by Jean-Yves Dionne, Pharmacist
Interesting Results
A new study shows that the consumption of a beverage rich in antioxidants (from apple, lemon, and green tea) and containing B and C vitamins helps reduce the concentration of homocysteine (a toxic amino acid) in the blood of people with Alzheimer’s disease (in contrast to a placebo having no effect). This small, eight-month-long study was conducted with 48 people, 24 of whom used the juice, and 24 others who used a placebo.[1]
The usefulness of this study is twofold. First, circulating homocysteine is an aggravating factor for Alzheimer’s disease. Lowering it through a nutritional technique suggests we may be able to delay the development of the disease. (The study did not venture to assert or even imply this.) That said, the use of an antioxidant drink containing three B vitamins that are useful against homocysteine is a much more interesting approach than that currently used to treat heart disease (for which one is simply given three B-vitamin supplements without antioxidants).[2]
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