Health First: Herbs and Alzheimers

By Dave Fuller

Alzheimer’s is a disease that one ought to be afraid of if you want to live a full and healthy life. Not many of us today have not been touched by a relative, friend or neighbor who has suffered from Alzheimer’s.  Nothing can seem more painful than not being recognized by a loved one whom you have spent much of your life. Yet everyday across this country that is what happens. People are losing their minds!

Recently I came across a new book by Linda Woolven and Ted Snider called "Healthy Herbs: Your everyday guide to medicinal herbs and their use" 2006 Fitzhenery& Whiteside.  What impressed my about the book was that in it was information on a hundred or so herbs that have huge potential to heal the ills of our century! 

I started thinking about Alzheimer’s after reading about one of the herbs in the book Sage. This herb has been used for thousands of years for promoting longevity, for sore throats and laryngitis, as an antifungal effective against yeast infections but more amazing than anything is that sage has been used throughout history for improving memory! 

In a recent clinical  study printed in the "Journal of Clinical Pharmacy and Therapeutics 2003" 30 people with mild to moderate Alzheimer’s were given 60 drops of sage per day or a placebo for 4 months.  After this time tests were done that showed that the patients that took the sage improved 26% on Alzheimer test scores while the placebo group declined by 22%!

Sage isn’t the only herb that has been shown to be impressive in treating Alzheimer’s, Ginkgo Biloba is another herb that has undergone hundreds of studies and been shown to improve brain function, circulation and depression. Its usefulness for the elderly and students as well in improving memory is well known.  Rosemary again another herb that not only will you find in your spice rack but it has traditionally been used for improving memory. A couple other herbs that you might want to consider are grapeseed extract and gota kola.  You might also want to start adding more Fava beans into your diet that are high in lecithin which have been shown to improve brain function .

Brain function is something that we don’t even think about unless we are students or we start forgetting things.Its then we realize how important our brains are to our everyday functioning. If you are concerned about how your brain is working don’t leave it too late, start using it and feeding it now, with healthy herbs, food and exercise to keep your brain optimized.

http://www.fitzhenry.ca/detail.aspx?ID=9908

http://www.lef.org/magazine/mag2000/may00-report_a.html

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