The neuroprotective role of amyloid-β

(the discovery of upstream processes that lead to lesions will be hampered)

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Alzheimer's disease (AD) is an age-related neurodegenerative disease characterized clinically by cognitive decline and pathologically by the accumulation of amyloid-beta-containing senile plaques and neurofibrillary tangles. A great deal of attention has focused, focused on amyloid-beta as the major pathogenic mechanism with the ultimate goal of using amyloid-beta lowering therapies as an avenue of treatment. Unfortunately, nearly a quarter century later, no tangible progress has been offered, whereas spectacular failure tends to be the most compelling. We have long contended, as has substantial literature, that proteinaceous accumulations are simply downstream and, often, endstage manifestations of disease. Their overall poor correlation with the level of dementia, and their presence in the cognitively intact is evidence that is often ignored as an inconvenient truth. Current research examining amyloid oligomers, therefore, will add copious details to what is, in essence, a reductionist distraction from upstream pleiotrophic processes such as oxidative stress, cell cycle dysfunction, and inflammation. It is now long overdue that the neuroscientists avoid the pitfall of perseverating on "proteinopathies'' and recognize that the continued targeting of end stage lesions in the face of repeated failure, or worse, is a losing proposition.
The work focuses on a synthesis of pathogenic hypotheses and their relationship with presumed causative lesions (e.g., amyloid-β) and molecules (amyloid-β, amyloid-β protein precursor). His assessment of the state of knowledge is a somewhat cynical and stinging rebuke (necessarily so in his view) of the major school of thought in Alzheimer's disease pathogenesis, which he describes as reductionist and fundamentally backward. He bases this interpretation on the pathology, and the relationship between pathology and disease that clearly indicates plaques, amyloid-β protein precursor processing, and amyloid-β metabolism, as effect, or "host response," rather than cause. Read more: ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

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Efficacy of a medical food in mild Alzheimer's disease

Supplementation with a medical food including phosphatide precursors and cofactors for 12 weeks improved memory (delayed verbal recall) in mild AD patients. This proof-of-concept study justifies further clinical trials. Read more: sciencedirect.com

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Gum Disease Bacteria Provide Clue To Alzheimer's Treatment

(new potential strategies for the treatment)

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A defective, mutant strain of the bacterium that causes gum disease could provide a clue to potential treatments for Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and a number of other diseases. Researchers from the University of Florida College of Dentistry reported their findings May 25 at the 110th General Meeting of the American Society for Microbiology in San Diego.
Autophagy, or "self-eating," is an essential component of cellular survival and defense against invading organisms. It is how the cell degrades and recycles material into amino acids that can be reused. Several neurological disorders, including Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease, are associated with the buildup of polypeptides within neurons. Current evidence suggests that if the affected cells could break down these plaque build-ups it would greatly increase the chances of recovery. The ability to activate autophagy within these cells could prove invaluable in the treatment of neurodegenerative disorders.
"Although we do not yet completely understand how these diseases develop, we do know that the proteins clump together and form a plaque buildup in affected patients' neurons. If we can direct the cell's own ability to break down waste products against the plaques, we could keep them from forming and potentially intercept the development of these and other diseases," says Ann Progulske-Fox, a researcher on the study. Read more: redorbit.com

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Food choice process model

Due to the increasing proportion of the elderly in the European Union knowledge of health and nutritional status has to be complemented by studies focused on food preferences and health behavior. A comprehensive literature review has been conducted. The state of the art documents a gap in understanding why differences exist between food knowledge, attitudes and practices. Inadequate attention has been given to cultural factors. Research into the reasons for nutrition behavior and food choice is of key importance for the future. Read more: content.karger.com

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Formula for Alzheimer's disease management and prevention

(New book)

