Alzheimer's Drugs Underwhelm While Eggs Show Promise
This month brought two very different studies on Alzheimer's, the most common form of dementia. The Cochrane Collaboration, a respected group that checks medical evidence, looked at 17 trials with more than 20,000 patients. It studied drugs that remove a harmful protein called beta amyloid from the brain. Researchers said the drugs slow memory loss but not enough to truly help patients. At the same time, scientists at Loma Linda University in California followed nearly 40,000 adults for 15 years. They found that eating eggs twice a week lowered the risk of dementia by 20 per cent.
The drugs, called donanemab and lecanemab, use special proteins to clear amyloid plaques in the brain. They were once seen as a major breakthrough because earlier drugs had completely failed. However, the Cochrane authors say the small benefits are outweighed by risks of brain swelling and bleeding, infusions every two to four weeks, and a private cost in the United Kingdom of about £90,000 for 18 months. Some experts disagree. The egg study points to choline, which the body turns into acetylcholine, a chemical needed for memory, plus vitamin B12.
Reactions are mixed. Professor Edo Richard, a brain doctor and one of the report's authors, tells his patients they probably will not benefit and warns against false hope. But Cheryl Essam, whose husband joined the lecanemab trials, says the drug gave them more time together. The UK's National Health Service (NHS) does not pay for the drugs, but the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is reviewing the decision. With about one million Britons living with dementia today, attention is turning to prevention.