Health for life

Castrated men living in Korea centuries ago outlived other men by a significant margin. The findings, reported in the September 25 issue of Current Biology, a Cell Press publication, suggest that male sex hormones are responsible for shortening the lives of men, the researchers say.

The evidence comes after caul study of genealogy records of noble members of the Imperial court of the Korean Chosun dynasty (AD 1392-1910).

"This discovery adds an important clue for understanding why there is a difference in the expected life span between men and women," said Kyung-Jin Min of Inha University.

The castrated boys in Korea lost their reproductive organs in accidents—usually after being bitten by dogs—or underwent castration purposefully to gain early access to the palace. Eunuchs were allowed to marry and had families by adopting castrated boys or normal girls.

People in those days kept caul genealogy records as proof that they were of the noble class. By poring over those records, Min and colleague Cheol-Koo Lee of Korea University found that eunuchs lived 14 to 19 years longer than other men did. Amongst the 81 eunuchs they studied, three lived to the ripe old age of 100 or more, a feat of longevity that remains relatively rare even in developed countries today.

The incidence of centenarians among Korean eunuchs is at least 130 times greater than it is in the developed countries, Lee notes, and that cant be explained simply by the benefits of life in the palace, either. Most eunuchs spent as much time outside the palace as they did inside it. And, in fact, kings and male members of the royal family had the shortest lives of all, typically surviving only to their mid-forties.

The findings may offer some clues to life extension and, in the meantime, men might take heed, Min and Lee quip. "For better health and longevity, stay away from stresses and learn what you can from women."

Researchers from New England found that men who slept either less than 6 hours, or greater than 8 hours, increased their risk for type 2 diabetes. That risk remained after adjustments were made for age, hypertension, smoking status, self-rated health status, education, and waist circumference.

These results suggest that even though you have a handle on your weight, blood pressure and smoking, you may still court a diagnosis of diabetes if your sleep is consistently short-changed, or over-indulged.

The study included 1564, primarily white men, aged 40 to 70, who were enrolled in the Massachusetts Male Aging Study (MMAS), and who did not have diabetes at baseline. The men were followed for up to 15 years. Similar, although less marked results were found in women who partook in the Nurses Health Study.

The study appears in the March 2006 issue of Diabetes Care.

________
For the MMAS study:
Sleep Duration as a Risk Factor for the Development of Type 2 Diabetes

For a summary of the MMAS study:
Diabetes Risk Raised By Too Much Or Too Little Sleep

For the Nurses Health Study:
A Prospective Study of Self-Reported Sleep Duration and Incident Diabetes in Women

While aspirin has been shown to be effective in preventing heart attacks in men, it also increases the risk of gastrointestinal bleeding and possibly stroke, even at low doses. As such, national guidelines suggest that aspirin be used for prevention only in men at higher risk for cardiovascular events, so that the benefits of aspirin are greater than its adverse effects.

Recent data suggest that aspirin may also be effective for reducing cancer deaths. Would the possible combined health benefits of reducing heart attacks and cancer outweigh the risks of gastrointestinal bleeding and stroke for middle-aged men?

A research team, including UNC scientists, reports that including the positive effect of aspirin on cancer mortality influences the threshold for prescribing aspirin for primary prevention in men. The benefit of aspirin for cancer mortality prevention would help offset the risks and thus lower the age and increase the number of men for whom aspirin is recommended.

Their results were published in the June issue of the Journal of General Internal Medicine.

Michael Pignone, MD, MPH, and study lead author, says, “We found that including a risk reduction for cancer deaths had a substantial impact on the overall benefits of aspirin, especially for early middle-aged men from 45 to 55 years of age. Based on this effect, several million men who were not previously good candidates for aspirin prevention would now become eligible.

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, of which Dr. Pignone is a recently appointed member, recommends aspirin for primary prevention in men “when the potential benefit of a reduction in myocardial infarctions outweighs the potential harm of an increase in gastrointestinal hemorrhage.” This recommendation was issued in 2009, before the potential benefits for cancer reduction were recognized.

Older men who have low levels of vitamin B12 have a higher risk of having fractures. These are the findings of researchers at the Sahlgrenska Academy as a part of an international study of a total of 1000 older men.