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"The Alzheimer's Solution, How Today's Care is Failing Millions and How We can Do Better," by Kenneth S. Kosik, Harriman Professor of Neuroscience Research at UCSB and co-director of UCSB's Neuroscience Research Institute, is filled with new ideas about the disease. Kosik, who is both a neuroscientist and a physician, wrote the book with Ellen Clegg, science writer and communications specialist for the Broad Institute.
"We have no satisfactory treatment for Alzheimer's disease," Kosik said in an interview. "Drugs don't have much of an impact. If you have a problem for which neither surgery nor pills will work, then the medical system is really more of an obstacle than a help." He explained that people don't generally know this and they think that if they have a medical problem, they should seek help within the medical system. "It need not work that way," he said.
The authors outline a bold vision of one-stop centers that would provide expertise and reliable information on a range of topics: dietary regimens, physical and cognitive exercise programs that may help reduce the risk for dementia, and palliative measures to reduce suffering. The centers they describe would take a family-oriented, personalized approach to care and prevention, creating an atmosphere conducive to adult learning, and facilitating personal growth in areas that patients have enjoyed over a lifetime, including the arts, dance, socializing, and a host of other possibilities. Read more: physorg.com

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Probiotics again show potential for IBS relief

 Daily supplements of Lactobacillus plantarum 299v may reduce the symptoms of Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) like abdominal pain and bloating, says new research from Institut Rosell. Read more: nutraingredients.com

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A protein that may play a role in the progression of Alzheimer's

(in stopping the progression of Alzheimer's)

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People with Alzheimer's disease typically have higher levels of an enzyme called BACE1 in their brains. BACE1 produces a toxin that researchers have pinpointed as a cause of Alzheimer's, and now, researchers have found a way to prevent BACE1 from accumulating in the brain.
"We have identified the protein that takes this enzyme to the cell's garbage disposal for removal. Increasing levels of the protein allows more of the enzyme to be eliminated, possibly preventing the high levels seen in people with Alzheimer's disease," said senior author Giuseppina Tesco, MD, PhD, assistant professor in the department of neuroscience at Tufts University School of Medicine (TUSM).
Tesco and colleagues previously discovered that levels of the GGA3 protein were significantly lower in the brains of Alzheimer's patients than those free of the disease. In the current in vitro study, the team also found, unexpectedly, that the GGA3 protein must bind with the regulatory protein ubiquitin in order to lower enzyme levels.
"This insight advances our understanding of the molecular mechanisms of Alzheimer's disease. We hope that our approach will lead to new therapies that treat and prevent Alzheimer's, which currently affects as many as 5.1 million Americans," said Tesco. Tesco is also a member of the neuroscience program faculty at the Sackler School of Graduate Biomedical Sciences at Tufts, leading the Alzheimer's disease research laboratory. Read more: jbc.org

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Milk: first step to functional ingredients

A new initiative to identify dairy bioactive ingredients has yielded 30 peptides that could be used to develop new functional food and beverage ingredients.   Read more: nutraingredients.com

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Effect alcohol consumption on risk of Alzheimer's

(a protective effect of alcohol)

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Researchers at the University of Valencia, the Generalitat Valenciana, and the Institut Municipal d'Investigació Mčdica, Barcelona, in Spain, carried out a study comparing personal and clinical antecedents of subjects affected with Alzheimer's disease with healthy people, both groups with the same age and gender distribution. Women included in the study were mainly light or moderate alcohol consumers. The risk of Alzheimer's disease was unaffected by any measure of tobacco consumption, but a protective effect of moderate alcohol consumption was observed, this effect being more evident in nonsmoker women.
"Our results suggest a protective effect of alcohol consumption, mostly in nonsmokers, and the need to consider interactions between tobacco and alcohol consumption, as well as interactions with gender, when assessing the effects of smoking and/or drinking on the risk of AD," according to lead investigator Ana M. Garcia, PhD, MPH, Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health, University of Valencia. "Interactive effects of smoking and drinking are supported by the fact that both alcohol and tobacco affect brain neuronal receptors." Read more: physorg.com

