Your brain is a vital organ, and like the other vital organs in your body, it can be damaged by poor diet, stress, exposure to toxins, and aging. Just like your heart, your brain won’t work as well if cholesterol deposits or high blood pressure damages the arteries that supply its blood. In fact, a study from the Netherlands found that the same high-saturated-fat diet raises your risk of having a heart attack or stroke also makes you more prone to developing dementia. That word doesn’t mean demented, exactly. But dementia does include age-related memory impairment and Alzheimer’s disease.
"What works for the heart, works for the brain, with some modifications," says Dharma Singh Khalsa, M.D., president and medical director of the Alzheimer’s Prevention Foundation in Tucson and co-author of Brain Longevity. That’s why many of the nutritional supplements recommended to shield your brain from age-related memory impairment also offer protection from heart disease.
"Memory loss used to be considered a somewhat normal occurrence with age, but it isn’t," says Dr. Khalsa. "People don’t have to inevitably decline."
Some researchers regard Alzheimer’s disease as a kind of a subcategory of normal memory loss that’s associated with aging, Dr. Khalsa says. "Experts now think that there is a continuum from age-associated memory loss into Alzheimer’s disease, at least in some people."
Other researchers aren’t so sure. When people have Alzheimer’s disease, microscopic changes occur in the brain, and those changes are somewhat different from the changes seen in people who have declining memories as a result of the aging process, says Jay Lombard, M.D., assistant clinical professor of neurology at Weill Medical College of Cornell University in New York City and co-author of The Brain Wellness Plan. There’s also a genetic component to Alzheimer’s disease, so your risk may be higher if a parent or grandparent had it.
Some forgetfulness—and even some memory loss—doesn’t mean that you’re on the brink of Alzheimer’s disease. In fact, there are a number of ways that you may be able to slow the progression, Dr. Khalsa says. "Reducing stress is really important because stress may be the main cause of memory problems in people under age 40," he says. The amount of sleep you get and the quality of your diet can also have a major impact on how fast your brain can compute.
Even exercise can protect your brain. One study showed that people who were least active from the ages of 20 to 59 were 2½ times more likely to have Alzheimer’s disease than those who were most active.
Nutritional supplements or herbs can also help. Some can protect neurons in the brain from being damaged by free radicals. Unstable molecules can harm cells, and free radicals can sometimes prevent the breakdown of the important messenger chemicals called neurotransmitters, says Dr. Khalsa. Other supplements can actually stimulate the production of neurotransmitters. If you want to give your memory a boost, here’s what is recommended.
Save Your Brain with Ginkgo
Ginkgo has long been used to improve mental function. In Europe, an extract of this herb is an approved treatment for dementia, including that caused by Alzheimer’s disease. The first clinical study done in the United States found that 120 milligrams daily of ginkgo extract not only stabilized Alzheimer’s disease but also led to significant improvements in mental function in 20 percent of the patients. The concentration used was standardized to 24 percent ginkgoflavoglycosides and 6 percent terpenelactones, which are believed to be the active agents. There were no side effects.
Ginkgo also acts as a potent antioxidant, says Dr. Lombard, so it can help to protect your brain from oxidative damage due to aging, heart disease, or toxins. It can also inhibit the breakdown of some kinds of neurotransmitters that are involved in mood and memory and enhance the release of others.
Ginkgo can be used to treat the early stages of Alzheimer’s and to protect against further damage. Dr. Lombard recommends twice-daily doses of 120 milligrams of extract standardized to 24 percent ginkgoflavoglycosides. Don’t expect immediate results, however. It may take up to six months of taking ginkgo consistently before the benefits begin to show.
