Calcium may help you live longer: study - Yahoo! News

Calcium may help you live longer: study - Yahoo! News: March 12 2010 "Swedish researchers found that men who consumed the most calcium in food were 25 percent less likely to die over the next decade than their peers who took in the least calcium from food. None of the men took calcium supplements...The findings are in line with previous research linking higher calcium intake with lower mortality in both men and women... Dr. Joanna Kaluza of the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm and her colleagues looked at more than 23,000 Swedish men who were 45 to 79 years old at the study's outset and were followed for 10 years. All had reported on their diet at the beginning of the studyThe top calcium consumers had a 25 percent lower risk of dying from any cause and a 23 percent lower risk of dying from heart disease during follow-up relative to men that had the least amount of calcium in their diet. Calcium intake didn't significantly influence the risk of dying from cancer...

Men in the top third based on their calcium intake were getting nearly 2,000 milligrams a day, on average, compared to about 1,000 milligrams for men in the bottom third. The US Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) for calcium intake is 1,000 milligrams for men 19 to 50 years old and 1,200 milligrams for men 50 and over.

"Intake of calcium above that recommended daily may reduce all-cause mortality," Kaluza and her colleagues conclude.

Calcium could influence mortality risk in many ways, they note, for example by reducing blood pressure, cholesterol, or blood sugar levels. For the men in the study, the main sources of calcium in the diet were milk and milk products and cereal products...In contrast to calcium, there was no relationship between magnesium consumption and overall mortality or deaths from cancer or heart disease."

Compound That Helps Rice Grow Reduces Nerve, Vascular Damage From Diabetes

Compound That Helps Rice Grow Reduces Nerve, Vascular Damage From Diabetes: "ScienceDaily (July 30, 2008)
...Researchers have found that a compound that helps rice seed grow, springs back into action when brown rice is placed in water overnight before cooking, significantly reducing the nerve and vascular damage that often result from diabetes...the growth factor acylated steryl glucosides or ASG, helps normalize blood sugar and enzymes that are out-of-whack in diabetes...Unlike white rice, less-processed brown rice still has some of the germ or growth structure that, after about 24 hours in water, resumes activity. Scientists watched as the resurrected ASG, a growth factor and lipid, helped normalize metabolism...Germination also is known to increase levels of the neurotransmitter GABA, which is believed to have many beneficial health effects such as lowering blood pressure, improving cognition and lowering blood glucose levels."


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Spices May Protect Against Consequences Of High Blood Sugar

Spices May Protect Against Consequences Of High Blood Sugar: "ScienceDaily (Aug. 7, 2008) — Herbs and spices are rich in antioxidants, and a new University of Georgia study suggests they are also potent inhibitors of tissue damage and inflammation caused by high levels of blood sugar...when blood sugar levels are high, a process known as protein glycation occurs in which the sugar bonds with proteins to eventually form what are known as advanced glycation end products, also known as AGE compounds. The acronym is fitting because these compounds activate the immune system, resulting in the inflammation and tissue damage associated with aging and diabetes...The researchers found a strong and direct correlation between the phenol content of common herbs and spices and their ability to inhibit the formation of AGE compounds. Spices such as cloves and cinnamon had phenol levels that were 30 percent and 18 percent of dry weight, respectively, while herbs such as oregano and sage were eight and six percent phenol by dry weight, respectively. For comparison, blueberries – which are widely touted for their antioxidant capabilities – contain roughly five percent phenol by dry weight..."

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Exercise boon for obesity, diabetes

Studies show exercise boon for obesity, diabetes - Yahoo! News:
2008.07.28
"Walking a bit more each day can help people control their Type 2 diabetes but obese people trying to keep weight off may need to exercise harder than they had thought... Simply walking 45 minutes more each day helped people with diabetes use blood sugar better...Magnetic resonance imaging or MRI scans showed that people who walked 45 minutes more each day burned about 20 percent more fat -- increasing the ability of the muscles to store sugar and help control diabetes... But current exercise guidelines calling for people to get 150 minutes -- 2.5 hours -- each week may not be enough to help the obese keep weight off...people who want to lose weight and keep it off get at least 4-1/2 hours of exercise a week..."

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Polyphenols blunt menopausal effects in rats

Plant compounds blunt menopausal effects in rats Reuters/Yahoo!News "Women who enter menopause often develop high blood pressure, insulin resistance (a risk factor for type 2 diabetes), and memory loss. New research conducted in menopausal rats suggests that polyphenols - compounds found in grapes, soy, and kudzu -- may blunt some of these side effects associated with menopause...Wyss reported that, in estrogen-depleted rats, kudzu root extract reduced blood pressure, elevated by a high-salt diet, by more than 50 percent. Kudzu also lowered blood sugar, insulin levels and the fat hormone leptin..."Kudzu has estrogen-like elements,"...Wyss and colleagues also observed that estrogen-depleted rats fed polyphenols from grape seed seemed to be protected against high blood pressure as well as a decline in short-term and long-term....Other studies from the Wyss lab indicate that polyphenols in soy foods also protect against high blood pressure in menopausal rats...For menopausal symptoms, grapes, soy and kudzu "may be useful" treatments or add-on treatments to other therapies, Wyss concluded. He said his team is also looking at the effects of adding these polyphenols to conventional treatments for diabetes and lipid control."

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Being sedentary raises blood sugar

Sedentary behavior linked to high blood sugar Reuters/Scientific American 3/28/07 "People who tend to be sedentary -- as indicated by the amount of time they spend watching television -- are likely to have high levels of glucose in their blood, even though they may not be diabetic...After accounting for physical activity time and for factors that can affect blood glucose, the investigators found that the more time women spent television viewing, the higher were their blood glucose levels two hours after they took the glucose test-drink. This was not seen in men, according to the team's report in the medical journal Diabetes Care..."The findings reinforce the case for a strong focus in diabetes and obesity research on sedentary behaviors, such as television viewing, in addition to the now well-established base of evidence on the importance of increasing physical activity,""

Higher levels of blood sugar = greater risk of a variety of diseases = increased chance of early mortality. The simple answer, although it can be hard in practice is to drag your ass out of that chair and get your heart rate up for 30+ minutes 5 days a week. Start slow and easy and gradually increase workout intensity. The benefits of this are massive - as a quick pubmed dump on the topic proves - or a more organized NIH education site. As if we haven't know this forever. And yet... obesity and type 2 diabetes are on the rise - the latter being almost totally preventable and reversible if caught early enough.


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Blood sugar 'boosts cancer risk'

Women with high blood sugar levels are at an increased risk of developing cancer BBC News 3/21/07 "The Swedish research, which looked at 64,500 people, linked raised blood sugar with pancreas, skin, womb, and urinary tract cancers in women...high blood sugar was also linked to breast cancer risk - for women under 49...women in the top 25% range of blood sugar readings after fasting had a 26% higher chance of developing cancer than those in the bottom quarter...In men, raised blood sugar levels in men appeared to protect against prostate cancer, though not to a significant degree..."And the good news is that it is possible to reduce your blood sugar levels by eating a healthy balanced diet with lots of fruit and vegetables and maintaining a healthy weight. "We know that up to 40% of cancer cases can be prevented by this type of healthy lifestyle, so this is just another reason for people to make those small changes that could make a big difference."... "

There is a mountain of evidence that shows that daily vigorous exercise can help prevent a variety of cancers. Could it be that one of the main ways that exercise helps fight off cancer if via modulation of blood sugar levels? Anyway it is encouraging that diet, exercise and watching one's fat levels could affect blood sugar levels in a positive way and in so doing significantly reduce the chance of getting a variety of cancers.

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