Dementia is a brain disorder that seriously affects a person’s ability to carry out daily activities. The most common form of dementia among older people is Alzheimer’s disease (AD), which initially involves the parts of the brain that control thought, memory, and language. Although scientists are learning more every day, right now they still do not know what causes AD, and there is no cure.
Scientists think that as many as 4.5 million Americans suffer from AD. The disease usually begins after age 60, and risk goes up with age. While younger people also may get AD, it is much less common. About 5 percent of men and women ages 65 to 74 have AD, and nearly half of those age 85 and older may have the disease. It is important to note, however, that AD is not a normal part of aging. Prevention is the key and there is good news on that front. The acetyl group that is part of acetyl-L-carnitine contributes to the production of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, which is required for mental function. Several double-blind clinical trials suggest that acetyl-L-carnitine delays the progression of Alzheimer’s disease and enhances overall performance in some people with Alzheimer’s disease.
Several clinical trials have found that acetyl-L-carnitine supplementation delays the progression of Alzheimer’s disease, improves memory, and enhances overall performance in some people with Alzheimer’s disease. Overall, most short-term studies have shown clinical benefits, and most long-term studies (one year) have shown a reduction in the rate of deterioration.
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Alpha-Lipoic Acid and Acetyl-L-Carnitine...
Two dietary supplements straight off the health food store shelf put the spark back into aging rats, and might do the same for aging baby boomers, according to a study at the University of California, Berkeley, and Children’s Hospital Oakland Research Institute.
A team of researchers led by Bruce N. Ames, professor of molecular and cell biology at UC Berkeley, fed older rats two chemicals normally found in the body’s cells and available as dietary supplements: acetyl-L-carnitine and an antioxidant, alpha-lipoic acid.
In three articles in the February 19 issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Ames and his colleagues report the surprising results. Not only did the older rats do better on memory tests, they had more pep, and the energy-producing organelles in their cells worked better.
“With the two supplements together, these old rats got up and did the Macarena,” said Ames, also a researcher at Children’s Hospital Oakland Research Institute (CHORI). “The brain looks better, they are full of energy—everything we looked at looks more like a young animal.”
“The animals seem to have much more vigor and are much more active than animals not on this diet, signaling massive improvement to these animals’ health and well-being,” said former UC Berkeley post-doctoral fellow Tory M. Hagen, now an assistant professor at the Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University, Corvallis. “And we also see a reversal in loss of memory. That is a dual-track improvement that is significant and unique. This is really starting to explode and move out of the realm of basic research into people.”
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In New Alzheimer's Studies, Lab Tests Show Vitamin E And Other Antioxidants Preventing Brain Cell Death...
ScienceDaily (Aug. 28, 1998) — BOSTON, Aug. 27--In laboratory tests, vitamin E prevented the death of brain cells exposed to a toxic protein found in the brains of patients with Alzheimer's disease, it was reported here today. The protein, amyloid beta peptide (AB), is the major constituent of the senile plaques found in Alzheimer brains, and it generates oxygen free radicals that attack and kill brain cells, said Allan Butterfield, Ph.D., professor of chemistry and director of the Center for Membrane Sciences of the University of Kentucky. He presented his findings at a national meeting of the American Chemical Society, the world's largest scientific society. Now, Dr. Butterfield says, he has become the first to see the actual death and survival of brain cells in tests of AB and antioxidants.
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Wine May Protect Against Dementia, Study Suggests...
ScienceDaily (Apr. 13, 2008) — There may be constituents in wine that protect against dementia. This is shown in research from the Sahlgrenska Academy at University of Gothenburg in Sweden. The findings are based on 1,458 women who were included in the so-called Population Study of Women from 1968. When they were examined by physicians they were asked to report how often they drank wine, beer, and liquor by selecting from seven categories on a scale from 'never' to 'daily.' The researchers know nothing about how much they drank on each occasion, or how correct the estimates were. For each beverage the women reported having drunk more than once a month, they were classified as a consumer of that particular beverage.
Thirty-four years after the first study, 162 women had been diagnosed with dementia. The results show that among those women who reported that they drank wine a considerably lower proportion suffered from dementia, whereas this correlation was not found among those who had reported that they regularly drank beer or liquor.
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Gingko may boost memory - if you remember to take it...
Supplements of ginkgo biloba may boost the memory and memory function of the elderly, so long as people comply and take them as instructed, according to the results of a new randomised clinical trial (RCT). Researchers report in the journal Neurology that reliably taking the supplement could reduce the risk of developing mild memory problems by 68 per cent in healthy older people with no memory problems.
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Blueberry flavonoids could have Alzheimer's benefits, study...
Blueberries and other phytochemical-rich foods could help in increasing memory capacity by reversing age-related deficits in memory, according to a new rat study by UK researchers. The study, conducted by researchers at the University of Reading and the Peninsula Medical School, has not yet been published but is expected to appear in the peer-reviewed journal Free Radical Biology and Medicine within the next few days. After supplementing the diet of rats with blueberries over a 12-week period, the research team said that improvements in spatial working memory tasks emerged within three weeks and continued throughout the period of the study.
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Green tea's Alzheimer protection gets more support...
Green tea catechins may inhibit the loss of reference and working memory linked to plaque formation in the brain, say research from Japan, adding to claims that the beverage may help ward off Alzheimer's. Our results suggest that long-term administration of PE prevents cognitive deficits caused by oxidative stress, beta-amyloid-induced and/or otherwise, at least by facilitating antioxidative defences," wrote lead author Abdul Haque from Shimane University Faculty of Medicine
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