Rewind: HCV in elderly patients, liver cancer during/after interferon-free therapy and dietary supplements

Rewind: HCV in elderly patients, liver cancer during/after interferon-free therapy and dietary supplements

Hello everyone, here is a look back at this weeks research and headlines.

HCV treatment in elderly patients

Hepatitis C and Aging

Lucinda Porter RN

August 11

The age that hepatitis C was acquired may have an impact on prognosis. A number of studies have reported that individuals who are infected with hep C at older ages tend to have a worse prognosis than those who acquire hep C while young. People over age 40 more likely to develop HCV-related liver cancer. Age can also have a negative impact on liver transplantation survival; older liver transplant recipients have a significantly lower survival rate than younger patients...

Related:

July 27
Battling hepatitis C in the elderly
Plenty of studies have been done globally for younger adults, but seniors have different risk factors and comorbidities, notes an article in Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology journal. “Although the safety and efficacy of hepatitis C therapies have been extensively studied in patients between ages of 18 and 65, patients who are over 65 still remain an understudied and difficult to treat population,” the authors write...

July 17
Treatment of Chronic Hepatitis C in the Aged – Does It Impact Life Expectancy? A Decision Analysis
Since currently complications of HCV mostly affect members of the elderly population, they are in urgent need of effective HCV treatment. The approach we suggest for the treatment of patients over 70 with chronic HCV is illustrated in Fig 3. For those patients who have no major co-morbidities, more than moderate fibrosis, and a life expectancy greater than one year, there is a possibility of offering treatment. This needs to be presented to the patient and discussed before a final decision...

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*Commentary on this article is available in the August issue of HCV Advocate.

Fibrosis

Study Explores Marijuana Use and Fibrosis in Women with HIV and Hepatitis C

Aug 12

Catherine Kolonko

A study in women coinfected with hepatitis C and HIV found that use of marijuana was not associated with progression to advanced liver fibrosis...

DEA declines to loosen restrictions on medical marijuana

Aug 12
CNN‎
Marijuana will remain a Schedule l controlled substance, which declares it has "no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse," the Drug Enforcement Administration said Thursday. This keeps the drug in the same category as heroin, LSD and Ecstasy...

Why the US decision to expand marijuana supply for research matters
Aug 12

Policy change could accelerate development of treatments derived from the drug.

Study finds clues to fibrosis progression in chronic HCV infection
Aug 11
Fibrosis progression in hepatitis C virus–infected individuals is not linear, is associated with alanine aminotransferase–related flares, and varies according to stage, with those who are least fibrotic tending to have the highest progression, according to a study...

Facebook

Hemp Fest - A Cry for Help AL/TN

Non-Profit Organization · Iron City, Tennessee

A annual festival to raise money , promote awareness of natural healing plants and support legalization of them. This event is held @ Sycamore campground .

Liver Cancer

Unexpected high incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma in patients with hepatitis C in the era of DAAs: too alarming?
Aug 12

As a terminator of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, sofosbuvir-based direct-acting antiviral agent (DAA) regimens have achieved great success in the eradication of HCV in patients with hepatitis C and related end stage liver diseases[[1], [2]]. Recently, we read with interest the studies by Reig et al.[3 and Kozbial et al.[4 on the surprisingly high incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) recurrence and occurrence in patients with advanced liver diseases during interferon-free therapy and after sustained virologic response (SVR), respectively. Notably, the time interval between the initiation of DAAs (or SVR) and tumour occurrence is very short. These studies promote the current awareness and understanding of the risk for hepatocarcinogenesis in the era of DAAs. However, similar episodes have not frequently been observed in Chinese patients until now...

Related
Alcohol Intake Increases Risk for HCC in Patients With HCV-Related Cirrhosis
July
Alcohol consumption — including light-to-moderate — was associated with an increased risk for hepatocellular carcinoma among patients with hepatitis C virus infection-related cirrhosis, according to published findings.

Liver Transplant

National proposal aims for fairer liver transplant distribution
August 11, 2016 by Sean D. Hamill, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The organization that oversees the nation's transplant system said Wednesday that it believes a new proposal would greatly reduce geographic disparities that make getting a liver transplant harder in some areas of the country and easier in others...

Hospitals are throwing out organs and denying transplants to meet federal standards

Aug 13

Hospitals across the United States are throwing away less-than-perfect organs and denying the sickest people lifesaving transplants out of fear that poor surgical outcomes will result in a federal crackdown..

