Herbs & Supplements

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Uses

Dimethylaminoethanol (DMAE) has been marketed for over 50 years--most recently as a dietary supplement that is promoted mainly to treat dementia and memory loss. In general, dementia is a serious cognition impairment that may be caused by stroke, Alzheimer's disease, substance abuse, brain infection, or injury to the brain or spinal cord. Cognition includes the mental processes used to acquire, maintain, retrieve, and utilize information. Individuals who have dementia often also have a low level of a natural chemical known as acetylcholine. A neurotransmitter (a natural body chemical involved in carrying signals from nerve cells to other cells), acetylcholine plays a role in learning, remembering, and thinking. The main component of acetylcholine is a substance known as choline, which comes from foods and also may be converted in the body from other substances, including DMAE.

Formerly, DMAE supplementation was believed to relieve the symptoms of dementia by increasing the amount of acetylcholine in the brain, but recent studies suggest that it has little direct effect on acetylcholine levels. Instead, it may work by increasing the amount of choline in the blood. It may block the break down of natural choline, as well. Both possible effects may increase the amounts of choline that are available to make acetylcholine. However, whether DMAE actually increases the amount of choline or acetylcholine levels in the brain, is questionable. For the most part, studies of its use for treating dementias in humans have been negative. In one very small study of patients with advanced dementia, no improvements in cognition or memory were seen after four weeks of treatment. In another study of 27 individuals with Alzheimer's disease, unpleasant side effects caused nearly half of the patients receiving DMAE to stop taking it within 5 weeks of starting the study. Among the remaining patients, DMAE was no better than placebo (inactive sugar pills) for reducing the effects of Alzheimer's disease.

General increases in activity levels and attention spans were seen in some of the individuals who took a combination product containing DMAE during one 12-week study. Additionally, participants in some of the studies showed improvements in mood and attention span, which could explain DMAE's use during the 1960s and 1970s as a prescription drug for treating attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Easily distracted, individuals with ADHD often exhibit inappropriate or impulsive behavior. DMAE has also been tried to treat autism, but no clinical studies have been conducted to prove or disprove its usefulness for autism. A developmental disorder, autism results in problems with behaving, communicating, learning, and relating to other individuals.

In a few published cases, DMAE was reported to alleviate tardive dyskinesia (constant uncontrollable movements). Tardive dyskinesia usually develops after certain drugs, mainly used to treat schizophrenia and other mental illnesses, have been taken for a long period. Conversely though, a case report suggests that DMAE may have caused some types of dyskinesia for an individual who took it for 10 years to treat shaking. Additionally, results of at least one small placebo-controlled study of patients with schizophrenia showed that taking DMAE not only failed to relieve tardive dyskinesia, it may also have made schizophrenia worse among the participants who took it. "Placebo-controlled" means that about half of the individuals in the study took DMAE and the others took an identical-looking but inactive sugar pill. In this study, neither the researchers nor the participants knew which individuals got DMAE. Overall, DMAE treatment of individuals with tardive dyskinesia and other types of movement disorders, such as Huntington's chorea, has not been effective.

Both topically and orally, DMAE may help to improve the appearance of aging skin. Its possible increasing effect on acetylcholine may cause the muscles under the skin to tighten. Because acetylcholine also affects the stability of body cells, increasing the amount of acetylcholine in the skin may also cause skin cells to hold moisture. Results may include firmer skin and lessened wrinkles and facial lines. In a 16-week study, applying a topical gel containing 3% DMAE once a day seemed to decrease the appearance of lines around the eyes and foreheads of individuals who were using it. Individuals using the same gel without DMEA did not see similar results. Orally, DMAE may prevent or lessen deposits of lipofuscin, the substance that causes brown age spots on the skin. Although some manufacturers claim broader anti-aging effects for oral DMAE, laboratory studies of animals have shown mixed results and no human studies have been conducted to show that DMAE has any youth-restoring properties.