Newsletter - January 23, 2008

January 23, 2008 - In this Issue

A Word from Dr. Grossman
Physical Activity Plus Moderate Alcohol Intake Can Reduce Death Rates
New Hope for a Tarnished (Potential) Blockbuster Drug
Honey beats out dextromethorphan for treatment of cough in children – but it’s still sugar
Drinking green tea may decrease risk of prostate cancer
Physical activity reduces dementia risk in the elderly
Exposure to more sunshine might help you live longer
New "Anti-Aging" Molecules that are exponentially more potent than resveratrol
Executive Health Evaluations at Grossman Wellness Center

A Word from Dr. Grossman

2008 is off with a bang and the year has begun with a number of exciting new studies offering practical advice and suggestions for how you can achieve optimal wellness. I have provided a selection of some of the most exciting research below.

Best wishes for a healthy and happy 2008 to you and your family and Happy Anti Aging!

Terry Grossman, M.D.

Physical Activity Plus Moderate Alcohol Intake Can Reduce Death Rates

The combination of physical activity combined with moderate alcohol consumption may help reduce the incidence of fatal atherosclerotic heart attacks as well as all-cause mortality, according to an article in the European Heart Journal.

12,000 Danish adults without previous alcohol intake and physical activity level were followed for about 20 years. Overall, about half died with heart disease accounting for 20% of the deaths. People who both exercised and drank in moderation had statistically lower rates of fatal heart attacks and death.

After adjustment for confounders such as age and smoking status, individuals who engaged in moderate exercise or more had lower risks for fatal heart attacks and all-cause mortality than people who didn’t exercise, and moderate drinkers (1 to 14 drinks a week) had lower risks of death than nondrinkers. The combination of physical activity and moderate drinking appeared even more beneficial. Individuals who both exercised and drank moderately slashed their risk of fatal heart attack by 50% and had a 33% decrease in all-cause mortality. -- active subjects who consumed at least one drink weekly had up to a 50% lower risk for fatal IHD and up to a 33% lower all-cause mortality risk.

To slash your risk of heart attack and decrease all cause mortality, give serious consideration to combining both a few hours of physical exercise each week with moderate alcohol consumption (up to 14 drinks per week).

New Hope for a Tarnished (Potential) Blockbuster Drug

Torcetrapib was once hailed as a potential blockbuster drug that might be able to reverse decades of buildup of cholesterol deposits in the arteries of the heart. In some ways, this drug represented the Holy Grail for many cardiologists. Torcetrapib is able to significantly increase levels of HDL cholesterol – the beneficial type that is able to remove plaque from the arteries.

Unfortunately, during phase 3 clinical trials, it was also found to increase blood pressure dramatically in some patients and plans to market the drug were terminated due to this and other adverse toxic effects. Many in the antiaging community were devastated at the loss of this potentially beneficial drug. In the interim, however, a similar drug, anecetrapib, has been undergoing trials and in the first double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized trial, anecetrapib was shown to increase HDL cholesterol levels 129% and decrease toxic LDL cholesterol levels 38% without raising blood pressure at all. So, hope remains that a drug in the torcetrapib family known as cholesteryl ester transfer protein (CETP) inhibitors may be available to help eradicate coronary atherosclerosis in the near future.

Honey beats out dextromethorphan for treatment of cough in children – but it’s still sugar

In a recent double-blind study done on 105 children between the ages of two and 18 with uncomplicated upper respiratory infections, honey was compared to dextromethorphan or placebo in the treatment of nighttime cough in children. Cough frequency decreased by almost half on a six-point scale (from 4.0 to 2.1) with honey, but only a third with dextromethorphan and a fourth with placebo.

The researchers from the Department of Pediatrics at Pennsylvania State University felt that honey was preferable for the symptomatic relief of cough and the attendant sleep disorder which resulted for both children and their parents. However, honey is still a simple sugar and is associated with other adverse effects. In this study, hyperactivity, nervousness and insomnia were more common in the honey group than in the dextromethorphan and placebo groups.

Drinking green tea may decrease risk of prostate cancer

Researchers at Japan’s National Cancer Center found that men who drank five or more cops of green tea a day might be able to cut their risk of developing advanced prostate cancer in half, as compared to men who drank less than 1 cup of tea a day. It is well-known that prostate cancer is much less common among Japanese men, who often drink green tea daily, compared to men in the West, where green tea consumption is still much less common. The study was published in the American Journal of Epidemiology and included data from 50,000 men between 40 and 70 years of age over a 14 year interval.

Physical activity reduces dementia risk in the elderly

A study in Italy looked at 749 people 65 years of age or older who had no evidence of dementia at the beginning of the study in 1999/2000 to see how many in the same group had developed Alzheimer’s by 2003/2004. Physical activity was measured at baseline, as well as total calories spent in various activities such as walking, stair climbing, moderate or vigorous exercise. Vascular disease dementia risk was decreased 73% for individuals in the upper third of walking and decreased 76% in the group with the greatest total amount of physical activity, as compared to the lowest third. While there was a significant decrease in risk for vascular dementia, no decrease was found in risk for the more common type of dementia, Alzheimer’s disease.

Exposure to more sunshine might help you live longer

A new study suggests that benefits of regular exposure of the skin to sunlight outweigh the risks of developing skin cancer. Regular exposure to direct sunlight without sunscreen increases the body's production of vitamin D, but for years people have been avoiding the sun like the plague because of fear of developing skin damage and skin cancer.

"The skin cancer risk is there but the health benefits from some sun exposure is far larger than the risk," said Johan Moan, a researcher at the Institute for Cancer Research in Oslo, who led the study. "What we find is modest sun exposure gives enormous vitamin D benefits."

Doctors have known for many years that vitamin D is important for bone health and helps prevent rickets and osteoporosis, but new research suggests that vitamin D also can be protective against colon, prostate and lung cancer. While vitamin D is obtained from any food sources, the mean the source of vitamin D is sunlight exposure.

"The current data provide a further indication of the beneficial role of sun-induced vitamin D for cancer prognosis," said Richard Setlow of the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory, who participated in the study as well.

New "Anti-Aging" Molecules that are exponentially more potent than resveratrol

In 2007 Dr. David Sinclair and his colleagues at Harvard, reported that resveratrol, a molecule found in red wine, was able to mimic the effects of caloric restriction and bring about increases in health and longevity of aboratory mice. Since then, their research has focused on a similar class of molecules that operate all on the SIR 2 enzyme pathway known as sirtuins.

These sirtuins are small molecules and desirable because they are simple to make, are well absorbed when taken orally, and unlikely to stimulate an immune response. One of the latest compounds under investigation called SRT 1720 was shown to improve insulin sensitivity, lower glucose levels and increased mitochondrial capacity just like resveratrol, but was words of magnitude more potent.

It would be optimal for people to be able to take a pill daily that would promote longevity, and reproduce the effects of caloric restriction without experiencing the hunger and other difficulties associated with dietary caloric restriction.

Executive Health Evaluations at Grossman Wellness Center

Exciting things are happening at Frontier Medical Institute. Our executive health and corporate wellness program has become so successful that we have created a separate division of our clinic specifically devoted to wellness. If you haven't yet experienced a comprehensive wellness evaluation, please take a moment to visit our new Grossman Wellness Center website at GrossmanWellness.com. We hope to see you in Denver soon.