Alzheimer's Risk And Polyphenols

Alzheimer's Risk And Polyphenols
by Linda J Bruton

replacement therapy, NSAIDs (nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) and antioxidant
vitamins as promising treatments in preventing or slowing Alzheimer's disease
indicate that they do not.

Qi Dai, M.D., Ph.D., Assistant professor of Medicine, conducts ongoing research on
causative and preventative measures for Alzheimer's Disease. The research is
supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health. Dai and his research team
began to suspect that perhaps another class of antioxidant chemicals, known as
polyphenols, could play a role in preventing or slowing down of Alzheimer's disease.

Polyphenols are non-vitamin antioxidants common in the diet and particularly
abundant in teas, juices and wines. Polyphenols exist primarily in the skins and peels
of fruits and vegetables. Recent studies have shown that they extend maximum
lifespan by 59 percent and delay age-dependent decay of cognitive performance in
animal models.

Food sources rich in polyphenols include onion, apple, tea, red wine, red grapes,
grape juice, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, cranberries, and certain nuts.

"Also, animal studies and cell culture studies confirmed that some polyphenols from
juices showed a stronger neuroprotective effect than antioxidant vitamins. So we are
now looking at polyphenols," Dai said.

At the 2nd International Conference on Polyphenols and Health held at the University
of California campus in Davis October 4-7, 2005, the health effects of Polyphenols
was discussed by a broad range of researchers and scientists. There were global
representatives that attended to hear the scientific presentations and discussions on
the health effects of polyphenolics.

Some of the findings concluded that there are clear effects of polyphenols on
established surrogate markers of cardiovascular diseases. Also the discussions
centered on the biological effects involved in the protective effects of polyphenols
against cardiovascular diseases, on different body tissues, i.e., blood vessels, heart
muscles, etc.

There was a clear consensus that antioxidant activity is not directly related to any
health effects, but is simply a biomarker for the presence of polyphenolics, a marker
that can be confounded by constitutive antioxidants.

The beneficial effects of phenolics now appears to be its effects on cell signaling and
several speakers made this point at the conference. Researchers called for a clear,
clinical demonstration of a human health benefit from polyphenolics.

Researches are conducting more clinical trials to check blood polyphenol levels to see
if high polyphenols correlate with low Alzheimer's risk.

About The Author

Linda J Bruton

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A clinical trial that showed that
vitamin E slowed the progress of
some consequences of Alzheimer's
disease by about 7 months has been
discounted by recent studies.

Another clinical trial is examining
whether vitamin E and/or selenium
supplements can prevent Alzheimer's
disease or the cognitive decline
associated with the disease. Ongoing
research and clinical observations
involving other antioxidants are being
planned.

Some studies that claimed hormone

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