A new form of treatment for Alzheimer's

( Axona provides an alternative energy source to brain cells )

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Imagine standing by helplessly as your memories, the things that make you who you are, slip away. That's what patients with Alzheimer's Disease go through. But some patients are getting help fighting the effects of this disease from a new type of food.

Jennifer Hendricks and her dad Max enjoy spending time pouring over old photos. For Jennifer, these memories will last, but for Max, the memories are slipping away. "I know the words, but I can't express the sentiment," Max said. Max is suffering from moderately advanced Alzheimer's Disease, a devastating condition where the cells in the brain begin to die off. "For somebody that's so outgoing, and to see the frustration and the sadness because he can't communicate, it's very hard," Jennifer said.

Max is a former preacher. He spent most of his adult life teaching from the bible. However, since his diagnosis, his condition has worsened and he has been unable to preach. "The hardest part about the whole disease is the fact that he can't preach anymore, and that was his passion," Jennifer said. He says he spends a lot of time now listening to tapes of his old sermons. He says he has more than 6,000 of his sermons recorded.

Dr. David Crumpacker is a psychiatrist who specializes in treating Alzheimer's patients. "Alzheimer's robs us of who we are," he said. "I believe in aggressively treating Alzheimer's disease, and one of my jobs for my patients is to provide everything that I think can be helpful for them." Dr. Crumpacker says there are a handful of medications for Alzheimer's patients like Aricept and Namenda that help replace certain chemicals in the brain to keep it functioning. "I can't reverse the process," he said. "I can't turn back the clock, but maybe I can keep things where they are."

Now, there's a new form of treatment that recently gained F.D.A. support. It's called Axona. It's known as a medical food and comes in a powder form that is dissolved in water. In Alzheimer's patients, brain cells can get cut off from sugar which is a main fuel supply. When they get cut off, they eventually lose their functionality and die. Axona works by getting into the cell through other pathways and give the cell the fuel it needs to continue functioning. "If we can supply them with another form of energy, we can keep them alive longer, keep them functioning longer," said Dr. Crumpacker. In addition to his medications, Max has been drinking Axona for several months and says he's noticed a difference. "My memory's better, but my words are still bad," he said.

Dr. Anne Lipton, a neurologist and co-author of "Alzheimer Disease and Other Dementias", says the results achieved so far from Axona are positive, but the full effects are still not known. "There's only a few studies that have been done, and they only involve a couple hundred patients with Alzheimer's Disease," she said. "So, we still need a lot more research." She added, though, that because Axona is a medical food, generally there is a low risk of side-effects which can include some minor gastrointestinal problems. For Hendricks, though, Axona has become a welcomed weapon in their arsenal to combat her father's devastating disease. "It's a downward spiral, and if you can slow the downward spiral, then that's what we want to do," she said. ...http://cbs4.com

Axona

Axona is a specially formulated medical food* intended for the clinical dietary management of the metabolic processes associated with mild-to-moderate AD
Axona is a proprietary formulation of caprylic triglyceride
Caprylic triglyceride safely increases plasma concentrations of ketone bodies (predominantly BHB), which can provide an alternative energy source for the brains of AD patients
Caprylic triglycerides are metabolized differently than long-chain triglycerides and are not generally associated with increased blood cholesterol levels
Clinical trials have shown that Axona improves cognitive function in some AD patients
Axona is administered orally once a day, supplied as a powder to be mixed with water or other foods/liquids
Administer after a meal, preferably breakfast or lunch
Axona can be taken with commonly prescribed AD medications
Axona's adverse events are primarily limited to the gastrointestinal tract

Axona is administered under physician supervision and dispensed by prescription. ...http://www.accerapharma.com

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