New treatment for mild Alzheimer's shows real improvement

A new medical food in its second trial has shown that daily intake of the nutritional intervention improves memory in people with mild Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Results were presented y Philip Scheltens, MD, PhD, Professor of Cognitive Neurology and Director of the Alzheimer Center at the VU University Medical Center in Amsterdam.

The medical food called Souvenaid contains a patented combination of nutrients specifically designed to stimulate the formation of nerve synapses. Loss of the synapses is believed to be the underlying cause of memory loss and cognitive dysfunction in Alzheimer’s. Preclinical studies showed the nutrients in Souvenaid promoted the growth of new brain synapses. In the first clinical trial, dubbed Souvenir I, it was show that taken once per day over 12 weeks improved scores on standardized memory tests given to patients with mild Alzheimer’s disease.

“I’m encouraged by the result of this second trial, but we need to do more analyses and further studies to fully understand the findings,” said Scheltens. “These positive results give me the energy to go forward.”

The second trial, Souvenir II, was designed to see if the results stayed true for 24 weeks. They also took more tests to measure memory more comprehensively. They confirmed that it was well tolerated and easy to take with over 97% compliance among those who completed the study.

During the 24 weeks of testing, the Souvenaid group scored much higher than the control group on memory tests. They are continuing to evaluate EEGs and other tests of brain activity and growth. These results should give more information as to the effectiveness of the new treatment.

Source: 4th International Conference on Clinical Trials in Alzheimer’s Disease (CTAD), MedicalNewsToday