NCCAM Renews OSU Grant

CORVALLIS, Ore.— The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) awarded a new five-year, $6 million grant to the Linus Pauling Institute (LPI) at Oregon State University (OSU), allowing the continuation of the research it has conducted since 2003. OSU and Harvard were the first two research organizations designated as centers of excellence for research on complementary and alternative medicine (CAM).

“The Linus Pauling Institute has established itself as a national and international leader in research and education on micronutrients and antioxidants,” said Balz Frei, Ph.D., director of LPI. “Our research is focused on ‘healthspan,’ with the goal of maximizing the period of a person’s life where they are generally healthy and free of suffering and chronic illness.”

Promising findings from the institute, published in peer-reviewed journals, include:

• Lipoic acid supplements may address risk factors for heart disease and reduce weight gain;

• Pregnant and nursing women who eat generous amounts of cruciferous vegetables could help protect their children from cancer, both as infants and later in life;

• Identification of a fundamental mechanism linked to aging blood vessels losing their elasticity; and

• Vitamin E disappears more quickly in smokers, a finding that may explain how smoking causes cancer and heart disease.

LPI researchers plan to use the new grant to work with experts at Oregon Health & Science University on clinical testing of lipoic acid supplements for heart health, detoxification and their role in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

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