A new study found that vitamin B supplements don’t slow cognitive decline in patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease.

The theory was that vitamin B might slow the progression of Alzheimer’s symptoms because the nutrient lowers homocysteine levels, which are elevated in people with the disease. Homocysteine is an amino acid produced by the body and has also been linked to an increased risk of heart disease.

“The results of the study indicate that we were successful in lowering homocysteine levels, but this did not translate into cognitive or clinical benefits,” said lead researcher Dr. Paul S. Aisen, a professor at the University of California, San Diego, Department of Neurosciences. “The disappointing conclusion is that high-dose B vitamin treatment is not helpful in Alzheimer’s disease.”

Aisen thinks this study clearly demonstrates that people should not be taking vitamin B thinking it will combat the disease.

“This treatment is not useful and should not be recommended,” Aisen said. “Because Alzheimer’s disease is one of the major health-care problems in this country and worldwide, and because our current treatments are not adequately effective, many people are seeking alternatives, and one alternative has been to use vitamin therapy.”

The findings were published in the Oct. 15 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

For the study, Aisen’s group randomly assigned 409 people with mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease to high doses of folate, vitamin B6 and B12 or a placebo. The researchers then measured the rate of cognitive decline using the Alzheimer’s Disease Assessment Scale.

Over 18 months, they found that although vitamin B reduced homocysteine levels, there was no reduction in the rate of cognitive decline among patients taking the supplements. In fact, there was no significant difference in the scores on the Alzheimer’s Disease Assessment Scale among those taking supplements and those receiving a placebo.

Interestingly, the people taking high-dose vitamin B supplements had more symptoms of depression than those taking a placebo, the researchers noted.

Dr. Sam Gandy, chairman emeritus of the Alzheimer’s Association Medical and Scientific Advisory Council, said this study should put an end to the idea that lowering homocysteine levels helps Alzheimer’s patients.

“Since cerebrovascular disease pathogenesis and that of Alzheimer’s disease bear some relationship to each other, the hypothesis was put forward that if people were given B vitamin supplements to control their blood homocysteine, then this might lower the incidence of both stroke and Alzheimer’s disease,” he said. “Sadly, for the latter at least, the hypothesis has been rejected: Even among those with elevated homocysteine levels that were normalized with B vitamins, there was no obvious benefit in terms of lowering the risk for Alzheimer disease.”

Like similar studies with antioxidants, anti-inflammatory drugs and estrogen, this study suggests that treating the risk factors for Alzheimer’s after the patients have established disease is not useful and may even be harmful,” he said.

Pamela Mason, a spokeswoman for the Health Supplements Information Service, cautioned that vitamin B is a dietary supplement, not a drug, and shouldn’t be expected to perform like a drug.

“This is yet another study attempting to use high-dose vitamin supplements like drugs in the treatment and prevention of disease,” Mason said in a news release. “B vitamin supplements are not intended to be taken like drugs to prevent or treat Alzheimer’s disease. People should not be taking them for this purpose. They are health supplements, and their role is in helping to maintain good health, particularly in those large numbers of adults whose dietary intake is low. This study, like many other recent studies evaluating vitamins, does not address the issue of health maintenance.”

Monthly premiums for some of the most popular Medicare prescription drug plans in Florida are jumping by at least 20 percent for 2009.Seniors can now start comparing Medicare prescription drug plan choices for 2009 on the Medicare web site: www.medicare.gov. Seniors will be able to sign up for new drug plans starting Nov. 15. Open enrollment in the drug plans ends Dec. 31.

For 2009, Florida seniors will be able to choose from 57 prescription drug plans, compared to 58 plans this year. Monthly premiums for 2009 plans start at $16.70 compared to $12.10 this year. The most expensive premium for 2009 is $111.30 compared to $97.50 this year. Several plans have also increased their annual deductible for 2009.

The data on the Medicare Part-D prescription drug plans for 2009 has now been loaded into the computers and senior citizens can begin exploring their options for the new year. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has been relentless in warning seniors that the cost of their current plan may increase significantly in 2009 and it is important they explore all the options, including other drug plans or Medicare Advantage plans with drug coverage.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) today announced that beneficiaries, their caregivers, and family members can begin to review 2009 Medicare prescription drug plan and health plan information online through the Medicare Prescription Drug Plan Finder and Medicare Options Compare at www.medicare.gov.

McCain’s top advisers this week said that as president, McCain would cut $1.3 trillion from Medicare and Medicaid. McCain adviser Douglas Holtz-Eakin told the Wall Street Journal, McCain would pay for the high costs of his health care proposal by taking a hatchet to health care coverage for the elderly, people with disabilities and lower-income families. A Center for American Progress study finds that McCain’s plan would force big cuts in benefits or eligibility for these vulnerable populations.

McCain’s call for radical cuts to Medicare and Medicaid will undermine their vital role in our health care system, putting affordable health care out of reach for millions of seniors, people with disabilities, and low-income families, and driving up the cost of health insurance for everyone else.

And why does the McCain campaign support undermining this pillar of retirement security? To pay for a “tax credit” in McCain’s health care plan that amounts to a subsidy for big insurance companies. (Maybe McCain thinks the $2 billion in tax cuts he would give the insurance companies isn’t enough.)

Sunrise Senior Living Inc. lost nearly a quarter of their value Monday and hit a seven-year low.The drop came against the backdrop of a steep market sell-off.

The company’s stock fell $2.55, or 19 percent, to $10.85. Earlier in the session, the stock sank to $9.51, a level not seen since April 2001. The shares have lost more than a third of their value in the past month and are down nearly 60 percent in 2008.

Analyst Derrick Dagnan of Avondale Partners said the company’s stock decline evidently exceeded that of other senior living companies because of ongoing concerns that it is not as sound as some of its peers.

“A lot of that has to do with the company’s emerging from a period where they just restated two years’ worth of accounting results and filed statements that had been past due,” Dognan said. “Management’s done a great job of getting this company back on track, but there are still a lot of questions.”

He cited issues involving its development project in Germany, significant writedowns and poor performances by its hospice and development businesses.

Sunrise on Sept. 10 reported a $31.8 million loss for the second quarter and said it had scaled back its planned openings of new centers to between 1,200 to 1,400 units from an earlier target of 3,200 to 3,400 units. It also wrote off $10.5 million of costs relating to discontinued development projects during the quarter.