Healthy You

Video
Is There a Special Diet for Liver Disease Patients?
Aug 10
by Dr. Joe Galati
Probably the most common question I am asked, is regarding a special diet to follow if you have liver problems. Here is an updated answer to these questions...

Aflatoxin Alert: Moldy Nuts and Corn Increases Your Liver Cancer Risk 60-Times If You Have Hepatitis B
August 10

One of the biggest health threats to people living with chronic hepatitis B is a toxic, nearly invisible mold called aflatoxin found in corn, peanuts, peanut butter, almonds, Brazil nuts, walnuts and pistachios. People with hepatitis B who eat food with high levels of aflatoxins face a liver cancer risk that is 60-times above average. In addition to nuts and grains like quinoa, aflatoxin can be found in figs, milk and cheese, soybeans, dried spices and cottonseed. It is less common in rice, as long as rice is hulled, which removes aflatoxin mold.....

​Summertime Foods to Help Hepatitis C
July 28
By Karen Hoyt
When it’s summertime and the weather is high, you need to eat good food to stay strong with hepatitis C. Since the garden goods are easy to find, use this time to...

Herbal and Dietary Supplements

Many liver disease patients use complementary/alternative medicines

Aug 8

Many patients with liver disease use complementary and alternative medicines (CAMs) despite some being potentially hepatotoxic, often don’t tell their healthcare providers.

These were the findings of researchers at Duke University School of Medicine who analysed data from the 2012 [US] National Health Interview Survey. Of 647 adults with liver disease, 41% reported using CAMs in the prior year, compared with 33% of adults without liver disease. The most common modality was herbs and supplements (23%), and 3% of respondents reported consumption of a potentially hepatotoxic substance in the previous 30 days. Only a small proportion of CAM therapies were used specifically for liver disease, with milk thistle being the most common. Among respondents with liver disease, CAMs were used more commonly for anxiety or depression, fatigue, and substance use. The majority believed that these therapies improved health. Nearly one-third of therapies were not reported to healthcare providers, mostly because they don’t ask...
Reference - Complementary and alternative medicine use in United States adults with liver disease. Henson JB, Brown CL, Chow SC et al. J Clin Gastroenterol. 2016 Jul 29. [Epub ahead of print]

FDA Updates Draft Guidance for Dangerous Dietary Supplements
Aug 12
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a revised draft guidance to improve dietary supplement companies’ new dietary ingredient premarket safety notifications to the agency. These notifications help the agency identify safety concerns before products reach consumers...

Related
15 Supplement Ingredients to Always Avoid
July
With the help of an expert panel of independent doctors and dietary-supplement researchers, Consumer Reports identified 15 supplement ingredients that are potentially harmful. The risks include organ damage, cancer, and cardiac arrest. The severity of these threats often depends on such factors as pre-existing medical conditions as well as the quantity of the ingredient taken and the length of time a person has been exposed to the substance....

Liver injury due to herbal and dietary supplements: A review of individual ingredients
Authors Elizabeth Zheng, Victor Navarro

First Published: 27 April 2016 Vol: 7, Pages: 80–83 DOI: 10.1002/cld.541

Often, it is difficult to identify the culprit ingredient that is responsible for liver damage among a multitude of different components within a particular supplement. However, some ingredients have been associated with hepatotoxicity. We aim to review those ingredients that have been implicated in liver injury and, in doing so, give the practitioner a rationale to implicate a supplement containing them as a cause for injury...

Abstract
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Watch the interview with the author

Research - Hepatitis C Therapy

Elbasvir-grazoprevir
August

Elbasvir-grazoprevir works effectively against HCV despite current drug use

New, highly curative hepatitis C therapy is both safe and effective as a treatment option for people who inject drugs receiving opioid substitution therapy according to the results of a world-first clinical trial led by professor Gregory Dore at the Kirby Institute at UNSW Australia and published today in the Annals of Internal Medicine...

NEJM Journal Watch
Elbasvir–Grazoprevir Is Effective in HCV-Infected Patients Who Abuse Drugs
Atif Zaman, MD, MPH reviewing Dore GJ et al. Ann Intern Med 2016 Aug 8.
Ongoing illicit drug use did not reduce adherence to the HCV regimen nor efficacy...

