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---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Herb may help fight Alzheimer's ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- SCARBOROUGH, England (September 15, 1997 2:21 p.m. EDT) - Sage, a herb, has properties which could be helpful in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease, scientists said Monday. "As long as 400 years ago, English herbalists were reporting that sage was good for improving the memory. Our research may explain why," Dr. Peter Houghton told a pharmacology conference. Researchers at King's College in London found that a compound extracted from essential oil of the herb blocked the activity of an enzyme linked to the degenerative brain disease. Blocking the enzyme stops the breakdown of one of the chemical messengers in the brain. Low levels of the chemical, acetyl choline, lead to the loss of short-term memory, the first sign of the illness. Sage, which has also been proven to have anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties, may also be useful in other aspects of Alzheimer's, he said. But Houghton warned that it was too early to say whether eating large quantities of the herb would help to prevent the disease. He said the most common type of sage used in cooking, salvia officinalis, contains a compound called thujone which can be toxic in large quantities. Copyright 1997 Nando.net Copyright 1997 Reuter Information Service <http://www.nando.net/newsroom/ntn/health/091597/health17_12086_noframes.html> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- [log in to unmask]