/oss/taxonomy/term/1947/all en /oss/article/aging-health-news-supplements/pills-brain <p>Pop this pill and improve your memory. Swallow that one and reduce your cognitive decline. We see ads for such products all the time and I suspect they will increase as the baby boomers reach senior citizenhood. The most popular brain boosting supplements are fish oil pills and they are also probably the best studied ones. The results are not encouraging. When all the studies are pooled, we are left with the possibility of a barely significant improvement in recalling lists of words soon after they have been learned, but the effect does not last.</p> Thu, 15 Jan 2015 16:18:08 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 2230 at /oss /oss/article/science-science-everywhere/schizophrenia-and-vitamin-b <p>Schizophrenia is a much misunderstood disease. It is not “split personality.” The disease is perhaps best described as the inability to distinguish imagination from reality. Schizophrenia strikes about one in a hundred people and usually first surfaces in the 20s. Victims are often tormented by visionary and auditory hallucinations. Hearing voices that no one else hears is common. So are delusions of persecution. Schizophrenics sometimes believe that others are trying to affect their lives by the use of magnetic waves or other such forces.</p> Mon, 20 Jun 2011 17:35:11 +0000 Joe Schwarcz 1548 at /oss