Red yeast rice may lower blood lipid levels

CM NEWS – Replacing daily intake of white rice with red yeast rice may have a positive lipid-lowering effects in patients with primary hyperlipidemia, a meta-analysis of 93 randomized trials concludes.

The study was released in Chinese Medicine journal and was a joint study by alternative medicine experts in Norway and traditional Chinese medicine researchers in Shanghai and Beijing.

The meta study analyzed data from 93 randomized trials which include a total of 9625 participants. Researchers find that hyperlipidemia patients who have consumed red rice show significant reduction of serum total cholesterol levels (weighted mean difference -0.91 mmol/L, 95% confidence interval -1.12 to -0.71), triglycerides levels (-0.41 mmol/L, -0.6 to -0.22), and LDL-cholesterol levels (-0.73 mmol/L, -1.02 to -0.043), and increase of HDL-cholesterol levels (0.15 mmol/L, 0.09 to 0.22), compared to placebo groups.

Researchers emphasize that the positive effect on lipid levels by red rice shown by these studies indicates short term benefits. Whether red rice should be recommended as an alternative treatments for primary hyperlipidemia requires further studies.

According to Medline, red yeast rice contains several compounds collectively known as Monacolins, substances known to inhibit cholesterol synthesis. One of these, “Monacolin K” is a potent inhibitor of HMG-CoA reductase, and is also known as Mevinolin or Lovastatin (Mevacor®, a drug produced by Merck & Co., Inc).

Medline also says:

There is limited evidence about the side effects of red yeast. Mild headache and abdominal discomfort can occur. Side effects may be similar to those for the prescription druglovastatin (Mevacor®). Heartburn, gas, bloating, muscle pain or damage, dizziness, asthma, and kidney problems are possible. People with liver disease should not use red yeast products.

In theory, red yeast may increase the risk of bleeding. Caution is advised in patients with bleeding disorders or taking drugs that may increase the risk of bleeding. Dosing adjustments may be necessary. A metabolite of Monascus called mycotoxin citrinin (CTN) in fermentation may be harmful.

Avoid red yeast rice products promoted as treatments for high cholesterol, FDA warns

Medicine News Today – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is warning consumers not to buy or eat three red yeast rice products promoted and sold on web sites. The products may contain an unauthorized drug that could be harmful to health. The products are promoted as dietary supplements for treating high cholesterol.

The potentially harmful products are: Red Yeast Rice and Red Yeast Rice/Policosonal Complex, sold by Swanson Healthcare Products, Inc. and manufactured by Nature’s Value Inc. and Kabco Inc., respectively; and Cholestrix, sold by Sunburst Biorganics. FDA testing revealed the products contain lovastatin, the active pharmaceutical ingredient in Mevacor, a prescription drug approved for marketing in the United States as a treatment for high cholesterol.

“This risk is even more serious because consumers may not know the side effects associated with lovastatin and the fact that it can adversely interact with other medications,” said Steven Galson, M.D., M.P.H., director of FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research.

These red yeast rice products are a threat to health because the possibility exists that lovastatin can cause severe muscle problems leading to kidney impairment. This risk is greater in patients who take higher doses of lovastatin or who take lovastatin and other medicines that increase the risk of muscle adverse reactions. These medicines include the antidepressant nefazodone, certain antibiotics, drugs used to treat fungal infections and HIV infections, and other cholesterol-lowering medications.

FDA has issued warning letters advising Swanson and Sunburst Biorganics to stop promoting and selling the products. Companies that do not resolve violations in FDA warning letters risk enforcement actions, such as an injunction against continuing violations and a seizure of illegal products.

The FDA warning letters state that the products Red Yeast Rice, Red Yeast Rice/Policosonal Complex, and Cholestrix, sold on the firm’s websites, are unapproved new drugs that are marketed in violation of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. The warning letters are available on FDA’s web site.

FDA advises consumers who use any red yeast rice product to consult their health care provider if they experience problems that may be due to the product.

Asparagus root lowers cholesterol, nurtures heart

CM NEWS – Asparagus roots, or tian dong (天冬 or 天門冬) can lower cholesterol and blood lipid, thus help prevent atherosclerosis and other cardiovascular diseases, a new study says.
Hyperlipidemia and hypercholesteremia are major risk factors for atherosclerosis and cardiovascular diseases. Atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease is rapidly becoming a major cause of death in many societies throughout the world due to changed dietary habits and occupational stress. In recent years, natural compounds found in plants are gaining scientific attention for their potential therapeutic value in fighting multifactorial atherosclerotic disorders.