Sofosbuvir, velpatasvir, and GS-9857

July
NEJM Journal Watch

A Regimen for HCV-Infected Patients Who Fail Direct-Acting Antiviral Therapy
Atif Zaman, MD, MPH reviewing Lawitz E et al. Gastroenterology 2016 Jul 30. Gane E et al. Gastroenterology 2016 Jul 30.

Combination fixed-dose sofosbuvir-velpatasvir plus GS-9857 was highly effective in phase II studies.

Although infrequently, direct-acting antiviral agents (DAAs) fail in treating chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection and treatment-induced resistance can develop. Treatment options are limited for this population.

In companion phase II, industry-funded studies, researchers evaluated the safety and efficacy of daily triple therapy with sofosbuvir (an NS5B inhibitor; 400 mg), velpatasvir (a second-generation NS5A inhibitor with a high barrier to resistance; 100 mg), and GS-9857 (an investigational, next-generation NS3/4A protease inhibitor; 100 mg) in treatment-naive and treatment-experienced (i.e., previously failed DAAs) patients with HCV genotypes 1–6 infections.

In one open-label trial involving 197 HCV genotype 1 patients, all treatment-naive patients without cirrhosis who received 8 weeks of triple therapy achieved sustained virologic response at 12 weeks posttreatment (SVR12). Among treatment-naive patients with cirrhosis, treated for 8 weeks, SVR12 rates were 81% with added weight-based ribavirin and 94% without ribavirin. A small cohort without cirrhosis receiving 6 weeks of therapy achieved an SVR12 of 71%. Treatment-experienced patients with or without cirrhosis received 12 weeks of triple therapy, and all achieved SVR12.

Another open-label trial involved 128 patients with different HCV genotypes (58% genotype 3, 26% genotype 2). Among treatment-naive patients without cirrhosis, who received 6 weeks of triple therapy, SVR12 was 88%; among those with cirrhosis, treated for 8 weeks, SVR12 was 93%. Among treatment-experienced patients with or without cirrhosis, who received therapy for 12 weeks, SVR12 was 100% with cirrhosis and 97% without.

In both studies, the most common adverse effects were headache, fatigue, nausea, and diarrhea. Discontinuation rates due to adverse events were ≤2%.

Comment
This triple-DAA regimen was highly effective across HCV genotypes when given for 8 weeks in treatment-naive patients and 12 weeks in treatment-experienced patients with and without cirrhosis. A 6-week regimen was less effective, and adding ribavirin added no benefit. If subsequent phase III trials produce similar results, we might soon have a simple and effective 8–12-week regimen that is pangenotypic and ribavirin-free.

Note to readers: At the time NEJM Journal Watch reviewed these papers, their publisher noted that they were not in final form and that subsequent changes might be made.

Editor Disclosures at Time of Publication
Disclosures for Atif Zaman, MD, MPH at time of publication Nothing to disclose

Citation(s):
Lawitz E et al. Efficacy of sofosbuvir, velpatasvir, and GS-9857 in patients with genotype 1 hepatitis C virus infection in an open-label, phase 2 trial. Gastroenterology 2016 Jul 30; [e-pub]. (http://dx.doi.org/10.1053/j.gastro.2016.07.039)

Full Text PDF download

Gane E et al. Efficacy of sofosbuvir, velpatasvir, and GS-9857 in patients with HCV genotype 2, 3, 4, or 6 infections in an open-label, phase 2 trial. Gastroenterology 2016 Jul 30; [e-pub]. (http://dx.doi.org/10.1053/j.gastro.2016.07.038)

Full Text PDF Download

GS-9857 in Patients With Chronic Hepatitis C Virus Genotype 1–4 Infection
A Randomized, Double-blind, Dose-ranging Phase 1 Study
In summary, administration of multiple doses of GS-9857 was well tolerated and resulted in a robust decline of HCV RNA levels in patients with genotype 1–4 HCV infection. Notably, the potent antiviral activity of GS-9857 was preserved in the presence of commonly observed NS3 mutations associated with resistance to protease inhibitors. GS-9857 demonstrated linear PK when administered at doses ranging from 50 to 300 mg under fasting conditions. The median half-life of GS-9857 ranged from 29 to 42 h, conducive to once-daily dosing. Lastly, GS-9857 has demonstrated additive antiviral activity when evaluated in vitro in combination with sofosbuvir or velpatasvir.^[5] Together, these data support the further development of once-daily GS-9857 in combination with other DAAs for the treatment of patients with chronic HCV infection....

