Fluctuating Dose Responses?
 
If you are taking supplemental vitamins and your dose responses
are fluctuating check your vitamin label. Vitamin B6
(pyridoxine hydrochloride) may be the reason. Vitamin B6 is an antidote
for levodopa.
 
 The 1995 Physicians GenRX says, "Pyridoxine hydrochloride in oral doses
of 10 to 25 mg rapidly reverses the toxic/therapeutic effects of levodopa.
This should be considered before recommending vitamin preparations."
 
 Other foods that are rich in vitamin B6 which could be minimized in the
diet to avoid reduced levodopa effect are:
 
brewers yeast                   spinich
wheat bran                      sweet potatoes
wheat germ                      white potatoes
liver                           bananas
kidney                          prunes
heart                           watermelon
cantaloupe                      milk
cabbage                         eggs
blackstrap molasses             beef
 
 The daily requirement for healthy men is 1.8 mg and for non-pregnant/non-
lactating women is 2.0 mg per day. Vitamin B6 doesn't have to be replenished
every day.
 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
Atkins/Birkmayer/NADH
 
What Does all This Mean?
 
Dr. Atkins was quoted in his newsletter as saying:
 
"This info is taken from  Dr. Atkins "Health Revelations" Newsletter...
 
NEW SUPPLEMENT EASES ALZHEIMERS, PARKINSONS
 
People with pd stop trembling, those with ad stop forgetting, and everyone
else gets a big boost from fatigue - all with a new natural substance that
excites me more than anyother discovery of the past decade.
 
NADH, also called Coenzyme  1, is the stored form of energy in every cell of
our bodies, and is now available w/o prescription as a suppllement.
................
I was already well-informed about NADH when Jorg Birkmayer, M.D., the world's
chief NADH researcher, came to the Foundation for the Advancement of
Innovativei Medicine in March.  I was even taken aback tho'   when Birkmayer,
director of Birkmayer Institute for  PD Therapy in Vienna, played a video of
3 of his patients before & after NADH therapy."
 
**** Kind of reminds many about the pallidotomy videos ***************
 
"The only difference was NADH.
 
Since 1988, Birkmayer & his father, Walter Birkmayer, M.D., have used NADH to
treat more than 885  people with pd.  80% of them  showed moderate to
excellent improvement in their disability (Acta Neurologica Scandinavia,
1993; 87 [Suppl146]:32-35).  The younger Birkmayery believes that most of
theh people  who didn't improve had advanced arteriosclerosis that prevented
the coenzyme from reaching the brain.
 
Far more important that even the initial improvements is that those people
haven't deteriorated at all in the years since NADH treatments began.  Most
of them have been able to discontinue/decrease use of l-dopa.
 
Until Birkmayer began giving NADH to a small group of people with ad, no
glimmer of hope existed in  the treatment of this dreaded destroyer of
memory.  But ad & pd share many biochemical similarities, including an
ad-like dementia in later stages of pd  On the heels of his initial success,
Birkmayer decided to test NADH  vs the memory robber.
All of the 17 people with ad who received supplements of the coenzyme showed
significant improvements on standard memory tests, according to unpublished
test results.  And for the past 2 yearrs further brain deterioration has been
stopped in its tracks."
 
********** And now back to the commercial ***************************
 
"And now for the rest of us.  I can't state it any more simply than this:
 supplements of NADH increase your energy levels.
 
In addition, the evidence so far suggests that NADH will  become a safe,
commonly used supplement to treat depression and garden-variety memory lapses
& concentration difficulties.  People with family histories of ad may also
want to consider taking NADH to prevent mental deterioration."
....................................................................
..........................
 
