Vitamin B-12 may prevent memory loss

BBC NEWS | Health | Vitamin 'may prevent memory loss':
2009.09.09
"Older people with lower than average vitamin B12 levels were more than six times more likely to experience brain shrinkage, researchers concluded..."This study adds another dimension to our understanding of the effects of B vitamins on the brain - the rate of shrinkage of the brain as we age may be partly influenced by what we eat." ...Shrinkage has been strongly linked with a higher risk of developing dementia at a later stage..."

DogVitals powerful antioxidant supplement for dogs - helping dogs live a younger, healthier life

Scientists discover way to reverse memory loss

Scientists discover way to reverse loss of memory - Science, News - Independent.co.uk
2008.01.30
"...The accidental breakthrough came during an experiment originally intended to suppress the obese man's appetite, using the increasingly successful technique of deep-brain stimulation. Electrodes were pushed into the man's brain and stimulated with an electric current. Instead of losing appetite, the patient instead had an intense experience of déjà vu. He recalled, in intricate detail, a scene from 30 years earlier. More tests showed his ability to learn was dramatically improved when the current was switched on and his brain stimulated...Professor Lozano said: "This is the first time that anyone has had electrodes implanted in the brain which have been shown to improve memory. We are driving the activity of the brain by increasing its sensitivity – turning up the volume of the memory circuits. Any event that involves the memory circuits is more likely to be stored and retained."...Speaking to The Independent yesterday, Professor Lozano said: "His performance improved dramatically. As we turned the current up, we first drove his memory circuits and improved his learning. As we increased the intensity of the current, we got spontaneous memories of discrete events. At a certain intensity, he would slash to the scene [in the park]. When the intensity was increased further, he got more detail but, when the current was turned off, it rapidly decayed."...The discovery surprised the scientists as the hypothalamus has not usually been identified as a seat of memory. The contacts that most readily produced the memories were located close to a structure called the fornix, an arched bundle of fibres that carries signals within the limbic system, which is involved in memory and emotions and is situated next to the hypothalamus..."

"DogVitals powerful antioxidant supplement for dogs - helping dogs live a younger, healthier life

Fish Oil Prevents Alzheimer's Plaques

Fish Oil Prevents Alzheimer's Plaques - WebMD
Via QualityCounts
2007.12.26
"Why does fish oil help prevent Alzheimer's disease? Your brain needs a fish oil fatty acid to make a plaque-fighting protein, UCLA researchers find...It's known that people who get plenty of DHA, a fish oil fatty acid, have a reduced risk of Alzheimer's disease, note Greg M. Cole, PhD...Why? Cole's team had a clue. People with Alzheimer's disease tend to have low levels of a brain protein called LR11 (also known as SorLA). And about 15% of people with Alzheimer's disease carry a genetic mutation that reduces LR11...LR11 helps clear the brain of amyloid precursor protein, essential for production of the brain-gumming beta-amyloid plaque that clogs the brains of people with Alzheimer's disease...Sure enough, in live rodents and in cultures of human brain cells, the researchers found that the fish-oil compound DHA causes brain cells to make lots more LR11...it may be a great help if taken at the first signs of Alzheimer's"

"DogVitals powerful antioxidant supplement for dogs - helping dogs live a younger, healthier life

Omega-3 Fatty Acids Protect Against Parkinson's

Omega-3 Fatty Acids Protect Against Parkinson's, Study Says - ScienceDaily
2007.11.26
"...Analyses revealed that omega-3 fatty acids--in particular DHA (docosahexaenoic acid), a specific type of omega-3--had replaced the omega-6 fatty acids already present in the brains of the mice that had been given omega-3 supplementation..."This demonstrates both the importance of diet on the brain's fatty acid composition and the brain's natural inclination for omega-3 fatty acids," observes Calon. Since concentrations of other types of omega-3's had remained similar in both groups of mice, researchers suggest that the protective effect against Parkinson's comes essentially from DHA...Another conclusion to be drawn from this finding is that a brain containing a lot of omega-6 fatty acids may be a fertile ground for Parkinson's disease. These fatty acids, abundant in foods rich in either vegetable oil or animal fat, are already under suspicion for their role in the body's inflammatory response, cardiac disease, arthritis, and Alzheimer's. In a balanced diet, the ratio between omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids should be 4 to 1. However, the average Western diet contains 10 to 20 times more omega-6's than omega-3's..."In North America, the average intake of DHA is between 60 to 80 mg a day, while experts recommend a daily minimum of 250 mg,"..."

