Short sighted journalists are fooled by profit-hungry drug companies who, as often seems to be the case, are driving partisan research chemists.

"Statins Reduce Heart Attacks"

This is not news, and it is not even surprising. Anything which reduces general inflammation in the body will reduce heart attacks. This includes Omega 3 fatty acids, and any number of herbs including nettles, ginger and turmeric. The problem with using statins instead is the many side-effects users have reported.

The New Trial

The new trial is clearly partisan. For a start, it is called ‘Jupiter’, which stands for Justify the Use of Statins… Hmmmh - little doubt about the results they are looking for, then.

The particular brand of statins it ‘justifies’ is Crestor, made by AstraZeneca which costs around £26 a month. As the predominant statins used in the UK are the generic Simvastatin which cost £1.42 a month, the trial results are great for AstraZeneca. No doubt certain sectors of the community will be calling for the replacement of Simvastatin with Crestor (is it me - or isn’t that also a toothpaste?).

Drug Company Strategy

Statins are the best thing that have happened to drug companies for a long time. They are turning into a license to print money. One prime benefit of selling statins is that they are being used by younger and younger people - and they ‘need’ them for life.

As the drug companies see their profits slashed by cheap generic replacements - they simply come up with a new twist - as in this case - to show, by a flawed study, the superiority of their new, replacement product. Then they get to milk it drug until the patent runs out.

This is exactly what they did with HRT (ERT); each time the evidence showed that HRT damaged health, new research unearthed a new supposed benefit of HRT so they could persuade doctors to keep prescribing it and journalists to keep writing about how good it was.

What To Do Instead Of Taking Statins

This trial was carried out by selecting people with a high level of c-reactive protein (CRP) in the blood. They were then given statins.

Agreed - CRP does indicate general inflammation in the body which gives a raised chance of heart and artery disease as well as of diabetes, various cancers and Alzheimers’ disease.

Where I don’t agree is the treatment. Drugs are not usually necessary.

To treat raised CRP a combination of herbal treatment and fish oils will usually bring it down. Take these, then recheck CRP in 2-3 months.

Ideally, CRP should be less than 0.5 mg/L (milligrams per litre) in men and less than 1.5 mg/L in women.

Avoiding Statins - or Coming Off Them

Don’t just stop statins if you are taking them. Come off them with professional guidance. Most certainly involve your doctor in this process. Similarly if you have been told that you need to take statins. Be cautious. Around 50% of people come off statins because of the side-effects; but don’t put yourself at risk by just not taking them - you need an alternative strategy.

1. The following link leads to an article which contains a list of 8 natural alternatives to lower cholesterol, based on sound science:
Natural ways to cut cholesterol

Extract from this article about avoiding statins:

"HOW TO AVOID STARTING STATINS
If your doctor advises you to begin taking a statin drug, suggest a lower dose or a delay in initiation of the drug until you have had two to three months to try natural cholesterol- and LDL-lowering agents. Patient involvement in treatment decisions is commonplace today, and most physicians will work with you. A rough rule of thumb: adherence to a low-fat, high-fiber diet (that eliminates processed foods), along with some of the nutritional supplements discussed in this article, will lower LDL cholesterol by as much as 30%. Keep this in mind when starting your program. …….." 

See the article for more detail.

2. This article covers the role of general inflammation in generating disease
Aging and Longevity - 4. Inflammation

Also, read Life Extension Revolution, by Miller, Chapter 7:  Cooling Inflammation: Disease-Proofing Your Body

Above all, don’t fall for the drug-company hype; because that’s what it is. In 2004 the pharmaceutical industry was estimated to be receiving $22 billion (£14 billion) from statin drugs.

Do your research and make your own mind up. And it’s not easy to get your CRP checked regularly - but is very, very useful to do so as it gives an early warning of problems to come.

Nanobot Tasks

Some of these will be:

• Delivering drugs to precise locations - for example, direct to disease locations, rather than in the blood stream. Treatment will be more accurate and have fewer side-effects and so make long life more likely.
• Docking with pathogenic cells to disable them. For example, a previous post looked at treatment of cancer cells by using nanobots combined with a protein cell to dock with the cancer. The cancer cells would then be drawn to the body surface with magnetism and destroyed.
• Micro surgery. For example, nanobots will be directed into the eyeball to carry out repairs without any incision being necessary.

Advantages of Nanobots For Long Life

The advantages of nanobots over conventional surgery will be huge. They include:

• Reducing infections. Opening up the skin causes infections - this is why hospital is such a dangerous place to be. By avoiding cutting, infections are dramatically reduced.
• Reducing cost. Because there are no, or fewer, open wounds, the chance of infection is much smaller. Expensive clean-room techniques and extreme infection control will just be unnecessary.
• Reduced mortality. In other words, you will be more likely to survive an operation. The shock will be less; recovery faster as well as infection being much less likely, as mentioned.

