Catching up with the Sunday supplements two ads caught my eye. The first was for Flora pro.activ, which contains dairy peptides and supposedly is proven to help control blood pressure and maintain a healthy heart. The second was for Sirco, which is apparently approved by Heart UK and is supposed to “naturall” thin the blood to help improve its flow. On the same day, I read a BBC news item telling us that eating oily fish isn’t as good for us as we had been led to believe. Also in the mail that day was a reprint from by friend Bradford Frank (an MD at the University of Buffalo School of Medicine), his paper [Ann Clin Psyc, 2005, 17(4), 269-286] reviewed the various antioxidants and stacked up the evidence for which are any good at reducing the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease. Seemingly, aged garlic extract, curcumin, melatonin, resveratrol, Gingko biloba extract, green tea, and vitamins C & E all have a strong association with a reduced risk of AD. On the other hand, acetyl-L-carnitine, alpha-lipoic acid, bacopa monniera, ferulic acid, and ginseng are only very weakly associated with any reduction in risk. Huperzine A, adds Frank, falls into a special category as this compound actually inhibits the very enzyme that AD drugs target – acetylcholinesterase (AChE).
So, what is one to make of all these various pieces of information. It seems to me that far too much effort is spent on trying to augment the healthy balanced diet we should all aspire to, but more importantly, all these various threads seem to suggest that exercise and mental activity play no role in protecting us from disease. The people who buy pro-activ and Sirco, and those who pop dozens of different antioxidants, trace elements, and vitamins might hope to live forever, but with the impending threat of emerging viral disease and nuclear terrorists, a splash of Sirco or a handful of Gingko leaves is probably not going to help.