You can teach an old dog new tricks, despite the popular assumption, and in the process reverse early symptoms of Alzheimer's disease. The only thing needed is a good diet, including vegetables and fruit, and a few common food supplements.
This remarkably simple recipe was explained at the American Association meeting in Seattle yesterday. Prof Carl Cotman of the University of California, Irvine, studied a group of about 70 beagles, which included young controls aged three to five but also nine and 10-year-olds, an age where they could be described as being in late middle-age.
The dogs ate normally but also received selected fruit and vegetables and a mix of food supplements, including antioxidant vitamins C and E and alpha lipoic acid and acetyl-l-carnitines, all available in health food outlets.
The older animals were beginning to show signs of memory loss, a common early sign of Alzheimer's in humans. The tests involved showing the dogs a group of objects and then replacing one. They were trained to be able to identify the new item each time, but the tests became more difficult by including new objects that were progressively more similar to the unchanged objects.
Gradually the older dogs' performance improved to the point they were doing better than when they were younger and learning new skills, Prof Cotman said.While one couldn't assume humans would enjoy similar results, it suggests memory and brain function can be improved through both natural and supplemented antioxidants.
Prof Benjamin Wolozin of Loyola University Medical Centre discussed the use of a drug called statin to control cholesterol. Research showed cholesterol plays a "central role" in the formation of beta-amyloid deposits in the brain that typify Alzheimer's disease. Prof Susan Resnick of the US National Institute on Aging said that older men with low levels of the male hormone testosterone in their bloodstreams were at higher risk of developing Alzheimer's.