Glucose enhancement of memory in patients with probable senile dementia of the Alzheimer's type

Glucose enhancement of human memory: A comprehensive research review of the glucose memory facilitation effect

“…These findings also demonstrate the potential clinical significance of the glucose memory facilitation effect, in that glucose has been demonstrated to serve as an effective intervention against the key memory deficits experienced by Alzheimer's patients in these previous studies (Craft et al, 1993;Craft et al, 1992;Manning et al, 1993).…”

“…It is therefore difficult to gauge from this series of studies whether glucose is more or less effective in terms of cognitive enhancement in patients with Alzheimer's disease or in healthy individuals. However, Manning and colleagues (Manning et al, 1993) mention that while attenuation of memory deficits was observed in Alzheimer's patients subsequent to glucose ingestion, the level of performance on the cognitive tests administered in the Alzheimer's patients did not reach the level that would be expected by a healthy individual. Future work in this area should a) focus on more detailed comparisons of memory performance subsequent to glucose ingestion in individuals with Alzheimer's disease and healthy controls, and b) further investigate the relationship between glucose ingestion, memory performance and glucoregulatory efficiency in Alzheimer's patients.…”

“…Three key studies have specifically investigated whether glucose influences memory performance in patients with Alzheimer's disease. Firstly, it was reported by Manning and colleagues (Manning et al, 1993) that the ingestion of 75 g oral glucose attenuates deficits in episodic memory performance relative to a saccharin placebo in patients with Alzheimer's disease. Craft and colleagues (Craft et al, 1992) further reported that oral glucose ingestion enhanced verbal episodic memory performance in patients suffering from Alzheimer's disease exhibiting relatively poorer glucoregulatory efficiency, but not in healthy adults of a similar age who exhibited relatively better glucoregulatory efficiency.…”

“…From the findings of these three aforementioned studies (Craft et al, 1993;Craft et al, 1992;Manning et al, 1993), it can be inferred that glucose is effective as a cognitive enhancer in at least some patients with Alzheimer's disease. These findings also demonstrate the potential clinical significance of the glucose memory facilitation effect, in that glucose has been demonstrated to serve as an effective intervention against the key memory deficits experienced by Alzheimer's patients in these previous studies (Craft et al, 1993;Craft et al, 1992;Manning et al, 1993).…”

Nutritional influences on cognitive function: mechanisms of susceptibility

“…Benton et al (1987) found that administration of a glucose drink (25 g glucose, equivalent to a large banana) to children, 1·5-2 h after lunch, improved reaction time, relative to the administration of a saccharin-sweetened placebo drink. This type of finding has been replicated several times, using a number of different performance measures (for example, see Benton, 1990;Benton & Owens, 1993;Manning et al 1993;Benton et al 1994;Foster et al 1998; for reviews, see . In general, the pattern of results from these studies suggests that glucose administration selectively improves short-term memory or improves performance on vigilance tasks that require a large component of 'working memory' for their successful completion.…”