A study done at the Department of Biosciences, Sardar Patel University in India investigated the hypocholesteremic and antioxidant potential of the asparagus root root in both normal and hypercholesteremic animals. The results are published in medical journal Evidence-based Complementary and Alternative Medicine.

What is atherosclerosis? The hallmark of atherosclerosis is the accumulation of cells containing excessive lipids (i.e. foam cells) within the arterial wall. The major risk factors for the development ofatherosclerosis are hypercholesteremia and elevated low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) concentration. Persistent hypercholesteremia results from prolonged circulation of lipid-rich lipoproteins that increase oxidative stress leading to oxidative modification of LDL to oxy-LDL.

In the present study, normal and hypercholesteremic male albino rats were administered with root powder of asparagus (5 and 10 g% dose levels) along with normal and hypercholesteremic diets, respectively, for a duration of 4 weeks.

Plasma and hepatic lipid profiles, fecal sterol, bile acid excretion and hepatic antioxidant activity were assessed.

What is asparagus root? A perennial with a woody root stock, asparagus grows from 1 to 5 feet high. The female Asparagus plant is slimmer than the male, which is shorter and stockier.

The dried root of asparagus is used in Chinese and Indian medicines as a tonic, galactogogue, aphrodisiac, rejuvenator, antispasmodic, antiulcerous and antiinflammatory. The medicinal/pharmacological value ofasparagus root is attributed to the presence of steroidal saponins and sapogenins. The root of asaparagus is also used in the treatment of nervous disorders, dyspepsia, diarrhea, dysentery, tumours, hyperdipsia, neuropathy and hepatopathy. This plant is reported to have immunostimulant, antihepatotoxic and antioxytocic activities. Recent reports on asparagus indicate that the root extracts haveantioxidant and antidiarrheal activities in laboratory animals.

Asparagus has also been used in its wild form in Ancient Greece and Rome as a natural diuretic that flushes out the kidneys and helps prevent the formation of kidney stones. It is because that the asparagus acts to increase cellular activity in the kidneys and thus increases the rate of urine production.

Asparagus roots also encourages evacuation of the bowels by increasing fecal bulk with undigested fiber. The roots are considered diuretic and laxative and are said to induce sweating, an they are recommended for gout, dropsy and rheumatism.

Chinese medicine says the asparagus root can increase feelings of compassion and love. In India, Asparagus is used to promote fertility, reduce menstrual cramping and increase milk production in nursing mothers.

In the Eastern and Western world, it has been touted as an aphrodisiac. These customs and beliefs are not mere superstition – the root contains compounds called steroidal glycosides (asparagoside) that directly affect hormone production and may very well influence emotions.

Chinese studies report that the roots may also lower blood pressure. The powdered seeds have antibiotic properties and help to relieve nausea while calming the stomach. Japanese studies report that green Asparagus aids protein conversion into amino acids.

Asparagus is also high in folic acid, which is essential for production of new red blood cells. Other primary chemical constituents of Asparagus include essential oil, asparagine, arginine, tyrosine, flavonoids (kaempferol, quercitin, rutin), resin and tannin.

The researchers found that rats that took diet with asparagus root powder have a reduction in their plasma and hepatic lipid profiles. Other observations include: increased fecal excretion of cholesterol, neutral sterol and bile acid, and increases in hepatic HMG-CoA reductase activity and bile acid content in hypercholesteremic rats.

Further, the asparagus root diet also improved the hepatic antioxidant status (catalase, SOD and ascorbic acid levels). However, there were no significant changes in lipid and antioxidant profiles occurred in rats with normal cholesterol levels.

The researchers explain that the lipid-lowering effects of the asparagus root in hypercholesteremic rats are related primarily to an increased excretion of cholesterol, neutral sterols, bile acid and an increase in hepatic bile acid content. In this context, the phytosterol and saponin contents of asparagus root could be responsible.

On one hand phytosterols are reported to compete and displace cholesterol from the intestinal bile acid micelles and decrease the cholesterol circulation, the researchers say. On the other hand, saponins precipitate cholesterol from micelles and interfere with enterohepatic circulation of bile acids making it unavailable for intestinal absorption of cholesterol leading to a reduction in plasma cholesterol levels.

Although the main component of the Asparagus root is a steroidal saponin, the root also contains alkaloids, flavonoids, sterols, terpenes, tannins, phenolics and mucilage.

