Resveratrol found to slow progression of Alzheimer’s

Easy-to-find supplement might be effective Alzheimer’s therapy

If you or someone you love has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, you know what a helpless feeling it can be.

You’ve been told that it’s incurable, that it’s only going to get worse, and there isn’t a thing the mainstream can do about it.

But now it looks like there’s some real hope on the horizon for millions of Alzheimer’s sufferers.

In fact, a recent study has shown, for the second time, the remarkable powers of a natural compound in helping to slow — even stop — the progression of the disease. And these studies were done in people, not lab rats!

This amazing substance isn’t a drug, and you don’t need a prescription to start taking it.

Actually, you may have had some already today!

Policing the brain

Mother Nature must really irk drugmakers.

I mean they spend whatever is necessary, the sky is the limit. And yet where Alzheimer’s disease is concerned, they’re getting nowhere fast.

On the other hand, a group of dedicated researchers at the Georgetown University Medical Center have been finding some extraordinary things out about a natural compound found in wine and chocolate — resveratrol.

That’s right, the “French Paradox” substance that we heard so much about a few years ago. That refers to how the French have such a low incidence of heart disease and obesity despite a diet super high in fat — but with lots of red wine.

Well, it looks like resveratrol has some other health benefits up its sleeve.

The first investigation done by the Georgetown researchers was released last year. They conducted a placebo-controlled, double-blind study with 119 people suffering from Alzheimer’s for a year. And they found that they were able to slow down and even halt the disease progression in the resveratrol group.

That was shown by studying a protein called Abeta40, which typically declines when Alzheimer’s gets worse. The patients who got the resveratrol had little or no change in that protein level, but it decreased in the placebo group.

And the latest study turned up even more dramatic findings about how resveratrol can protect the brain, particularly by reducing inflammation and even policing what gets past the blood-brain barrier.

Neurologist Charbel Moussa referred to it as “a kind of crowd control at the border of the brain,” that keeps out “unwanted immune molecules” that trigger brain inflammation and can “kill neurons.”

Previously, the researchers said, it was thought that damaging inflammation came from immune cells within the brain. Now they believe that those immune molecules may be in the bloodstream and travel “through a leaky blood-brain barrier.”

Dr. Moussa said that resveratrol produces “the kind of immune response you want,” that can disable “neurotoxic proteins.”

I’m sure by now you’re probably wondering how to get more resveratrol in your daily diet!

Things that pack a resveratrol punch include peanuts, dark chocolate, raspberries, red grapes, and of course red wine. But certainly drinking wine or eating chocolate by the case load will end up doing you more harm than good. And that’s where a high-quality resveratrol supplement can be a good addition to your daily routine.

While this is certainly exciting research where Alzheimer’s is concerned, it’s far from the first time resveratrol has been able to achieve remarkable success in treating serious health problems.

Previous studies have found it can improve your blood sugar control and lower other diabetes risk factors. And National Institutes of Health researchers found that resveratrol could keep monkeys from getting diabetes in the first place.

Also, a few months ago I told you how a laboratory study found that resveratrol could reduce fibromyalgia pain levels better than Lyrica could.

Even though resveratrol-containing foods and supplements are certainly easy to find, don’t be surprised if Big Pharma comes out with its own laboratory version soon with a crazy name we can’t pronounce.

And no doubt whenever drug company does will claim to have invented the best thing since penicillin!

Sources:
“Resveratrol study offers new insight into Alzheimer’s” Tim Newman, July 28, 2016, MNT, medicalnewstoday.com