Drugs that everyone should use

[Zeuzzz]

in 1997 Director of Addictive Drugs for the FDA, DR Curtis Wright, said in a BBC documentary (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cJwvop10R8) on psychedelic drugs:

Would we have the potential for approving the drug that helped well people become weller or more creative or brighter or smarter or something? Well fortunately it hasn't come up yet because no-one's come forward with such an agent. There is no, nothing in the Act that prohibits it, but we would want to make very sure there was no price to pay. We've paid a bitter price for people in the past who've said that things will make you be smarter, or better, or more creative. I'm a veteran of those years.


Are there any such drugs that have been approved? Most nootropic supplements like piracetam that many people use have not been approved or really shown to work.

I guess there may not be that much funding for drugs that target healthy people, more for curing already existing disorders.

Am I right in saying that funding for studies of "supplements" for those not suffering from an illness is rarely awarded by any major research funding organization, and almost never approved by the FDA? Looks like it.

[~enigma~]

in 1997 Director of Addictive Drugs for the FDA, DR Curtis Wright, said in a BBC documentary (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cJwvop10R8):




Are there any such drugs that have been approved? Most nootropic supplements like piracetam that many people use have not been approved or really shown to work.

I guess there may not be that much funding for drugs that target healthy people, more for curing already existing disorders.

Am I right in saying that funding for studies of "supplements" for those not suffering from an illness is rarely awarded by any major research funding organization, and almost never approved by the FDA? Looks like it.
Think it might be helpful for you to look into the FDA's DSHEA.

[Zeuzzz]

The OP should really say drugs that healthy people should use, theres no drug that everyone should use due to our drastically different biological and psychological makeup.

[skeptifem]

Drug research is pretty difficult. A lot of it has been chance discovery or looking at information about tons of different compounds and seeing if they could have any medicinal benefit. Engineering drugs seems to be something that is going to be the future of medicine. I am pretty sure that funding has been awarded for trying to find drugs that improve the effectiveness of soldiers during combat, amphetamines for pilots is a really famous example of applying it.

The questions you have are directly related to what you would consider a disease or not, what health is. It is kind of tricky. If there is a drug that stops the craving for alcohol and therefore alcoholism, is that a drug targeting healthy people? After all they could in theory just stop drinking without the drugs and wanting to drink now and then isn't by itself a problem. etc etc. I am also pretty certain that drug companies will fund things that are profitable. Drugs like Alli for weight loss are FDA approved and being overweight by itself is not a disease in my opinion.

[shadron]

I'd place my bet on retinyl palmitate, thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, panthenic acid, pyroxidone, biotin, folic acid, cyanocobalamin, L-ascorbic acid, cholecalciferol, tocopherols and naphthoquinone as well as water soluble salts of potassium, chlorine, calcium, sodium, phosphorous, magnesium, zinc, iron, manganese, copper, iodine, selenium, and molybdenum. There is circumstantial evidence that molecular oxygen and nitrogen are relatively free of medical complications.

Any good FDA druggie knows you can't go anywhere without them.

[casebro]

Try looking into "Life Extension" and Dirk Pierson. He has ideas, most of which are CAM. Some are upheld by Euro scientist. YMMV.

[Gord_in_Toronto]

I'd place my bet on retinyl palmitate, thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, panthenic acid, pyroxidone, biotin, folic acid, cyanocobalamin, L-ascorbic acid, cholecalciferol, tocopherols and naphthoquinone as well as water soluble salts of potassium, chlorine, calcium, sodium, phosphorous, magnesium, zinc, iron, manganese, copper, iodine, selenium, and molybdenum. There is circumstantial evidence that molecular oxygen and nitrogen are relatively free of medical complications.

Any good FDA druggie knows you can't go anywhere without them.

But, of course, everything in moderation. :(

[Zeuzzz]

So there has been no drug at all thats shown such amazingly positive effects, and absolutely negligable side effects, that most people should be taking to get its benefits? Whether the benefits be intelligence, longevity, health, whatever...

I think that funding is the issue here. I think that we can extrapolate from the funding given to research into things like parkinsons and assume that they will also work for healthy people, but thats an assumption I would not like to take until verified it has the same benficial effects on ill people aswell as healthy people. Many people do this though (mainly with various racetams), and seem to report good effects, though studies are again lacking.

This is a quote by someone from another forum where I asked the same question:

Most, if not all, of the studies that you will find regarding the nootropic effects of the -racetams, l-huperzine, the CX family etc. will in fact be focused on treatments for neurodegenerative disorders.

Many of these neurodegenerative disorders involve demyleniation of CNS axon fibers. Certain neurosteroids, such as pregnenolone, have been shown to increase myleniation in CNS fibers in the hippocampus, an area of the brain paramount to the functions of memory and the phenomenon of long-term potentiation.

