memory-enhancing natural drug
I have a question about that memory-enhancing natural drug. Can it be taken by anyone or only people who are experiencing memory loss? I am a 28-year-old woman, and I would like to know, as my mother is suffering from dementia. I would also like to know if memory loss is hereditary and if anything can be done to prevent it.
answer:
This is unlikely in someone so young, although Alzheimer’s disease does have a familial association.
There are actually several “natural drugs” for memory, if you mean that in the sense of naturally occurring substances that improve memory. The major one, so far as dementia is concerned, is ginkgo biloba.
A number of experimental double-blind and clinical studies have been done during the past dozen years on standardized ginkgo biloba extract in dementia. (The extract is actually a registered drug in Germany for the treatment of brain dysfunction.) The studies are virtually unanimous in documenting improvement in such parameters as short-term memory, attention, basic learning rate, cognitive efficiency, performance speed, problem-solving, vigilance, mood and sociability. People without dementia who take ginkgo also report improved mental function.
Ginkgo appears to work by increasing blood flow to the brain. It also enhances glucose utilization, the brain’s energy source. In addition, it has membrane-stabilizing and antioxidant effects. The usual dose of the extract, standardized to contain 24 percent ginkgo flavone glycosides, is 40 mg three times a day.
Ginkgo may help delay deterioration in early stages of Alzheimer’s dementia, but the consensus is that it’s not much use later on. For full-blown Alzheimer’s, we turn to a second “natural drug,” acetyl-L-carnitine.
Acetyl-L-carnitine is a form of L-carnitine, an amino acid found in meat, and available as a nutritional supplement. Carnitine changes to acetyl-L-carnitine through the action of an enzyme that is woefully lacking in the brains of Alzheimer’s victims.
Acetyl-L-carnitine has been the subject of double-blind clinical studies in Alzheimer’s patients, with somewhat spotty results. Acetyl-L-carnitine reportedly improves behavior, memory, verbal fluency, attention, name learning, logical intelligence and digit recall, among other measures—or at the very least, it slows the progressive deterioration of such cognitive functions.
Acetyl-L-carnitine may help Alzheimer’s sufferers in at least two ways: It is a precursor to acetylcholine (a brain chemical involved in memory), and it acts as an energy carrier at the level of the cells’ energy factories (the mitochondria) where it is involved in fatty-acid metabolism. The dosage in these studies ranged from 2 to 3 gm a day.
A third natural substance, phos-phatidylserine (PS), has been receiving favorable attention recently. In a double-blind, placebo-controlled study with 72 adults, a daily dose of 300 mg of PS with phosphatidic acid was given for three months. The PS group showed improved memorization of information, memorization of numbers and visual memory. This group also appeared not to experience depressed moods during the winter months.