Riders of the Purple Sage

[Guest guest]

" HSI - Jenny Thompson " <HSIResearch

HSI e-Alert - Riders of the Purple Sage

Thu, 29 Sep 2005 07:00:00 -0400

 

 

 

HSI e-Alert - Riders of the Purple Sage

 

 

 

Health Sciences Institute e-Alert

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September 29, 2005

 

 

 

Dear Reader,

 

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.

 

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Creating inhibitions

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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. "

 

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Effective and well tolerated

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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. "

 

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Getting a move on

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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.

 

 

 

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....and another thing

 

Caffeine or decaf?

 

An HSI member named Paulette is grappling with this age-old dilemma.

She writes: " I am wondering about decaf teas and coffees. Are they OK

to drink or not? Do they still give the benefits of drinking regular

coffee and teas? "

 

That depends on what you mean by " benefits. " Millions of java junkies

consider the kick they get from caffeine to be a benefit. Obviously

that one has to be crossed off the " plus " column for decaf. As for

other benefits, it's impossible to answer Paulette's question with a

blanket statement. One study, for instance, found that moderate coffee

drinking might help prevent Alzheimer's. We'd need an additional study

focusing specifically on decaf in order to find out if caffeine played

a role in the beneficial effect.

 

Paulette asks if there are any drawbacks to drinking decaf teas and

coffees. That depends on the process used to remove the caffeine.

 

The first decaf processes in the early 20th century used chloroform

and benzene. When they were found to be toxic, methylene chloride was

used for several decades. When that chemical was discovered to be a

suspected carcinogen in the 1980s, other decaf methods were employed,

including the use of yet another chemical called ethyl acetate.

 

The water decaf technique - often called Swiss water process - is

apparently a safe method for extracting caffeine from coffee. Decaf,

processed with water, certainly sounds preferable to a process that

uses methylene chloride (which is still allowed by the FDA if small

enough amounts are used).

 

The fact remains that there are hundreds of components in coffee other

than caffeine that may create problems for some people, but choosing a

water process decaf is probably a safer bet.

 

If all this coffee talk has put you in the mood for a good cup of joe,

you might check out Café Avion (cafeavion.com). This is a new

mail-order coffee company started by HSI Panelist Randall Wilkinson,

M.D. I haven't had a chance yet to try any of Dr. Wilkinson's coffees

for myself, but with Café Avion's emphasis on fresh, organic, gourmet

coffees, I expect they're excellent. The web site is also packed with

fascinating coffee history and lore.

 

To Your Good Health,

 

Jenny Thompson

 

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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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