Hepatitis outlook: July 2016

By: RICHARD PIZZI

Aug 3

If you work on the front lines of medical care treating patients with hepatitis, you may not have time to review all the hepatitis research that enters the medical literature every month. Here’s a quick look at some notable news items and journal articles published over the past month, covering a variety of the major hepatitis viruses.

In Case You Missed It

HCV Therapy of Genotype 3: Is It Still a Challenge?
Published on 07/22/2016
By Ramakrishna Behara and Nancy Reau
Hepatitis C genotype 3 accounts for 30 percent of all infections secondary to hepatitis C and is the second most common genotype worldwide, behind genotype 1. Estimates report that in the U.S., it accounts for 8 to 13 percent of infections. Historically, genotype 3 has been uniquely challenging to manage in large part due to lower response to therapy combined with high rates of steatosis, fibrosis progression and a disproportionately high rate of hepatocellular carcinoma. With the launch of the first wave of interferon-free treatment, many of the direct-acting antivirals (DAA) had higher overall sustained virologic response (SVR) to genotype 3 but did not compare to the SVR rate for treatments approved for genotype 1. Thus, recent drug development has focused on pan-genotypic agents to equalize efficacy across all genotypes...

Weekend Video

A cure at what cost? More states easing restrictions on Hepatitis C treatments  
Published on Aug 12, 2016

NewsWorks

The new Hepatitis C drugs have come with a big catch: the price tag. It's difficult to know the exact cost — public and private payers negotiate private agreements with drug companies — but one of the main drugs, Sofosbuvir (the brand name is Sovaldi), has been listed at $1,000 a pill before discounts. It's taken once a day for up to three months, often in combination with other drugs, making the cost of a cure upwards of $100,000.

Have a safe and healthy weekend.

Tina

Daily Aspirin Could Help Prevent and Treat Cancer

‘In particular, we show that aspirin reduces the likelihood that cancers will spread to distant organs by about 40-50%. This is important because it is this process of spread of cancer, or “metastasis”, which most commonly kills people with cancer.’

By Bob DeMarco
Alzheimer's Reading Room

I brought this article up because this research on aspirin and cancer is interesting, thought provoking, and useful. I also think it fits the ARR audience.

I don't think I have written about this before, Dotty takes one-half of a 325 mg aspirin each day. I take the other half. I have been doing this for about 15 years, and Dotty for the last nine years (maybe longer).

After reading this research, I did wonder if this might help slow the progression of Alzheimer's disease. Please note. I did not say it helps, nor is there any research I can find to support that conclusion.

Still, I wonder.

Either way the information below is worth reading and considering. You might want to share this article with others, or via social media.

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Daily Aspirin Could Help Prevent and Treat Cancer

The case for using aspirin to prevent cancer continues to build, particularly if people are at increased risk of the disease.

Three new studies led by researchers at Oxford University also raise the possibility that a daily low dose of the drug could be effective, not just as a preventative measure, but as an additional treatment for those with cancer.

It follows the finding that aspirin can reduce the chances of tumours spreading to other parts of the body.

The three papers by Professor Peter Rothwell of the Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences and colleagues are published in the medical journal The Lancet and in The Lancet Oncology.

Professor Rothwell says: 'We are not at the stage of recommending aspirin use in everybody, but the guidelines on use of aspirin in the healthy middle-aged population certainly need to be updated in order to take into account the effects on the risk and outcome of cancer as well as on the risk of heart attacks and strokes.'

Previous studies by this team have established that aspirin reduces the long-term risk of dying from cancer, but that these effects don’t appear until about 8-10 years after starting taking a daily low dose of the drug. The short-term effects of aspirin were less certain.

‘What we have now shown is that aspirin also has short-term effects, which are manifest after only 2-3 years,’ says Professor Rothwell.

‘In particular, we show that aspirin reduces the likelihood that cancers will spread to distant organs by about 40-50%. This is important because it is this process of spread of cancer, or “metastasis”, which most commonly kills people with cancer.’

"It is this process of “metastasis” which most commonly kills people with cancer.
Professor Peter Rothwell"

This reduction in the risk of a cancer spreading suggests that starting taking aspirin after being diagnosed could be beneficial – assuming that the cancer has not already spread.

Professor Rothwell says: ‘No drug has been shown before to prevent distant metastasis and so these findings should focus future research on this crucial aspect of treatment of patients with cancer that hasn’t already spread.

‘We argue in our papers that new trials are still required to confirm the benefit – but that such trials should be done urgently.'