"DogVitals powerful antioxidant supplement for dogs - helping dogs live a younger, healthier life

Rosemary Chicken Protects Your Brain From Free Radicals

Rosemary Chicken Protects Your Brain From Free Radicals - ScienceDaily
2007.10.30
"...The active ingredient in rosemary, known as carnosic acid (CA), can protect the brain from stroke and neurodegeneration that is due to injurious chemical free radicals. These radicals are thought to contribute not only to stroke and neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer’s, but also to the ill effects of normal aging on the brain...CA activates a novel signaling pathway that protects brain cells from the ravages of free radicals. In animal models, the scientific group, led by Drs. Takumi Satoh (Iwate University, Japan) and Stuart Lipton (Burnham Institute), found that CA becomes activated by the free radical damage itself, remaining innocuous unless needed, exactly what is wanted in a drug...The scientists call this type of action a “pathological-activated therapeutic” or PAT drug. A “pat” represents a gentle tap and not the heavy sledge hammer that some drugs produce, including significant side effects in areas of the body where their effects are not needed and not wanted...“This new type of drug works through a mechanism known as redox chemistry in which electrons are transferred from one molecule to another in order to activate the body’s own defense system,” said Stuart A. Lipton, MD, PhD...it means that we can do even better in protecting the brain from terrible disorders such as Alzheimer’s and Lou Gehrig’s disease, perhaps even slowing down the effects of normal aging, by developing new and improved cousins to the active ingredient in rosemary.” The authors hope that such drugs can be developed for people over the next few years..."

Researchers Call Herbs Rich Source Of Healthy Antioxidants; Oregano Ranks Highest

"DogVitals dog supplement - helping dogs live a younger, healthier life

Chemical Compound Found In Tree Bark Stimulates Growth, Survival Of Brain Cells

ScienceDaily: Chemical Compound Found In Tree Bark Stimulates Growth, Survival Of Brain Cells
2007.10.05
"...The tree bark compound, known as gambogic amide, behaves much like Nerve Growth Factor (NGF), a molecule found in the brain. NGF binds to TrkA, a neuronal receptor, and activates neuronal signaling. It is known that the loss of TrkA density correlates with neuronal atrophy and severe cognitive impairment such as that associated with Alzheimer's disease...Gambogic amide is derived from gambogic acid, a major ingredient of gamboges, a brownish-orange resin exuded from the Southeast Asian Garcinia hanburryi tree. The resin has been used in that area of the world for thousands of years to treat cancers without any reported toxicity to noncancerous cells..."

If proven safe, gambogic amide will be a big story. Interesting that the synthetic version of NGF was so ineffective that they went looking for a molecule in nature that was "robust" enough to do the job. And apparently found it. I'd love to know the reason why cyclopeptide mimetics couldn't be improved more at this time.

"DogVitals dog supplement - helping dogs live a younger, healthier life

More evidence ties education to lower dementia risk

More evidence ties education to lower dementia risk - Yahoo! News
2007.10.01
"...In a study of more than 1,400 Finnish adults followed for two decades, researchers found that the more years of education participants had, the lower their risk of developing dementia, including Alzheimer's disease...with fewer than five years of education, those with six to eight years were 43 percent less likely to develop dementia. Men and women with nine or more years of schooling had an 84-percent lower risk of dementia...can be seen as support for the "brain reserve" hypothesis on dementia risk...According to this theory, older adults with more education or higher IQs are able to withstand more Alzheimer-linked brain damage before showing symptoms...A key question, according to Ngandu, is whether education can actually generate a greater brain reserve -- or whether people with an innately greater reserve go further in their education."

The last question is indeed key. Although they might not be mutually exclusive.

