Word: vitamin
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Again, however, what works for Alzheimer's patients may not work for other people. Buckholtz explains that it takes very high doses of vitamin E before the chemistry of the brain changes even a little, and for healthy middle-agers, such a small neurochemical difference may make no difference in memory...
...Vitamin E is another common memory nostrum, popular because it is an antioxidant, able to gather up and neutralize cell-damaging chemicals known as free radicals, a highly reactive form of oxygen that is a normal byproduct of metabolism. Like ginkgo, vitamin E has been tested mostly on Alzheimer's patients and has been shown to slow down the advance of the disease as much as seven months--not much for a condition that takes years to do its brain-ravaging work, but progress nonetheless. "There is a lot of evidence that there's oxidative damage in the brain both...
Other purported memory potions include such nonsteroidal anti-inflammatories (NSAIDS) as Advil and Motrin, which in one study appeared to reduce the risk of Alzheimer's disease as much as 50% over a 15-year period. Lecithin, vitamin B12 and folic acid also generate buzz in the memory biz, but again there is little or no in-the-lab science to back up the claimed benefits. "There just aren't any good data that we know of," says Buckholtz...
...otherwise fine article "Vitamin Overdose" [PERSONAL TIME: YOUR HEALTH, April 24] was marred by a few errors. The Institute of Medicine Panel on Dietary Antioxidants, of which I was chairman, recommended a daily allowance of 55 micrograms for selenium, and an upper limit of 400 micrograms per day (not an upper limit of 55 micrograms per day). Exceeding the upper limit can lead to hair loss and brittle nails, not to the loss of fingernails. And finally, the upper level for dl-alpha-tocopherol, a synthetic form of vitamin...
...mental gymnastics, then by chemistry--has attracted lots of interest. The National Institute on Aging launched a research trial to see if anti-inflammatory drugs, such as naproxen or the COX-2 inhibitor Vioxx, can delay onset. Another study compares the Alzheimer's drug Aricept with vitamin E to see if the latter can ease cognitive problems. But these are all preliminary explorations of intriguing clues and don't yet apply to everyday life...