Sage, alternative treatment to Alzheimer's drug

September 27, 2003

23/09/03 - A popular Chinese sage herb has been shown to contain similar active

ingredients to compounds used in Western medicine to treat Alzheimer’s disease.

The dried root of Salvia miltiorrhiza is called Danshen and has been used in the

treatment of cerebrovascular disease for over one thousand years. It is also

known as Chinese sage.

Researchers from King’s College London, speaking at the British Pharmaceutical

Conference last week, said they had found four compounds isolated from an

extract of the root to be acetylcholinesterase inhibitors. This is the same

pharmacological action as drugs marketed to treat Alzheimer’s disease.

The compounds were shown to be chemically different from previously-identified

acetylcholinesterase inhibitors.

Professor Peter Houghton, from King’s College London, said: “Danshen is a common

ingredient of Chinese prescriptions. It has many uses, one of which is to

‘prolong active life’. Our data provide some justification for this traditional

use.”

In the UK, Danshen is prescribed in Chinese clinics and is also available from

Chinese herbalists. As part of its medicinal plant research, the King’s research

team has also investigated Korean herbal medicines.

The Conference heard that analysis of seven herbs with a reputation for treating

memory-related disorders has found some of these to also have

acetylcholinesterase inhibitory activity. The researchers are currently working

to identify the compounds in Korean herbs that produce this effect.

Alzheimer's is the most common form of dementia and affects an estimated 10

million people worldwide. Many of the current drugs taken to treat the disease,

such as donepezil, have unpleasant side effects and doctors are keen to find

alternatives. Sage is thought to be safe when taken in supplement form.

Researchers from the Medicinal Plant Research Centre at the Universities of

Newcastle and Northumbria, UK, recently reported that healthy, young adults who

took sage oil capsules performed significantly better in a word recall test than

those who took placebo pills.

BPC 2003 took place at the Harrogate International Centre from 15-17 September

2003.

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