Does education help with vascular dementia? The etiology seems more related to genes, diet and exercise. If it does include vascular dementia why not give a simple % in relation to other dementias. And list the other dementias that might be helped by education. The problem is there are dozens of forms of dementia, most appear not connected to education at all. I only mention this because articles on dementia almost never mention which forms of dementia they are talking about. It's as if all the journalists writing about dementia have a new form of dementia... whose name will not be mentioned.

"DogVitals dog supplement - helping dogs live a younger, healthier life

Curcumin fights Alzheimer's

Curry ingredient may fight Alzheimer's Reuters/Yahoo!News 7/16/07 "...An ingredient in curry may help stimulate immune system cells that gobble up the brain-clogging proteins that mark Alzheimer's disease...isolated bisdemethoxycurcumin and determined it was the most active ingredient in curcumin...Using blood samples from Alzheimer's patients, they found that bisdemethoxycurcumin boosted immune cells called macrophages to clear a protein called amyloid beta, which clogs the brains of Alzheimer's patients and kills brain cells...it is not clear if people can eat enough curcumin to get this level of activity, but said bisdemethoxycurcumin was active at a level that could easily be achieved by infusion...studies have suggested that people who eat a lot of curry may be less prone to cancer and Alzheimer's, but whether curry is responsible is unclear...Our results may provide an entirely different direction to therapeutic opportunities in Alzheimer's disease through the repair of the functional and transcriptional deficits of Alzheimer's disease macrophages by curcuminoids,"..."

India has one of the lowest rates of Alzheimer's of any country (4.4 times less than U.S.). It has been known for years that curcumin played a large role in this. They aren't getting infusions... they're just eating turmeric often. So you guess where the research is heading.

DogVitals dog supplement - helping dogs live a younger, healthier life

Some Alcohol May Help Aging Brains

Less Than a Drink a Day Found Protective WebMD 5/21/07 "...less than one drink a day, low to moderate drinking was associated with a significantly slower progression to dementia among people with mild age-related cognitive declines, compared with nondrinkers...The protective benefit was not seen with higher alcohol consumption...Earlier findings from the study suggest that specific staples of the diet, including olive oil, whole grains, and red wine, can help protect aging brains...Researcher Vincenzo Solfrizzi, MD, PhD, tells WebMD that these dietary influences may act synergistically to slow mental decline, possibly by reducing the blood vessel inflammation thought to contribute to Alzheimer’s disease...Patients with MCI (mild cognitive impairment) who said they did drink alcohol but drank less than one drink a day had an 85% lower rate of progression to dementia over 3.5 years of follow up than nondrinkers ...A drink was considered to have 0.5 ounces of alcohol -- the amount typically found in a 12-ounce glass of regular beer, a 5-ounce glass of wine, or a cocktail containing 1 ounce of spirits..."

DogVitals dog supplement - helping dogs live a younger life

The many benefits of omega-3 fatty acids

Omega-3 fatty acids have positive effect on muscle mass EurekAlert 5/9/07 "..."Adding fish oil to their diet could prevent this decline by restoring insulin sensitivity in aging animals," suggests the researcher. "In addition, it could contribute to reducing the amount of by-product emissions in the environment, since animals that are given omega-3’s spontaneously eat 10% less food to achieve the same weight gain," points out Thivierge...Restoring insulin sensitivity through the use of marine omega-3 fatty acids could also prevent the loss of muscle mass in older people and, by the same token, prevent the various health problems associated with it, believes Thivierge. She also suggests that omega-3’s could help athletes trying to increase their muscle mass. "However, it should not be seen as a miracle product," she points out. "For increased muscle protein metabolism to take place in people younger than 50, physical training is still required,"..."

Is there no end to the health benefits of omega 3 fatty acids? Slows Alzheimers, boosts grey matter in brain, can benefit mood, fights macular disease, helps prevent postpartum depression, makes you lose weight, lowers prostoglandins, inhibits liver cancer, prenatally can protect against breast cancer for daughters, may slow prostate cancer, oh and it also lowers mortality in general, fights heart disease and makes kids smarter. The list goes on.

