Source: DGNews  |  Posted 2 years ago

By Ed Susman

VIENNA, Austria -- July 13, 2009 -- Patients with mild cognitive impairment but who are not diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease appear to benefit from a 6-month course of treatment of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), researchers stated here at the Alzheimer’s Association 2009 International Conference on Alzheimer’s Disease (ICAD).

The Memory Improvement With DHA Study (MIDAS) indicates that DHA improves learning and memory recall in age-related cognitive decline, according to Karin Yurko-Mauro, PhD, Martek Biosciences, Columbia, Maryland.

“Algal DHA appears to have a significant impact on early episodic memory changes and its benefits are roughly equivalent to having the learning and memory skills of someone 3 years younger,” she said in a presentation on July 12.

The study met its primary outcome measure -- a change in baseline in the Paired Associate Learning component of the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery (CANTAB). “Compared with normative data, our results show a 7-year improvement with DHA versus a 3.6-year improvement with placebo (P < .03),” Dr. Yurko-Mauro said.

The 240 patients on DHA made an average of 1.63 fewer errors on the test than the 242 patients who were taking placebo capsules. All patients were aged 55 years or older.

She said that patients who received DHA also showed other physiological changes that indicate an improved cardiovascular system, including a significant 2.1 decreased in heart rate (P < .03) which correlated with a doubling of the levels of DHA in plasma (P < .01).

The researchers did not observe changes in blood pressure, body weight, levels of Alzheimer’s related protein, or C-reactive protein levels.

She said the improvement seen among the placebo patients might be due to the retest effect, in which participants get better at performing the tasks and in using the computer test screen when they redo the test at the end of the trial.

Patients also underwent a Mini-Mental State Examination at the beginning of the study and again at 6 months at the conclusion of the trial. She said there was no difference in changes in the examination between the 2 groups.

She said that the analysis of components of the CANTAB showed some improvements with DHA and some cases in which no improvement was observed.

“We don’t have enough data to make a firm recommendation to take DHA supplements,” said William Thies, PhD, Alzheimer’s Association, Chicago, Illinois, who moderated the press briefing.

[Presentation title: Results of the MIDAS Trial: Effects of Docosahexaenoic Acid on Physiological and Safety Parameters in Age-Related Cognitive Decline. Abstract 09-A-2137]