Effects of Sage on Alzheimer's Disease Patients It's time for researchers at the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) to get on the stick. NCCAM is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and according to a NIH web page I recently found, there's an important Alzheimer's disease (AD) study that was slated to start two months ago. And yet the site states that the study is not yet open for enrollment. Come on, guys! Time's a wastin'! This is a study that could help untold thousands find a safe and reliable way to reduce some of the most troubling symptoms of Alzheimer's. The title of the delayed NCCAM study is "Effects of Sage on Memory and Mental Performance in Alzheimer's Disease Patients." Why sage? For hundreds of years herbalists have known that sage is useful for improving the memory. Now, centuries later, scientists believe they know why. The key is an enzyme called acetylcholinesterase (AChE), which breaks down a chemical called acetylcholine that is typically deficient in Alzheimer's patients. Researchers from the Medical Plant Research Centre (MPRC) at the Universities of Newcastle and Northumbria in the UK have shown that sage inhibits AChE. In the e-Alert "Pain Takes a Holiday" (9/8/03), I told you about an MPRC study that demonstrated the potential of inhibiting AChE. Researchers gave 44 subjects either sage oil capsules or placebo capsules containing sunflower oil, and then conducted word recall tests. The group that received sage oil turned in significantly better test results than subjects who took placebo. Elaine Perry is the director of the MPRC and a professor at England's University of Newcastle upon Tyne. She and her colleagues have extensively studied sage and other botanicals in the treatment of Alzheimer's. Last year she presented preliminary data that showed sage to have a significant effect on behavior and attention in healthy subjects. And when lemon balm was added to sage, the combination improved memory and mood. Professor Perry also told Reuters Health: "Lemon balm reduced agitation and improved quality of life in people with Alzheimer's disease." Sage rarely causes adverse side effects, which makes it preferable to Alzheimer's drugs such as donepezil; an AChE inhibitor with unpleasant side effects such as dizziness, weakness, and joint pain. In a 2003 study (cited by NCCAM), Iranian researchers found that a placebo actually caused greater side effects than sage did. A team from Roozbeh Psychiatric Hospital in Tehran tested 42 elderly patients with mild to moderate AD. Half of the subjects received a daily dose of sage extract for 16 weeks. The researchers found that sage was effective in managing moderate symptoms of the disease while also reducing agitation. As for the placebo, the researchers wrote: "There were no significant differences in the two groups in terms of observed side-effects except agitation that appears to be more frequent in the placebo group." In 1652, herbalist Nicholas Culpepper wrote this about sage: "It also heals the memory, warming and quickening the senses." I've sent an e-mail to NCCAM to find out if any warming or quickening is underway in their planned sage trial. When I hear back from them I'll let you know what progress is being made in this potentially ground breaking research. Sources:
"Effects of Sage on Memory and Mental Performance in Alzheimer's Disease Patients" National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, clinicaltrials.gov
"Salvia Officinalis Extract in the Treatment of Patients with Mild to Moderate Alzheimer's Disease: A Double Blind, Randomized and Placebo-Controlled Trial" Journal of Clinical Pharmacy & Therapeutics, Vol. 28, No. 1, February 2003, ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
"Plant Extracts May Ease Dementia Symptoms" Reuters Health, 3/5/04, reutershealth.com
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