B Vitamin Pills Fail Brain Test
Posted on: Wednesday, 28 June 2006, 18:00 CDT
By MARILYNN MARCHIONE
Folate and B vitamin pills failed to help keep elderly people's brains and memories sharp in the longest study yet to test this approach.
Some scientists said the study was too small to be the final word, but it was one of the best done so far and came after three very large studies produced disappointing results using the same nutrients to try to prevent heart disease.
"We'd love to have something that is simple and reproducible and cheap and effective that would reduce the amount of dementia," but proof that vitamin supplements can do this is still lacking, said Bill Thies, scientific director of the Alzheimer's Association, which had no role in the study.
The findings were published in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine.
Folate and B vitamins lower homocysteine, a blood substance that can make arteries stiffen and clog. Many studies have observed that people with higher levels of homocysteine also have a greater risk of heart disease, Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia.
But whether lowering homocysteine can prevent these problems is unknown. In two studies of people at high risk of dementia, vitamin pills did not help, but these experiments lasted less than four months.
Researchers at the University of Otago in New Zealand tested the approach for two years in 276 healthy people 65 and older with relatively high levels of homocysteine at the outset.
Half were given daily pills containing 1,000 micrograms of folate, 500 micrograms of B-12 and 10 milligrams of B-6; the other half got dummy pills.
Homocysteine levels fell in those taking the supplements, but cognitive function, as measured by several different tests, remained the same in both groups.
Dr. Robert Clarke of the University of Oxford in England, a proponent of the theory that lowering homocysteine may help, said that because the placebo group had no decline in function, it would not have been possible to see any benefit from the vitamins.
"We cannot rule out the possibility of a benefit with long-term treatment," or that different doses might have made a difference, the researchers wrote.
Similarly, Thies theorized that people may need to take the pills even longer to benefit, or start earlier in life.
Longer and larger studies are under way.
---
On the Net:
New England Journal: http://www.nejm.org
Source: Associated Press/AP Online
Related Articles
- Study Shows That PillCam(R) SB Helps Doctors Treat Children With Crohn's Disease More Effectively
- TriZetto and TelaDoc Team to Help Benefits Administrators Expand Member Access to Physicians
- Duluth Metals Receives Scoping Level Metallurgical Study and Updates Metallurgical Program
- Combined Exercise Helps Diabetics Control Sugar Levels, Says Study
- Study: 3rd Depression Drug Rarely Helps
- Study Shows Babies Try to Help
- Study:School Nurses Need More Help *** Many Districts Short, Clinics Help Fill Gap
- Data From Two Published Studies Show Short- and Long- Term Benefits of CHF Solutions' Aquapheresis(TM) Therapy in Treating Heart Failure Patients With Fluid Overload
- Toshiba Hosts Seminar on First-Ever International Cardiac CT Study; Presentation Addresses Patient and Economic Benefits of 64-Slice CT Cardiac Imaging
- Power3 Announces Results of Studies Measuring Levels of Protein Biomarkers From Blood Serum to Diagnose Neurological Disorders
 |
 |
User Comments (0)
RSS Feeds