Exotic herbs to counter ageing

By
Susan_Kirk
– January 25, 2012Posted in: Herbs, Science

Photo of Matthew Pase

Matthew Pase studies Bacopa and French Pine bark extract Pycnogenol


Swinburne PhD candidate Matthew Pase is looking for healthy volunteers aged 60-75 to participate in a study as to whether dietary supplements can help counter the slowing of brain function with age.

The growing size of the ageing population has serious implications for the number of people with age-associated cognitive impairment or dementia, and strategies need to be developed to keep people as cognitively healthy as possible.

“Many elderly people are already taking more supplements, but little is known about their effectiveness,” says Pase.

“If cognition – especially mental speed and memory – in the elderly is to be improved, a much sounder basis for the effectiveness of supplements is needed.”

Pase’s PhD is concerned with the effects of the Indian herb Bacopa (Bacopa monnieri) and an extract from French pine bark; Pycnogenol on cognitive performance following 12 months of administration in healthy elderly subjects.

Cognitive performance is known to decline in healthy individuals as part of the normal ageing process. This is not to be confused with dementia, which is separate from age-associated cognitive decline.

“It is my feeling that interventions to improve cognition needs to begin earlier in life-before dementia sets in.

“We have no cure for Alzheimer’s Disease and thus attempts to halt the disease once it has began are probably too late.

“So, we are looking at the effects of the study supplements in healthy people as opposed to those with dementia,” said Pase.

The trial, which will put both the herb and the extract through rigorous science to examine their efficacy will also test the efficacy of a combined micronutrient supplement.

The trial is one of the largest to date and has received funding from the Australian Research Council through a grant to Swinburne Professors Con Stough and Andrew Scholey.

Pase has been awarded the 2012 Menzies Allied Health Scholarship to support this research. This adds to an impressive record for Pase, who last year won an international award for his finding that stiffening arteries affect the cognitive abilities of middle-aged people.

The International Society for Intelligence Research, which publishes the leading journal in the field, awarded Pase the prestigious Templeton Foundation prize for best PhD paper at the society’s last international conference.

If you are interested in participating in the study and able to attend testing sessions at Swinburne in Hawthorn, Melbourne please call 03 9214 4444 and leave your name and contact details.

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About Susan_Kirk

Susan Kirk is a nationally published science writer, with a degree in journalism. She writes extensively for Rural Press publications including Good Fruit and Vegetables and Australian Horticulture. She has TAFE qualifications in horticulture which leads to her interests in crop and horticultural science, with its spinoff to food, organic vs GM. She is a member of the Media Alliance, Queensland Writers Centre, Horticulture Media Association and the Australian Science Communicators. She writes from Kureelpa on the Sunshine Coast hinterland (Australia).