This week we received several news reports that a cure may have been found for Alzheimer's Disease. Mice, they report, developed better memories and quicker thinking on the equivalent of five cups of coffee a day.

Call us skeptics, but we've heard that ginko biloba "prevents" Alzheimer's Disease. So did blueberries for a while...until they didn't. Vitamin E turned out to be too dangerous, and the experts reversed that recommendation pretty quickly. The list of possible "preventions" and "cures" for Alzheimer's that turned out to be anything but is long.

Alzheimer's Disease is dreadful. Families and those with the disease are desperate for a strong treatment or a cure. These news stories do nothing but create false hope and unrealistic expectations.

As with most medical research, after the test tube phase research almost always next moves on to testing in mice. These are special mice, genetically bred to have the symptoms of Alzheimer's Disease. Whether they actually have Alzheimer's Disease, or only have the same symptoms, is one question. The mouse brain is certainly not a human brain. The second issue is that what may work in a mouse very often does NOT work in a human.

There have been many thousands of animal experiments that showed promise until they advanced to human clinical trials. At that point, some obviously did not work in humans. Others actually proved to be toxic to humans.

Once something advances to clinical trials in humans it can take five years or more to understand the results. The FDA has a rigorous process that drugs and therapies then must pass through before being approved. Even for something that ultimately is proven to be effective, the wait is long and the process is arduous.

So, it's important to keep in mind that a "treatment" that may work in a mouse is a long way from being useful for humans with Alzheimer's, or any other disease.

Be wary of stories you read about research revealing something that "might," "may," or "could" be the next cure for something that ails us. While we surely don't want to denigrate the efforts of these researchers who are dedicated to finding a cure, we also don't want to spend our lives dashing desperately after every "might," "could" and "maybe" that comes along.

And that, in answer to some questions we've had recently, is why we don't write about these "good news" releases. Simply put, we're waiting until the "might," "could" and "maybe" turn into "will" and "does."

If you are interested in the news release that prompted this little editorial, you can read it here: "Coffee May Reverse Alzheimer's"

...And here's an example of why we try not to get too excited:  "Abbott Laboratories confirmed Wednesday morning that it stopped the study of an early-stage compound for Alzheimer's disease"...Abbott halts study on early-stage Alzheimer's drug