Resveratrol Helps The Heart Says New University Study
Resveratrol Keeps Hearts Young
June 4, 2008
Resveratrol, A natural compound found in red wine, may protect the heart against the effects of the aging process, researchers said on Tuesday.
In their study, mice were given a diet supplemented with the compound known as resveratrol starting at their equivalent of middle age until old age. These mice experienced changes in their gene activity related to aging in a way very similar to mice that were placed on a so-called calorie restriction diet that slows the aging process by greatly cutting dietary energy intake. Most striking was how the resveratrol, like calorie restriction, blocked the decline in heart function typically associated with aging, according to Tomas Prolla, a University of Wisconsin professor of genetics who helped lead the study. Much as Spaniard Juan Ponce de Leon once searched for the mythical fountain of youth, researchers now are seeking ways to extend the quality and length of human life. In some studies, animals given a diet with greatly reduced caloric intake have lived longer than animals with normal diets. But perpetual hunger is a steep price to pay for greater longevity, some researchers say. Resveratrol, found in abundance in grapes and in red wine, has drawn a lot of interest from scientists and some companies, including GlaxoSmithKline, which in April said it would pay $720 million to buy Sirtris Pharmaceuticals Inc, a company that is developing drugs that mimic the effects of resveratrol. Some studies have shown that in high doses, resveratrol extended the life span of fruit flies and worms and prevented early death in mice fed a high-fat diet. In this study, mice were given relatively low doses compared to the earlier research, and still experienced important aging-related benefits, the researchers said. The researchers began giving the resveratrol diet to the mice when they were 14 months old — their middle age — and followed the animals until they were about 30 months old. The researchers then conducted tests on cardiac function and on gene activity related to aging. “”Resveratrol at low doses can retard some aspects of the aging process, including heart aging, and it may do so by mimicking some of the effects of caloric restriction, which is known to retard aging in several tissues and extend life span,”" added Prolla, whose study was published in the scientific journal PLoS ONE. Using a method that permits simultaneous analysis of thousands of genes at the same time, the researchers found a huge overlap in the genes whose activity were changed by resveratrol and caloric restriction. They looked at the heart, brain and muscles, and said that the effect of resveratrol was strongest in the heart but did prevent some aging-related changes in the other tissues. Just because mice had these benefits does not mean people also would, although Prolla said, “”I think there’s a high likelihood that our findings are applicable to humans.”" He said he expected to see a lot of studies in the coming years on the effects of resveratrol supplementation in people.
Zinc
Zinc helps children thinkApril 10, 2005 Eleven-year-olds that took zinc supplements for five days each week had better mental performance after three months than their classmates, said researchers yesterday.
The children taking an extra 20mg of zinc responded more quickly and accurately on memory tasks and with more sustained attention than classmates who did not take the mineral.
Beneficial effects were seen regardless of the youngsters’ previous zinc status, said the researchers led by Dr James Penland from the US Agricultural Research Service’s Grand Forks Human Nutrition Research Center in North Dakota.
The findings, presented at the Experimental Biology meeting this week, suggest that there could be new demand for fortified foods and supplements for this age group.
Although zinc nutrition has been related to motor, cognitive and psychosocial function in very young children and adults, this is the first study of its effect in adolescents.
Zinc deficiency is not uncommon, even in nations such as the United States, and the risk is particularly high in adolescents, said Dr Penland, because they are undergoing rapid growth and often have poor eating habits. They may not consume enough zinc-rich foods like red meat, fish and grains.
Moreover the current recommended daily allowance is only 15mg for adults in the US, and up to 9.5 mg a day for men and 4-7 mg a day for women in the UK.
In the study, 111 girls and 98 boys consumed four ounces of fruit juice containing either 0, 10 or 20 mg of zinc gluconate each school day for 10 to 12 weeks. Students, their parents and teachers did not know who was receiving which, if any, zinc supplementation.
At the beginning and end of the study, students performed a battery of tasks designed to measure mental and motor skills, like attention, memory, problem-solving and hand-eye coordination.
Students, their parents, and teachers filled out questionnaires about the students’ mental, physical and social abilities and skills, school performance, and problems in any of these areas to provide a measure of psychosocial function.
Blood samples measured zinc status before and after the treatment.
Compared to the students who received no additional zinc, students who consumed an additional 20 mg zinc each day decreased reaction time on a visual memory task by 12 per cent versus 6 per cent; increased correct answers on a word recognition task by 9 per cent versus 3 per cent; and increased scores on a task requiring sustained attention and vigilance by 6 per cent versus 1 per cent.