Antioxidants Prevent "Brain Rust"
Our brains are prone to damage from free radicals just like the rest of our bodies. When they damage brain cells, we pay the price with memory loss. In addition, the immune system reacts to the damage with a process that actually generates even more free radicals, so there’s a cascade of free radical production. One study by Canadian researchers found evidence of significantly more free radicals than normal in samples of brain tissue from people with Alzheimer’s disease.
| Chinese Moss May Help Restore Memory A natural substance extracted from a rare moss found in the cold climates of China is being sold in the United States as a nutritional supplement that may alleviate symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease. Called Huperzine A, this substance can be extracted from the club moss Huperzia serrata, which has been used for centuries in China to treat fever and inflammation, says Alan Kozikowski, Ph.D., director of the drug discovery program at Georgetown Institute of Cognitive and Computational Sciences at Georgetown University Medical Center in Washington, D.C. Huperzine A works by interfering with an enzyme that influences acetylcholine, an important brain neurotransmitter. An Alzheimer’s drug on the market, donepezil hydrochloride (Aricept), works the same way. “Preventing the breakdown of acetylcholine allows the small amount that is present in the brain to exert its benefits so you can retrieve memories or form new ones,” says Dr. Kozikowski. Several studies have shown that Huperzine A improves brain function in patients with dementia. Huperzine A seems to have additional properties that may help it to slow the progression of Alzheimer’s, Dr. Kozikowski says. One study showed that it can slow the formation of a harmful kind of plaque, a buildup of protein deposits in the brain. Other studies indicate that it can protect brain cells from glutamate, a neurotransmitter that becomes toxic when it is secreted in large amounts. Scientists suspect that the brain releases these super-high secretions when it’s low on oxygen. Some research also indicates that Huperzine A helps to block the process of inflammation that occurs as Alzheimer’s disease progresses, Dr. Kozikowski says. The amount of Huperzine A used in the Chinese studies was four 50-microgram tablets a day. The dosage currently being recommended on the product sold in the United States is just half that amount—two 50-microgram tablets a day. More research on Huperzine A is currently under way in the United States, says Dr. Kozikowski. |
There is good reason to believe that antioxidant nutrients, especially vitamin E, can help prevent damage to brain cells, Dr. Khalsa says. Vitamin E protects signal-sensitive neurons in the brain from free radical damage. Certain areas of the neurons, called neurotransmitter receptor sites, benefit from some fix-it work when vitamin E is present, he notes, "so vitamin E can not only prevent deterioration of the brain, it also actually reverses an important element of deterioration."
Vitamin E is fat-soluble, so it has a free pass around the brain, which contains a lot of fats. In its travels, vitamin E interacts with cell membranes, traps free radicals, and interrupts the rapid-fire chain reactions that produce even more free radicals. When scientists did animal studies using vitamin E, they found that this important antioxidant reduces the degeneration of cells in the hippocampus, which is precisely the part of the brain that’s hit hardest by Alzheimer’s. After blood flow was cut off for a time, vitamin E could help the cells recover, and it enhanced the recovery of motor function after spinal cord injury.
Some test-tube studies have also been done, and they suggest how vita min E can do even more: It can help protect cells that have suffered from a lack of oxygen. It can also reduce cell death associated with a protein that causes damage in Alzheimer’s disease.
A study that involved people with Alzheimer’s showed some positive results when the participants took vitamin E. Recruited from 23 centers participating in the Alzheimer’s Disease Cooperative Study, people with moderately severe disease received 2,000 international units (IU) a day of vitamin E for two years. According to researchers, those people survived an average of 230 days longer than those not getting supplements.
Both Dr. Lombard and Dr. Khalsa recommend taking antioxidant nutrients, including vitamin E. But they favor a mixture of antioxidants and less vitamin E than was used in the cooperative study. "If you are on an antioxidant program, you just don’t need that much vitamin E," Dr. Khalsa says. "The antioxidants act synergistically, so 1 and 1 equals 11, not 2. A mixture of antioxidants is more effective than large amounts of just one."