Osteoporosis is one of the worlds most widespread diseases, and intensive research is under way worldwide to identify its causes and to be able to prevent fractures.

In an extensive study, researchers at the Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg can now show that low levels of vitamin B12 in the blood increases the risk of fractures in older men.

International research project
This study is a part of an international research project initiated by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the US and comprises 11,000 men in total. In their part of the study, the Gothenburg researchers studied 1,000 Swedish men, MrOS Sweden, with an average age of 75, and used various methods to analyze the blood concentrations of the B vitamins B12 and folate, which are found in our food naturally.

Higher fracture risk
The results show that the risk of suffering a fracture six years later was higher among men who had low B12 levels at the beginning of the study than men with normal B12 levels. In the quartile with the lowest B12 content, the risk was elevated by approximately 70 percent compared with the others. The risk increase pertained primarily to fractures in the lumbar region, where the risk increase was up to 120 percent.

"The higher risk also remains when we take other risk factors for fractures into consideration, such as age, smoking, BMI, BMD (bone mineral density), previous fractures, physical activity, the D-vitamin content in the blood and calcium intake," says Catharina Lewerin, researcher at the Sahlgrenska Academy.

Does this mean that older men can prevent fractures by eating more vitamin B12?

"It has not been scientifically established, but such studies are under way, including one large Dutch study where older individuals over the age of 65 are treated with both vitamin B12, folic acid and vitamin D to investigate the occurrence of fractures.

"Right now, there is no reason to eat more vitamin B12, but rather treatment shall only be applied in confirmed cases of deficiencies and in some cases to prevent deficiencies. For anyone who wants to strengthen their bones and prevent fractures, physical activity 30 minutes a day and quitting smoking is good self care," says Catharina Lewerin.

New method

In this study, the researchers used a relatively new method called holotranscobalamin, which measures the amount of vitamin that is taken up in the cells, which is considered to be a more sensitive test for B12 deficiency.

The article was published online in Osteoporosis International.

Approximately one-third of Americans take a daily multivitamin, but little is known about a multivitamins long-term affect on chronic diseases. Now, new research from Brigham and Womens Hospital (BWH) finds that daily multivitamin use does not reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease in men. A similar BWH study, announced last month, found daily multivitamin use can reduce a mans risk of cancer by 8 percent. The cardiovascular disease findings will be presented Nov. 5 at the American Heart Associations Scientific Sessions 2012 and published simultaneously in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

"The findings from our large clinical trial do not support the use of a common daily multivitamin supplement for the sole purpose of preventing cardiovascular disease in men," said Howard D. Sesso, ScD, lead author and an associate epidemiologist in the Division of Preventive Medicine at BWH. "The decision to take a daily multivitamin should be made in consultation with ones doctor and consideration given to an individuals nutritional status and other potential effects of multivitamins, including the previously reported modest reduction in cancer risk."

Researchers enrolled nearly 15,000 men over the age of 50 in the study and followed them for more than 10 years. The men were randomly assigned to take either a multivitamin or a placebo every day which ensured that both treatment groups were identical with respect to risk factors for cardiovascular disease. The men self-reported episodes of heart attacks, strokes and cardiovascular disease, and a panel of physicians reviewed and confirmed their events with medical records. Researchers then compared the group that took the multivitamin with the group that took the placebo and found no significant impact on risk of heart attack, stroke, or cardiovascular mortality. Additionally, the effect of a daily multivitamin on major cardiovascular events did not differ on participants with a baseline history of cardiovascular disease and those who were initially free of cardiovascular disease.

J. Michael Gaziano, MD, chief of the Division of Aging at BWH, investigator at VA Boston and senior author of the study, said, "Since so many Americans take daily multivitamins, studies like this are key to providing us with valuable information about what specific benefits multivitamins do or do not provide in terms of their long-term impact on chronic diseases. For cardiovascular disease, we must continue to emphasize a heart-healthy diet, physical activity, smoking cessation and regular screening for cardiovascular risk factors."

Thats the question. What is the most common inflammatory arthritis in men (in Western countries)?

Guess.
No Googling.
Ill be back.