Those who received only 10 mg a day, the US Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDA) for this age group, did not significantly improve performance, however.
Supplementation at either the 10 mg or 20 mg did not appear to improve motor and social skills, although girls receiving the placebo experienced a 10 per cent increase in conduct problems during the study while the behaviour of girls receiving any level of zinc supplementation remained unchanged, reported the researchers.
Previous studies have shown that zinc is needed for growth and immune function and may be important for eye-hand coordination and reasoning in very young children. It also appears to influence memory, muscle strength and endurance in adults.
Olive Oil Boosts Heart Health
FDA Announces: Olive Oil May Boost Heart Health November 8, 2004 Food containing olive oil can carry labels saying they may reduce the risk of coronary heart disease, the government says, citing limited evidence from a dozen scientific studies about the benefits of monounsaturated fats.
As long as people don’t increase the number of calories they consume daily, the Food and Drug Administration confirmed a reduction in the risk of coronary heart disease when people replace foods high in saturated fat with the monounsaturated fat in olive oil.
That means a change as simple as sauteing food in two tablespoons of olive oil instead of butter may be healthier for your heart.
“”Since CHD is the No. 1 killer of both men and women in the United States, it is a public health priority to make sure that consumers have accurate and useful information on reducing their risk,”" Lester M. Crawford, acting FDA commissioner, said in a prepared statement.
“”It’s good news for consumers,”" said Bob Bauer, president of the North American Olive Oil Association, which sought the qualified health claim on Aug. 28, 2003. “”Olive oil is a healthy product to help them fight heart disease.”"
Recent research has underscored the heart benefits from so-called Mediterranean diets high in unsaturated fats from vegetable oil, nuts and such fish as salmon and tuna. Mortality rates dropped by more than 50 percent among elderly Europeans who stuck to such diets and led healthy lifestyles, according to research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in September.
The North American Olive Oil Association included 88 publications to back its claim for the heart-healthy benefits of olive oil. The group wanted to make the claim for monounsaturated fats contained in just one tablespoon of olive oil per day.
Olive oil and certain food containing olive oil can now indicate that “”limited and not conclusive scientific evidence suggests that eating about two tablespoons (23 grams) of olive oil daily may reduce the risk of coronary heart disease due to the monounsaturated fat in olive oil,”" the FDA concluded.
“”I think FDA just took a more conservative view,”" Bauer said. Manufacturers waited for the FDA’s precise wording before revising labels. “”I expect, over time, most every container of olive oil will have this,”" he said.
Already, American restaurants and consumers drive $450 million in olive oil sales per year. Supermarket sales in 2003 accounted for 132 million pounds of olive oil, up by nearly one-third over the past six years. Bauer said he expects the label change to spur a larger uptick in sales.
According to the American Heart Association, coronary heart disease caused 502,189 deaths — or one in five deaths — in 2001, the most current statistic available. Another 13.2 million Americans that year survived the heart attacks, chest pains and other ailments caused by coronary heart disease.
Along with lowering cholesterol, cutting out cigarettes and exercising, the group says Americans can boost heart health by eating foods low in saturated fat, cholesterol and sodium. An American Heart Association spokeswoman declined comment on the FDA’s action until it reviews the health claim.
The FDA discounted most of the submitted studies because the methodology made it difficult to tease out the effect of the monounsaturated fats in olive oil. Of a dozen studies that survived the cut, four were the most persuasive.
Thirty-three healthy young American men ate diets high in saturated fats from butter or cocoa butter, olive oil’s monounsaturated fats or polyunsaturated fats from soybean oil. The soybean and olive oil groups significantly lowered total and bad LDL cholesterol.
In another trial involving 21 middle-aged Spanish women, those with diets in which olive oil replaced 8 percent of total daily calories from saturated fats lowered their total and bad cholesterol while significantly boosting good HDL cholesterol.
Forty-one young Spanish men lowered total and bad LDL cholesterol with an olive oil diet. Levels of good cholesterol did not drop in the olive oil group, as they did for youthful peers who replaced calories from saturated fats with carbohydrates.
And 22 healthy, middle-aged Spanish men with slightly elevated cholesterol counts were put on a four-week diet high in saturated fat. Those who switched to diets high in olive oil and those who replaced calories from saturated fats with carbohydrates lowered total and bad LDL cholesterol levels.
