Grapes

A new study in the US has found that grape seed polyphenols, which are antioxidants, may help to prevent the development or delay the onset of Alzheimer's disease.

According to a report by United Press International's Health News, researchers in New York have evaluated the ability of grape-derived polyphenols to prevent the generation of a specific form of beta-amyloid peptide – a substance in the brain known to cause the neurotoxicity associated with Alzheimer's.

Dr Giulio Maria Pasinetti and colleagues from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine partnered with a team at the University of Minnesota led by Dr Karen Hsiao Ashe to administer grape seed polyphenolic extracts to mice genetically determined to develop memory deficits and beta-amyloid neurotoxins similar to those found in Alzheimer's.

The study, published in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, found that the brain content of the beta-amyloid *56 was substantially reduced after treatment.