In all, the results of the present study indicate that the potent therapeutic phyto-components present in the asparagus root i.e. phytosterols, saponins, polyphenols, flavonoids and ascorbic acid, could be responsible for increased bile acid production, elimination of excess cholesterol and elevation of hepatic antioxidant status in hypercholesteremic conditions.

Red yeast rice promotes bone formation

CM NEWS – Red yeast rice, rice fermented with a special purple-red mold, has been known for its abilities to lower cholesterol and blood lipid levels. A recent study opens up the possible use of red yeast rice to stimulate bone formation, which might be good news for patients with osteoporosis.

Rice yeast rice is fermented with a mold called Monascus purpureus (hongqu, 紅曲) and has been used in Chinese medicine for centuries. Scientists have long established that red yeast rice contains a natural form of statin.

What are statins? Statins are a group of drugs that are commonly used to reduce the level of cholesterol in the blood. They include atorvastatin, fluvastatin, pravastatin, rosuvastatin, and simvastatin. They each have different brand names. Statins work by blocking the action of a certain enzyme (chemical) in the liver which is needed to make cholesterol.

Statins, which control the first step in the biosynthesis of cholesterol, have been shown to stimulate bone formation in rodents both in vitro and in vivo. The effect is associated with an increased expression of the bone morphogenetic protein-2 (BMP-2) gene in bone cells.

What are bone morphogenetic proteins? One of the most critical components of building, healing and remodeling bone in humans is a process called osteoinduction. Bone Morphogenetic Proteins (BMPs), found in human blood and bones, are a group of growth factors and cytokines known for their ability to induce the formation of bone and cartilage.

BMPs have been used to stimulate the production of bone in animals and humans with great success.

FDA has approved the use of BMPs for anterior spinal fusion in the lumbar spine, and many other clinical trials have found these proteins to be effective in generating bone in other areas of the spine.

The spine research community is encouraged by BMPs and hopes they may someday be the standard for fusion procedures, reducing postsurgical pain and improve the effectiveness of spinal surgeries.

In the present study done at the University of Hong Kong, rabbits with bone defects created to their parietal bones were grafted with collagen matrix mixed with red yeast rice extract. In the control animal, two defects were grafted with collagen matrix alone.

In the control group, cells were cultured for three durations (24 hours, 48 hours and 72 hours) without any intervention. In the red yeast rice group, cells were cultured for the same durations with various concentrations of red yeast rice extract. Total protein, mitochondrial activity and bone cell formation were measured.

As a result, the test animal showed more formation of new bone in the defects than the control animal. The red yeast rice extract stimulated new bone formation in bone defects on the animals and increased bone cell formation in vitro.

The researchers explained that red yeast rice contains monacolins which are a family of HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors. Moreover, monacolin K is equivalent to the statin known as mevinolin or lovastatin. It is the function of the statin in red yeast rice that promotes bone formation.

Other active ingredients in red yeast rice include sterols (β-sitosterol, campesterol, stigmasterol, sapogenin), isoflavones and monounsaturated fatty acids.

The researchers induced that red yeast rice is a natural product with potential in treating bone defects and probably also osteoporosis.

Garlic lowers blood glucose levels of diabetics, helps hypertension

CM NEWS – Garlic may restore some of the antioxidants damaged by free radicals in patents with vascular diseases such as diabetes and hypertension, according to a new study.

The study is recently published by the Evidence-based Complementary and Alternative Medicine. Rats induced to have diabetes and hypertension were given an an aqueous extract of garlic (500 mg/kg IP daily) for 3 weeks.

As a result, the blood antioxidant levels of these rats after 3 weeks of treatment were significantly higher (P < 0.001) than the pretreatment levels in both diabetic and hypertensive rats. The increased serum antioxidant levels were paralleled by a decrease in serum glucose in the garlic-treated diabetic rats and lowered systolic blood pressure in the garlic-treated hypertensive rats.

What is the importance of antioxidants? Oxidative stress, an excessive production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) above the body’s antioxidant capacity, has been implicated in the development of many pathophysiological conditions including hypertension, diabetes, atherosclerosis and cancer, as well as the process of aging.

ROS are normal products of cellular metabolism which are usually removed by endogenous antioxidants. However, it has become increasingly clear that overproduction of ROS can lead to a damaging cycle of lipid peroxidation, depletion of natural antioxidants such as glutathione, perturbation of nitric oxide production and disruption of normalcellular metabolism. These changes have been shown to cause damage to cell membranes and in particular can cause endothelial dysfunction.