Powering Nanobots

Robots have already been used in the gut; and moving them through presents no problem as the gut’s natural peristalsis does the job. However, to move a nanobot around out side the gut presents the problem of how to steer it.

Magnetism

One answer is to use magnetism. This will be satisfactory in some cases; and the magnetic fields are readily available in hospitals already - in MRI scanners.

Magnetism is a little crude however.

Pizo-electricity

Another method which is being developed is to use pizo-electricity - the minute electric current produced by crystals in the presence of an electric charge. This will be harnessed and fed to flagellae - flailing corkscrew-like arms, which can be used for propulsion. This is how bacteria move.

Chemotaxis

A third way to move nanobots will be by using chemotaxis - by getting the nanobots to follow a chemical gradient. Then, by introducing chemicals, the bots could be steered.

Future Life Is Long - And Will Be longer

Longer life is already with us. Every decade the average lifespan is increasing by several years.

Nanobots will certainly help to ensure that this process continues. In 10-20 years many surgical operations will be being carried out completely internally. There will be no external surgery, minimal trauma, minimal side effects, fewer drugs used and a rapid recovery.

As the technology improves the changes will be incremental, producing surges of medical advancement which will probably stagger many of us within one or two decades.

Anthocyanins are a type of a class of substance called flavonoids, which show anti-oxidant activity. Flavonoids produce yellow, red or blue colouration in flowers and fruit. They also offer protection against insects and microbes.

Anthocyanins in particular produce a purple colouration, usually in fruit. Fruits containing anthocyanins include the Vaccinium species - such as bilberries and blueberries and the Rubus species - such as blackberry and raspberry.

Antioxidant Properties Help Indirectly

The first lesson we learn about antioxidants is that they ‘mop up’ free radicals - the oxygen-robbing substances which begin or accelerate cancer, heart disease and aging. However, although anthocyanins - and the flavonoids in general - are antioxidants, the way they help us is not by mopping up free radicals directly. Their benefits are indirect.

Particularly, in some way anthocyanins and flavonoids stimulate phase II of the important two phase liver-detox process. The enhanced Phase II then carries out its normal function of eliminating toxins from the body with extra power.

In this way our DNA can be protected, for example, reducing the likelihood of cancer starting.

Eat Purple Tomatoes - Or Stick With Blueberries?

So - do you want tomatoes modified to be purple; or would you prefer just to stick with eating purple berries which grow naturally?

A purple tomato seems to me to be much like taking an anthocyanin supplement. It has to be easier to get people - eg family members who are not great on fruit and vegetables - to eat tomatoes than to eat blackberries and blueberries every day. Let’s have the choice.

The scientists say at least here is a direct consumer benefit of genetic modification, rather than one designed purely to make money.

Science Daily Article

For example, once we know exactly the blueprint of our DNA, this will help us to know:

• Which diseases we are prone to
• Which nutrients we need more than the average person
• Which ones we have difficulty in making ourselves - indicating that supplementation is desirable
• Which drugs, or combinations of drugs, will suit us best should ever need drug treatment. This might save our lives as well as helping to ensure the dose we are given is suitable for us.

DNA Profile For $1000

It is a matter of time until we know our DNA - ’sequence our genome’ - for $1000 (£550). The ‘$1000 challenge’ has been issued by America’s National Institutes of Health, and a number of companies are working on it.

In the UK, Oxford Nanopore is one company working on the ‘$1000 Challenge’. In the USA, Pacific Biosciences is one company working on it.

The conference on longevity at Convergence08 has now been booked and I am looking forward to meeting other ‘longevity enthusiasts’.

Having decided to go to the conference, and having recently seen An Inconvenient Truth‘ Al Gores’s film on climate change/global warming, I wanted to offset the environmental damage caused by my flight.

(OK - I know the best choice for the environment is not to go; but that was not my choice.

Snake Oil

Googling ‘carbon offset’ I came across the British Airways website who had pulled out of a scheme to offset emissions because of too many people ‘peddling snake oil’.

Checking out one or two of the ‘offset’ sites I got the same feeling; just who is monitoring and auditing the offsets? And are they actually doing additional things to reduce climate change that would not otherwise be done?

One company pursued a project to distribute low-energy light bulbs to poor areas in South Africa; only to find that the local power company was also distributing these for free.

Virgin Has An Idea

I thought I’d check what Virgin Atlantic airlines was up to.

Their scheme sounds as good as I am likely to get. It seems that the Gold Standard is what to look out for in separating the probably valuable from the dodgy or the well meaning but ineffective.

The company chosen by Virgin is myclimate, whose schemes are rated Gold Standard.

myclimate are ranked in the top 3 of 170 carbon offset companies (ENDS carbon offset guide). A review of the market by Tufts University, Boston, says myclimate are: "an excellent choice for offsetting air travel emission".

