Category Archives: Research

Health, Medical, Research, Science

ACE inhibitors may boost brainpower…

BLOOD PRESSURE DRUGS

Scientists and medical practitioners have long recognised that taking blood pressure drugs may slow the onset of Alzheimer’s.

But, now, researchers have uncovered evidence that the drugs, known as ACE inhibiters, may actually boost brainpower.

Those with high blood pressure are more at risk of developing Alzheimer’s and similar diseases, but the study found their memory and thinking skills were protected by the drugs they were taking.

ACE inhibitors – medicines which include ramipril, captopril and perindopril – have become increasingly popular over the past decade, particularly for younger patients.

Researchers in Ireland and Canada investigated drugs which target a specific biochemical pathway called the renin angiotensin system – a hormone system which is thought to affect the development of Alzheimer’s.

The study by researchers compared the rate of cognitive decline in 361 patients diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, vascular dementia (caused by problems in the blood supply to the brain), or a mix of both. Of that group, 85 were already taking ACE inhibitors; the rest were not.

Also analysed was the impact on 30 patients, with an average age of 77, who were taking the drugs for the first time.

The patients were assessed over six months, using the Standardised Mini Mental State Examination or the Quick Mild Cognitive Impairment tests.

The study found that those taking ACE inhibitors experienced marginally slower rates of cognitive decline than those who were not. The findings were first disclosed in the journal BMJ Open.

Scientists from University College Cork in Ireland and McMaster University in Ontario also found that the brainpower of those patients who had been newly prescribed ACE inhibitors actually improved. This suggests for the first time that such drugs may not only halt cognitive decline, but may actually improve brainpower.

The researchers said:

… Although the differences were small and of uncertain clinical significance, if sustained over years, compounding effects may well have significant clinical benefits.

They warn that ACE inhibitors are harmful to some patients, so if wider and larger studies confirm they work well in dementia, it may be only certain people with high blood pressure who stand to benefit.

Previous studies have linked other forms of blood pressure medication with anti-dementia benefits.

A statement issued by the Alzheimer Society, said:

… Any drug which halts cognitive decline is potentially exciting because it has the ability to radically improve quality of life.

But Dr Simon Ridley of Alzheimer’s Research UK, said:

… This is a short study with a small number of participants. It is unclear if the (improvement) could be due to the control of blood pressure, a different effect of the drugs or another factor.

Among the most widely used ACE inhibitors are perindopril (also known as Coversyl), ramipril (Tritace), captopril (Capoten), trandolapril (Gopten), fosinopril (Staril), lisinopril (Zestril and prinivil).

They work by stopping the body from creating the hormone angiotensin II. This has a variety of effects but essentially relaxes blood vessels and helps reduce the amount of water re-absorbed by the kidneys – helping to decrease blood pressure.

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European Union, Government, Health, Medical, Research, Science

New European Laws could force drug companies to publish contentious research…

Drug companies have only ever released small amounts of their research data from clinical trials, with critics claiming that negative results are only half as likely to be published.

Drug companies have only ever released small amounts of their research data from clinical trials, with critics claiming that negative results are only half as likely to be published.

SHARING RESULTS OF CLINICAL TRIALS

Under new European laws, pharmaceutical companies could be forced to publish secret research into how drugs are created. This could potentially lead to drug companies having to disclose information about dangerous and unknown side-effects of many drugs.

The rules would mean that some of the world’s most powerful pharmaceutical companies would have to share the results of clinical trials which could then be analysed by independent scientists.

Analysts say that the move will also reveal if patients have been fooled by the use of placebos or drugs that have not been scientifically proven to work.

Drug companies have only ever released small amounts of their research data from clinical trials, with critics claiming that spurious and negative results are only half as likely to be published.

The disclosure rules being drawn up by the European Medicines Agency, an EU body, have been met with stiff resistance from pharmaceutical companies. They claim that some of their information might be misinterpreted, which might spark significant health scare’ around the use of particular drugs.

In just the last three years, 26 drug companies have racked up financial fines amounting to more than £7 billion for acting dishonestly.

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), Britain’s largest pharmaceutical company, announced earlier this year that it would support a move for such laws by publishing the results and data of all its clinical trials.

The move and announcement by GSK followed fierce criticism of the company after it was given a £1.9 billion fine in the United States last year, in part for withholding safety data about Avandria, its best-selling and highly profitable diabetes drug.

A leaked e-mail message from the head of a leading pharmaceutical industry body to company executives revealed that ‘patient groups’ would be used in an attempt to block legislative amendments to the clinical trials directive.

The e-mail, first seen by the Guardian, a London based broadsheet newspaper, was sent by the director-general of the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations, Richard Bergström, to the directors and legal departments at companies including Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline.

In his message, Mr Bergström says that patient groups will be ‘mobilised’ to express concerns about…

… the risk to public health by non-scientific re-use of data.

Campaigners have hit back and have said that the groups – which are often funded by the companies themselves – are a ‘front for the pharmaceutical industry’.

Health Action International, a campaign group, said it was ironic that such a transparency initiative being promoted by the pharmaceutical industry was now ready to use patient organisations to fight their corner. The health lobby group says that patient groups in the pay of the pharmaceutical industry will now go into battle for them, and has suggested there is a clear ‘hidden agenda’. In a statement the group said:

… Patient groups get traction because they are assumed to represent the voice of the suffering. But industry uses them to say we’re not going to get innovative medicines if the industry is deterred from investing by having to be transparent about their clinical trials.

 

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Health, Medical, Research, Science

Resveratrol in health supplements ‘undo effects of exercise’…

RED WINE HEALTH PILLS

Experts have warned that health supplements containing the ‘miracle ingredient’ from red wine could undo the positive effects of exercise.

A daily dose of the antioxidant resveratrol cancelled out many of the benefits of a two-month-long exercise programme, a study has found.

When examining the effects of exercise alone, the results were as expected – blood pressure, the levels of ‘bad’ cholesterol and other harmful blood fats were lowered.

But if combined with a course of supplements, most of the positive effects vanished.

Resveratrol has become increasingly popular as study after study has credited the compound with health-boosting properties, from extending life and battling obesity to warding off heart disease.

Most research to date, however, is carried out on mice or rats, rather than in the human body. This latest study is proving that tests in rodents are not being replicated in humans.

Resveratrol, which is found in the grape skins that give red wine its colour, is supposed to boost health by mopping up dangerous oxygen molecules known as free radicals that attack cells and tissues and are blamed for health issues ranging from ageing to cancer.

The Danish scientists behind the latest study say these free radicals may be needed for the body to recover after exercise. Without them, many of the benefits of exercise – such as lowering blood pressure and increasing oxygen uptake – may disappear.

In the study, 27 men in their mid-sixties were asked to perform eight weeks of high-intensity exercise training – with half the group given 250mg of resveratrol a day and the other group receiving a placebo.

While scientists expect to get the same result from women and younger men, researchers have said that wine lovers need not worry about the effect of the odd glass of red wine on their exercise routine. The amount of resveratrol in the supplements studied was far higher than can be obtained from drinking wine alone. It could, though, easily be obtained from supplements.

It is thought that high doses of vitamin C might have a similar effect.

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