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Bilberry-pine bark mix and eye health

Daily supplements of a blend of a bilberry extract and an extract from French maritime pine bark may lower the pressure in the eye and boost overall ocular health, says a new study.  Read more: nutraingredients.com

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It is the defining modern tragedy

(Alzheimer's sufferer shuffling stage)

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The ageing population, its illnesses, and what the hell we're going to do about them: recurrent questions in the run-up to the general election, and something the creative world is having to face up to, too. With the number of Alzheimer's sufferers in Britain projected to pass the one million mark by 2025 and still no cure, dementia in particular is a subject just as ripe for the creative imagination as immigration or the war in Iraq. But for some reason, while Iris brought it to the big screen in 2002, and The Archers' Jack Woolley has been succumbing to the illness on our airwaves for some time now, theatre has by and large chosen to forget the disease of forgetting.
The Lion's Face, a new opera from the Opera Group, is currently trying to drag it into view. Scored by Elena Langer, with lyrics by Glyn Maxwell, this is a remarkably matter-of-fact engagement with the subject, built out of five years' worth of research among scientists, clinicians, sufferers and their carers, and staged with bleak realism in a care home of ugly white furniture and sterile screens. It is also unblinkingly direct: Mr D isn't a lead character who "just happens to have" this disease. His Alzheimer's is the engine of the whole piece, there in the scrambled semi-poetry of Maxwell's libretto as well as the fact that Mr D only speaks, while his visitors sing (a stylistic conceit that echoes Black Daisies for the Bride, Tony Harrison's 1993 BBC2 film-poem about the disease, which featured an elderly opera singer reduced to warbling a few notes from Madame Butterfly). Read more: guardian.co.uk

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Reducing the risk of developing chronic inflammation

Increased intakes of fruit and vegetables may decrease markers of inflammation linked to a range of chronic diseases, says a new study from Spain.  Read more: nutraingredients.com

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New Path For Novel Alzheimer's Therapies

(a major role for changes in Ca)

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Researchers from the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) have found a new Alzheimer's-related mechanism that could give rise to the development of new therapies against this disease. The study was recently published in the Cell Calcium journal, and the authors have already applied for a European patent to protect the commercial exploitation of this new discovery.

The novelty lies in a new mechanism through which the amyloid peptide, the major pathogen in Alzheimer's disease, provokes neuronal death. The Basque researchers have found that this peptide activates some receptors that lead cells to overexcitation and subsequent death; when such receptors are blocked with specific drugs, neurons are protected from the peptide-related lethal effects. This finding is particularly relevant for the development of new therapies slowing down Alzheimer's progression.

Amyloid beta (Aβ) oligomers accumulate in brain tissue of Alzheimer disease patients and are related to pathogenesis. The precise mechanisms by which Aβ oligomers cause neurotoxicity remain unresolved. In this study, we investigated the role of ionotropic glutamate receptors on the intracellular Ca²⁺ overload caused by Aβ. Using rat cortical neurons in culture and entorhinal–hippocampal organotypic slices, we found that Aβ oligomers significantly induced inward currents, intracellular Ca²⁺ increases and apoptotic cell death through a mechanism requiring NMDA and AMPA receptor activation. The massive entry of Ca²⁺ through NMDA and AMPA receptors induced by Aβ oligomers caused mitochondrial dysfunction as indicated by mitochondrial Ca²⁺ overload, oxidative stress and mitochondrial membrane depolarization. Importantly, chronic treatment with nanomolar concentration of Aβ oligomers also induced NMDA- and AMPA receptor-dependent cell death in entorhinal cortex and hippocampal slice cultures. Together, these results indicate that overactivation of NMDA and AMPA receptor, mitochondrial Ca²⁺ overload and mitochondrial damage underlie the neurotoxicity induced by Aβ oligomers. Hence, drugs that modulate these events can prevent from Aβ damage to neurons in Alzheimer's disease.  Read more: sciencedirect.com

