The Case for Bright Light Therapy to Treat Alzheimer’s

Background:

Alzheimer’s is an irreversible and progressive brain disorder that is notably characterized by the deterioration of memory and cognitive ability and eventually, the ability to do the simplest of tasks. Most people diagnosed with Alzheimer’s—the late-onset type—first exhibit symptoms in their mid-60s. Early-onset Alzheimer’s can occur in people between the ages of 30 to 60, but it is comparatively much more rare than late-onset Alzheimer’s. Alzheimer’s is one of the most common causes of dementia with older adults. Symptoms include not only memory loss and the aforementioned characteristics but also language problems and unpredictable behavior.

There is currently no cure for Alzheimer’s. However, there have been many speculated treatments for the disease. These potential cures may be considered pseudoscience, beliefs or practices that are claimed to be scientific and factual, but conflict with the scientific method and technically have no scientific basis for the claims. Among many of these potential cures is bright light therapy. Bright light therapy entails being exposed to incredibly bright lights on a regular basis. The light is placed in a box with a screen that diffuses it so the light is less straining on the eyes. The recipient of the light therapy sits in front of the light source for a fixed time per day to maintain consistency. There have been a number of past studies that sought to find a correlation between bright light therapy’s effectiveness in several areas including sleep habits, dementia–which extends to Alzheimer’s, and cognitive functioning. But in order to truly identify whether or not bright light therapy can be considered pseudoscience and not a probable treatment for Alzheimer’s, further studies should be conducted.

Parameters/Methodology

• Control group: 30 individuals exhibiting symptoms of Alzheimer’s that will be subjected to regular light exposure.
• Experimental group: 30 individuals exhibiting symptoms of Alzheimer’s that will be subjected to bright light therapy.
• Both groups will go through the same routine of light exposure for the same amount of time on the same days. The only distinction is the type of light exposure in order to extract the true effect of bright light therapy. Eligible candidates need only to be of ages 60+. Sex and ethnic background impose no hindrance to the study.
• Participation is voluntary and the volunteers will be found through nursing homes. Given the onset symptoms of these potential volunteers, expressed written consent is required and they must be thoroughly informed of all the risks that may be incurred through this experiment such as potential negative effects in their cognitive function such as increased headaches, significantly worse memory recollection, etc. If possible, the caretaker of the volunteer or a family member should be present during this to be informed of all the potential side effects.

Potential Results

Potential results may involve a possible improvement in function in memory for both groups as it the regular lights may be representative of a placebo effect for the control group. As for the experimental group, either no improvement or slight improvement may occur.

https://www.verywellhealth.com/bright-light-therapy-and-its-use-in-alzheimers-disease-98668

Attacking Alzheimer’s with Ashwagandha: An Alternative Antidote Against Amyloid-B

• Background & Introduction: 
  • Alzheimer’s is a neurodegenerative disorder that causes issues with memory, cognition, and behavior. Falling under the umbrella term of dementia, Alzheimer’s is a disease that afflicts a large population, however, has no cure nor formal treatment. Alzheimer’s defining feature in the brain is the presence of Amyloid-B peptide plaque and Tau protein filament tangles that both work together to continue a feedback loop that causes the degeneration of nerves in the brain and the communication networks between neurons, eventually leading to their death.
  • Ashwagandha is a traditional Indian herb that is used in Ayurvedic medicine, or traditional Indian healthcare/healing methods. The medicinal form is derived from the shrub’s roots and fruit and is dried and consumed usually in capsule form. Specifically for Alzheimer’s, chemical compounds called withanolides found in multiple forms in ashwagandha are thought to help with the Amyloid-B peptide plaque formation.
• The Pseudoscience Behind It
  • Ashwagandha has been thought to be a “magical treatment/supplement” with a long list of benefits largely based off of the traditional Indian uses for it. It’s been mostly toted as having “adaptogenic” qualities or assisting in adapting the body and mind to natural and normal stressors, helping in mood and physical health. With such a list of diseases such as asthma, cancer, and anemia that it has been told to help fight, the actual herb has had little scientific research done on it and the side effects, both short and long-term, are unknown. The term adaptogen and lack of scientific basis behind its healing and disease-fighting properties lead ashwagandha into the pseudoscience territory where users and proponents for homeopathic “cure-alls” and “preventatives” reign.
    