***** If we could interupt the commercial for the facts, here is what is
***** published.
 
***** This is the abstract of the study Dr. Atkins is referring to.
 
 
Authors
  Birkmayer JG.  Vrecko C.  Volc D.  Birkmayer W.
Institution
  Birkmayer-Institut fur Parkinsontherapie Vienna, Austria.
Title
  Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH)--a new therapeutic approach to
  Parkinson's disease. Comparison of oral and parenteral application.
Source
  Acta Neurologica Scandinavica.  Supplementum.  146:32-5, 1993.
Abstract
  The reduced coenzyme nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH) has been
  used as medication in 885 parkinsonian patients in an open label trial.
  About half of the patients received NADH by intravenous infusion, the
  other part orally by capsules. In about 80% of the patients a beneficial
  clinical effect was observed: 19.3% of the patients showed a very good
  (30-50%) improvement of disability, 58.8% a moderate (10-30%) improvement.
  21.8% did not respond to NADH. Statistical analysis of the improvement in
  correlation with the disability prior to treatment, the duration of the
  disease and the age of the patients revealed the following results: All
  these 3 parameters have a significant although weak influence on the
  improvement. The disability before the treatment has a positive regression
  coefficient (t value < 0.01). The duration of the disease has a negative
  regression coefficient (< 0.01) and so has the age a negative regression
  coefficient (t value < 0.05). In other words younger patients and patients
  with a shorter duration of disease have a better chance to gain a marked
  improvement than older patients and patients with longer duration of the
  disease. The orally applied form of NADH yielded an overall improvement in
  the disability which was comparable to that of the parenterally applied
  form.
 
 
******* This was a Phase 1 study for testing the safety and efficacy of a
******* compound. There are 2 other Phases that have to be completed
******* before a compound can be licensed by the FDA as a new drug.
 
******* Another group, upon finding the Birkmayer study deficient in
******* certain facts, initiated a double-blind study to verify the
******* improvements alluded to and emphasized by Dr. Atkins in the
******* ad.
 
Authors
  Dizdar N.  Kagedal B.  Lindvall B.
Institution
  Department of Neurology, University Hospital, Linkoping, Sweden.
Title
  Treatment of Parkinson's disease with NADH.
Source
  Acta Neurologica Scandinavica.  90(5):345-7, 1994 Nov.
Abstract
  It has earlier been claimed that clinical improvement of patients with
  Parkinson's disease is obtained by treatment with NADH. This has to be
  verified by double-blind, clinical studies and measurement of biochemical
  effects of the treatment. In a double blind study five patients with
  clinically moderate Parkinson's disease were treated with NADH, 25 mg,
  given intravenously once a day for four days. Then they were given 25 mg
  NADH intramuscularly after 2 and 4 weeks. Disability scores were
  determined before each treatment and two weeks after the final injection.
  A control group (n = 4) with the same degree of Parkinson's disease
  obtained sodium chloride with the same schedule. According to the Unified
  Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale a tendency to clinical improvement was
  seen after the iv infusions in both treatment and placebo groups. However,
  the changes were not statistically significant, and no changes occurred
  during the following weeks. No changes were found neither in the study nor
  the control group regarding cerebrospinal fluid concentrations of
  dynorfin, metenkefalin, somatostatin, hydroxy-methoxy-phenylglycol,
  homovanillic acid and 5-hydroxyindole acetic acid.
 
  The results indicate
  that no great changes are obtained after short-term treatment of
  parkinsonian patients with NADH, neither clinically nor biochemically.
 
***** This double-blind study while informative does not meet FDA require-
***** ments for a Phase 2 double-blind, crossover, placebo-controlled study
***** with 200 to 300 study subjects.
 
***** Back to Dr. Atkins newsletter...
 
"The  planned clinical trials of NADH, which the FDA is expected to approve
this summer with Birkmayer's own patented oral version of the coenzyme,
should further unlock some of the secrets of this utterly astounding
supplement."
 
*** From what I can find, no company has filed an IND with the FDA for
*** NADH and there have been no results published in any of the mainstream
*** peered journals. "Buyer Beware!"
 
 
 
 
John Cottingham                      KNOWLEDGE is of two kinds: we know
[log in to unmask]                      a subject, or we know where we can
OR                                   find information upon it."
[log in to unmask]            Dr. Samuel Johnson