subject: Glimpse of hope for Alzheimer's Disease Patients [print this page] Author: Lenneice Drew
A drink that helps those who have Alzheimer's may soon be on the market According to CNN, scientists looked at 225 patients who had mild Alzheimer's, according to an examination. Some took the drink researchers call Souvenaid, and the control group participants received a non-medical drink, once a day for 12 weeks. Those who were digesting the medical drink showed significant improvement in the delayed verbal recall task, in which participants were asked to remember what they had been told earlier. The idea is that the formation of synapses delays the symptoms of Alzheimer's, but it is not a cure, experts said. "There was a clear difference. The difference was greatest in people with very mild but quite real Alzheimer's," he said. Currently, there is no cure for Alzheimer's. But existing drug and non-drug treatments often help with both cognitive and behavioral symptoms. This could be a breakthrough research for this country. The Center for Disease Control says as many as 5.3 million people in the United States are living with Alzheimers. And the disease is very costly; Alzheimer's and dementia triple healthcare costs for Americans age 65 and older. Scientists developed the medical drink with three components -- uridine, choline, and the omega-3 fatty acid DHA -- that, working together, help restore synapses, said Dr. Richard Wurtman, professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and co-author of the study. Uridine is a molecule used in the genetic coding for RNA, choline is in the vitamin B family, and DHA is found in certain fish and fish oils There were also cognitive and memory tasks that the drink did not seem to improve, according to the study, and the researchers should look further into what other improvements can be seen besides the verbal recall finding, Gu said. But it is certainly worth looking into since Alzheimer's is the seventh-leading cause of death.About the Author:
Lenneice A. Drew is an experienced journalist currently focused on healthcare reform. She is working to help others achieve better lives by finding affordable health insurance alternatives and reporting stories related to the healthcare industry. She lives in Miami, Florida.
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