It’s the third time the FDA granted a qualified health claim for conventional food. In March, the agency said “”supportive but not conclusive research”" shows eating 1.5 ounces of walnuts per day may reduce coronary heart disease risk. In September, it issued a similar qualified claim for the heart-healthy benefits of omega-3 fatty acids.
The FDA press release: http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/news/2004/NEW01129.html
PSA Test
PSA Test a Thing of the Past? MONDAY, May 10 (HealthDayNews) — The PSA test, long the gold standard for deciding who should have a biopsy for prostate cancer, may have outlived its usefulness for the most part.
Stanford University researchers say PSA (prostate specific antigen) levels bear little relationship to the severity of a cancer these days. They presented their finding May 9 at the American Urology Association’s annual meeting in San Francisco.
“”We need to recognize that PSA is no longer a marker for prostate cancer,”" said study author Dr. Thomas A. Stamey, a professor of urology at Stanford University School of Medicine. “”We urgently need to find a new marker for prostate cancer, and that marker must be proportional to how much cancer you have.”"
“”We have been so thorough and effective in screening for prostate cancer over this 20-year period that PSA no longer has a relationship to prostate cancer,”" Stamey said. “”Because we all develop the cancer, we’re now removing prostates from men whose cancer is so small that they do not need the procedure. We’re finding all these little cancers that are never going to be a danger to the patient.”"
“”In smaller cancers, the PSA test is not relevant anymore,”" Stamey explained. “”You might as well biopsy a man because he has blue eyes.”"
PSA is a protein produced by the cells of the prostate gland. Because blood levels of the antigen tend to rise as the gland enlarges, it has been used for years as a test of whether a person needs a biopsy for cancer. The test, however, is not foolproof.
“”People’s perceptions [are] that if your PSA is a certain level, you’re very likely or you do have prostate cancer, and that is incorrect,”" said Dr. Mark Soloway, chairman of the department of urology at the University of Miami School of Medicine.
“”The PSA test is a very good test. It’s not a perfect test, especially in younger men,”" added Dr. Jay Brooks, chief of hematology/oncology at the Ochsner Clinic Foundation in New Orleans.
To see how the efficacy of the PSA test might have waned, researchers in Stamey’s lab reexamined every prostate that had been removed since 1983 (1,317 of them) and compared the size of the cancer with blood PSA levels. None of the cancers had been treated with chemotherapy, radiation, or hormones before surgery.
Each cancer was rated on eight or 10 different parameters thought to indicate how aggressive the cancer was, including the size of the tumor and its grade.
Stamey then divided the samples into four five-year periods to see what had happened to the qualities of the cancers over time.
“”What we showed was that in the first five years, the cancers were related to the level of serum PSA,”" Stamey said. “”Then in the next five years, they were still bad but not as bad as the first five years. Then in the third five-year period, they were better and better. And in the last five years ending Jan. 1 of this year, the cancers were so small they had no relationship to serum PSA.”"
Twenty years ago, 80 percent of cancers were detected by digital rectal examination; only 20 percent of cancers are now detected that way, Stamey explained.
Instead, PSA levels today are driven by benign enlargement of the prostate, a condition that does not usually require surgery.
The concept that the PSA test is not foolproof is not an entirely new one. “”The point is well taken that in microscopic disease, the volume of cancer is clearly overshadowed by the volume of noncancer, so that the cancer cannot be the cause of the elevated PSA,”" said Dr. John Phillips, physician-in-charge of urologic oncology at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York City.
The question now is what can replace it. “”People are trying to find other ways of finding cancer,”" Phillips added.
As a matter of fact, University of Pittsburgh researchers who presented at the same conference reported that additional testing for a protein called early prostate cancer antigen (EPCA) might mean prostate cancer could be detected as many as five years earlier than with just the PSA test.
“”We would like a perfect test that would only find biologically significant cancers,”" Soloway said. “”Today we can’t distinguish between those with indolent cancer and those whose cancers threaten their life. We need another way. That’s going to be a difficult task.”"
In the meantime, the American Urological Association issued a statement that, for the time being, the PSA test in combination with a digital rectal exam and a full medical history is the best way to determine when a biopsy might be necessary
Resistence to Antibiotics on Rise in US
By Serena Gordon HealthScoutNews Reporter FRIDAY, April 19 (HealthScoutNews) — In the wake of a new report that the strep throat germ is now showing significant antibiotic resistance in the United States, many people are wondering if they — or their children — are at risk. They just might be, unless all of us our dependence on antibiotics, says Philip Tierno, director of clinical microbiology at New York University Medical Center and Mt. Sinai Medical Center in New York City. “”Antibiotic resistance is more prevalent than you’d think,”" Tierno adds. There are two main reasons for it: Overprescription of antibiotics by doctors and the use of antibiotics in livestock, he says.
