Nutraceuticals and nootropics for anti-aging

Alpha-Lipoic Acid, Curcumin, vitamins C and E — they all show anti-Alzheimer’s effects

Alzheimer’s Disease is much in the news nowadays, and will be more so in years to come. As luck would have it, certain readily available supplements are also in the news as anti-Alzheimer’s treatments. Even Vitamins C and E recently received attention when researchers at Johns Hopkins University showed that people who take sizable doses of both vitamins C and E have a reduced risk of developing Alzheimer’s Disease. (“Sizable doses” means about 1,000 IU/day of vitamin E and 500 mg/day or more of vitamin C.)

Link to press release about the study:

Vitamin Supplement Use May Reduce Effects of Alzheimer’s Disease

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The mechanism for these vitamins’ anti-Alzheimer’s effect may have to do with their being antioxidants. The brain damage seen in Alzheimer’s Disease seems be caused by tangles of proteins that entrap metal ions, which in turn promote the formation of free radicals. The free radicals then damage and kill nerve cells. Antioxidant vitamins presumably scavenge many of these free radicals before they can wreak their damage.

It is therefore not surprising to learn that other antioxidants have also recently been shown to have an anti-Alzheimer’s effect. Recent studies have pointed to alpha-Lipoic Acid (ALA) as an especially effective example. ALA is not only an antioxidant, it also is a ‘chelator’ — that is, it binds to metal ions and aids in their removal from the tissue in which they reside. One study even showed that ALA was capable of dissolving the kinds of protein tangles (‘plaques’) that characterize Alzheimer’s Disease. It may be that the same metal ions responsible for generating free radicals are also helping to hold the plaques together; when ALA removes these metal ions, the plaques fall apart and dissolve.

Other substances that have shown a potential for destroying Alzheimer’s plaques are the steroid hormone estradiol and flavonoid compounds found in various plants.

Link to research articles about the effects of ALA, estradiol, and flavonoids on Alzheimer’s plaques:

The severity of cortical Alzheimer's type changes is positively correlated with increased amyloid-beta Levels: Resolubilization of amyloid-beta with transition metal ion chelators.

Advanced glycation endproducts induce changes in glucose consumption, lactate production, and ATP levels in SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells by a redox-sensitive mechanism.

Anti-AGEing defences against Alzheimer's disease.

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Another recent report says that curcumin — an important ingredient in the turmeric spice — can reduce by 50% the number of plaques in mice with an Alzheimer’s-like condition.

Link to news article:

Spicy Dishes can help Alzheimer's Disease

Link to earlier research article on same subject:

The curry spice curcumin reduces oxidative damage and amyloid pathology in an Alzheimer transgenic mouse.