From “Nesian” to Alzheimer's disease: A review of the traditional Persian medicine perspectives

Background and Purpose:

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is one of the main causes of dementia. Symptoms include memory loss and forgetfulness. In terms of traditional Persian medicine, Nesian has a relative similarity to Alzheimer's disease and memory disorders. We decided to review the causes and methods of preventing and treating it from a different and credible point of view in traditional Persian medicine.

Methods and Materials:

The search was carried out with the keywords of Nesian and forgetfulness in the chapter of head diseases in traditional Persian medicine reference books such as Ibne Sina's Qanoon, Razi's Al-Havi, Tib-e Akbari of Hakim Arzani, Asbab va Ellal of Nafis ibn-e Evaze Kermani, Exir-e Azam of Hakim Azam Khan Chashti, Zakhireh Kharazmshahi of Seyed Esmaeel Jorjani, and in Google scholar, PubMed, Scopus, SID, and Science Direct databases using the keywords of Nesian, Alzheimer, Traditional Persian Medicine.

The most common cause of Nesian, especially in the “mention corruption”, is the dominancy of coldness and moisture. Also, in traditional Persian medicine, it is important to observe the principles of health and nutrition in both aspects of prevention and treatment of Nesian.

Despite the recognition of Alzheimer's disease in the 20th century, prominent Iranian scholars such as Avicenna, Razi and Seyed Esmaeel Jorjani have introduced and presented the therapeutic strategies for this disease centuries ago. By studying the signs and symptoms of Alzheimer's disease, some types of Nesian could have a relative correlation with this disease. In traditional Persian medicine, there are valuable methods and herbal medicines that new studies have been done on them and their beneficial effects on Alzheimer's prevention have been proven.