Bacopa for Alzheimer’s Disease
By Curtis Alexander, Pharm.D.
Summary: Bacopa is an Ayurvedic herb with purported effects on memory. It has a history of long use in India for this purpose. The available studies on Bacopa are positive. Although these studies focus on either already healthy people or aren’t focused exclusively on Alzheimer’s patients.
Q: My grandmother has the early stages of Alzheimer’s. I’ve heard that the herb Bacopa can help with memory loss. Do you think this would be OK for her?
A: One of the first things I like to do with folks is caution them that I know of NO single supplement, herb, vitamin or prescription medication that is a cure-all or anything close for Alzheimer’s.
And while you probably know that sometimes people get false expectations.
However, Bacopa is on one of those little known herbs that appears to have some positive effects when it comes to cognition.
No Alzheimer Studies
In my preliminary research on Bacopa (also referred to as Bacopa monniera or Bacopa monnieri) I didn’t find any studies specifically looking at it’s use in Alzheimer’s disease.
What I did find was a lot of animal studies (rats) and some various human studies looking at Bacopa and human memory. Seventy-six adults between age 40 and 65 took part in a study (it was double blinded and placebo controlled – which is good) where the researchers tested various memory functions as well as the participants anxiety levels. They tested once prior to the study, one after three months on the trial and one six weeks after the study was finished.
They found that the Bacopa significantly helped the retention of NEW information. Follow up tests also showed the rate of learning was unaffected. This suggests that the rate of forgetfulness of newly acquired information was decreased.
So…that’s very positive. But, remember – the study looked at NEWLY acquired information. So it might be a bit of a stretch to suggest that old information will be recalled better. Which is what happens often in Alzheimer’s patients.
Non-Alzheimer Patients
There was another promising study out of Australia that looked at the memory and cognition effects of Bacopa. They found that Bacopa significantly improved performance on the ‘working memory’ factor. In short, the study designers concluded that the cognitive enhancing effects in humans using Bacopa was real.
But, and this is a biggie, the study looked at healthy volunteers – not actual Alzheimer patients.
Also, the positive effects weren’t seen until after 90 days of Bacopa use.
Combination Products
If you’ve looked around yourself at all for Bacopa you’ll find it a lot with other ‘brain’ nutrients. So, many of the positive reports that you see online are not just for Bacopa – they are for other herbs and nutrients so please keep that in mind.
Bacopa and Alzheimer’s Conclusion
Frankly, Bacopa to me seems – at the very least – promising for the use of Alzheimer’s. As an added benefit there weren’t many reported side effects that I saw.
So, if it were my own family member I would certainly consider giving it a shot.
The usual dose of Bacopa is 150mg to 300mg once or twice a day. And, just to reiterate, Bacopa does need to be taken for extended periods before positive results can be expected.
You may also want to consider purchasing and using a product that is combined with other memory enhancing nutrients. Some of which include Ashwagandha, Ginkgo biloba, Ginseng, Mucuna pruriens, Reishi, Tyrosine, Choline, Vitamin B-12 and others.