Infra red could help with dementia
Research has been pioneered at the University of Sunderland which shows that exposure to safe low levels of infra-red light can improve the cognitive functions of the brain. The current state of play with medical treatments for dementia is that they slow the deterioration of the brain, while this treatment could potentially reverse the effects of illnesses such as Alzheimer’s.
The infra-red would be delivered via a lightweight helmet at home for only 10 minutes per day. This new device was created by Dr. Gordon Dougal, who is a director of Virulite ( a medical research company). The idea originally came from his work with cold sores, where infrared was used to boost the cells with the body, which killed the cold sore virus.
The study itself was of middle-aged mice, they were exposed to infrared light for 6 minutes during the day for 10 days. This improved their performance in a three-dimensional maze.
Further research is being carried out in this area, it is funded by CELS, who support research and development in universities, companies and hospitals within the North East of England.
Bottom line: Study was done in mice, so very preliminary, but a human trial will be starting in Summer 2008.
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