| The study follows
recently released results from an earlier trial conducted in Europe
showing that the drink, called Souvenaid, improved verbal recall in
people with mild disease who were followed for three months.
"Our primary goal is to see whether Souvenaid can slow
the worsening of memory difficulties in persons with mild to moderate
Alzheimer's who are already taking approved treatments for the disease,
" said Dr. Raj Shah, medical director of the Rush Memory Clinic and one
of the study's lead investigators.
Results of the first European study were released
recently following publication in the journal Alzheimer's & Dementia. In
that study, 225 patients with mild Alzheimer's were divided into two
groups. Some drank Souvenaid and the others sipped a non-medical drink
every day for 12 weeks.
Researchers found that the patients who drank
Souvenaid improved in a delayed verbal recall task.
A total of 500 individuals who are taking medications
approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the symptomatic
treatment of mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease will be enrolled in
the present study at 40 sites across the U.S. In the double-blinded
study, half of the participants will drink about four ounces of
Souvenaid once a day for 24 weeks. The other half will drink a control
product that is similar in flavor, appearance, and composition, but
without the Souvenaid nutrients. Neither group will know whether they
are drinking Souvenaid or the other beverage.
Researchers will test whether the participants'
cognitive and functional performance — including memory, language,
attention/concentration, executive functioning, information processing
and recall — shows any greater improvement with Souvenaid than with
medication alone.
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Rush University Medical Center
receives payment from Nutricia for conducting the trial. |