“”One hundred and fifty million prescriptions are written annually,”" Tierno says. “”Ninety million of those are for antibiotics, and 50 million of those are unnecessary.”" Many antibiotic prescriptions are written for sore throats, but only a small percentage of them are caused by Group A streptococci bacteria, which causes strep throat. The germ can also cause sinus, ear and skin infections. Left untreated, strep can progress into scarlet fever or the more serious rheumatic fever, with potentially fatal consequences. Young children are especially vulnerable to such complications. Strep throat is commonly treated with antibiotics, such as penicillin, or erythromycin for those who are allergic to penicillin. In yesterday’s New England Journal of Medicine report, researchers from Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh studied a group of 100 area school children from kindergarten through eighth grade. They found that Group A streptococci was resistant to erythromycin in 48 percent of the throat cultures taken between October 2000 and May 2001. According to the researchers, this is the first time such a high level of resistance to erythromycin has been found in the United States. Similarly high levels of resistance have been reported in other countries, however, Tierno says. In Japan and Finland, he says, resistance to Group A strep has been reported at levels exceeding 50 percent. The good news, according to Tierno, is that in Japan the rate of resistance has fallen as health officials there decreased their use of erythromycin-based antibiotics. By not using these drugs, Tierno explains, the germs become vulnerable to them again. The Pittsburgh researchers followed the children for three years, and during the first two years, while they did find cases of strep, they found no signs of antibiotic resistance. It wasn’t until the third year that the antibiotic-resistant strain appeared. Tierno says this finding clearly points to overuse of antibiotics. “”What causes drug resistance is the inappropriate use of antibiotics by physicians,”" he says. But patients are partly to blame as well, he adds, because they push for inappropriate prescriptions when they’re ill. Dr. James Musser is chief of the Laboratory of Human Bacterial Pathogenesis at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in Hamilton, Mont. He says, “”From a national perspective, we need to be very concerned about increasing antibiotic resistance in any pathogen.”" And, he adds, we need a study that looks at a greater geographical area to assess how widespread the problem [uncovered in Pittsburgh] might be. In the meantime, he says, “”It’s important for patients to realize that not every upper-respiratory infection is of bacterial origin and to listen closely to the advice of the treating physician.”" That means patients shouldn’t badger their doctor for antibiotics unless they’re deemed necessary.
Acetyl L-Carntine vs. L-Carnitine
The Essential Difference Between the Carnitines
Do you lack energy, or feel tired and physically or mentally unprepared to take on the tasks of the day? This is not unusual, especially as we age, and today’s topic may help explain some of the reasons for this energy deficit.
Two natural compounds produced by our tissues, L-carnitine and acetyl-L-carnitine (ALC), are similar in that both have identical chemical core structures. However, one (ALC) contains an extra component, an acetic acid bound to the core molecule (in what is known as an ester linkage). It turns out that this extra chemical piece makes a significant difference in how this molecule behaves in our body relative to its non-acetylated cousin, L-carnitine. These differences are described below, but first a brief summary of how these molecules normally function in our body.
L-carnitine functions as a vehicle to ferry fat constituents (fatty acids) across a membrane barrier into the cell’s energy-producing machine, the mitochondria, where the fat is converted to energy. Equally important, L-carnitine works in the reverse direction, too. It ferries toxic products produced during fat metabolism out of the mitochondria. This latter step helps maintain the mitochondria as clean-burning, energy-efficient machines.
We are all aware of the fact that as we age, our energy level diminishes. This decrease in energy parallels a decrease in the plasma level of L-carnitine. L-carnitine also decreases under conditions of stress, both psychological and physical. Consequently, it is described as a conditionally essential nutrient. This simply means that when our bodies cannot produce enough of it to meet demand, we need to increase the intake of this nutrient.
