Health Buzz: Transplant Drug May Extend Life Span and Other Health News

Technorati Tags: Rapamycin,heart disease,dieting,drugs

Posted July 9, 2009

Transplant Drug Key to Longevity? Rapamycin Makes Mice Live Longer

Rapamycin, a medication prescribed for transplant patients, may help old mice live longer, the Associated Press reports.

A study published in the journal Nature showed that aged male and female mice who received the drug lived longer; some lived more than 50 percent longer than untreated mice. Treated female mice lived on average 14 percent longer while males lived on average 9 percent longer. In transplant patients, rapamycin suppresses the immune system, which helps prevent their bodies from rejecting the new organ. But it also reduces inflammation, so it could ward off age-related diseases like cancer, heart disease, and Alzheimer's, Reuters reports. "Rapamycin may extend life span by postponing death from cancer, by retarding mechanisms of aging, or both," the researchers wrote.

Check out these 5 common myths about aging, and learn how to avoid the 12 health risks of aging that include colon cancer, varicose veins, and muscle loss. Here are 3 wrinkle treatments that really work along with ways to prevent wrinkles from forming.

Can You Get Your Vitamins and Minerals Through Diet Alone?

With the jury still out on the benefits of vitamin and mineral supplements—including multivitamins—the mantra you'll most likely hear from doctors and nutritionists is to get your nutrients from food whenever possible. But that's not always easy, especially within a limited calorie budget, U.S. News's Katherine Hobson reports. Harvard Women's Health Watch consulted two nutrition experts to find out if a supplement-free, nutrient-rich, low-calorie diet is possible to achieve. Their conclusion: yes, with the exception of vitamin D, which is tough to obtain in sufficient quantities through diet and sun exposure alone (unless you live in the southern latitudes and spend a lot of time outside).

Do vitamins and supplements really work as weapons in fending off chronic and age-related diseases? The answer may depend on which supplements you're taking. Women may benefit from these 5 reasons to take vitamin D. Researchers reported in May that vitamin D may keep your brain healthy into old age.

How to Use Tylenol So It's Safe for Your Kids

The Food and Drug Administration is considering banning infant Tylenol as part of its efforts to reduce the risk of potentially fatal liver damage that can be caused by high doses of the ingredient acetaminophen. The popular painkiller also poses liver risks to adults. For advice on how to reduce the risk of using Tylenol, U.S. News enlisted Bernard Dreyer, a pediatrician who studies how parents use children's medications. Dreyer says the plastic dosing cups that come with Tylenol are very hard to use accurately, and as a result, 5 to 10 percent of parents give twice as much of the medicine as called for. Parents should pick the dose based on a child's weight, rather than age. That's a much more accurate dosing method, Dreyer says. Also beware of infant Tylenol, he advises. It is actually three times as strong as regular children's Tylenol, but many parents presume it's less strong. Dreyer and his colleagues have found that parents often get confused and give, say, a 2-year-old a teaspoon of the infant formula, which is three times as much as she should take.

In June, FDA advisers voted to lower the maximum dose of acetaminophen on over-the-counter drug labels. Consider 4 ways to avoid dangerous drug errors and 5 dangerous drug combinations you need to avoid.