Answer: See here.
________

A heart-healthy diet helped men at high risk for heart disease reduce their bad cholesterol, regardless of whether they lost weight, in a study presented at the American Heart Association’s Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology 2013 Scientific Sessions.

The 19 24- to 62-year-old men in the study had metabolic syndrome, which ers to three or more significant risk factors for heart disease and stroke. The risk factors included in this study were high waist circumference, high blood pressure, high levels of triglycerides and fasting glucose and low levels of high density lipoprotein or HDL “good” cholesterol.

For five weeks, the men followed a standard North American diet which is high in fats, carbohydrates, ined sugar and red meat. For a second five weeks, they ate a Mediterranean-style diet, which is high in fruits, vegetables and whole grains, and low in red meat. It also includes olive oil and moderate wine drinking.

The men then went on a 20-week weight-loss regime, then another five weeks of Mediterranean eating.

Regardless of whether patients lost weight, following the Mediterranean-style diet resulted in a 9 percent decrease in levels of low density lipoprotein (LDL) known as “bad” cholesterol. Similarly, blood concentrations of the protein part of the lipoprotein, called apolipoproteinB, dropped 9 percent after eating Mediterranean-style. Apolipoprotein plays an important role in lipid transport and metabolism.

“The Mediterranean-style diet, or MedDiet, may be recommended for effective management of the metabolic syndrome and its related risk of cardiovascular disease,” said Caroline Richard, M.Sc., study lead author and a registered dietician and Ph.D. candidate in nutrition.

Men with prostate cancer who ate a low-fat diet and took fish oil supplements had lower levels of pro-inflammatory substances in their blood and a lower cell cycle progression score, a measure used to predict cancer recurrence, than men who ate a typical Western diet, UCLA researchers found.

The findings are important because lowering the cell cycle progression (CCP) score may help prevent prostate cancers from becoming more aggressive, said study lead author William Aronson, a clinical professor of urology at UCLA and chief of urologic oncology at the West Los Angeles Veterans Affairs Medical Center.

"We found that CCP scores were significantly lower in the prostate cancer in men who consumed the low-fat fish oil diet as compare to men who followed a higher fat Western diet," Aronson said. "We also found that men on the low-fat fish oil diet had reduced blood levels of pro-inflammatory substances that have been associated with cancer."

This study appears in the early online edition of Cancer Prevention Research, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.

This study is a follow-up to a 2011 study by Aronson and his team that found a low-fat diet with fish oil supplements eaten for four to six weeks prior to prostate removal slowed the growth of cancer cells in human prostate cancer tissue compared to a traditional, high-fat Western diet.

That short-term study also found that the men on the low-fat fish oil diet were able to change the composition of their cell membranes in both the healthy cells and the cancer cells in the prostate. They had increased levels of omega-3 fatty acids from fish oil and decreased levels of the more pro-inflammatory omega-6 fatty acids from corn oil in the cell membranes, which may directly affect the biology of the cells, Aronson said.

"These studies are showing that, in men with prostate cancer, you really are what you eat," Aronson said. "The studies suggest that by altering the diet, we may favorably affect the biology of prostate cancer."

The men in the previous study were placed into one of two groups, the low-fat fish oil diet or the Western diet. The Western diet consisted of 40 percent of calories from fat, generally equivalent to what many Americans consume today. The fat sources also were typical of the American diet and included high levels of omega-6 fatty acids from corn oil and low levels of fish oil that provide omega-3 fatty acids.

The low-fat diet consisted of 15 percent of calories from fat. Additionally, the men on this diet took five grams of fish oil per day in five capsules, three with breakfast and two with dinner, to provide omega-3 fatty acids. Omega-3 fatty acids have been found to reduce inflammation, and may be protective for other malignancies.

For this study, Aronson wanted to look at the potential biological mechanisms at work in the low-fat fish oil diet that may be providing protection against cancer growth and spread. They measured levels of the pro-inflammatory substances in the blood and examined the prostate cancer tissue to determine the CCP score.

"This is of great interest, as the CCP score in prostate cancer is known to be associated with more aggressive disease and can help predict which patients will recur and potentially die from their cancer," Aronson said.

Further, Aronson and his team analyzed one pro-inflammatory substance called leukotriene B4 (LTB4) and found that men with lower blood levels of LTB4 after the diet also had lower CCP scores.