• A Possible Alzheimer’s Cure
  • Ashwagandha has thought to be a possible Alzheimer’s cure considering the properties that the withanolides carry have the ability to bind to active fibril forming locations and prevent the formation of the B-Amyloid plaque that is a large part of Alzheimer’s development. This would function as a preventative measure, however, the methanol compounds that were extracted from ashwagandha were also seen to have stimulated neurite outgrowth, or when developing nerves create new projections as induced by nerve growth factors. This function serves to help heal any neurodegeneration that has already occurred in the brain, providing a stimulant for the regeneration of the neural networks that are affected by Alzheimer’s. Working both as a preventive measure and a regenerative treatment, ashwagandha appears to be a possible cure for Alzheimer’s.

Clinical Trial Methodology

• Treatment groups:
  • Participants: Randomly selected amongst populations of interested patients affected by early-stage Alzheimer’s from clinics, local Primary Care/Geriatric/Neurologists’ offices, and nursing homes compensated with a standard monetary sum.
    • Considering these are geriatric patients and ones affected by dementia, need informed consent signed by the participant and designated healthcare proxy if dementia progresses during the experiment and participant can’t convey his/her health needs/desires down the line.
    • Informed consent needs to include: the ability to leave at any point during the experiment, awareness of unknown side effects, awareness of placebo in the experiment, understand obligation to fulfill and physical and mental risks (PET scan, CANTAB, MMSE) involved for tests at every point of the experiment (beginning, middle, end), understanding that their consent now is for the entire duration of experiment, even if they forget about the consent form down the line (as witnessed by healthcare proxy).
  • Sample Size: For a significant difference (p<.05 & 90% power) in the results need a minimum sample size of 80 patients in final results. Starting size of 200 participants would be ideal, as many will not continue with the study due to other circumstances or conflicts during the testing period.
  • Control: Subjects take a placebo capsule without ashwagandha orally, daily.
  • Experimental: Subjects take capsule with ashwagandha powder orally, daily.
• Experimental Parameters and Testing:
  • Memory – Memory Test ( CANTAB Mobile)- subjects will take an online memory test on a computer to quantify memory data collected and progress over time
  • Cognition- Cognitive Test (MMSE) – subjects will take a cognitive test to test for thinking and problem solving over the course of the treatment
  • Plaque Buildup- PET scan for amyloid plaque in the brain before, once in the middle, and after the course of treatment
• Experiment Plan:
  • Participants take their designated capsule, daily, over the course of 6 months. A PET scan specifically for amyloid plaque will be conducted prior start as well as a CANTAB test and MMSE test to function as a baseline. At midpoint (3 months), the second set of tests will be done to determine if any significant change had occurred in all three parameters. A general health check will be done to account for the drug’s effect on other parts/functions of the body. At the end of the treatment course (6 months), the same tests and check-up will be done to all participants still remaining in the study.
• Considerations for risk towards participants
  • Risks mainly are focused on side-effects of this herb on the participants in this study. Considering the short and long-term risks for this herb are unknown and undocumented. Cytotoxic properties are unknown and a basic health check should be done in addition to results to see if the drug has affected any other parts and functions of the body.
    • Must be ready to halt experiment if long-term effects demonstrate fatal or deadly side-effects in a large percentage of participants.
  • Considerations also include the patients progressing quickly in their Alzheimer’s, especially in the control group/ They must be monitored since Alzheimer’s and severe dementia can lead to reckless and dangerous behaviors as well as inability to eat/feed the participant, causing possible death.
  • Since patients will most likely be older in age, must account for natural death due to other factors and calculate the statistics between the experimental and control to ensure death is not related to the consumption of the drug.
  • An additional consideration is that if Alzheimer’s progresses quickly and the patient can no longer consume/take in the drug on their own accord, that the experiment cannot continue in that participant and will instead be logged as data stating that the pill can longer be administered due to severe dementia.
• Potential Results & Quantifiable Success 
  • Potential results include a positive trend in cognitive ability in the experimental group contrasted against a negative trend in the control displaying how the drug helps treat and possibly reverse the symptoms of Alzheimer’s. Additional results can include no trend in experimental group meaning the drug has prevented progression, however, has not contributed to the formation of new neural networks/healing. A final option was that the experimental and the control group had shown little to no difference in mean and SD leading to the conclusion that there was no discernable significant effect on the populations by the drug on the progression of Alzheimer’s.
  • Quantifiable Success would be a positive or zero trends for the experimental group and a negative trend for the control since it would signal an effect by the drug compared to the placebo. If the final sample size was greater than or equal to 80 then the data collected would be statistically significant by sample size and if the given results were calculated to be significant using a two-way repeated measures Analysis of Variance the drug would demonstrate a definite effect.