Grape seeds could ward off Alzheimer's

Australian scientists are suggesting that grape seeds may be a potential treatment in warding off Alzheimer's disease.

The scientists at Flinders University have found that adding grape seed extract to the diet prevented the formation of deposits of amyloid proteins in the brain.

The discovery was made by a team of medical scientists in the Department of Human Physiology, headed by Professor Xin-Fu Zhou, in trials with mice.

Professor Zhou says the over-production of amyloid-beta proteins, or the body's failure to degrade them, leads to the formation of clumps or snarls in the brain and is a major cause of Alzheimer's disease and this aggregation of amyloid causes the loss of nerve connections, cell death and inflammation in the brain, leading to cognitive decline.

Professor Zhou says many fruits and vegetables contain polyphenols which are complex molecules with anti-oxidant properties and some have already been identified as a possible method for reducing amyloid deposition.

The Flinders team along with researchers from CSIRO, chose to experiment with the polyphenol extract from grape seeds, a resource which is particularly abundant in South Australia.

Lead researcher Dr. Yanjiang Wang says that moderate wine consumption is already recommended to prevent Alzheimer's disease, but since the disease mainly afflicts elderly people, many of whom cannot or will not drink alcohol, grape seed extract is a better choice to prevent the disease.

Grape seed extract was fed to mice who had been affected by transgenic Alzheimer's for six months, after which the researchers observed their behaviour and brain pathology, comparing them with a control group.

Professor Zhou says they found that grape seed extract was a very powerful agent in reducing amyloid-beta deposits in the brain and it also produced marginal improvements in cognitive function and, most importantly, reduced inflammation.

The CSIRO team led by Dr. Michael Fenech found that grape seed extract also prevented DNA damage by amyloids in mice and Professor Zhou says in general, grape seed extract demonstrates a strong disease-modifying effect and because mice are comparable to humans in physiological and behavioural terms, the grape seed extract is potentially an effective preventive measure against the development of Alzheimer's.

Professor Zhou says as a dietary supplement, the effect of grape seeds is significant and beneficial and it is a safe, natural product which contains 'goodies' that should not be discarded.