By Greg Arnold, DC, CSCS, July 22, 2009, abstracted from “Results of the MIDAS trial: Effects of docosahexaenoic acid on physiological and safety parameters in age-related cognitive decline” in the July 2009 issue of Alzheimer’s and Dementia

Alzheimer Disease (AD) currently affects more than 4.5 million Americans, is expected to hit 16 million by 2050 (1) and costs $100 billion each year to treat (2). And with the U.S. Census Bureau predicting a population of nearly 58 million “baby boomers” (those between the ages of 65 and 84) by 2030 (3), it is imperative to help maintain mental health in patients.

Now a new study (4) has found that DHA, a fat found in fish oil, and also one of the primary fats in the brain, may help patients with age-related cognitive decline (ARCD), a stage that precedes AD (5). The study, called the Memory Improvement with DHA Study (MIDAS), looked at 485 men and women between the ages of 61 and 79 and diagnosed with Age-Related Cognitive Decline (ARCD). Study participants were given either 900 mg of DHA or placebo per day for 6 months. During this time, they completed mental tasks called Paired Associate Learning (PAL), which has been shown to separate patients with ARCD from patients with AD (6)

By the end of 6 months, the researchers found that those in the DHA group “showed significantly fewer errors” on the PAL test compared to the placebo group (test results were not published by the researchers). The researchers also noted “a significant decrease in the heart rate” of 3.2 beats per minute compared to 1 beat per minute in the placebo group. Blood pressure and body weight remained unchanged between the groups as did hs-CRP, an inflammatory protein implicated in chronic diseases like AD (7).

For the researchers, “Six-month supplementation with DHA (900 mg/day) improves memory function and decreases heart rate in healthy older adults with ARCD. This improvement on the PAL is associated with a shift in the normative distribution to a younger age” and that “DHA exhibits an excellent safety profile in this older population.”

Greg Arnold is a Chiropractic Physician practicing in Danville, CA. You can contact Dr. Arnold directly by emailing him at mailto:PitchingDoc@msn.com or visiting his web site at www.CompleteChiropracticHealthcare.com

Reference:

1. Hebert, LE; Scherr, PA; Bienias, JL; Bennett, DA; Evans, DA. “Alzheimer Disease in the U.S. Population: Prevalence Estimates Using the 2000 Census.” Archives of Neurology August 2003; 60 (8): 1119 – 1122
2. Ernst, RL; Hay, JW. “The U.S. Economic and Social Costs of Alzheimer’s Disease Revisited.” American Journal of Public Health 1994; 84(8): 1261 – 1264
3. “Oldest Baby Boomers Turn 60!” posted on http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/facts_for_features_special_editions/006105.html
4. Yurko-Mauro K. Results of the MIDAS trial: Effects of docosahexaenoic acid on physiological and safety parameters in age-related cognitive decline. Alzheimer's and Dementia 2009; 5(4) Sup 1: P84
5. ARCS Guidelines www.apa.org/practice/dementia.html
6. De Jager P3-120: Episodic memory test constructs affect discrimination between healthy elderly and cases with mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease. Alzheimer's and Dementia 2008; 4(4) Suppl 1: T554-T555
7. Yamamoto H. High prevalence of Chlamydia pneumoniae antibodies and increased high-sensitive C-reactive protein in patients with vascular dementia. J Am Geriatr Soc 2005;53(4):583-9