Considering another approach, most neurodegenerative dissorders involve the atrophy of such cognitive systems as short-term/working memory, spatial recognition, verbal accuity, and general communication skills. In treating these disorders, it is sometimes difficult to treat all of the causes (since they may be widespread or irreversible), so researchers aim to treat the symptoms. This is where nootropics like l-huperzine and the -racetams have been employed: treating the symptoms of neurodegenerative disorders. And in doing so, they have been pretty effective.

That being said, there are a few studies, mostly from the 80s, which use healthy human subjects in determining the cognitive impact of nootropics. I will have to do some digging, but I'll take a look


Haven't found any.

[Dancing David]

Baby asprin daily after the age of ~48 is recommended for most people. (Note not all.)

[calebprime]

anecdote:

My father-in-law has taken aspirin every day for prevention, and he's doing well at 85, but he's recently developed gastric bleeding, and has had to go to the hospital twice for it.

Even with aspirin, there's a downside, perhaps.

[Zeuzzz]

Foudn this today:

http://io9.com/5306489/a-drug-that-could-give-you-perfect-visual-memory
A Drug That Could Give You Perfect Visual Memory

Imagine if you could look at something once and remember it forever. You would never have to ask for directions again. Now a group of scientists has isolated a protein that mega-boosts your ability to remember what you see.

A group of Spanish researchers reported today in Science that they may have stumbled upon a substance that could become the ultimate memory-enhancer. The group was studying a poorly-understood region of the visual cortex. They found that if they boosted production of a protein called RGS-14 (pictured) in that area of the visual cortex in mice, it dramatically affected the animals' ability to remember objects they had seen.

Mice with the RGS-14 boost could remember objects they had seen for up to two months. Ordinarily the same mice would only be able to remember these objects for about an hour.

The researchers concluded that this region of the visual cortex, known as layer six of region V2, is responsible for creating visual memories. When the region is removed, mice can no longer remember any object they see.

If this protein boosts visual memory in humans, the implications are staggering. In their paper, the researchers say that it could be used as a memory-enhancer – which seems like an understatement. What's particularly intriguing is the fact that this protein works on visual memory only. So as I mentioned earlier, it would be perfect for mapping. It would also be useful for engineers and architects who need to hold a lot of visual images in their minds at once. And it would also be a great drug for detectives and spies.

Could it also be a way to gain photographic memory? For example, if I look at a page of text will I remember the words perfectly? Or will I simply remember how the page looked?

I can't see much of a downside for this potential drug, unless the act of not forgetting what you see causes problems or trauma.


http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/325/5936/87

Science 3 July 2009:
Vol. 325. no. 5936, pp. 87 - 89
DOI: 10.1126/science.1170869

Prev | Table of Contents | Next
Reports
Role of Layer 6 of V2 Visual Cortex in Object-Recognition Memory
Manuel F. López-Aranda,1,2,4 Juan F. López-Téllez,1,2,4 Irene Navarro-Lobato,1 Mariam Masmudi-Martín,1 Antonia Gutiérrez,3,4 Zafar U. Khan1,2,4,*

Cellular responses in the V2 secondary visual cortex to simple as well as complex visual stimuli have been well studied. However, the role of area V2 in visual memory remains unexplored. We found that layer 6 neurons of V2 are crucial for the processing of object-recognition memory (ORM). Using the protein regulator of G protein signaling–14 (RGS-14) as a tool, we found that the expression of this protein into layer 6 neurons of rat-brain area V2 promoted the conversion of a normal short-term ORM that normally lasts for 45 minutes into long-term memory detectable even after many months. Furthermore, elimination of the same-layer neurons by means of injection of a selective cytotoxin resulted in the complete loss of normal as well as protein-mediated enhanced ORM.

[Zeuzzz]

What are peoples thoughts on this one then? Overhyped I'm thinking, probably not what they're making it out to be.

[Zeuzzz]

If there is a drug that stops the craving for alcohol and therefore alcoholism, is that a drug targeting healthy people? After all they could in theory just stop drinking without the drugs and wanting to drink now and then isn't by itself a problem. etc etc.


I would say no, as people who have cravings for abusing ethanol are not healthy in the first place but are psychologically showing issues with drug abuse. That drug is being designed for a problem, not for people with no physical/psychological problems.

[SusanB-M1]

Since 1994, when Leiden Factor V (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Factor_V_Leiden) was identified, I should think that anyone being put on baby aspirin should be checked for this, even though the percentage of people with it is small. Since it was diagnosed in about 1998 as the cause of my loss of central vision, I have been on warfarin, 7mg a day.