Progress at last?.

OPTIMA may have achieved a rare success - an important discovery about the cause of a disease together with the means of resolving the problem. Chance led to the discovery that Alzheimer's patients' blood samples had high levels of homocysteine, an amino acid which can, in excess, lead to heart attacks. Folic acid is vital in maintaining it at a safe level. Alzheimer's patients had low levels of folic acid. If homocysteine is a cause of Alzheimer's disease, a diet rich in folic acid would be a simple means of prevention. Dr. Jobst believed that these findings were of sufficient importance to be published in their interim state but met with rejection by The Lancet and Nature for the very reason that they were without proof. He then found that his work with OPTIMA was so little regarded by the medical profession that he was risking his career by remaining in that post. He has since resigned. His work remains unfinished.