. Skip the sugar and processed flours that are found in things like saltine crackers, pretzels, sweetened cereal and gummy fruits. Pass by the ice cream and potato chip aisle.

The original post contains four steps, but if you only take this one it will go a long way.

Can we live longer? - Los Angeles Times

Today, centenarians comprise the fastest-growing segment of the population. In developed countries, their numbers have been doubling every five to seven years, and the age that they achieve has been rising steadily — from 110 in 1930 to 120 in 1995.Trailing along in their impressive wake, the less-remarkable folks are doing better too. The average U.S. life expectancy has been increasing for more than 100 years and hit a record high in 2004: 80.4 years for women and 75.2 years for men.

Just how long can this go on?

It is a matter of fierce debate. Scientists aren’t sure if we will ever be able to expand human life span to 100 years or beyond for most people, not just the lucky few favored by genes and environment. They’re also divided on whether science will come up with a pill or other remedy that lets people break through what seems like a biological barrier unbreachable by even the Calments of this world.

The answers are intertwined with one of the most basic biological mysteries: why creatures, be they humans, rats or rhinos, all wither and die. That riddle is yet to be solved — but scientists are gathering tantalizing clues.

Just last month, a study reported that mice manipulated to have a slightly lower body temperature live longer than mice with a regular body temperature. Another reported that a substance found in red wine — resveratrol — extended the life span of overfed, obese mice.

A slew of theories on aging have been suggested over the centuries. Some people, turning to the Bible, believed it was moral transgression. Others — from ancient Greece to the 19th century — held that aging came from a progressive loss of heat, moisture or both.

Today, scientists are focusing on a few leading contenders — such as damage to cells and tissues from highly active chemicals called free radicals, chronic inflammation, a built-in limit to the number of times our cells can divide, or a slow, steady stiffening of tissues by a lifetime of exposure to sugar.

Only a few of the methods are controllable. Others are up to luck (good genes or medical advances.)