High blood pressure and
Alzheimer's disease
Having high blood pressure reduces blood flow in the brains of
Alzheimer’s patients, making them more vulnerable to the effects of the disease.
High blood pressure and higher pro-inflammatory cytokine production
in middle age are risk factors for AD in old age.
Ginkgo biloba versus
Alzheimer's drug - Is a nutritional therapy as good as a drug?
Ginkgo biloba and donepezil: a comparison in the treatment of Alzheimer's
dementia in a randomized placebo-controlled double-blind study.
Eur J Neurol. 2006 Sep;13(9):981-5. Department of Psychiatry, Catholic
University of Sacred Heart, Rome, Italy.
The Ginkgo biloba special extract EGb 761 seems to produce
neuroprotective effects in neurodegenerative diseases of multifactorial origin.
There is still debate about the efficacy of Ginkgo biloba special extract EGb
761 compared with second-generation cholinesterase inhibitors in the treatment
of mild to moderate Alzheimer's dementia. Our aim is to assess the efficacy of
the Ginkgo biloba special extract E.S. in patients with dementia of the
Alzheimer type in slowing down the disease's degenerative progression and the
patients' cognitive impairment compared with an Alzheimer's drug donepezil and
placebo. The trial was designed as a 24-week randomized, placebo-controlled,
double-blind study. Patients aged 50-80 years, suffering from mild to moderate
dementia, were allocated into one of the three treatments: Ginkgo biloba (160 mg
daily dose), donepezil (5 mg daily dose), or placebo group. Our study
suggests that there is no evidence of relevant differences in the efficacy of
EGb 761 and donepezil in the treatment of mild to moderate Alzheimer's dementia,
so the use of both substances can be justified. In addition, this study
contributes to establish the efficacy and tolerability of the Ginkgo biloba
special extract E.S. in the dementia of the Alzheimer type with special respect
to moderately severe stages.
Estrogen and Alzheimer's disease
Estrogen pills appear to slightly
increase the risk of Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia in
postmenopausal women, a study found, echoing recent findings involving
estrogen-progestin supplements.
The findings contradict the long-held belief that
estrogen pills can help keep older women’s minds sharp. The results came from a
government study called the Women’s Health Initiative and were published in The
Journal of the American Medical Association. The research involved nearly 3,000
women, ages 65 to 79, who had had hysterectomies and had taken daily
estrogen-only pills, sold by Wyeth Pharmaceuticals as Premarin, for an average
of about five years.
Huperzine and Alzheimer's disease
Clinical efficacy and safety of huperzine Alpha in treatment of mild to moderate
Alzheimer disease, a placebo-controlled, double-blind, randomized trial
Zhang Z,. Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing 100730, China.Zhonghua Yi Xue Za Zhi. 2002 Jul 25;82(14):941-4.
To evaluate the clinical efficacy and safety of huperzine Alpha in
treatment of patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer disease (AD). Two
hundred and two patients with the diagnosis of possible or probable AD from 15
centers the nationwide were randomly divided into two groups: huperzine Alpha
group (n = 100, given huperzine Alpha 400 micro g/day for 12 weeks) and placebo
group (n = 102 ). A safe and effective
medicine, huperzine Alpha remarkably improves the cognition, behavior, and mood
in Alzheimer's disease patients.
Alzheimer's Drug options
Neuron and synapse loss together with neurotransmitter dysfunction have,
along with Abeta deposition and neurofibrillary tangles, been recognized as
hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease. Furthermore, clinical and preclinical studies
point to neuronal loss and associated neurochemical alterations of several
transmitter systems as a main factor underlying both cognitive and
neuropsychiatric symptoms. Treatment for the cognitive decline in AD, based on
early findings of a cholinergic deficit, has been in the clinic for more than a
decade but provides only modest benefit in most patients.
Cholinesterase inhibitors such as donepezil, rivastigmine,
and galantamine are often prescribed as Alzheimer's drugs but these drugs are
not curative. In a clinical practice setting, the majority of subjects receiving
galantamine maintain their ratings of cognition, function, behavior or global
assessment over a 6-month period. However, there is yet no evidence that taking
drugs for Alzheimer's disease increases longevity of these patients.
