Ricki Lewis

Larry and I have had 17 or so felines as members of our household. Babycat was the only one to be diagnosed with dementia.

 

One of our daughters had brought Babycat home from a party. She and her sisters named him Babycat because he was a kitten, not realizing he would not always be so, and would wind up somewhere in the middle of our cat roster.

 

In his later years, Babycat took to howling piteously at a corner of our bedroom ceiling, every early evening and sometimes during the night too. We assumed he was responding to mice scurrying across the attic floor.

 

But Babycat was likely sundowning. And shortly after, our vet said Babycat probably had dementia. We became accustomed to the plaintive howling.

 

To continue reading, go to DNA Science, where this post first appeared.

The avalanche of TV ads for Prevagen that coincided with my reaching Medicare age has inspired me to investigate what's coming for Alzheimer's disease (AD) – real treatments. Prevagen is not that.

 

Deceptive Advertising

 

The scenes, unending lest they immediately vanish from the viewer's disintegrating memory, show gorgeous older folks, especially couples, enjoying life and claiming that Prevagen keeps them thinking clearly, implying that they wouldn't have otherwise. A banner on the lower right proclaims "Prevagen improves memory." Yet there's no evidence that this is in fact true.

 

Prevagen pitches don't mention the class action lawsuit against Quincy Bioscience that was settled in 2020. Customers who had their receipt could get $70 back, and those who didn't, a generous $12. The red flag? Those claims to improve memory.

 

Prevagen, a "brain health supplement" and not a drug, falls into that regulatory backwater for products skirting rigorous clinical trials. The settlement demanded the company stop the claims, but "Buy Prevagen® Brain Health & Memory Improvement Supplements" appears instantly on Google. The asterisk above "Supplements" is the standard disclaimer: "These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease."

 

To continue reading, go to my DNA Science blog at Public Library of Science, where this post first appeared.

"Survival of the fittest" is one of the most misunderstood terms in biology. Evoking images of physical prowess, it actually refers to an individual inheriting traits that increase the chances of having fertile offspring, such as brilliant plumage or a high sperm count. But according to an intriguing study published recently in  Read More