Doctors debunk memory pills
By Michael P. Regan
Associated Press
NEW YORK — When Janet Walsh's father was diagnosed with a "rare" disease in the mid-1970s, the only information she could find about his condition was in two paragraphs in an encyclopedia. And that sparse entry dealt only with Alois Alzheimer, the man who discovered the malady.
"At least I knew that my father hadn't gone crazy," she recalls. "It was an actual disease."
Almost 30 years later, the 47-year-old Long Island woman has received test results that indicate she is at high risk for Alzheimer's. Like many in the baby boom generation, she has vowed not to surrender to the disease, or even to the normal lapses of memory that come with age, without a fight.
That can mean going through the seemingly endless supply of dietary supplements, books, workshops, even video games that various businesses are pitching as cure-alls for declining memories. But many boomers are willing to do it.
"This group doesn't think it's inevitable," said Dr. Barry Gordon, a neurologist who heads The Memory Clinic at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.
"Our parents just assumed you got older. This group says, 'Get me another doctor.' And to some extent they're right."
As the Americans born between 1946 and 1964 creep toward their senior years, an Alzheimer's epidemic of disturbing proportions is imminent. A study published in August in the Archives of Neurology predicts that if no cure is found, Alzheimer's cases in the United States will increase 27 percent by 2020, 70 percent by 2030 and 300 percent by 2050.
The forecasts have led Sheldon Goldberg, president and chief executive of the Alzheimer's Association, to warn that the disease could destroy the healthcare system and bankrupt Medicare and Medicaid if left unchecked.
Though several pharmaceutical companies are working on a promising pipeline of drugs that may one day improve memory and stop the Alzheimer's epidemic in its tracks, a void exists in the meantime for those known as the "concerned well" — boomers trying to hedge their bets against the disease and other memory loss.
Enter a host of small companies pitching dietary supplements such as ginkgo biloba, huperzine and multivitamins as talismans against memory loss due to aging.
"I get so much stuff in the mail and I just want to wring my neck because I can't deal with it anymore," said Walsh, who founded the Long Island Alzheimer's Foundation and is launching a business in January to help boomers sort through the assorted memory products and Alzheimer's research.
U.S. consumers spent about $250 million in 2001 and $210 million in 2002 on supplements promoted as aids to mental acuity, according to Patrick Rea, research director for the Nutrition Business Journal. Yet the supplements have not impressed most Alzheimer's advocates and mainstream doctors enough to endorse their use.
Neither have the many foods — from chicken eggs to rare Japanese mushrooms — that also have been hailed as food for memories.
"There's no strong evidence, not much evidence anyway, that anything besides basic calories is going to help improve your mind," said Gordon, the Johns Hopkins neurologist.
Experts say that instead of spending on diet supplements, boomers should consider mental exercises such as crosswords puzzles, board games, reading and new intellectual pursuits.
A 21-year study, published in June by doctors at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, reports that seniors who did crossword puzzles four days a week had a 47 percent lower risk of dementia than seniors who did puzzles once a week.
As for Janet Walsh, she takes art classes, hoping the intellectual stimulation will keep her mental muscles fit. She even occasionally brushes her teeth with her weak hand for the same reason.