During the last decade, it has become increasingly evident that many chronic diseases are accompanied by increased levels of oxidative stress exacerbated by decreased antioxidant levels. These observations have precipitated much interest in study of the correlations between oxidative stress, antioxidant potential and development of chronic diseases in both humans and animal models. Of particular interest are the correlations between oxidative stress and development of diabetes and hypertension.

The researchers conclude that treatment of diabetic rats with garlic resulted in significantly increased antioxidant and lowered glucose levels compared to untreated diabetic animals.

Dan shen’s effect for stroke patients lacks strong evidence

Health Behavior News Service, by Bruce Sylvester – The traditional Chinese medicine dan shen (丹参, Salviae miltiorrhizae), a standard treatment for ischemic stroke in China, lacks strong scientific evidence to support such use, according a new review of studies.Nevertheless, based on the available data, dan shen treatment showed a tendency to improve short-term neurological deficits in stroke patients, say researchers at Sichuan University in Chengdu, China.

However, the short-term result “should be interpreted cautiously because of the poor methodological quality of included trials and the small numbers of patients,” said review co-author and neurology professor Ming Liu.

The review appears in the current issue of The Cochrane Library, a publication of The Cochrane Collaboration, an international organization that evaluates research in all aspects of health care. Systematic reviews drawevidence-based conclusions about medical practice after considering both the content and quality of existing trials on a topic.

Obstruction of a blood vessel supplying blood to the brain can result in ischemic stroke, which accounts for about 83% of all strokes.

In China, post-stroke use of herbal medicine is part of standard care in both Western-style hospitals and in traditional Chinese medicine hospitals. Dan shen, in various pill, tablet and injection formulations, is the herb most commonly given for ischemic stroke; its use in that context spans more than three decades.

However, few researchers have tested the herb’s effectiveness in rigorous clinical trials that approach current international standards.

The reviewers found six studies that met inclusion criteria for the review — randomized or quasi-randomized and controlled — involving 494 acute ischemic stroke patients.

The Cochrane reviewers found that methods of randomly assigning study subjects to dan shen or placebo were unclear, and that this could have led to results exaggerating a positive treatment effect by 30% to 41%. “It is therefore plausible that dan shen is truly ineffective and the apparent benefits are simply due to bias arising from the methodological weaknesses of the studies,” they say.

Since treatment and follow-up in these studies ranged from 14 to 28 days, it was not possible to assess the long-term effects of dan shen.

“We found no evidence to support the routine use of dan shen agents for ischemic stroke,” Liu said. “However, if the apparently beneficial effects on neurological impairment were confirmed in methodologically rigorous trials, it would lead to a useful treatment for stroke being identified,” she added.

Ted Kaptchuck, O.M.D., associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, said, “in Chinese society, at this time, basic science and laboratory evidence seems to be enough to gain widespread acceptance and adoption for the use herbal and other medications. In the West, we think it is a long shot to go from basic laboratoryevidence to demonstrated clinical efficacy in randomized trials. We are not at the point where it is clear that a traditional Chinese herb has a major role in health care.”

Liu agreed: “The designs of these trials need to be improved in the future research, not only in the clinical trials on dan shen agents, but also in trials on other Chinese herbal medicine.”

[Dan Shen agents for acute ischaemic stroke (Review). Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2007, Issue 2.]

The Cochrane Collaboration is an international nonprofit, independent organization that produces and disseminates systematic reviews of health care interventions and promotes the search forevidence in the form of clinical trials and other studies of interventions.

Common herb has flavonoids that fight flu virus

CM NEWS – A commonly used Chinese herb for cold and fever contains ingredients that can fight influenza viruses, a study in China suggests.
Elsholtzia rugulosa (野拔子 ye ba zi), a common Chinese herb, is widely used in the treatment of cold and fever. A group of researchers of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, as well as University of Macau investigated the anti-flu functions of the ingredients of this plant.
In order to elucidate the action mechanism and the active principles from the plant against anti-influenza virus, the influenza virus neuraminidase (NA) activity assay and in vitro antiviral activity assay were established, and the isolation of the active principles was guided by NA activity.

Their study established that five active constituents were found in ye ba zi and they are all flavonoids.

