TUESDAY, March 30, 2004 (HealthDayNews) -- A drug derived from licorice root improves memory in older men and may protect against age-related cognitive decline, a new study finds.
A British research team found the drug, carbenoxolone -- which has also been used for many years to treat stomach ulcers -- boosted memory in both healthy seniors and older men with type 2 diabetes.
"Based on work we had done in animals and cells, we tried out an idea to improve on the mild memory decline that happens in all of us as we get older," says lead researcher Dr. Jonathan Seckl, a professor of molecular medicine at Edinburgh University in Scotland.
Seckl's team studied 10 healthy men, aged 55 to 75, and 12 men with type 2 diabetes, aged 52 to 70. According to Seckl, the healthy men were chosen because they weren't taking any medications and the men with type 2 diabetes were picked because of the mild memory loss associated with the disease.
During the study, the subjects were given either carbenoxolone or a phony drug. The researchers used word association and verbal tests to evaluate the men's ability to learn word lists and recall paragraphs.
They found that among the healthy men, verbal ability significantly improved after four weeks of carbenoxolone. And among the men with type 2 diabetes, verbal memory significantly improved after six weeks of treatment.
These findings appear in this week's issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The researchers chose carbenoxolone because it is known to block the enzyme called beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 1, which is needed to allow the hormone glucocorticoid into brain cells. Research had previously found increased long-term exposure to this hormone negatively affects the brain's cognitive functioning.
"If we can extend this finding to people with common forms of memory impairment, then we have a way of approaching this problem," Seckl says. "There are very limited approaches to memory loss with aging now."
Because of some of the side effects of carbenoxolone, it might not be the ideal drug for this problem, Seckl says. "But it's very encouraging, because we have seen these same results from cells to mice to man."
The next step, Seckl says is to look at people with severe memory problems, such as people with early Alzheimer's, to see if carbenoxolone can improve their memory.
"But like all medical discoveries, it has to be put in context," he adds. "This is not the greatest breakthrough since the turn of the millennium. But it's an important step in a process and a new way of approaching memory impairments in aging."
William H. Thies, vice president for medical and scientific affairs at the Alzheimer's Association, says the findings are interesting although the study is small.
The study highlights the amazing amount of research that is being done in Alzheimer's research and how much progress has been made over the last 25 years, he adds.
Thies says the study adds important data about how cells function and what that means to people's cognitive function. "This is an area that is worth pursuing, and we will hear more about it," he adds.
But Thies cautions that to call these finding promising is an overstatement. "Today's promise is tomorrow's fish wrap," he says.
More information
Learn about memory loss and aging from the National Institute on Aging or the American Academy of Family Physicians.
