Scientists Claim Infrared Helmet Could Reverse Alzheimer's Symptoms

penguin_dance writes "Ready to put on your thinking cap? There's a report out of the UK regarding an 'experimental helmet which scientists say could reverse the symptoms of Alzheimer's disease within weeks of being used'. The helmet is to be worn for ten minutes every day and stimulates the growth of brain cells using infra-red light. The article explains, 'Low level infra-red red is thought to stimulate the growth of cells of all types of tissue and encourage their repair. It is able to penetrate the skin and even get through the skull.' Human trials are due to start this summer." I wont make any nomad-based predictions, but I'll remain on the skeptic side of the fence for now.

Comments

Re:a lot harder than it sounds

[Wizard Drongo]

Oh, and your google-fu is lacking, Sir, because a brief search of my normal LED suppliers gave me this: http://www.roithner-laser.com/LED_diverse.htm which admittedly is 1070nm (2.5mW) nominal output rather than 1072nm. However, given that it's minimum is 1020 and it's maximum 1120 i'd say you're gonna be getting a fairly hefty amount of 1072nm light out of it. I notice they also do a high-power (like 150mW) LED panel which radiates at 1050nm (peak 1000~1100nm), which again isn't right on the money but is gonna give you enough to trial, given that they were talking about this clinical trial dosing patients with about the same amount of IR as regular sunlight. Granted these diodes don't come cheap, with the quoted price for the 1070nm LED being about $20 each, which given the number you'd want could get pretty expensive. But then, what cost is health?