Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science, Beth Israel Medical Center, First Avenue at 16th Street, New York, NY, 10003, USA,
Curr Treat Options Neurol. 2011 Oct;13(5):520-8. doi: 10.1007/s11940-011-0135-8.
Increased rates of dementia throughout the world are creating an emergent need for successful preventive and treatment strategies. Despite a lack of any significant scientific basis, herbal remedies and other types of "complementary and alternative medicine" (CAM) are being aggressively marketed for both prophylactic and therapeutic effects in regard to memory disorders. In the past few years, a small number of controlled studies have explored the effectiveness of some of the more popular herbal and CAM remedies, including gingko biloba, phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylserine, and omega-3 fatty acids. To date, the bulk of evidence suggests that such approaches are not successful in preventing or delaying cognitive decline or dementia, and there is little reason to prescribe these remedies for the treatment of established cognitive impairment. Some very preliminary evidence suggests that Gingko biloba may be useful in treating behavioral problems in demented people. It is likely that the absence of regulatory controls on the sale of herbal and CAM preparations will foster continued use of these agents and perhaps even accelerated use as the dementia epidemic increases, assuming no imminent breakthroughs in pharmacotherapy.
全球痴呆症发病率的上升，正在催生对成功的预防和治疗策略的迫切需求。尽管缺乏任何重大的科学依据，但草药疗法和其他类型的“补充和替代医学”（CAM）仍在积极推销，以期在预防和治疗记忆障碍方面产生疗效。在过去的几年中，一些小型对照研究已经探索了一些更受欢迎的草药和 CAM 疗法的有效性，包括银杏叶、磷脂酰胆碱、磷脂酰丝氨酸和欧米伽 3 脂肪酸。迄今为止，大量证据表明，这些方法在预防或延缓认知能力下降或痴呆方面并不成功，因此没有理由开这些药物来治疗已确诊的认知障碍。一些非常初步的证据表明，银杏叶可能对治疗痴呆患者的行为问题有用。由于对草药和 CAM 制剂的销售没有监管控制，这些药物可能会继续被使用，甚至可能会随着痴呆症的流行而加速使用，除非在药物治疗方面有即将出现的突破。