"Given this finding, we went on to explore how the LTB4 might potentially affect prostate cancer cells and discovered a completely novel finding that one of the receptors for LTB4 is found on the surface of prostate cancer cells," Aronson said.

Further studies are planned to determine the importance of this novel receptor in prostate cancer progression, Aronson said.

Based on the results of his research, Aronson has been funded to start a prospective, randomized trial at UCLA next year studying 100 men who have elected to join the active surveillance program, which monitors slow-growing prostate cancer using imaging and biopsy instead of treating the disease. Study volunteers will receive a prostate biopsy at the beginning of the trial and again at one year. The men will be randomized into a group that eats their usual diet or to a low-fat fish oil diet group. Aronson will measure markers in the prostate biopsy tissue to check for cell growth and CCP score.

Prostate cancer is a leading cause of death among men in the United States. Its estimated that more than 230,000 American men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer this year alone, with more than 29,000 dying from their disease.

UC San Francisco-led study finds consuming olive oil and nuts may improve survival

Men with prostate cancer may significantly improve their survival chances with a simple change in their diet, a new study led by UC San Francisco has found.

By substituting healthy vegetable fats – such as olive and canola oils, nuts, seeds and avocados – for animal fats and carbohydrates, men with the disease had a markedly lower risk of developing lethal prostate cancer and dying from other causes, according to the study.

The research, involving nearly 4,600 men with non-metastatic prostate cancer, could help with the development of dietary guidelines for men with the disease. While prostate cancer affects millions of men around the world, little is known about the relationship between patients diets following their diagnosis and progression of the disease.

The study will be published online on Monday, June 10, 2013, in JAMA Internal Medicine.

"Consumption of healthy oils and nuts increases plasma antioxidants and reduces insulin and inflammation, which may deter prostate cancer progression," said lead author Erin L. Richman, ScD, a post-doctoral scholar in the UCSF Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics.

"The beneficial effects of unsaturated fats and harmful effects of saturated and trans fats on cardiovascular health are well known," Richman said. "Now our research has shown additional potential benefits of consuming unsaturated fats among men with prostate cancer."

Nearly 2.5 million men in the United States currently live with prostate cancer and another quarter-million men are expected to be diagnosed this year. One in six men in the U.S. will be diagnosed with the disease during their lifetime.

In recent years, evidence has indicated that diet might be an important way for men with prostate cancer to take an active role in determining their disease outcome and overall health. Research on advanced prostate cancer has suggested that fat intake may be relevant to disease progression, but this is the first study to examine fat consumption post-diagnosis in relation to risk of lethal prostate cancer and overall survival.

The new paper analyzed intake of saturated, monounsaturated, polyunsaturated and trans fats as well as fats from animal and vegetable sources.

The data were derived from the Health Professionals Follow-up Study, which began in 1986 and is sponsored by the Harvard School of Public Health and is funded by the National Cancer Institute.

The fat intake study involved 4,577 men who had been diagnosed with non-metastatic prostate cancer between 1986 and 2010. During the study timeframe, 1,064 men died, primarily from cardiovascular disease (31 percent), prostate cancer (21 percent) and other cancers (nearly 21 percent).

The authors uncovered a striking benefit: Men who replaced 10 percent of their total daily calories from carbohydrates with healthy vegetable fats had a 29 percent lower risk of developing lethal prostate cancer and a 26 percent lower risk of dying from all causes.

Adding a single serving of oil-based dressing a day (one tablespoon) was associated with a 29 percent lower risk of lethal prostate cancer and a 13 percent lower risk of death, the authors found. And adding one serving of nuts a day (one ounce) was associated with an 18 percent lower risk of lethal prostate cancer and an 11 percent lower risk of death.

The study adjusted for factors such as age, types of medical treatment, body mass index, smoking, exercise and other dietary factors, elevated blood pressure, cholesterol at the time of prostate cancer diagnosis and other health conditions. The researchers say further research is needed on the potential benefits of healthy fats among prostate cancer patients.

"Overall, our findings support counseling men with prostate cancer to follow a heart-healthy diet in which carbohydrate calories are replaced with unsaturated oils and nuts to reduce the risk of all-cause mortality," said Erin Richman, the first author.