Alzheimer drugs do not delay
onset of the disease
Giving Alzheimer's drugs to people with early memory problems does not delay the
onset of the disease. Three main drugs -- Aricept, or donepezil; Exelon, or
rivastigmine; and Reminyl, or galantamine -- are approved for use in
mild-to-moderate Alzheimer's disease. Using the drugs does not reduce the rate
of progression from mild cognitive impairement to dementia. Aricept is marketed
by Japan's Eisai Co Ltd and Pfizer Inc, while Novartis AG sells Exelon. Reminyl
is sold by Shire Plc and also by Johnson & Johnson under the brand name
Razadyne.
Study: Alzheimer's drugs do not stop
memory loss
Drugs for Alzheimer's
disease, which pharmaceutical companies and campaigners have lobbied the UK
government to provide to large numbers of elderly patients with dementia across
the country at a cost of over £39m a year, have little effect on their memory
and do not stop the distressing deterioration of their lives, according to an
important study published July 2004. The five-year study, paid for by the NHS
and not the drug companies, found that the drugs are a waste of the scarce
resources available for the condition, said the lead re searcher Roger Gray,
director of Birmingham University's clinical trials unit.
When otherwise unexplained, syncope in patients with Alzheimer's
disease may be attributed to bradycardia caused by Alzheimer's drugs such as
cholinesterase inhibitors.
Antipsychotic Alzheimer drugs
Adverse effects offset advantages in the efficacy of atypical antipsychotic
drugs for the treatment of psychosis, aggression, or agitation in patients with
Alzheimer's disease.
Second-generation antipsychotic drugs are no better than
placebo -- from a cost-benefit viewpoint -- for treating the psychosis and
aggression that can develop in Alzheimer disease patients.
Safer alternatives to Alzheimer's disease drugs
"Alzheimer’s Drugs Offer No Help, Study Finds" was an article in the
October 12 issue of New York Times written by Benedict Carey. According to
this interesting article, the medicines most commonly prescribed for
agitation and delusions in Alzheimer’s disease are no more effective than
placebos, and put them at risk of serious side effects, including
confusion, sleepiness and Parkinson’s disease-like symptoms. The drugs
tested in the study — Zyprexa from Eli Lilly; Seroquel from AstraZeneca;
and Risperdal from Janssen Pharmaceutical — belong to a class of
medications known as atypical antipsychotics. These drugs are used to
treat schizophrenia and other psychoses, and are commonly prescribed for
elderly patients in long-term care facilities. About a third of the
estimated 2.5 million Medicare beneficiaries in nursing homes in the
United States have taken the medications. Within the past two weeks, two
new studies became available that show the untapped potential of natural
supplements in the prevention or treatment of AD. In the first study, 200
patients with AD were given DHA and EPA, the fatty acids found in fish
oils, for a period of 6 months. Improvement was noted in patients who had
a mild case of AD. A study by researchers at the David Geffen School of
Medicine at UCLA and the VA Greater Los Angeles Health Care System show
that curcumin, a compound occurring in the spice turmeric, assists the
immune system in the clearance of amyloid beta in the brain. Amyloid beta
is a substance that accumulates in the brains of Alzheimer's patients to
form the plaques that are characteristic of the disease.
So much time and money has been spent on finding drugs
that treat Alzheimer's disease, but as of now the anticholinesterase drugs
and the antipsychotics have been quite disappointing. What if all these
years, rather than having wasted all this effort on drugs, the focus had been on
finding natural ways to prevent or reduce the occurrence of this disturbing
condition?
Brain injury as cause of AD
People who suffer a brain injury have a higher-than-normal risk of
developing Alzheimer's disease. Alzheimer's disease is associated with
accumulations of an abnormal protein, amyloid beta, in the brain.
Traumatic brain injury triggers accumulation of enzymes required for
production of amyloid-beta. Nature Medicine, online March 15, 2009.
Respiratory infections as
cause
Catching a cold or the flu increases memory loss in people with
Alzheimer's disease. In a study of patients with mild to severe
Alzheimer's disease, people who suffered acute or chronic infections, or
even bumps and bruises from a fall, were much more likely to have high
blood levels of a protein involved in inflammation and also experienced
faster memory loss than people who did not have infections and who had
low levels of this protein. It's possible that finding a way to reduce
inflammation in the body "could be beneficial for people with
Alzheimer's disease," reports study chief Dr. Clive Holmes, from the
University of Southampton, UK. Over about 6 months, Dr. Clive Holmes
measured the cognitive abilities and blood levels the inflammatory
protein TNF-alpha of 222 people with Alzheimer's disease. During follow
up, roughly half of the study subjects experienced a sudden infection or
injury that led to inflammation, and a spike in TNF-alpha levels. These
people, experienced memory loss that was at twice the rate of those who
did not have infections or injuries. People who had high levels of TNF-alpha
in their blood at the beginning of the study, a sign of chronic, ongoing
inflammation, had memory loss at four times the rate of those with low
levels of the protein at the start of the study. By contrast, subjects
with low levels of TNF-alpha throughout the study showed no decline in
brain function. Neurology, September 8, 2009.
