Tools

Back to the Top

Series

Medical Foods for Alzheimer's: Palatable Therapy or Snake Oil?

In the absence of truly effective treatments, and in the presence of a rapidly growing, dementia-prone population of elders, it's perhaps no surprise that people are increasingly open to products claiming even the slightest hint of promise, however untested those claims may be. The FDA category of "Medical Food"—not really a food, not really a drug—has seen some growth recently, but many people do not know that the nation's drug agency does not check whether these products really work. Do they?