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Food Combination and Alzheimer Disease Risk

Simultaneous consideration of previous knowledge regarding potentially AD-related nutrients and multiple food groups can aid in identifying food combinations that are associated with AD risk. Read more: archneur.ama-assn.org

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Alzheimer's Disease Breakthrough

(the leap from mice to men)

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New research appears to upend our current scientific understanding of the causes of Alzheimer’s disease, and may lead to a whole new approach to finding a cure for the devastating dementia. The new theory gaining traction in the scientific community is that in Alzheimer’s the brain is destroyed not by sticky plaques—long held to be the culprit—but by floating clumps of protein. In fact, the sticky plaques that coat the brain cells of those with Alzheimer’s may be the body’s way of protecting against these deadly clumps—the way an oyster forms a pearl to protect against an irritating grain of sand, according to one researcher.

For the last 20 years, following the prevailing theory that sticky plaques cause Alzheimer’s disease, drug developers have been targeting that plaque in their search for a cure.  But experiments in mice and rats published in April may prove to be the tipping point that takes that research in a new direction. Many scientists now believe the free-floating clumps of protein, rather than the sticky plaques—are the main players in the rogue process that attacks the brain. Read more: aarp.org

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Milk-based drinks needed for young people

The dairy industry should step up efforts to develop healthy milk-based drinks that appeal to young people, according to a new panel created by The Dairy Council in the UK. Read more: nutraingredients.com

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Abdominal obesity, and risk of dementia and Alzheimer's

(abdominal fat is recognised as the most dangerous)

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Having a 'pot belly' in middle age raises the risk of Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia in later life, warn researchers.
A new study shows people with large stomachs by the time they reach their 50s are significantly more likely to have smaller brains. Those with the biggest girths had a lower total area of brain tissue than those who kept a waistline, giving them a greater chance of developing dementia. U.S. scientists measured abdominal obesity in 733 people aged 60 on average and compared them to brain volume on CT scans.
Those with the highest amount of waistline fat had smaller brains than those with the lowest amount.  'Our data suggests a stronger connection between central obesity . . . and risk of dementia and Alzheimer's disease,' said Sudha Seshadri, from Boston University School of Medicine, leader of the study published in the journal Annals of Neurology. Dr Susanne Sorensen, of the Alzheimer's Society, said 'We have all heard a beer belly can be bad for our heart but this study suggests excess abdominal weight could also increase your risk of getting dementia.' Read more: dailymail.co.uk

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Heart health benefits of pistachios

A diet that includes pistachios could help improve heart health, according to a new study, which suggests that regular servings of the nuts reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. Read more: nutraingredients.com

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Alzheimers, a National Crisis

(aging into the high-risk years for Alzheimer's)

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"The Early Show" began a three-part series called "Alzheimers, a National Crisis" on Wednesday. And in advance of a national report card on Alzheimer's to be released Wednesday morning on Capitol Hill, the Alzheimer's Association gave "The Early Show" an exclusive look at the staggering numbers of people affected by the disease. The report shows the number of Americans hit with Alzheimer's will increase from 5.1 million today to 13.5 million in 2050. And the costs of the disease will soar from $172 billion to $1.08 trillion.

Rob Egge, vice president of public policy at the Alzheimer's Association, said on "The Early Show" the nation is on track to having Alzheimer's be the "defining disease" of the baby boomer generation. He said the greatest risk factor is age. "If you're over 65, you have a one in eight chance of having Alzheimer's, but if you're 85, you have almost a one in two chance." He added, "We have an aging society. The baby boomer generation has been moving along. It's just entering retirement, so we know where this is going."  Read more: cbsnews.com

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Cranberry anthocyanins show low levels of bioavailability

A new US study shows cranberry juice anthocyanins have only limited absorption but the researchers note that, in spite of this low bioavailability, the levels may be sufficient to generate a sustained health beneficial effect in terms of cell metabolism and gene expression.  Read more: nutraingredients.com

