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10p pill to beat Alzheimer's disease: Vitamin B halts memory loss in breakthrough British trial
By Fiona Macrae
Last updated at 12:12 PM on 9th September 2010
A simple vitamin pill could prevent millions from suffering the agony of Alzheimer's.
The tablet, costing as little as 10p a day and made up of three vitamin B supplements, cut brain shrinkage linked to memory loss by up to 500 per cent.
Oxford University researchers behind the landmark study said it offered the 'first glimmer of hope' in the battle to find a drug that slows or stops the development of Alzheimer's.
This computer graphic shows a vertical slice through the brain of an Alzheimer patient (left) compared with a normal brain (right). The Alzheimer's disease brain is considerably shrunken, due to the degeneration and death of nerve cells
It and other forms of dementia blight the lives of more than 800,000 Britons, and the number of cases is expected to double within a generation.
No previous drug trials have been successful and, with around 500 new cases of Alzheimer's diagnosed every day in the UK alone, anything that delays the development of the disease could improve the lives of millions.
The breakthrough centres on a compound called homocysteine which is naturally made in the body and, at high levels, has been linked to memory loss and Alzheimer's.
Vitamin B is known to break down homocysteine, so the researchers decided to look at whether giving patients the vitamin would be good for memory.
Working with colleagues in Norway, the Oxford team recruited 270 pensioners suffering from slight memory lapses that can be a precursor to Alzheimer's.
Known as mild cognitive impairment, or MCI, it affects one in six aged 70-plus, or 1.5million Britons.
Half of those with MCI will develop dementia within five years of diagnosis. Half of those taking part in the trial took a vitamin B tablet a day for two years.
The tablets contained extremely high doses of vitamins B6, 9 and 12.
For instance, the amount of B12 was up to 300 times higher than could be obtained by simply eating bananas, meat, wholegrains, beans and other foods rich in the vitamin.
The others took a daily dummy pill with no active ingredients.
Brain scans were carried out to check if the pill reduced the shrinkage of the brain that happens naturally as we age and speeds up in memory loss.
Vitamin B cut the amount of shrinkage by 30 per cent, on average, the journal PLoS ONE reports.
In those with the highest amounts of homocysteine in their bloodstream at the start of the study, it halved the shrinkage and in one extreme case, it cut it five-fold.
Those with the slowest rate of shrinkage did best in memory tests and in some cases their ability to recall lists was as good at the end of the trial as it was at the start.
Professor David Smith, one of the study leaders, said: 'This is a very striking, dramatic result. It is our hope this simple and safe treatment will delay the development of Alzheimer's in many who suffer from mild memory problems.'
Co-researcher Professor Helga Refsum added: 'Here we have a very simple solution: you give some vitamins and you seem to protect the brain.'
The results suggest that a basic cocktail of vitamins can achieve results that have evaded pharmaceutical companies, despite billions of pounds being spent on experimental dementia drugs.
Professor Smith said: 'This was a disease-modifying study. All other disease modifying trials have failed. What we can say is that this is the first one that shows a glimmer of hope and success.'
The professor plans to run a larger trial which will look at whether the vitamin cocktail actually affects the onset of Alzheimer's.
Vitamins: The pill could help Alzheimer's sufferers such as author Sir Terry Pratchett
If the trial is successful, high dose vitamin B could be widely prescribed to those with mild memory loss in as little as five years.
Those who do not want to wait can make their own vitamin cocktail with supplements on sale at health food stores.
But the researchers stress that people should not do this without speaking to their doctor first.
High dose vitamins may trigger cancer and are known to fuel existing cancers. They may also react with medicines including arthritis and psoriasis drugs.
Despite this, Professor Smith says he 'would not hesitate' to take the cocktail of 20mg of vitamin B6, 0.8mg of vitamin B9, or folate, and 0.5mg of vitamin B12, himself, if he were diagnosed with MCI.
The Alzheimer's Research Trust, which part-funded the study, said that delaying the onset of Alzheimer's by five years could halve the number of those who die with the condition.
Rebecca Wood, the charity's chief executive, said: 'These are very important results.'
The Alzheimer's Society gave the research a cautious welcome. Professor Clive Ballard said: 'This could change the lives of thousands of people at risk of dementia. However, previous studies looking at B vitamins have been very disappointing and we wouldn't want to raise people's expectations yet.'
● A drug that may combat the sticky deposits that clog up the brains of Alzheimer's patients has been created by U.S. scientists. In tests on mice it cut levels of a compound key to plaque formation, without any side-effects, the journal Neuron reports.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1310330/Vitamin-B-halts-memory-loss-10p-pill-beat-Alzheimers-disease.html#ixzz0z54oXDkL~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
WARNING FROM RAEL: For those who don't use their intelligence at its full
capacity, the label "selected by RAEL" on some articles does not mean that I
agree with their content or support it. "Selected by RAEL" means that I believe
it is important for the people of this planet to know about what people think or
do, even when what they think or do is completely stupid and against our
philosophy. When I selected articles in the past about stupid Christian
fundamentalists in America praying for rain, I am sure no Rael-Science reader
was stupid enough to believe that I was supporting praying to change the
weather. So, when I select articles which are in favor of drugs, anti-semitic,
anti-Jewish, racist, revisionist, or inciting hatred against any group or
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just means that it is important for all human beings to know about them. Common
sense, which is usually very good among our readers, is good enough to
understand that. When, like in the recent articles on drug decriminalization, it
is necessary to make it clearer, I add a comment, which in this case was very
clear: I support decriminalizing all drugs, as it is stupid to throw depressed
and sad people (as only depressed and sad people use drugs) in prison and ruin
their life with a criminal record. That does not mean that there is any change
to the Message which says clearly that we must not use any drug except for
medical purposes. The same applies to the freedom of expression which must be
absolute. That does not mean again of course that I agree with anti-Jews,
antisemites, racists of any kind or anti-Raelians. But by knowing your enemies
or the enemies of your values, you are better equipped to fight them. With love
and respect of course, and with the wonderful sentence of the French philosopher
Voltaire in mind: "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death
your right to say it".
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"Ethics" is simply a last-gasp attempt by deist conservatives and
orthodox dogmatics to keep humanity in ignorance and obscurantism,
through the well tried fermentation of fear, the fear of science and
new technologies.
There is nothing glorious about what our ancestors call history,
it is simply a succession of mistakes, intolerances and violations.
On the contrary, let us embrace Science and the new technologies
unfettered, for it is these which will liberate mankind from the
myth of god, and free us from our age old fears, from disease,
death and the sweat of labour.
Rael
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