Resveratrol For Alzheimer's

Resveratrol is an antioxidant that can confer many health benefits. Resveratrol is found in blueberries, grapes, red wine and white wine. Resveratrol has been shown to decrease the progression of Alzheimer's disease. The brain is particularly at risk for the effects of aging since there is a high rate of oxygen consumption in the brain which creates free radical damage to healthy cells. This is combined with low levels of enzymes which help antioxidants, which protect healthy cells, to do their jobs.

Health Improvement

A benefit of resveratrol is overall improvement in health. A study in the July 2008 journal "Cell Metabolism" reports that aged mice supplemented with resveratrol experienced improvements in balance and coordination. Apparently, mice supplemented with resveratrol for greater durations of time saw the most benefit. Improved performance was seen at 21 months and 24 months, but not 15 months.

Neuron Protection

Neurons are the basic building blocks of the nervous system and are responsible for signals sent between cells. Resveratrol has been shown to protect these neurons in Alzheimer's disease. A May 2003 study in the "Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences" reports that resveratrol is able to increase the activity of heme oxygenase, an enzyme that when stimulated has a protective effect on neurons.

Radical Scavenging Properties

Free radicals are highly reactive molecules that damage healthy cells and are known as scavengers. Antioxidants function to neutralize the reactive, damaging nature of free radicals. Resveratrol has shown the ability to do this in Alzheimer's Disease. An example of this is seen with nitric oxide, a free radical that is generated under inflammatory conditions. A study in the January 2005 "International Immunopharmacology" investigated the effects of resveratrol on nitric oxide production in rats. Resveratrol was able to significantly inhibit nitric oxide from its damaging potential.

Resveratrol Sources

Resveratrol is found in grapes, red wine, white wine, blueberries and peanuts. Resveratrol is obtained in a supplement form as well. A 1999 study in the journal "Agriculture and Food Chemistry" found that levels of resveratrol found in red and white grape juices were similar to that found in red and white Spanish wines. This gives people who do not or cannot drink wine an alternative and an opportunity to receive the same benefits of resveratrol. Piceid was the name of the major resveratrol derivative found in grape juice.