Exciting research indicates Chinese herbal remedies may help with dementia:

"An herbal medicine used in Asia for 2,000 years can reduce the impact of dementia, a small study suggests.

After 16 people took the Chinese herbal preparation ba wei di huang wan (BDW) for 8 weeks, they showed a boost in mental functioning, and had less trouble doing their day-to-day activities. In contrast, people who took an inactive (placebo) pill experienced no improvements over the same time period."
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"The reasons why BDW may improve dementia remain unclear, Iwasaki and his colleagues write. Some research suggests the treatment may boost the activity of important proteins in the brain, increase the amount of brain substances associated with learning and memory, or improve blood flow to the brain.

"A traditional Chinese medicine is not simply a purified substance but contains many ingredients, and the interaction of these ingredients is important," the authors write. "Eight herbs in BDW were carefully devised to interlock according to the traditional rules.""