So, while acknowledging that that ideal solution for the environment is to stop flying altogether, if you are going to fly you should consider offsetting.

And if you are offsetting, you need to do a bit of research into who to use. I suggest you consider myclimate.

As well as for our children, if we are going to live a very long time ourselves, we have to help ensure the world is still supporting life for a long time to come.

The poison - Acrylamide - is also in Tesco own label ‘hoops’, Hula Hoops and Duchy Original Crisps.

Acrylamide has the "potential to cause cancer even at very low levels of exposure". The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has been studying the levels of acrylamide in common foods for 3 years. It has been tricky for them - because it is in so many foods. However, there is one common factor in all these foods. Preparation at high temperature.

Acrylamide occurrs when a reaction takes place between sugar and asparagine, an amino acid (part of a protein). Many scientists believe it is a by-product of the well-known Maillard reaction - similar to caramelization - which is what causes browning in food.

Acrylamide was discovered by chance in foods in April 2002 in Sweden, when scientists found large amounts of the chemical in starchy food cooked at high temperature; potato chips (crisps), french fries and bread.

A Dutch study of 62,000 women over 11 years concluded that those women with higher levels of acrylamide in the diet are twice as likely to develop womb or ovarian cancer,  

GLYCATION

I have commented before on avoiding foods cooked at high temperature because it causes Glycation End-products. These cause damaging glycation - wrinkling - throughout the body. Glycation accelerates aging.

Acrylamide - a potential cause of cancer - is another reason to minimize food which has been roasted, baked, grilled, fried or barbequeued.

The FSA can study it as much as they like; in the end, most people would benefit from cutting down on food cooked at over 250 degrees F and increase raw food in the diet.

Acrylamide has not been found in food which has been boiled, or in raw food.

COMMENT ON ACRYLAMIDE

Royal Society of Chemistry:
http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/News/2007/December/05120703.asp

Grocery Meanufacturers’ Association:  
http://www.acrylamidefacts.com/sitecore/content/Home/FAQs.aspx

Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acrylamide

Food Standards Agency:
http://www.food.gov.uk/safereating/chemsafe/acrylamide_branch/

New research now questions whether the preventive aspect of taking aspirin works at all.

Heart Study Details

1276 diabetic patients were studied, who had no history of a heart attack, but who had some evidence of artery disease. In other words, they were likely candidates for a future heart attack.

The study was led by Professor Jill Belch at Dundee University, Scotland.

Heart Study Results

After 8 years, patients in the ‘aspirin’ group had experienced 116 heart attacks; whereas those given placebos had suffered 117 heart attacks. Thus there was no significant benefit to taking the aspirin.

Conclusion

In this study, there was no benefit to taking aspirin for prevention of heart attack, but there was an increased risk of intestinal bleeding from taking aspirin.

Therefore, those who have not yet had a heart attack and are taking aspirin purely for protection - the ‘worried well’ - should question whether they should risk taking aspirin.

This study did not consider those who have actually had a heart attack and whether aspirin benefited them.

(Talk with your doctor before changing any medication you are taking.)

Further information:
Press release, Dundee University
MSN News coverage

Polyphenols are particularly beneficial for reducing the risk of heart disease as well as for reducing aging tendencies in general.

Professor Williamson, Professor of Function Foods at Leeds University, has published a list of 20 common foods which are particularly high in polyphenols.

The list is:

• Berries:
  • Blackberries
  • Blueberries
  • Cranberries
  • Raspberries
  • Strawberries
• Apples
• Oranges
• Red Grapes (and red wine)
• Cherries
• Peaches
• Plums
• Broccoli
• Cereal bran
• Cherry tomatoes
• Red onions
• Spinach
• Black tea
• Green tea
• Coffee
• Dark chocolate

Caution

The benefit of dark chocolate will be partly outweighed (sorry about this…) by the sugar content.

Similarly, apples, oranges, cherries, peaches and plums can all be high in sugar so this must be born in mind when eating these foods, as sugar promotes glycation among other things.

Black tea is not so good if taken with milk (eg the omega 6 fatty acids present in high amounts in dairy foods promote inflammation, and need to be minimized in the diet).

However, all things in moderation 

‘Newspaper’ article from the Mail Online

The latter procedure has a risk of causing miscarriage as well as increasing stress as it can only be carried out later in the pregnancy.

For those who choose to scan for Down’s Syndrome, this new procedure will increase safety and reduce stress in what is already a very difficult situation.

Full article

To test this, researchers tested whether calorie restricted human had a low level of IGF-1, as restricted rodents have; they had not.

The researchers did confirm what was already known or suspected; a low intake of protein reduces IGF-1 levels.

Thus, if low IGF-1 does turn out to be an important factor in the longevity of calorie-restricted rodents, to emulate them, humans may need to carefully evaluate their own intake of protein.

Article at WordHealthNet