Alzheimer's Club

"Acetyl-L-carnitine may offer unprecedented hope for people suffering from Alzheimer's disease or the aftereffects of a stroke. The human brain is uniquely powerful and complex, but it is sometimes difficult for it to fully recover from damage. People who have been affected by stroke, traumatic brain damage or age-associated dementia know this all too well. Fortunately, research studies suggest that the vitamin-like nutrient L-carnitine may be able to slow down, or even reverse, brain deterioration. Plus, it may give people the ability to think clearer and remember things like, "Where did I put my keys?"

If you're worried about developing Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease or age-associated dementia, studies suggest that acetyl-L-carnitine (ALC) may delay the onset of the disease, according to Prescription for Dietary Wellness by Phyllis A. Balch. Furthermore, if you've already been diagnosed with Alzheimer's, ALC can help slow down its progression and improve your mental functioning. In fact, experimental and clinical studies demonstrate that ALC may have a "significant capacity to slow, and even reverse, the effects of aging on the brain," writes Dr. Russell L. Blaylock in Health and Nutrition Secrets.

So, how exactly does ALC work? Mind Boosters author Dr. Ray Sahelia believes that Alzheimer's patients may benefit from ALC in three ways: It is able to travel through the blood-brain barrier, where it then helps form the brain chemical acetylcholine; it keeps mitochondria working efficiently by clearing them of toxic fatty-acid metabolites; and it helps regenerate neurons damaged by free radicals.

The results of numerous research studies support Dr. Sahelia's theory, including electron microscope analysis of the hippocampus region of the brain, which demonstrated ALC's ability to reverse the age-related deterioration of mitochondria. Furthermore, according to Professor Gary Null, autopsies show that people who had Alzheimer's experienced 25 to 40 percent less ALC transferase activity than people without Alzheimer's. In other words, perhaps the reason why ALC supplementation is so beneficial to Alzheimer's patients is because they are deficient in L-carnitine in the first place.

Of course, the benefits of ALC's ability to regenerate lost brain function extends far beyond Alzheimer's disease, making it a promising treatment for victims of stroke as well. If it is administered to stroke victims soon after the stroke occurs, ALC may actually reduce the level of brain damage caused by the interrupted blood flow, according to an Italian animal study reported in Dr. Russell L. Blaylock's Health and Nutrition Secrets. But even if it was not possible to give a patient ALC soon after the stroke first occurred, ALC supplementation may help the patient improve memory, task performance and cognition during his or her road to recovery.

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Furthermore, ALC may even be able to help people with Down's Syndrome, even though it is a congenital disease, rather than an age- or trauma-related one. In one 90-day study, ALC supplementation improved both the visual memory and attention of test subjects with Down's Syndrome. Further research into this scope of ALC's benefits should be promising...."

Source: Dani Veracity. How Acetyl-L-Carnitine prevents Alzheimer's disease and dementia while boosting brain function. News Target (7 December 2005) [FullText]