Dr. Khalsa recommends 400 to 800 IU of vitamin E, 3,000 milligrams of vitamin C in divided doses, 10,000 to 25,000 IU of vitamin A, and 50 to 100 micrograms of selenium. In addition, he suggests that people take 100 to 200 milligrams a day of coenzyme Q10, which acts as an antioxidant and helps energy production in cells throughout the body. With doses this high, however, it’s important to have a doctor approve the supplement program.
Boost Your Brain with B Vitamins
Most of the B vitamins play a role in brain function. They help the breakdown of blood sugar, or glucose. Since the brain relies on a perpetual supply of glucose for energy, this is very important, Dr. Khalsa says.
Deficiencies of both vitamin B12 and folic acid have been associated with memory loss. When someone complains of problems with memory, a doctor usually begins an examination by checking for deficiencies of these vitamins, Dr. Khalsa says.
A study has helped establish the connection between these vitamins and Alzheimer’s disease. Scientists at England’s Oxford University and in Bergen, Norway, found that 76 Alzheimer’s patients had lower blood levels of the two vitamins than 108 people of the same age with no signs of Alzheimer’s symptoms. The researchers also found that the Alzheimer’s patients had higher blood levels of homocysteine, an amino acid by-product that other studies have shown to be a factor in atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries). This offers further support for supplementing with folic acid and B12, since both are known to reduce homocysteine levels.
Diagnosing a deficiency of vitamin B12 can sometimes be difficult because a person can be low in the vitamin even if blood tests appear normal. Many doctors are now recommending a more sensitive screening to detect a B12 deficiency by measuring homocysteine levels. With some people who have Alzheimer’s disease, homocysteine levels are abnormal, and Dr. Lombard has found that vitamin B12 treatment can be effective for them.
Since the B vitamins are generally beneficial, your best tactic may be to take a high-potency B-complex formula that includes 50 milligrams of most of the different kinds, Dr. Lombard says. Look for one that includes 1,000 micrograms of both vitamin B12 and folic acid along with the other ingredients.
A Memory Pill
Dr. Lombard suggests that people who have been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease should also take 300 milligrams of a nutritional supplement called phosphatidylserine (PS) daily with meals. "Phosphatidylserine is an important component of cell membranes and helps cells in the brain to retain their fluidity—an important property for proper function," he says.
Several studies have shown PS to be helpful for age-related memory decline, Alzheimer’s disease, or depression. In one six-month study, a group of people with moderate to severe senility were given three daily 100- milligram doses of PS. In another group with similar symptoms, participants received inactive pills (placebos). Researchers assessed both groups to measure their mental performance and behavior at the beginning and end of the study. Significant improvements were noted in the mental function and behavior of members of the group receiving PS.
The substance used in these studies was derived from cow brains. Since reports of mad cow disease began surfacing in the mid-1990s, cow brains are no longer considered a safe source, says Dr. Khalsa. The PS that is now on the market is derived from soybeans. "It appears to be pretty much the same and to have the same benefit, but there are no published studies to confirm that," he says.
Memory Aid from Acetyl-L-Carnitine
Acetyl-l-carnitine, derived from the natural substance l-carnitine, is structurally similar to the memory neurotransmitter acetlylcholine and displays similar actions in the brain, Dr. Lombard says.
Acetyl-l-carnitine protects nerve cell membranes from free radical attack. It also is essential for the production of energy in brain cells and helps transport fatty acids into the cells’ tiny power plants, the mitochondria.
Several studies have shown that acetyl-l-carnitine is helpful for people with Alzheimer’s disease, Dr. Lombard says. One multicenter study was done with 357 people age 55 or older who had Alzheimer’s. It showed that the memories of those 65 or younger who received 3,000 milligrams of l-carnitine a day didn’t decline as quickly as those of a comparative group of people who weren’t given the supplement.
Dr. Lombard suggests 2,000 milligrams of acetyl-l-carnitine daily for treatment of people with mild to moderate memory loss. Take this supplement between meals, he advises.
As for using this supplement as a preventive, Dr. Khalsa advises against it. "It makes a lot of people feel overstimulated," he says.