What are flavonoids? Flavonoids (or bioflavonoids) are a class of plant secondary metabolites fulfilling many functions including producing yellow or red/blue pigmentation in flowers and protection from attack by microbes and insects. The widespread distribution offlavonoids , their variety and their relatively low toxicity compared to other active plant compounds (for instance alkaloids) mean that many animals, including humans, ingest significant quantities in their diet.Flavonoids have been referred to as “nature’s biological response modifiers” because of strong experimental evidence of their inherent ability to modify the body’s reaction to allergens, viruses, and carcinogens. They show anti-allergic, anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial and anti-canceractivity.

Consumers and food manufacturers have become interested in flavonoids for their medicinal properties, especially their potential role in the prevention of cancers and cardiovascular disease. The beneficial effects of fruit, vegetables, and tea or even red wine have been attributed to flavonoid compounds rather than to known nutrients and vitamins.

The five constituents are:

1. apigenin
2. luteolin
3. apiin
4. galuteolin
5. luteolin 3′-glucuronyl acid methyl ester

According to the researchers, these constituents all possessed anti-influenza virus activity. Among them, apigenin and luteolin exhibited the highest activities against influenza virus (H3N2).

What is apigenin? Apigenin is described as a nonmutagenic bioflavonoid which is presented in leafy plants and vegetables (e.g., parsley, artichoke, basil, celery) and has significant chemopreventiveactivity against UV-radiation. Current research trials indicate that it may reduce DNA oxidative damage; inhibit the growth of human leukemia cells and induced these cells to differentiate; inhibit cancer cell signal transduction and induce apoptosis (cell death); act as an anti-inflammatory; and as an anti-spasmodic or spasmolytic.

Apigenin is also reported to be useful in fighting against antiestrogen-resistant breast cancer.

Apigenin is a bioflavone, considered to have a bioactive effect on human health as antioxidant, radical scavenger, anti-inflammatory, carbohydrate metabolism promoter, immunity system modulater.

What is luteolin? Luteolin is a flavonoid thought to play an important role in the human body as an antioxidant, a free radical scavenger, an agent in the prevention of inflammation, a promoter of carbohydrate metabolism, and an immune system modulator. These characteristics of luteolin are also believed to play an important part in the prevention of cancer. Multiple research experiments describe luteolin as a biochemical agent that can dramatically reduce inflammation.

Luteolin inhibited the excess production of TNF-alpha, which directly causes inflammation and apoptosis. Luteolin also offers hope to develop a novel type of anti-inflammatory and anti-allergic drugs.

Luteolin is most often found in leaves, but it is also seen in rinds, barks, clover blossom and ragweed pollen. It has also been isolated from Salvia tomentosa. Dietary sources include celery, green pepper, perilla and camomile tea.

Pandemic is a blink away

U of Maryland – A new study by University of Maryland researchers suggests that the potential for an avian influenza virus to cause a human flu pandemic is greater than previously thought. Results also illustrate how the current swine flu outbreak likely came about.
As of now, avian flu viruses can infect humans who have contact with birds, but these viruses tend not to transmit easily between
humans. However, in research recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Associate Professor Daniel Perez from the University of Maryland showed that after reassortment with a human influenza virus, a process that usually takes place in intermediary species like pigs, an avian flu virus requires relatively few mutations to spread rapidly between mammals by respiratory droplets.

“This is similar to the method by which the current swine influenza strain likely formed,” said Perez, program director of the University of Maryland-based Prevention and Control of Avian Influenza Coordinated Agricultural Project, AICAP. “The virus formed when avian, swine, and human-like viruses combined in a pig to make a new virus. After mutating to be able to spread by respiratory droplets and infect humans, it is now spreading between humans by sneezing and coughing.”
In his study, Perez used the avian H9N2 influenza virus, one that is on the list of candidates for human pandemic potential. Using reverse genetics, a technique whereby individual genes from viruses are separated, selected, and put back together, Perez and his team created a hybrid human-avian virus. Their research hybrid has internal human flu genes and surface avian flu genes from the H9N2 virus. Though it comes from a different strain of avian flu than the one that contributed to the
hybrid virus now causing the swine flu outbreak, Perez’s research virus is similar in origin to the swine flu virus, in that both involved a combination of avian and human influenza viruses.

Perez infected ferrets (considered a good model for human influenza transmission) with the virus he created, and allowed the virus to mutate in the species. Before long, healthy ferrets that shared air space but not physical space with the infected ferret had the virus, showing that the virus had mutated to spread by respiratory droplets.

