Playing favorites
NSAIDs may protect against dementia and Alzheimer’s disease — but at what cost?
Imagine someone told you that you could protect one of your children from a horrible disease, but only by poisoning the rest of your family. Sick and twisted? You bet. But it’s not that far off from what’s happening with the latest Alzheimer’s “news.” Of course, the media hasn’t presented it quite that way. Instead, they’ve focused entirely on the silver lining: A new study published in the journal Neurology shows that people taking non- steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) have a reduced risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease.
Researchers collected data from six different studies involving more than 13,000 people and found that those taking NSAIDs were 23 percent less likely to develop Alzheimer’s or dementia.
What they didn’t study was how much more likely those same patients are to develop serious side effects from NSAIDs: things like kidney and liver failure, bleeding disorders, and increased risk of heart attack.
Forgive me if I don’t see the benefit in sacrificing the rest of my body in order to protect my brain. After all, what’s the use of doing something to stay mentally sharp if it just makes you feel miserable everywhere else?
Even though the study didn’t address the risks posed by NSAID use, the authors did caution against relying on this discovery as an Alzheimer’s “get out of jail free” card. In fact, one of the researchers came right out and said that “you don’t want to take NSAIDs to prevent against Alzheimer’s. We don’t have any sufficient data to make any recommendations like that.” And the head of geriatric psychiatry at Monefiore Medical Center in New York cautioned that people “should be aware that what was conveyed [by the NSAIDs in the study] was a fraction of a benefit.”
I know that I’ve mentioned it many times before in the eTips, but the fact remains that there’s a simpler, safer way to reduce your risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s. Dr. Wright has talked about the brain-protective effects of low-dose lithium in numerous issues of Nutrition & Healing, most recently the article titled “The mineral breakthrough helping terminal patients defy death — and why you should be taking a little of it too,” featured in the April issue earlier this year. Subscribers can download and view that issue for free by visiting www.wrightnewsletter.com and logging on to the Archives with the username and password listed on page 8 of your most recent newsletter. And if you’re not already a subscriber, the website also offers details on how you can become one, and access this life-saving and brain-protecting information starting today.
Sources:
“Common painkillers have anti-Alzheimer’s effect,” Reuters Health news, 5/28/08
“Ibuprofen no better at reducing Alzheimer’s risk: Aspirin, naproxen as effective, but experts don’t endorse use of the drugs to combat dementia,” HealthDay News (www.healthday.com), 5/28/08