Question the meta studies to the contrary (ahem BMJ... you might want to revisit topic), omega-3's appear to have shown a clear pattern of health benefits... now we just have to worry about the fish and the depleting stocks. Vegetarian sources of DHA and EPA exist and a combo of these is nearing store shelves last I read. Maybe it's out already? I guess so - here's one company offering it. Can't vouch for them at all though.

DogVitals dog supplement - helping dogs live a younger life

DHA might fight Alzheimers

Omega-3 Fatty Acid May Help Prevent Alzheimer's Brain Lesions ScienceDaily 3/17/07 "This study with genetically modified mice is the first to show that DHA, an omega-3 fatty acid, can slow the accumulation of tau, a protein that leads to the development of neurofibrillary tangles. Such tangles are one of two signature brain lesions of Alzheimer's disease. DHA also was found to reduce levels of the protein beta amyloid, which can clump in the brain and form plaques, the other Alzheimer's lesion..."We are greatly excited by these results, which show us that simple changes in diet can positively alter the way the brain works and lead to protection from Alzheimer's disease pathology," said Frank LaFerla, professor of neurobiology and behavior and co-author of the study...Mice in three test groups were given food with a 1:1 ratio of omega-6 fatty acids to omega-3 fatty acids...only mice on the DHA diet had lower levels of both proteins. These results suggest that DHA works better on its own than when paired with omega-6 fatty acids...DHA, they found, leads to lower levels of presenilin, an enzyme responsible for cutting beta amyloid from its parent, the amyloid precursor protein. Without presenilin, beta amyloid cannot be generated. When clumped into plaques, beta amyloid disrupts communication between cells and leads to symptoms of Alzheimer's disease..."

DogVitals dog supplement - helping dogs live a younger life

Fish oils delay cognitive decline

Fish Oils Delay Cognitive Decline, Studies Find HealthDay Yahoo!Health 4/10/07 "In one study...The researchers concluded that consumption of approximately 400 milligrams of omega-3 fatty acids per day (equivalent to eating six servings of lean fish per week or one serving of fatty fish per week) protects against cognitive decline...In the other study...The study found no association between baseline levels of omega-3 fatty acids in the men and overall cognitive decline. However, an analysis of specific types of cognitive decline did find that higher levels of omega-3 fatty acids were associated with protection against loss of verbal fluency. This association was particularly strong in men with high blood pressure and dyslipidemia (disruption in the amount of lipids in the blood) but was not evident in men with major depression..."

Fish oil and Curcumin are both compounds that show promise with cognitive decline and Alzheimer's. Curcumin has been shown to break down beta amyloid plaques associated with Alzheimer's - in half of patients studied.

DogVitals dog supplement - helping dogs live a younger life

Depression tied to physical ills

Depression, loneliness tied to physical ills Reuters/Yahoo!News 1/5/07 "Depression, severe mental illness and loneliness are linked to illnesses such as heart disease and dementia...Dr. Jesse Stewart, formerly of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, found a correlation between depression and hardening of the arteries in his three-year study of 324 men and women who averaged 60 years old...The arteries of those who were most depressed had narrowed twice as much as those who were least depressed, the study found...Depression may also upset the body's regulation of glands that release chemicals governing energy level and growth, and alter the functioning of cells responsible for blood clotting...a British study of 46,136 severely mentally ill people found those who were younger than 50 were more than three times as likely to die from coronary heart disease and stroke than people not suffering from mental illness. Mental illness more than doubled the risk of dying from heart disease for people up to age 75...A third study found that a persistent feeling of loneliness among the elderly doubled their risk of developing Alzheimer's-like symptoms compared to those who felt connected to others"

If it's not enough that mental illness' cause great suffering psychologically... now there's considerable evidence that the body suffers badly under mental illness.

More reason for those with mental illness to go nuts with proven preventative medicine that might be able to address all these other illnesses.

