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Over the holidays, I have been reminded many times that one of the things that makes life worth living is the memory of the moments shared with our friends and family.
Last weekend, my children and I created a memory that I hope will stick with me forever when we finished a half-marathon (13.1 miles) at Walt Disney World. When we crossed the finish line hand-in-hand, I knew it was one of the best days of my life (in spite of the record cold weather in Florida, exposing us to temperatures in the mid-30s and intermittent rain and sleet).
The photos of the event will remind us of our adventure together. However, as the years pass, I worry that my memory will fade due to senility, Alzheimer’s or other dementia. So I continually read the medical literature for things that might improve my chances of staying mentally sharp.
Last month, the Journal of the American Medical Association published the Ginkgo Evaluation of Memory (GEM) study. This was a large randomized trial, showing that use of the popular herbal supplement, Ginkgo Biloba, in a dose of 120 mg twice daily was no different than placebo in terms of memory, language, attention or brain processes during a follow-up of six years.
However, since the GEM study was done on people aged 72 to 96, it does not give us any definite information in the normal younger or middle-aged population, some of whom may already be developing the early brain changes of Alzheimer’s disease or other dementias. Therefore, Ginkgo may still have some place in preventing dementia in those younger people.
You probably will not be surprised that being part of a social group can be better for a person’s health and well-being, and can provide better protection against memory loss and the effects of aging than many drugs and medicines.
Conventional medical treatments have focused on the individual but it could be better to concentrate on making people feel part of a wider social group. According to a study at the University of Exeter, which involved 650 stroke patients followed over a period of five years, those who were part of a close-knit social group were significantly less likely to suffer a second life-threatening problem over a given period of time. The study also found that reminiscing about the war and school lessons from earlier days can improve the memories of elderly people in nursing homes.
On the other hand, you will likely be as surprised as I am that mobile phones may improve memory and protect against Alzheimer’s disease. Researchers have found that the electromagnetic waves emitted by the devices may improve thinking. After years of health warnings about mobile phones, scientists admit being as surprised as anyone when their research showed cell phones might be good for the brain.
In what could be a big boost to the coffee industry, scientists suggest that drinking five cups of coffee daily could reverse memory problems associated with Alzheimer’s disease. The study at the University of South Florida on mice who were exhibiting signs of dementia also showed that caffeine helped slow the production of the protein plaques, which show up in people who develop the disease. Testing the mice on memory and thinking after two months, the caffeinated mice did much better than the non-caffeinated water drinkers. The brains of the caffeinated mice also showed a 50 percent reduction in the protein which creates the dementia. This is particularly exciting because currently there are no drugs that reverse the progression of Alzheimer’s, only drugs that can slow it down.
All you tea drinkers should not get too excited. Tea also offered a benefit from caffeine, but you would need to drink 20 cups of the stuff to equal the benefits of coffee.
Other research suggests that high-protein diets could shrink your brain and cause Alzheimer’s. Researchers found that mice fed meals similar to those of the original Atkins diet had brains five percent lighter than all the others. They also found that the hippocampus part of the brain, which is responsible for memory, was less developed in those rodents on the high protein diet.
We need to remember that mice research is not human research. These effects may not be the same in humans.
Human research does suggest that a blueberry smoothie as part of your diet could help fight dementia. A team from the University of Reading suggested that foods rich in flavonoids, which included chocolate, spinach and some fruit juices, could restructure the brain and ward off memory loss associated with Alzheimer’s.
Flavonoids are naturally occurring antioxidants which help beat cancer and the aging process by protecting cells from damage. In their experiment, just one 200 gram (seven ounce) blueberry smoothie was enough to increase powers of concentration by as much as 20 percent over the day.
American researchers have also found that one or two alcoholic drinks a day can reduce the risk of developing dementia, while too much alcohol increases the risk. Moderate drinkers, who have between eight and 14 drinks a week, are at a 37 percent lower risk of developing the condition than those who abstain. However, those who have more than 14 drinks a week are at twice the normal risk of developing dementia.
To summarize, I plan to continue drinking caffeinated coffee in the mornings, using my cell phone, hanging out with my friends and family, eating a well-balanced diet, and working on concocting an alcohol-containing blueberry smoothie, possibly with some dark chocolate thrown in for good measure.
Pill splitting
Editor’s note: This is the response to an online question posed by a reader: Can I split amlodipine besylate in half and take it twice a day instead of once?
“I cannot recommend this plan unless your doctor specifically recommends it for some reason. This medicine is standardly taken as a once-per-day drug. There is generally not a good reason to split the pill in order to take it twice daily. That would only increase the inconvenience of taking the drug and likely decrease the ability to comply with the plan. Best wishes, Terry Gaff, MD”
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