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B vitamins slow brain atrophy in people with memory problems
http://www.kurzweilai.net/b-vitamins-slow-brain-atrophy-in-people-with-memory-problems?utm_source=KurzweilAI+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=20a79a823e-UA-946742-1&utm_medium=email
September 10, 2010 by Editor
Daily tablets of certain B vitamins can halve the rate of brain
shrinkage in elderly people who suffer from mild memory problems, an
Oxford University study has shown.
The two-year randomized clinical trial is the largest to study the
effect of B vitamins on mild cognitive impairment, and one of the
first disease-modifying trials in the Alzheimer's field to show
positive results in people.
Around 1 in 6 elderly people over the age of 70 has mild cognitive
impairment, experiencing problems with memory, language, or other
mental functions, but not to a degree that interferes with daily life.
Around half of people with mild cognitive impairment go on to develop
dementia – mainly Alzheimer's disease – within five years of
diagnosis.
Certain B vitamins – folic acid, vitamin B6 and vitamin B12 – are
known to control levels of the amino acid homocysteine in the blood,
and high levels of homocysteine are associated with an increased risk
of Alzheimer's.
So the Oxford team set out to see whether supplements of the B
vitamins that lower homocysteine could slow the higher rate of brain
shrinkage, or atrophy, observed in mild cognitive impairment or
Alzheimer's.
The study followed 168 volunteers aged 70 or over with mild memory
problems, half of whom took high dose B vitamin tablets for two years
and the other half a placebo tablet. The researchers assessed disease
progression in this group by using MRI scans to measure the brain
atrophy rate over a two-year period. The findings are published in the
journal PLoS ONE.
The team found that on average the brains of those taking the folic
acid, vitamin B6 and B12 treatment shrank at a rate of 0.76% a year,
while those in the placebo group had a mean brain shrinkage rate of
1.08%. People with the highest levels of homocysteine benefited most,
showing atrophy rates on treatment that were half of those on placebo.
Along with rate of brain shrinkage, the team from the Oxford Project
to Investigate Memory and Ageing (OPTIMA) also monitored cognitive
test scores, revealing that those with the slowest rate of shrinkage
scored more strongly.
The team suggests that, since the rate of brain atrophy is known to be
more rapid in those with mild cognitive impairment who go on to
develop Alzheimer's, it is possible that the vitamin treatment could
slow down the development of the disease. Clinical trials to test this
should now be carried out, they add.
"It is our hope that this simple and safe treatment will delay the
development of Alzheimer's disease in many people who suffer from mild
memory problems," said Professor David Smith of the Department of
Pharmacology at Oxford University, a co-leader of the trial. "Today
there are about 1.5 million elderly in UK, 5 million in USA and 14
million in Europe with such memory problems.
"These are immensely promising results but we do need to do more
trials to conclude whether these particular B vitamins can slow or
prevent development of Alzheimer's. So I wouldn't yet recommend that
anyone getting a bit older and beginning to be worried about memory
lapses should rush out and buy vitamin B supplements without seeing a
doctor," he said.
More info: Oxford University news
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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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