The US Army has funded a 20 month project, to identify nutritional therapies that can help prevent, mitigate or treat traumatic brain injury and spinal cord injury.
The Institute of Medicine has established an expert committee that will, “consider preventative interventions as well as those that might be effective during the acute phase and in long term care.”
The IOM committee will evaluate if certain foods or supplements can enhance or impair resilience and recovery from these two conditions in particular areas. Including: pain, addiction, psychological states-PTSD, anxiety, depression; survival, morbidity and function status; brain structure and function using brain imaging studies; sleep and fatigue; and cognitive (information processing, memory, attention, reaction and responsiveness).
Some of the nutritional compounds that will be included in the study are CoQ10, carnitine (an amino acid), omega-3 fatty acids, caffeine, tocopherol (a form of vitamin E), zinc, tyrosine, caffeine, kava, antioxidant vitamins and alpha lipoic acid.
The report is expected to be completed by the end of 2012.