Shift in the balance of risks and benefits?

In any assessments of aspirin’s health benefits, it is important to take into account the increased risk of bleeding when taking the drug, particularly in the stomach.

The researchers report two new findings on the risk of stomach bleeds. They found that the extra risk of stomach bleeds due to aspirin falls with prolonged use – and so the risks of long-term treatment with aspirin may well be less than previously thought.

The team also showed that the risk of a fatal stomach bleed is not increased on aspirin compared with placebo. In other words, the vast majority of people make a full recovery from the stomach bleeds caused by the aspirin. The conditions that aspirin helps to prevent, on the other hand, such as cancer, stroke and heart attacks, are much more likely to be disabling or fatal, the researchers argue.

Professor Rothwell says: ‘Previous analyses of the balance of risk and benefit have simply counted the crude numbers of bleeds and other outcomes, and have not considered the time-course of these risks or the severity of the different types of events.’

Taking low doses of aspirin is known to help prevent heart disease and stroke, and for this work on cancer the Oxford researchers used data from many of the trials establishing this effect. But among people that don’t have a heart problem already, the slight benefits of aspirin are largely balanced out by the increased risk of stomach bleeds.

The new information about aspirin and cancer could begin to change the overall assessment, the researchers believe.

The benefits of daily aspirin in reducing cancer risks are larger in absolute terms than the benefits in preventing heart disease and stroke, explains Professor Rothwell, particularly with prolonged use.

Three studies set out the findings

The first Lancet paper used data for all participants in 51 randomised clinical trials comparing the effect of taking aspirin every day against no aspirin.

While these trials were interested in whether aspirin prevented vascular events such as heart attacks, they also included data on cancer deaths.

The research team found that aspirin reduced the risk of a death from cancer by 15%. This reduction in risk improved over time, reaching 37% for those on aspirin for 5 years and more.

Daily low-doses of aspirin also reduced the occurrence of cancer, not just deaths from cancer. The incidence of cancers dropped by around a quarter from 3 years and onwards, with similar reductions in men (23%) and women (25%).

The second paper in The Lancet reports on aspirin’s effect on the spread of cancer to other organs in the body, a process known as metastasis. Professor Rothwell and colleagues collected new data on cases of cancer metastasis from five large randomised trials carried out in the UK.

These trials had been conducted to investigate the use of aspirin in the prevention of heart disease. But the Oxford researchers went back to the paper records of these trials to trace information on cancers and also added data from British cancer registration and death certification systems to be able to include good information about cancer cases within the trials.

They found that aspirin reduced risk of the spread of cancer to other parts of the body by 36% over the average 6.5 year course of the studies. The effects of aspirin were independent of age and sex.

The third study, published in The Lancet Oncology, also looked at aspirin’s effect on cancer risk. This time the researchers carried out a systematic review of a different type of medical study: they looked at observational studies rather than randomised trials.

They found that the observational studies matched the randomised trial results well, showing a similar reduction in risk.

Professor Rothwell explains which types of cancer see the biggest effect: ‘In terms of preventing spread of cancer, the data suggest that the effect is largest in adenocarcinomas. These include cancers of the gut, particularly colorectal cancer, some cancers of the lung and most cancers of the breast and prostate.

‘In terms of preventing the longer-term development of new cancers, the largest reductions are seen in risk of colorectal cancer and oesophageal cancer, with smaller effects on several other common cancers.’



Source

Short-term effects of daily aspirin on cancer incidence, mortality, and non-vascular death: analysis of the time course of risks and benefits in 51 randomised controlled trials

Effect of daily aspirin on risk of cancer metastasis: a study of incident cancers during randomised controlled trials

Effects of regular aspirin on long-term cancer incidence and metastasis: a systematic comparison of evidence from observational studies versus randomised trials

Read More on the Alzheimer's Reading Room

• How Alzheimer's Spreads Throughout the Brain
• Test Your Memory for Alzheimer's (5 Best Self Assessment Tests)
• What is Alzheimer's Disease?
• What is Dementia?
• What’s the Difference Between Alzheimer’s Disease and Dementia
• Communicating in Alzheimers World
• How the Loss of Memory Works in Alzheimer’s Disease, and How Understanding This Could Help You
• Learning How to Communicate with Someone Suffering From Alzheimer's Disease
• Alzheimer's World -- Trying to Reconnect with Someone Suffering from Alzheimer's Disease
• About the Alzheimer's Reading Room

You are reading original content from the Alzheimer's Reading Room.