Acetyl-L-carnitine is just as active as L-carnitine in transporting fatty acids into the mitochondria. However, as described below, that extra acetyl group confers additional properties to this form of L-carnitine, which make it superior to its non-acetylated cousin. Both compounds increase energy Acetyl L-Carnitine or ALC Physical Energy Fat Metabolism Brain Protection Neurotransmission
Experiments with rats show a dramatic decrease (between 50-70%) in the activity level of old rats as compared to the young animal. Old rats, too, get tired with age! This decrease, as mentioned above, parallels a decrease in the amount of L-carnitine present in the animal’s tissues and blood.
This observation led researchers to investigate whether the old energy-deficient animals could be transformed into more energetic, youthful animals by feeding them a diet enriched with L-carnitine. Supplying L-carnitine to the diet increased the ambulatory activity of the old rats almost two-fold. The experiment was repeated with ALC, and it too increased the animals’ activity level to about an equal degree. So both compounds worked equally well in improving the old rats’ energy levels. ALC protects the brain
One of the two cousins, ALC, stands out with respect to its effects on the brain and nervous system. First, ALC is more effectively transported into the central nervous system. It more readily traverses the blood-brain barrier
Brain Cell Growth Boosted By DHEA Supplements
‘Anti-aging’ hormone DHEA Found to Boost Brain Cell Growth August 24, 2004
Human neural stem cells, exposed in a lab dish to the steroid DHEA, exhibit a remarkable uptick in growth rates, suggesting that the hormone may play a role in helping the brain produce new cells, according to a new study published this week in the online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
The new work, conducted by a team of scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, provides some of the first direct evidence of the biological effects of DHEA on the human nervous system, according to Clive Svendsen, the study’s senior author and an authority on brain stem cells at UW-Madison’s Waisman Center.
“What we saw was that DHEA significantly increased the division of the cells,” said Svendsen, a UW-Madison professor of anatomy and neurology. “It also increased the number of neurons produced by the stem cells, prompting increased neurogenesis of cells in culture.”
DHEA or dehydroepiandrosterone is among the most abundant naturally occurring steroids in the blood of young humans, but levels decline with age and its physiological effects are poorly understood.
A synthetic form of the hormone is sold over-the-counter as a dietary supplement in the US, thought to have anti-aging properties and to offer prevention against cancer and heart disease, Alzheimer’s and other diseases. But scientists know relatively little about the drug and its basic biological effects on humans.
“We don’t know much about DHEA, but this new work adds a piece to the puzzle,” said Svendsen, who conducted the study with colleagues Masatoshi Suzuki, Lynda S. Wright, Padma Marwah and Henry A. Lardy, all of UW-Madison. “This is the first real evidence of DHEA’s effects on human neural cells.”
Svendsen and Suzuki carried out the experiments by growing human fetal neural stem cells in culture. The cells form aggregates known as ‘neurospheres,’ which were exposed to a cocktail of DHEA and growth and inhibitory factors, and observed a 29 per cent increase in new brain cells compared to cells grown in a medium with the same factors, but without DHEA.
“We saw such a pure effect of DHEA,” Svendsen said.
“It’s the only steroid we tested that had such a direct effect on stem cell growth and new neuron formation,” according to Suzuki.
The new work is important because it provides a direct window to the controversial hormone’s effects on critical human cells. Similar studies have been conducted in mice and rats, but those models have shortcomings that are difficult to address, Svendsen notes.
“There are previous studies in rats that suggest DHEA is neuroprotective, but the problem with DHEA in rats is that it is not a major metabolite in that animal so its effects may not be the same as those seen in humans,” he said. According to Lardy, metabolic products of DHEA hormone have also been shown to aid memory retention in old mice.
Despite hints from the studies in rodents that DHEA may play a role in enhancing the brain and memory, the new findings reported in the PNAS article were a surprise, he said.
“We assumed the compounds we were testing would be more active than DHEA in brain stem cells,” Lardy explains. In previous studies, Lardy, with Wisconsin biochemistry colleagues James Ntambi and Brian Fox, showed that DHEA blocked a step in fat synthesis.
“The effects of DHEA on brain stem cells is a completely new finding,” said Lardy. “The problem of whether DHEA itself is having this effect, or if there’s another metabolite of the hormone involved, still exists.”
One of the intriguing aspects of the new work, according to Svendsen, is the possibility that DHEA could have some positive effects on the adult human brain.
It is known that DHEA amounts fall progressively during aging, and reduced levels of DHEA have been reported in both adolescents and adults with major depressive disorders. And given the fact that adult humans have neural stem cells that continue to make new neurons in some parts of the brain, there is a possibility that DHEA could play a role in moderating the genesis of new brain cells.