OK, are you ready for this one? A British company is testing a helmet that they are touting to be the future of treatment for Alzheimer’s disease. The company, Virulite, has created a helmet that bathes the brain in infrared light for 10 minutes a day and potentially reverses (not just slows) Alzheimer’s disease.

The technology stems from a study in older mice that showed infrared light exposure improved performance in a memory test. Infrared light is a normal part of the sun’s spectrum and important for many facets of life on this planet. The authors cite several examples of UV light treatment benefits.

In the study, which is in press in Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, researchers treated middle-aged mice (with minor cognitive deficit), with infrared light for 6-minutes per day over 10 days. Then they compared these mice in a maze test with similar aged mice that did not get the light treatment and with younger mice as well.

The data show that the infrared treated mice did perform a little better than the non-treated controls, and approached the performance of the younger mice in many of the tests. So at first glance their appears to be something to this claim of cognitive benefit, but don’t rush out to buy yourself an infrared oven to stick your head into just yet.

First of all, as I mentioned above, infrared light is a normal part of the sun’s spectrum, which the control mice were not getting. Comparing mice stuck in the basement of a research lab is very different than comparing people who will be walking around outside getting their normal dose of sunlight.

Second, in the study, researchers bathed the entire mouse with infrared light, not just their noggin. Even though they assume that the improved memory-performance was due to brain exposure, that’s not necessarily true and requires a closer look. It’s feasible that infrared light could affect body tissues, which are more accessible to the light, and carry a metabolite back to the brain.

Third, infrared light is used as a source of heat to cook stuff. Until I see a lot more data on the safety of this approach, I’m not going to stick my brain in that thing.

Fourth, the performance improvements seen in the light-treated animals were very minor. Even if this whole thing pans out to have some validity, I wouldn’t expect any Einsteinian revolution.

You’d be better off sticking to the fundamentals that we have been touting for a while now. Eat well, exercise, keep your mind active and get plenty of rest. Each of these has far more data and far greater magnitude of performance enhancement than dressing up like Darth Vader. Luke, am I your father?

I try not to discount seemingly whacky technologies simply because I don’t understand how they can possibly work, and I will retain that position here. However, I think that this particular approach will need good human data and much research before it will be an accepted therapy for anyone.