As a Chicago area attorney with extensive nursing home experience, I too am discouraged by the latest disappointment in Alzheimer's research. Although omega-3 fatty acid pills were thought to promote memory, researchers are reporting the disappointing news that the pills did not “slow mental and physical decline in older patients with mild or moderate Alzheimer's disease. (L. Tanner, Chicago AP, 11/2).
Those results are the result of a “multimillion-dollar government-funded study released Tuesday in this week's Journal of the American Medical Association.” Laurie Ryan, the president of Alzheimer's studies at the National Institute on Aging calls the results discouraging, but notes that “the institute is spending millions of dollars on research into other possible treatments. Those include lifestyle changes, drugs and biomarkers that might lead to more targeted drug treatment.”