[burckle]

Hi:

The March 30 issue of Science magazine has an article on a novel strategy against Parkinson's Desease. It will use a novel approach to test a nutritional supplement (CREATIN) against the disease. The article can be found on Page 1778 of the March 30 issue of the journal (vol. 315).

www.sciencemag.org

All the best,

Lloyd

[Daffy Duck]

Creatine is a nutritional supplement, a bit like a vitamin. Creatine does not, even in theory increase the formation of dopamine. Dopamine reduces muscle contraction. Creatine instead increases energy production in muscles.

The clinical trial is based on a prior study of Creatine in the treatment of Parkinson's Disease :

Neurology [2006] 67 (7) : 1262-1264 (Bender A, Koch W, Elstner M, Schombacher Y, Bender J, Moeschl M, Gekeler F, Muller-Myhsok B, Gasser T, Tatsch K, Klopstock T.) Creatine supplementation in Parkinson disease: a placebo-controlled randomized pilot trial.

Creatine was shown in this study to have no effect at all in reducing Parkinson's Disease. In the words of the study it "had no effect on overall Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale scores". The Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale is the main method of assessing whether a product improves Parkinson's Disease.

So the use of Creatine in Parkinson's Disease is not only fundamentally flawed in theory, because it has no involvement in Parkinson's Disease, but has already been shown in practice to be of no benefit. So it is difficult to see why the large clinical trial of Creatine in Parkinson's Disease is even taking place.

[burckle]

Mr. Duck:

I want to thank you for your input. This site loses its value if there is no one with your knowledge monitoring our posts.

All the best,


Lloyd

[paula_w]

Daffy I have to say that I wonder too...about all the publicity at least. I'd love to see something more substantial..the problem is in the central nervous system. I doubt that a vitamin is going to do it.

I still remember Mike Fox saying in an interview when asked about green tea - 'It makes me pee." lol

If it works, tho, that would be good and it needs to be tested. There should be patient advocates on that team.

I heard you can get the study strength dosage online at the sponsors site....forget their name.

Actually, they did the right thing to recruit 1700 participants. They definitely need to advertise.

And so we wait, often thinking of participants of another study -- participants who, 3(?) years later now, still have equipment in their bodies, still receive saline in it, and who know there is something that works.

paula

[Stitcher]

Study will probe creatine's effect on Parkinson's

Government scientists want to know if a dietary supplement thought to boost muscles might boost the brains of Parkinson's patients.

Wednesday, April 04, 2007
The Associated Press
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07094/774785-114.stm

The National Institutes of Health have begun a major study to see if creatine might help preserve the nerve cells that die off in Parkinson's, and thus slow the disease's worsening.

The study will enroll more than 1,700 people with early-stage Parkinson's -- using doses higher than usual with today's over-the-counter brands, said Dr. Debra Babcock, a neurologist with NIH's National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. There are three study sites in Pennsylvania, all in the Philadelphia area. No sites are in Ohio or West Virginia.

Dr. Babcock warned that "creatine is not completely benign," so she cautioned patients not to try the approach on their own. Kidney failure and muscle and heart problems are potential side effects.

It is the second dietary supplement under NIH scrutiny for Parkinson's; a study of coenzyme Q-10, thought to help cells' energy production, is under way.

Parkinson's affects 1.5 million people in the United States and 6 million worldwide. It gradually destroys brain cells that produce dopamine, a chemical crucial for the cellular communication that controls muscle movement. What results are increasingly severe tremors, periodically stiff or frozen limbs, slow movement and impaired balance and coordination.

Standard treatments eventually quit working and don't fight the disease's underlying cause.

Muscle cells produce creatine, and athletes often swallow more in hopes of improved performance and muscle bulk.

But because dietary supplements are only loosely regulated, there is little scientific proof of how, or even whether, it works. With Parkinson's, the theory is that creatine may boost cellular energy or act as a cell-protecting antioxidant.

In a pilot study, patients given a high-dose, drug-like version of creatine didn't seem to worsen as much over a year as those given a dummy drug. The new study will more stringently track participants' functioning for five to seven years.

For more information on the trial, see www.parkinsontrial.ninds.nih.gov/.