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SEPTEMBER 22, 2003
Mind-Bending Alternatives to Memory Pills While we all would love to see a pharmaceutical panacea to eradicate such disorders as Alzheimer's disease, I believe the best approach is a preventive one ("I can't remember," Cover Story, Sept. 1). Common sense suggests that proper diet, moderate physical exercise, a lowering of environmental stress, and regular mental challenges would be of greatest value. Various studies support this. Fred H. Gage and Peter S. Eriksson, both neuroscientists, collected the first convincing evidence that the brains of humans, including the elderly, regenerate neurons in the hippocampus. Dr. Elizabeth Gould of Princeton University has shown that participation in a learning task enhances the survival rate of new nerve cells, resulting in an elevation in the number of new neurons. You also identified continued mental activity as potentially providing a protective effect. In fact, the ACTIVE study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 2002, demonstrated that 87% of elderly subjects who performed a mere 10 hours of speed-of-processing exercises on a computer actually reversed 18 years of age-related cognitive decline. Dennis McCracken, M.D. Nashville My question to the authors and the developers of this new class of wonder drugs relates to the Law of Unintended Consequences. Will students competing on the SATs or preparing for final exams have a competitive advantage if they take this class of drugs? Will others involved in memory-intensive fields also find competitive advantage? Does this class of drugs have the potential to create an uneven playing field between the haves, who can afford to purchase the drugs, and the have-nots? Henry A. Mosler University Park, Fla. "I can't remember" refers to Aricept as a Pfizer (PFE ) product. It was discovered and developed by Eisai Co. in Tokyo and is co-promoted in the U.S. by Eisai and Pfizer Inc. Judee Shuler Eisai Inc. Teaneck, N.J. As a neurofeedback therapist who works on enhancing performance, I am realizing that people rarely focus on the task at hand, but rather several tasks simultaneously. We can train the brain to focus on and perform a single task and enhance memory by strengthening the memory areas of the brain. Ideally, we should learn to empower ourselves rather than reaching for a drug to "fix" us. Sandy Lamberson Lincoln, Neb. Originally, I started using neurofeedback for Parkinson's disease and found that it helped not only in restoration of movement (including a decrease in tremors) but also in mental sharpness. The best part: no side effects. Lisa Tataryn San Diego I must thank author Catherine Arnst, who writes [that] those French and piano lessons forced on you as a child might pay off. As a French teacher who, despite student moans and groans, relentlessly pushes verbs and vocabulary, I now have medical and health reasons to support my passion: Le français, c'est bon pour la santé! Jo D. Tanenbaum Tallahassee, Fla. Putting the Public Back into Public Utilities Since BusinessWeek has been the primary sentinel in the public community for high ethical and moral standards, it comes as a shock to read "Political power overload" (News: Analysis & Commentary, Sept. 1). Peter Coy leaves out the central issue, which is the systematic attack on the principle of public utilities by the Administration, with the timid acquiescence of most members of Congress. It has taken several centuries to form this basic ingredient of modern civilization: The public utility is granted a monopolistic, guaranteed market together with the necessary access (by eminent domain where needed). The Administration wants to continue all the perks for the energy people but turn loose the fee structure for robber-baron pricing for "all the traffic will bear." Vice-President Dick Cheney forms an energy advisory group, composed entirely of energy people, its membership secret, its conclusions not released. And a very large number of unelected decision-makers are drawn from Enron (ENRNQ ) and from the group who were convicted and then pardoned in the Iran-contra affair. They control policy and "enforcement." BusinessWeek, we need you to be guardians of the public interest more than ever before. Ward McCabe San Jose, Calif. Legislators and regulators have lost sight of the utility as being as essential as law enforcement to the well-being of the community. Their failure to work with the utilities to determine fair and equitable ways to reward them for building and maintaining a reliable system with reasonable prices and returns only encouraged short-term, bottom-line thinking in the executive suite. New electricity transmission lines are generally not viable investments under current regulation and pricing, so there should be no surprise that few are being built. Victor Barry Utilities International Inc. Chicago   Thinking out of the Box for China's Dream Team I was encouraged to read about revolutionary opportunities reaching farm boys like Sun Yunbo ("China's dream team," Design, Sept. 1), only to find that their prospects are less promising because of a "reluctance to speak out" at brainstorming sessions. Perhaps we could ask the "blazingly smart" and "dedicated" designers in your report to develop a revised format for brainstorm sessions, rather than limiting this valuable resource to our own culturally accepted style of teamwork design. Cheryl Conant Abrahms Vista, Calif. Don't Demonize Coca-Cola It was puzzling to read that Coca-Cola Co. (KO ) derives 72% of its operating profit from "fatty foods" ("The list: Fat profits," Up Front, Aug. 18-25). Virtually all of our beverages have no fat. Our new milk-based product, Swerve, meets the American Heart Assn.'s certification requirement for saturated fat and cholesterol. If you actually meant that our beverages cause people to become fat, I am equally puzzled. No single food causes obesity. All foods can fit in a healthy lifestyle, including soft drinks. The key to managing your weight is to balance what you eat with an appropriate amount of physical activity. Coca-Cola offers a range of high-quality beverages so that people can make the choices that are right for them. Obesity is a very serious problem, but trying to demonize particular foods or beverages is wrong and ultimately unproductive. Clyde C. Tuggle Senior Vice-President Worldwide Public Affairs Coca-Cola Co. Atlanta Editor's note: The study cited referred to earnings before interest and taxes from "less good" foods that could leave a company open to charges of contributing to obesity. The study was not specifically limited to foods with high fat content.
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