Monthly Archives: January 2012

Each year millions of individuals try to quit smoking and fail. Nicotine patches have been used for decades as an approach in assisting smokers kick the habit, and multiple clinical studies have shown them to be effective smoking cessation aids.

Now, a recently published mild cognitive impairment treatment study is indicating that the nicotine patch may have an additional benefit previously undiscovered by medical science: battling the symptoms, and perhaps even the root cause, of mild cognitive impairment in seniors.

Mild cognitive impairment, or MCI, can best be described as a less-severe version of Alzheimer’s disease. Symptoms typically include difficulty paying attention, slower thought processing and memory loss.

Although the exact causes of MCI and Alzheimer’s have yet to be pinpointed exactly, medical experts believe that both diseases stem from death and deterioration of brain nerve cells – specifically, the cells responsible for producing acetylcholine, a chemical that transmits brain signals.

Unfortunately, many people who experience MCI go on to develop Alzheimer’s and the increasingly severe symptoms that come along with it. No medical provisions have been approved for the treatment of MCI. However, a new study conducted at Vanderbilt Medical Center may change that.