Ron's Info-Closet Annex

I have some interesting anecdotal findings for people who think they may have lost some cognitive ability as they aged, and would like to recover some of it.

Introduction

My mother has Alzheimer's or a similar ailment, and since I am somewhat worried about having to endure it myself, I have been taking a combination of nutritional supplements that more or less duplicates the mixture in the commercially-available "youth pill" Juvenon, which is a combination of alpha-lipoic acid and acetyl L-carnitine.

This combination of antioxidants is supposed to have a strong effect over time on both physical and mental health in older people. The theory is that Juvenon repairs one's mitochondria and makes them more efficient (mitochondria are your cells' "energy factories"). I am only 38, but I thought I would try it for three months and then wait to try it again later in life if I didn't experience any effect (and yet it was shown experimentally to have an effect). Fortunately, I seem to be experiencing significant health improvements.

Subjective evidence

Juvenon users are reputed to experience improvement in brain function before improvement in body function because the brain uses such a significant portion of the body's energy. However, I noticed increased physical stamina first. Where I used to need to pause on a walk uphill in Pioneer Square, Seattle, I now keep walking. Climbs up multiple flights of stairs that used to be impossible (I weigh 400 pounds) are now merely difficult. My appetite has also decreased recently, something that I have not seen mentioned as an effect or side effect.

I have been taking these supplements nearly a month now and lately I seem to have begun to experience an improvement in cognitive function also. You wouldn't think that at 38 my memory would need much improvement, but I had unrecognised and untreated sleep apnea for a number of years, and I may have experienced some low-level brain damage through hypoxia. In any case, I have begun to surprise myself. I was talking to my sister-in-law Melinda Hautala recently, and she asked me if I knew the name of the cartoonist who drew strips about the lawyer for children: "You smelt it, you dealt it. That's the law" -- that sort of thing.

"Wait a minute," I said. "Ruben... Bolling." I haven't read a Ruben Bolling strip in a long time, but it might be argued that I could remember his name anyway since I still see links to his strips sometimes on the front page of Salon.com. However, I had better anecdotal evidence for memory improvement later. Marty said that she had encountered an island-sized fish in a game of Tales of the Arabian Nights she had played. "It was called a c-- uh, something that begins with a 'c'," she said.

"Kraken?" There was a medieval myth that krakens would appear to be islands, then submerge and drown sailors who landed on them.

"No, that's a squid. It was called something else."

"I know what you're talking about. It's on the tip of my tongue," I said. "I think it was some kind of turtle. It's in The Tolkien Reader... Catoblepas? No, that's a different kind of mythical animal. I have it: Fastitocalon!"

Marty said she didn't think that was it, and it may not have been the name of the creature in her game, but it was indeed the name of Tolkien's creature, and it was an island-sized turtle.

I haven't cracked The Tolkien Reader in five years or so. I doubt I've read the poem "Fastitocalon" more than once since high school. I couldn't even find The Tolkien Reader on my shelf to verify the name; I had to use Foster's Complete Guide to Middle-earth.

I'm having the tip-of-the-tongue feeling all the time now, and I seem to have felt the stuff kick in a few nights ago: after I talked to Melinda, I carried on another complex phone conversation while surfing and downloading files. This kind of multitasking is something I had been finding difficult, but it seems now I have the spare cycles.

Objections

Of course, my subjective self-reports aren't even a single-blind scientific study, let alone a double-blind one. Maybe it's all a placebo effect caused by increased confidence in myself. That's the kind of thing the National Institute of Health study they're doing on Juvenon is meant to discover. I am merely reporting three apparent positive changes to my health: two apparent cognitive changes (memory and concentration) and one apparent physical change (endurance). There is experimental evidence for similar changes in rats, however, and there are other subjective data for humans, such as Stewart Brand's report.

While subjective or self-reported data cannot be counted as being as scientifically valid as data from a double-blind study, it should not be discounted altogether, because that's where practically all medical science starts. Imagine that you were the first person in history to drink alcohol. How much would you have to drink, or how many times, before your subjective data counted as something worthy of investigation?

Similarly, as an early adopter of this chemical cocktail, I am reporting two alterations of consciousness: first, the sensation (if one can call it that) of something (whatever it was) "kicking in", and second, a constant sense of things at the tip of my tongue. Having something at the tip of one's tongue is not a rare sensation, but I would argue that experiencing it for extended periods (on the order of hours) is qualitatively as well as quantitatively different -- for me.

Where do these consciousness alterations come from? I'd be committing a fallacy (post hoc ergo propter hoc, "after that therefore because of that") if I concluded it was the supplements, but my experience is suggestive -- to me, maybe to you.

As for the possibility that the increase in my endurance comes from increased exercise rather than the supplements, I very much doubt that it did initially, since at the time I first noticed the improvement, I was only walking through Pioneer Square once a week to have lunch with my friend Chad, and not getting any other significant exercise. Alpha-lipoic acid by itself (without acetyl L-carnitine) has already been shown experimentally to increase endurance.

Conclusion

I am looking into getting my mother to start taking this stuff. If it works for me, I hope it will work even more for her. I recommend a trial for anyone who is worrying about their cognitive functions as they age, or their physical health for that matter. See for yourself whether it works.

Just to be clear: I am taking the following twice a day:

alpha-lipoic acid 300 mg
acetyl L-carnitine 500 mg

I get mine from iHerb.com, which seems to have pretty good deals. The supplements are certainly less expensive when bought separately than under the brand name Juvenon, although of course they are a little less convenient this way. (I am not affiliated with iHerb.com in any way other than as a customer.)

As to whether more is better, I have no idea. I am taking a little more than is in the Juvenon preparation because I am larger than average, and because it is more convenient, given the size of the tabs and capsules I ordered. I assume that if this stuff can be shown experimentally to affect humans in the way predicted, that there will be a threshold beneath which it is ineffective, but beyond that I am not willing to speculate.

As for safety, both L-carnitine and alpha-lipoic acid have been used by humans for years, if not decades, and seem pretty safe. It is the combination that is novel. Their interaction may produce some negative side effects, but so far I haven't noticed any, or read of them.

Postscript

My sister-in-law Meredith Hale tells me the island-sized creature in the game is called a Dindan. I am fairly sure I have never heard that word before in my life.