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Caffeine may slow Alzheimer's disease

(a candidate disease-modifying agent for Alzheimer’s)

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Guest editors Alexandre de Mendonça, Institute of Molecular Medicine and Faculty of Medicine, University of Lisbon, Portugal, and Rodrigo A. Cunha, Center for Neuroscience and Cell Biology of Coimbra and Faculty of Medicine, University of Coimbra, Portugal, have assembled a group of international experts to explore the effects of caffeine on the brain. The resulting collection of original studies conveys multiple perspectives on topics ranging from molecular targets of caffeine, neurophysiological modifications and adaptations, to the potential mechanisms underlying the behavioral and neuroprotective actions of caffeine in distinct brain pathologies.
"Epidemiological studies first revealed an inverse association between the chronic consumption of caffeine and the incidence of Parkinson's disease," according to Mendonça and Cunha. "This was paralleled by animal studies of Parkinson's disease showing that caffeine prevented motor deficits as well as neurodegeneration "Later a few epidemiological studies showed that the consumption of moderate amounts of caffeine was inversely associated with the cognitive decline associated with aging as well as the incidence of Alzheimer's disease. Again, this was paralleled by animal studies showing that chronic caffeine administration prevented memory deterioration and neurodegeneration in animal models of aging and of Alzheimer's disease." Read more: iospress.metapress.com

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Nutrition and Brain Health

The effects of different foods on our behaviour and cognitive performance have been known for years without needing to be examined closely – caffeine stimulates the brain; when kids have too much sugar, they turn "hyper"; and chocolate makes us all feel good. For centuries these experiences have been known and our dietary behaviours reflect this.  Read more: virtualmedicalcentre.com

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Resveratrol may boost blood flow in the brain

(resveratrol produced a dose-dependent increase in cerebral blood flow)

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A single dose of 250 or 500 milligrams of resveratrol was found to boost blood flow in the brain but did not affect cognitive performance, according to new findings published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. “The results of the current study provide the first indication in humans that resveratrol may be able to modulate cerebral blood flow variables,” wrote the researchers, led by David Kennedy from the Brain, Performance and Nutrition Research Centre at Northumbria University. “Thus, it seems reasonable to suggest that the potential effects of this molecule on brain function deserve a great deal more research attention with a clear focus on both healthy humans and pathologic groups,” they added.
Resveratrol, a powerful polyphenol and anti-fungal chemical, is often touted as the bioactive compound in grapes and red wine, and has particularly been associated with the so-called 'French Paradox'. The phrase, coined in 1992 by Dr Serge Renaud from Bordeaux University, describes the low incidence of heart disease and obesity among the French, despite their relatively high-fat diet and levels of wine consumption. Interest in the compound exploded in 2003 when research from David Sinclair and his team from Harvard reported that resveratrol was able to increase the lifespan of yeast cells. The research, published in Nature, was greeted with international media fanfare and ignited flames of hope for an anti-ageing pill. According to Sinclair’s findings, resveratrol could activate a gene called sirtuin1 (Sirt1 – the yeast equivalent was Sir2), which is also activated during calorie restriction in various species, including monkeys. Since then studies in nematode worms, fruit flies, fish, and mice have linked resveratrol to longer lives. Other studies with only resveratrol have reported anti-cancer effects, anti-inflammatory effects, cardiovascular benefits, anti-diabetes potential, energy endurance enhancement, and protection against Alzheimer’s. Bill Sardi, co-founder and president of Resveratrol Partners, says that: “Resveratrol has the biological effects of so many drugs wrapped up in one molecule.”. Read more: nutraingredients.com 

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Polish firm reformulating based on positive EFSA opinions

Poland’s Europharma Alliance said reformulation of its chewable products for children, which it will showcase at Vitafoods in Geneva, was informed by the positive opinions given to iron and iodine by the European Food Safety Authority. Read more: nutraingredients.com

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