When the genetic sequences of the mutant virus and original hybrid virus were compared, the only differences were five amino acid mutations, three on the surface, and two internally. Two of the surface mutations were determined to be solely responsible for supporting respiratory droplet transmission. Because so few mutations were necessary to make the hybrid H9N2 transmissible this way, they concluded that after an animal-human hybrid influenza virus forms in nature, a human pandemic of this virus is potentially just a few mutations away.

“We do not know if the mutations we saw in the lab are the same that have made the H1N1 swine flu transmissible by respiratory droplets,” Perez said. “We will be doing more research on the current swine flu strain to study its specific genetic mutations.”

Perez found that one of the two of the genetic mutations in his lab strain that enabled respiratory transmission between mammals was on the tip of the HA surface protein, one of the sites where human antibodies created in response to current vaccines would bind.

“Because the binding site of the mutant virus is different from the virus upon which the vaccine is modelled, it may mean that current vaccine stocks would not be as effective against the H9N2 mutant strain as previously anticipated,” said Perez. “We should keep this in mind when designing vaccines for an avian flu pandemic in humans.”

However, scientists cannot predict what the actual mutations will look like if and when they occur in nature, or even which strain of avian influenza will mutate to infect mammals.

“This is just the tip of the iceberg,” said Perez. “Many more studies have to be done to see which combinations of mutations cause this type of transmission before we can design the appropriate vaccines.”

Perez will be talking this week with the NIH and the CDC to discuss his team’s role in researching the current swine flu virus strain. Perez will likely do studies related to vaccine development, virus transmission between humans and animals, and the pathogenesis of the virus.

A virus vaccine is derived from the virus itself. The vaccine consists of virus components or killed viruses that mimic the presence of the virus without causing disease. These prime the body’s immune system to recognize and fight against the virus. The immune system produces antibodies against the vaccine that remain in the system until they are needed. If that virus, or in some cases a closely similar one is later introduced into the system, those antibodies attach to viral particles and remove them before they have time to replicate, preventing or lessening symptoms of the virus.

The immune system also retains antibodies to a virus after being infected with it, so humans have general immunity to human strains of avian influenza strains. But humans do not generally have immunity to avian flu strains because they have not been infected by them before. The surface proteins are sufficiently different to escape the human immune response. Avian flu strains are therefore more dangerous for humans because the human immune system cannot recognize the virus or protect against it.

Nutrient ‘Cocktail’ Appears to Improve Dementia Symptoms

FRIDAY, Jan. 8 (HealthDay News) — A combination of three nutrients might help improve memory in Alzheimer’s patients by stimulating the growth of new brain connections (synapses), a new study shows.

Uridine, choline and the omega-3 fatty acid DHA (all found in breast milk) are precursors to the fatty molecules that make up brain cell membranes, which form synapses.

“If you can increase the number of synapses by enhancing their production, you might to some extent avoid that loss of cognitive ability” that occurs in Alzheimer’s patients, Richard Wurtman, a professor of brain and cognitive sciences at MIT, said in a news release. He conducted the basic research that led to this investigational treatment.

In a clinical trial, 225 Alzheimer’s patients were given a cocktail of the three nutrients, along with B vitamins, phosopholipids and antioxidants. Patients with mild Alzheimer’s showed improvements in verbal memory.

The study was published Jan. 8 in the journal Alzheimer’s and Dementia.

Three additional clinical trials are underway in the United States and Europe. Results are expected within a few years.

Loss of Smell Could Be Early Sign of Alzheimer’s

TUESDAY, Jan. 12 (HealthDay News) — New research in mice suggests that loss of smell could serve as an early indicator of Alzheimer’s disease.

People with Alzheimer’s are already known to suffer from loss of smell. But the new research pinpoints a direct link between development of amyloid plaques — the bits of gunk in the brain that cause Alzheimer’s disease — and a worsening sense of smell.

The findings are reported in the Jan. 13 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience.

Researchers found that the plaques first develop in the part of the mouse brain that’s devoted to the sense of smell. When tested, the mice with the plaques had to spend more time sniffing odors to remember them, and they had a hard time telling the difference between odors.

“What was striking in our study was that performance of the mouse in the olfactory behavior test was sensitive to even the smallest amount of amyloid presence in the brain as early as 3 months of age (equivalent to a young adult),” study co-author Daniel W. Wesson, of New York University School of Medicine and the Nathan S. Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research in Orangeburg, N.Y., said in a university news release.

“This is a revealing finding because, unlike a brain scan, a laboratory-designed olfactory test may be an inexpensive alternative to early diagnosis of Alzheimer’s,” Wesson said.

– Randy Dotinga

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