The Howard Foundation has sponsored many years of research into nutritional supplements to alleviate both eye disease and Alzheimer’s Disease, directed by Professor John Nolan at the Nutrition Research Centre Ireland and listed in the Publications page. The ReMind trial, published in 2022, was co-directed by Professor Riona Mulcahy from the University Hospital Waterford.
Over the last few years, Howard Foundation Trustee Dr Anthony Leeds, has helped produce and host four series of increasingly popular video-recorded conversations with fellow scientists.
In the most recent series, Dr Leeds interviewed Professor Nolan when they discussed the evidence for the effect of carotenoids on both age-related macular eye disease and dementia. He also interviewed Professor Mulcahy to talk about the nature of dementia, its characteristics and options for prevention and management, including the evidence from trials of carotenoid supplements on memory and other aspects of brain function.
All four talks are available to view on YouTube through the links below. Further background to these talks is given following the links.
June 21st Dietary carotenoids and age-related macular degeneration – John Nolan
In this interview, Professor Nolan describes the role of dietary carotenoids in the retina of the eye and how these may be used to help maintain good function and slow the rate of disease progression in early Age-related Macular Degeneration with supplements of the three carotenoids, lutein, zeaxanthin and meso-zeaxanthin.
June 29th Dietary carotenoids, eye and brain health – John Nolan
In this interview, Prof Nolan describes the extension of the work on carotenoids and eye health to the effect of nutrition supplementation on brain function and describes the evidence for use of the same carotenoid supplements given with the addition of vitamin E and omega-3 fatty acid. The most recent experimental work has shown benefits in improved memory and brain function, opening up the possibility of such supplementation improving some aspects of brain function in dementia.
July 26th Brain health, dementia and risk reduction – Riona Mulcahy
In this interview, Professor Mulcahy describes the work done in Waterford and sets it in the context of our current understanding of how to detect dementia in its early stages and how its progression can be slowed down by diet and lifestyle changes and how modern medicines, though expensive, can contribute to its management. The work undertaken in the Republic of Ireland showed benefit in improved memory and brain function with carotenoid supplements given with vitamin E and omega-3 fatty acid and opened up the possibility of such supplementation improving some aspects of brain function in dementia.
August 2nd Brain health – healthy choices – Riona Mulcahy
In this interview, Professor Mulcahy continues the conversation about the nature of dementia, its characteristics and options for prevention and management. Professor Mulcahy then sets out our current understanding of how to detect dementia in its early stages and how its progression can be slowed down by diet and lifestyle changes and how modern medicines, though expensive, can contribute to its management. Prevention should include taking a ‘healthy diet’ (as recommended for good eye health) avoidance of being overweight, being physically active as well as being socially active – activities that challenge the brain are important. Cardiovascular risk factors – high blood pressure, diabetes and high blood cholesterol should be detected early and treated effectively.
Background to these video talks
Initially these programmes, produced by Dr Anthony Leeds and released on both YouTube and an Urdu language channel ‘Bittertruth’, were intended to inform audiences, including key opinion formers and government and health officials, in South Asia and the South Asian diaspora about obesity-related diseases. The possibilities for addressing the health problems with weight loss by a variety of methods, including formula diet programmes, were discussed. More recently the audience size has grown to over two million viewers and has extended globally to cover, to variable degrees, all regions of Asia, North and South America and countries in Europe.
In the most recent series, the range of subjects has been extended to include eye and brain health. Dr Leeds has taken advantage of his long-standing interest in eye disease and his regular attendance at the BON (Brain and Ocular Nutrition) conferences over the years to share that interest with viewers.
Professor John Nolan holds the Howard Chair for Human Nutrition at the South-East Technological University (SETU) in Ireland and is principal investigator at the Nutrition Research Centre Ireland (NRCI), within SETU in Waterford.
Professor Riona Mulcahy is the Clinical Director of the University Hospital Waterford and Physician for the care of the elderly.