DogVitals antioxidant supplement for dogs

Neurological diseases much more common than thought

Neurological disease common, survey finds Reuters/Yahoo!News 1/30/07 "Multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease and other neurological diseases may be far more common than most people had believed...Nearly one out of 1,000 Americans has multiple sclerosis or MS and one out of 100 elderly Americans has Parkinson's disease the survey found...Our estimate of MS prevalence is about 50 percent higher than a comprehensive review from 1982," said Dr. Deborah Hirtz of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, who led the survey...the rate of Alzheimer's disease was up substantially from past estimates, with 67 out of 1,000 Americans over the age of 65 affected...out of every 100,000 has amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also called ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease...nearly six out of every 1,000 children has autism, and two out of every 1,000 children has cerebral palsy...out of every 100,000 Americans has a traumatic brain injury each year, 50 percent fewer than previous estimates...180 out of every 100,000 people suffer a stroke each year, and close to five out of every 100,000 have a new spinal cord injury each year..."

DogVitals antioxidant supplement for your dogs health

Medicinal powers of Turmeric

Tasty curry might have a fringe benefit USA Today 1/8/07 "A study in the November issue of Arthritis & Rheumatism suggests turmeric, one component of curry spice, almost completely prevented joint swelling in rats with arthritis. Other studies have suggested that the spice could protect against diseases such as heart disease, cancer and Alzheimer's...Rates of Alzheimer's in India are about four times lower than in the USA, says Gregory Cole, a researcher at the University of California-Los Angeles. His studies suggest that curry contains a powerful substance that might protect the brain from damage that leads to Alzheimer's...In the November study, Funk and her colleagues gave rats that were bred to develop rheumatoid arthritis injections of turmeric. "The turmeric almost completely prevented the onset of arthritis," Funk says. The spice also seemed to help stop joint destruction in rats that had already started to develop the disease, she says...Indians eat from 100 to 200 milligrams of curry every day, and that might be enough to prevent cancer," says Aggarwal of the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center...curcumin in curry seems to shut down genes that trigger the development and the spread of breast cancer, animal studies in Aggarwal's lab suggest. And a preliminary human study suggests curcumin supplements might — in a handful of cases — be able to stabilize pancreatic cancer, he says... "

And of course I can't resist saying that curcumin has similar effects in dogs as in us.

DogVitals antioxidant supplement for your dogs health

Folate might reduce Alzheimer's risk

Study finds folate may reduce Alzheimer's risk Reuters/Yahoo!News 1/8/07 "Higher intake of the nutrient folate may reduce the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease, but vitamin B12 and vitamin B6 did not yield the same benefit...This was the latest study to indicate folate may protect against Alzheimer's disease, perhaps by breaking down an amino acid in the blood called homocysteine...study, led by Dr. Jose Luchsinger of Columbia University Medical Center "

More on fighting Alzheimer's here.

DogVitals antioxidant supplement for your dogs health

Fish oil and dementia

Can Fish Intake Predict Chances Of Developing Dementia? ScienceDaily 1/3/07 "People who ate the most fish on a weekly basis -- putting them in the top quarter of a study population -- were nearly 50 percent less likely to develop the mental deterioration known as dementia over time than participants in any of the other three quarters...participants who reported consuming an average of about three servings of oily fish a week--equivalent to blood levels of DHA at 180 milligrams daily--were associated with a significantly reduced risk of developing dementia of all types, including Alzheimer's disease. No other fatty acid blood level was independently linked to the risk of dementia."

Lead researcher: Ernst J. Schaefer - Agricultural Research Service-funded scientist

Quite astounding that so little DHA has such a seemingly strong effect on dementia. Also the study is impressive in that they control form apo-e related dementia.

Coming from a family that was hit by Alzheimer's and knowing what I know now I would have been pushing ibuprofen, DHA and curcumin on my mother from the start. As it is... too late.

DogVitals antioxidant supplement for your dogs health

DHA may lower dementia risk

High blood DHA levels may lower dementia risk YahooNews/Reuters 11/21/06 " High blood levels of the omega-3 fatty acid docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), which belongs to the class of nutrients called essential fatty acids, may protect against the development of dementia and perhaps Alzheimer's disease...men and women with the highest DHA levels had a 47 percent reduction in risk of developing dementia and a 39 percent reduction in the risk of Alzheimer's disease compared with those with less DHA...180 milligrams DHA per day ( is enough to see this benefit)"

Yet more evidence that DHA is profoundly useful to the health of the brain - from before birth, throughout life.

DogVitals antioxidant dog supplement