In a randomized trial that included nearly 15,000 male physicians, long-term daily multivitamin use resulted in a modest but statistically significant reduction in cancer after more than a decade of treatment and follow-up, according to a study appearing in JAMA. The study is being published early online to coincide with its presentation at the Annual American Association for Cancer Research Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research meeting.

"Multivitamins are the most common dietary supplement, regularly taken by at least one-third of U.S. adults. The traditional role of a daily multivitamin is to prevent nutritional deficiency. The combination of essential vitamins and minerals contained in multivitamins may mirror healthier dietary patterns such as fruit and vegetable intake, which have been modestly and inversely associated with cancer risk in some, but not all, epidemiologic studies. Observational studies of long-term multivitamin use and cancer end points have been inconsistent. To date, large-scale randomized trials testing single or small numbers of higher-dose individual vitamins and minerals for cancer have generally found a lack of effect," according to background information in the article. "Despite the lack of definitive trial data regarding the benefits of multivitamins in the prevention of chronic disease, including cancer, many men and women take them for precisely this reason."

J. Michael Gaziano, M.D., M.P.H., of Brigham and Womens Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, (and also Contributing Editor, JAMA), and colleagues analyzed data from the Physicians Health Study (PHS) II, the only large-scale, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial testing the long-term effects of a common multivitamin in the prevention of chronic disease. The trial includes 14,641 male U.S. physicians, initially age 50 years or older, including 1,312 men with a history of cancer at randomization, who were enrolled in a multivitamin study that began in 1997 with treatment and follow-up through June 1, 2011. Participants received a daily multivitamin or equivalent placebo. The primary measured outcome for the study was total cancer (excluding nonmelanoma skin cancer), with prostate, colorectal, and other site-specific cancers among the secondary end points.

PHS II participants were followed for an average of 11.2 years. During multivitamin treatment, there were 2,669 confirmed cases of cancer, including 1,373 cases of prostate cancer and 210 cases of colorectal cancer, with some men experiencing multiple events. A total of 2,757 (18.8 percent) men died during follow-up, including 859 (5.9 percent) due to cancer. Analysis of the data indicated that men taking a multivitamin had a modest 8 percent reduction in total cancer incidence. Men taking a multivitamin had a similar reduction in total epithelial cell cancer. Approximately half of all incident cancers were prostate cancer, many of which were early stage. The researchers found no effect of a multivitamin on prostate cancer, whereas a multivitamin significantly reduced the risk of total cancer excluding prostate cancer. There were no statistically significant reductions in individual site-specific cancers, including colorectal, lung, and bladder cancer, or in cancer mortality.

Daily multivitamin use was also associated with was a reduction in total cancer among the 1,312 men with a baseline history of cancer, but this result did not significantly differ from that observed among 13,329 men initially without cancer.

The researchers note that total cancer rates in their trial were likely influenced by the increased surveillance for prostate-specific antigen (PSA) and subsequent diagnoses of prostate cancer during PHS II follow-up starting in the late 1990s. "Approximately half of all confirmed cancers in PHS II were prostate cancer, of which the vast majority were earlier stage, lower grade prostate cancer with high survival rates. The significant reduction in total cancer minus prostate cancer suggests that daily multivitamin use may have a greater benefit on more clinically relevant cancer diagnoses."

The authors add that although numerous individual vitamins and minerals contained in the PHS II multivitamin study have postulated chemopreventive roles, it is difficult to definitively identify any single mechanism of effect through which individual or multiple components of their tested multivitamin may have reduced cancer risk. "The reduction in total cancer risk in PHS II argues that the broader combination of low-dose vitamins and minerals contained in the PHS II multivitamin, rather than an emphasis on previously tested high-dose vitamins and mineral trials, may be paramount for cancer prevention. … The role of a food-focused cancer prevention strategy such as targeted fruit and vegetable intake remains promising but unproven given the inconsistent epidemiologic evidence and lack of definitive trial data."

"Although the main reason to take multivitamins is to prevent nutritional deficiency, these data provide support for the potential use of multivitamin supplements in the prevention of cancer in middle-aged and older men," the researchers conclude.