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RESVERATROL ADDRESSES TEN KEY FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE

If you are planning on living long (many are living into their 8^th and 9^th decades of life without the expectation of longevity), you had better hope you have a functioning brain.  The problem is — there is currently no effective preventive or therapeutic measure for senile dementia or Alzheimer’s memory loss.  A leading researcher says: “Without consideration of all the possible biological factors involved “we cannot dream of effective treatments.”

Alzheimers’s is certainly a multifactorial disease.  Just which factor is most important?  Researchers set out to conduct a landmark study and rank the various known risk factors.

Utilizing MRI and PET SCAN technology to scan 7700 brain images, researchers found (1) decreased blood flow is the earliest sign of severe late-onset Alzheimer’s progression.  Other factors analyzed by order of importance were: (2) beta amyloid plaque deposition in the body; (3) glucose metabolism; (4) functional brain impairment (example: neurotransmitters) and (5) shrinkage of the grey matter of the brain. [Nature Communications July 2016]

This writer has added five other known factors associated with Alzheimer’s disease: inflammation (tumor necrosis factor TNF), infection, blood clots, homocysteine and copper induced oxidation.

Of great interest is the fact the red wine molecule resveratrol addresses all ten of these potentially causative factors of Alzheimer’s disease (see chart).

By the time researchers come to some conclusions and have actually put therapies to the test, another decade will have gone by.  American adults don’t have time to wait.

One study shows the majority of beta amyloid plaque is deposited by age 37 and is first observed as early as age 18.  [New York Times Nov 12, 2012; Lancet Neurology Dec 2012]

There are an estimated 5,4 million Americans with Alzheimer’s disease today.  [Alzheimer’s.Org] In a study published in 2015 researchers reported that 2,125 people (average age 73) over a period of 18 years and found 17% of European Americans developed Alzheimer’s (23% of African Americans).  Symptoms occur 18 years before diagnoses. [Forbes.com June 28, 2015; Journal Neurology June 2015]

Senior adults are going to have to take a stab in the dark at what’s best to head off future Alzheimer’s disease.  A best-guess would be resveratrol.

Resveratrol is not totally unproven.  In the animal lab resveratrol improved learning and memory.  [Iranian Journal Basic Medical Science Nov 2015]

Evidence in humans is sparse, but a 26-week study of adults aged 50-75 years taking a modest dose of resveratrol produced a significant retention of words in a mental test and improved functional connectivity of the hippocampus, the memory center of the brain.  [Journal Neuroscience June 4, 2014] So resveratrol improves mental functions not just some measure of plaque in the brain.

Furthermore, by age 60 approximately 0.5% to 1.0% of brain volume is lost per year and by age 75 the brain is 15% smaller than it in the 3^rd decade of life.  [Current Opinion Neurology Dec 2013]  Resveratrol even inhibits brain atrophy. [Biological Pharmaceutical Bulletin 2011]

Another intriguing recent discovery that largely has been overlooked is that germs (bacteria, viruses, fungi) are prevalent in the brain of Alzheimer’s subjects.  Surprisingly, the treatment is not antibiotics but natural molecules that bind to iron.  Loose unbound iron is said to “wake up” dormant microbes in the brain.  Metallic minerals are growth factors for microbes.  Researchers have found minerals like magnesium and polyphenols like resveratrol and quercetin that bind to copper and iron control the growth of germs in the brain. [Alzheimer’s Today March 10, 2016; Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 2013]

Yet another environmental factor that contributes to the Alzheimer’s epidemic is the change to copper piping in most homes in America.  Copper plumbing delivers unbound inorganic copper in a soluble form in drinking water.  Copper poses a threat to the human brain. [Nutrients Dec 2015; Journal Alzheimer’s Disease 2015]  Resveratrol is a strong copper chelator. [Biochemical Pharmacology 1997]

Micro-clots in the brain obstruct oxygen to the brain via aggregation of fibrin that is also iron induced.  These fibrin clots are resistant to enzymatic degradation (streptokinase, nattokinase).  Magnesium and iron-chelators are antidotes.  [Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 2013]

There are many other potentially beneficial nutrients for brain health.  These include B vitamins, the herbal huperzine, magnesium, and fish oil, with resveratrol exhibiting the broadest biological action in the human brain.  Considering the volume of evidence, if you aren’t already augmenting your diet with resveratrol that may be evidence Alzheimer’s has already set in.

Once diagnosed, Alzheimer’s sufferers and their caregivers have to live with the disease for some time.  Average survival time is 8.3 (miserable) years for individuals diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease at age 65.

Summary:  you are going to get old.  You are going to live many years beyond what you imagined.  Make sure you have a functioning brain when you get there.

References for chart:

1. Journal Biological Chemistry March 2010.
2. Nature Medicine May 2015.
3. American Journal Physiology Heart & Circulatory Physiology Sept 2011.
4. European Journal Pharmacology May 2009.
5. Biological & Pharmaceutical Bulletin 2011.
6. International Immunopharmacology Jan 2005.
7. Virus Research July 2015.
8. Annals New York Academy Science May 2003.
9. Brain Research Nov 12, 2012.
10. Journal Neural Transmission Sept 2013.

 

©2016 Bill Sardi, ResveratrolNews.com