Blood Sugar Alzheimer’s Connection

Men with low insulin secretion at age 50 had a significantly greater risk of Alzheimer’s.

http://www.realage.com/ct/tips/6373

One of the theories of factors leading to Alzheimer’s is that it is diabetes of the brain. The brain runs on carbohydrates and if the brain cells develop insulin resistance the brain can’t run correctly. If we don’t produce enough insulin our brain won’t be able to absorb the carbs it needs to run correctly.

Grapes & Green Tea Protect from Alzheimer’s

An ingredient inside grapes, green tea & chocolate blocks the toxic amyloid beta that can build up in the brain causing Alzheimer’s. This study was done on mice but the mice took the same amount of polyphenolic compounds inside grapes that an average person can take per day.
An analysis of the grape seeds used showed the major active ingredients are catechin and epicatechin, which are also abundant in tea and cocoa.

Another antioxidant from grapes that has been in the news lately is resveratrol. Resveratrol seems to only be effective at protecting against Alzheimer’s at extremely high doses. Catechins in the extract product studied appear to be effective at practical doses.

The Journal of Neuroscience
June 18, 2008 • Volume 28 Number 25 www.jneurosci.org
p 6388
Grape-Derived Polyphenolics Prevent A Oligomerization and Attenuate CognitiveDeterioration in a Mouse Model of Alzheimer’s DiseaseJun Wang, Lap Ho, Wei Zhao, Kenjiro Ono, Clark Rosensweig, Linghong Chen,Nelson Humala, David B. Teplow, and Giulio M. Pasinetti

Vaccine Prevents Alzheimer’s in Mice

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-05/uorm-vti051908.php
A vaccine created by scientists at University of Rochester Medical Center attacks the plaque that is the major cause of Alzheimer’s.

The vaccine used in this study is so successful that there was absolutly no sign of the plaque in any of the mice.

Since these results are for mice and not men, but this is the most promising study I’ve ever read about combatting Alzheimer’s.

The new science that produced these results is remarkable. The scientists took the herpes virus & stripped it of all it’s genes. They dropped the genes of interleukin-4 & amyloid beta in & let the new immune cell destroy the bad plaque.

“Our study demonstrates that we can create a potent but safe version of a vaccine that utilizes the strategy of immune response shaping to prevent Alzheimer’s-related pathologies and memory deficits,” said William Bowers, associate professor of neurology and of microbiology and immunology at the Medical Center and lead author of the article. “The vaccinated mice not only performed better, we found no evidence of signature amyloid plaque in their brains.”