Difficulty with money
management as an early symptom
Problems with basic money management may serve as a sign that an older
adult with mild memory impairment will soon progress to Alzheimer's
disease, Among older adults with mild mental impairment, difficulty with
routine financial tasks -- like balancing a checkbook or using a bank
statement -- foretell a greater likelihood of progressing to Alzheimer's
over the next year. Neurology, September 22, 2009.
Alzheimer's disease natural therapy emails
Q. I just got Advanced Ginkgo Smart for my mother,
who has early stage Alzheimer's disease. Then today I noticed your article on galantamine. Would it be OK to give her both supplements together, or do they
have the same basic function?
A. Advanced ginkgo contains
huperzine which works in a way similar to galantamine, hence it probably is not
a good idea to combine them.
Q. I've recently read research for Alzheimer's
treatment that suggests a cocktail of DHA, uridine and choline is of benefit.
This approach seems to be having success in trials, increasing synapses versus
attacking plaques. Have you considered a supplement including these three? Do
you have something available which would (taken together) derive these benefits?
I believe Alzheimer's is knocking on my door saying, "Let me introduce myself."
Very minimal but noticeable change in my cognitive recall.
A. There are a number of supplements that are potentially helpful
in Alzheimer's disease prevention or treatment. Since aging affects each person
differently in terms of brain deterioration, it is difficult to come up with a
formula that would apply to the majority of older people with Alzheimer's
disease or other form of cognitive decline. It may be best to learn how each
nutrient is working for you by itself and then combine them for your own
personal formula.
Q. I have been reading about carnosine and was
wondering which of the two products would you recommend more highly so far as
improving Memory / Alzheimers is concerned L Carnosine capsules or Mind Power Rx
with L carnosine?
A. As far as Mind Power Rx or carnosine, it is not possible to know
in any one individual which supplement they will respond to, but, as a general
rule, formulas that have small amounts of various nutrients will provide a wider
variety of these beneficial nutrients to the brain rather than a high amount of
one. But each person is unique in their response.
Does the herb
tribulus terrestris
extract
interact with an
Alzheimer's drug such as an
acetylcholinesterase inhibitor?
We don't suggest taking them the same day.
Here is an interesting article about the possible
connection between H. pylori infection and Alzheimer's disease: "Eradication of
Helicobacter pylori may be beneficial in the management of Alzheimer’s disease"
Infectious agents have been proposed as potential causes of Alzheimer’s disease
(AD). Recently, we documented a high prevalence of Helicobacter pylori (Hp)
infection in patients with AD. In the first part of the study, a total of 50
consecutive patients with AD and 30 age-matched anaemic controls underwent an
upper gastrointestinal endoscopy, and gastric mucosal biopsies were obtained to
detect the presence of Hp infection by histologic analysis and rapid urease
test. Serum anti-Hp-specific IgG level was analysed by enzyme-linked
immunosorbent assay. In the second part, Hp-positive AD patients received a
triple eradication regimen (omeprazole, clarithromycin and amoxicillin), and all
patients were followed up for 2 years, while under the same treatment with
cholinesterase inhibitors. Hp was detected in 88% of AD patients and in 46.7% of
controls. Hp eradication was successful in 84.8% of treated patients. At the
2-year clinical endpoint, cognitive and functional status parameters improved in
the subgroup of patients where Hp eradication was successful but not in the
other patients. Hp eradication may positively influence AD manifestations,
suggesting a possible common link between Hp and AD." What caught my attention
is this statement: "At the 2-year clinical endpoint, cognitive and functional
status parameters improved in the subgroup of patients where Hp eradication was
successful ..., but not in the other patients. Hp eradication may positively
influence AD manifestations, suggesting a possible common link between Hp and
AD."