Effects of Antioxidants for Alzheimer Disease

The combination of vitamin E, vitamin C, and alpha-lipoic acid did not lower levels of the amyloid and tau proteins that make up the plaques and tangles seen in the brain with Alzheimer's disease.

Alzheimer's Reading Room

Researchers have suggested that antioxidants might help thwart Alzheimer's disease, but this new study finds that a "cocktail" of vitamins E, vitamin C and alpha-lipoic acid has no effect on certain indicators of the brain disorder.

The supplements may even have hastened mental decline, the researchers said.

"Many, many people are taking these kinds of supplements with really very little scientific justification," said Dr. Ronald Petersen, head of the Mayo Alzheimer's Disease Research Center in Rochester, Minnesota.

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Clinical Trial Examining Effects of Antioxidants for Alzheimer Disease on Cerebrospinal Fluid Biomarkers

An antioxidant combination of vitamin E, vitamin C and α-lipoic acid (E/C/ALA) was not associated with changes in some cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers related to Alzheimer disease in a randomized controlled trial, according to a study published Online First by Archives of Neurology.

Oxidative damage in the brain is associated with aging and is widespread in Alzheimer disease (AD) patients. Some observational studies have suggested that an antioxidant-rich diet may reduce the risk of AD, but antioxidant randomized clinical trials in AD have had mixed results, the authors write in their study background.

Douglas R. Galasko, M.D., of the University of California, San Diego, and colleagues examined changes in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarkers related to Alzheimer disease and oxidative stress, cognition and function.

The study included 78 patients from the Alzheimer’s Disease Cooperative Study (ADCS) Antioxidant Biomarker study who were divided into one of three groups:

• 800 IU/per day of vitamin E (α-tocopherol) plus 500 mg/per day of vitamin C plus 900 mg/per day of α-lipoic acid (E/C/ALA); 
• 400 mg of coenzyme Q (CoQ) three times a day;
•  or placebo.

Sixty-six patients provided serial CSF specimens adequate for biochemical analyses during the 16-week trial.

“The combination of E/C/ALA did not affect CSF biomarkers related to Αβ, tau or P-tau (which are related to AD),” the authors comment.

The E/C/ALA group did see a lowering of CSF F2-isoprostane levels suggesting a reduction of oxidative stress in the brain, the results indicate. However, the treatment raised caution about faster cognitive decline as assessed by the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE).

“It is unclear whether the relatively small reduction in CSF F2-isoprostane level seen in this study may lead to clinical benefits in AD. The more rapid MMSE score decline raises a caution and indicates that cognitive performance would need to be assessed if a longer-term clinical trial of this antioxidant combination is considered,” the authors conclude.

The authors also note the results indicate that while CoQ was safe and well tolerated in patients, the absence of a biomarker signal in CSF suggests that CoQ, at the tested dose, does not improve indices of oxidative stress or neurodegeneration.

“These results do not support further clinical trial development of CoQ in AD,” the researchers conclude.

(Arch Neurol. doi:10.1001/archneurol.2012.85).

*This work was supported by a National Institute on Aging grant.

Related content.

• How Alzheimer's Spreads Throughout the Brain
• Test Your Memory for Alzheimer's (5 Best Self Assessment Tests)
• What is Alzheimer's Disease?
• What is Dementia?
• What’s the Difference Between Alzheimer’s Disease and Dementia
• Communicating in Alzheimers World
• How the Loss of Memory Works in Alzheimer’s Disease, and How Understanding This Could Help You
• Learning How to Communicate with Someone Suffering From Alzheimer's Disease
• Alzheimer's World -- Trying to Reconnect with Someone Suffering from Alzheimer's Disease
• About the Alzheimer's Reading Room

You are reading original content from the Alzheimer's Reading Room.

Study points to dietary cocktail for Alzheimer's

This is the kind of science that catches my attention.

clipped from web.mit.edu The combination of supplements, which contains three compounds normally found in the bloodstream, is now being tested in Alzheimer's patients. The cocktail has previously been shown to promote growth of new brain connections in rodents. "It may be possible to use this treatment to partially restore brain function in people with diseases that decrease the number of brain neurons, including, for example, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's, strokes and brain injuries. Of course, such speculations have to be tested in double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trials," said Richard Wurtman, Cecil H. Green Distinguished Professor of Neuropharmacology and senior author of a paper on the new work. clipped from web.mit.edu