Special Diet Improves Mild Alzheimer’s

"Medical Food"

Giving 125 ml of “medical food” once a day to people with mild Alzheimer’s disease appears to improve memory.  These were the findings of a trial done in the Netherlands and presented at the 2012 Alzheimer’s Association International Conference. 

This was the second large study showing that diet with specialized “medical food” can improve memory.  A medical food is specially formulated liquid diet supplement for people with a particular disease or condition and is given under the supervision of a doctor by prescription.

The improvements continued for 48 weeks.  At the end of 24 weeks those who had been assigned to take a placebo drink were switched to the active treatment.  They also experienced significant memory improvement.

The medical food used in this study, Souvenaid, was developed by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston.  Lead researcher, Dr. Philip Scheltens, said that the food “is medical nutrition, and we think it may offer a new approach—a dietary management approach, if you like — for people with very early Alzheimer’s disease.”  He added that it is very safe and well tolerated.  No serious adverse events were reported in the participants who complete the trial.

This article was originally published in Pathways & Partners Newsletter - Issue 27.  To download this issue in PDF format, or past issues, visit our newsletter archives online at www.pathwayshealth.org/publications.

Coffee May Help Depression

You may have read about the benefits of one or two cups of coffee a day: reduced risk of type 2 diabetes, Parkinson’s disease and dementia.  Now it looks as though a little java may also decrease the risk for depression.

“There is certainly much more good news than bad news, in terms of coffee and health,” says Frank Hu, MD, MPH, PhD, nutrition and epidemiology professor at the Harvard School of Public Health.

New research published after a 10-year study of more than 50,000 older women suggest that the risk for depression may decrease as coffee consumption increases.  Those who drank 2-3 cups a day had a 15% decreased risk of depression compared to women who drank one cup a day or less.

“People have often worried that drinking caffeinated coffee might have a bad effect on their health, but there is more and more literature, including this study, showing that caffeine may not have the detrimental effect previously thought,” according to lead author Michel Lucas, PhD, RD, epidemiologist/nutritionist at Harvard School of Public Health in Boston.

The study is published in the September 26 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.