[ad_1]
Did you know that, worldwide, every 3 seconds a person is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s? Something like that, while these lines are being written, two people have already been notified that they have this disease.
And because there is still no cure for this neurodegenerative pathology, which affects 52 million people in the world, efforts are focused on timely diagnosis and the search for effective methods to achieve its prevention.
In this sense, the laboratory of the International Center for Biomedicine developed a study led by Dr. Ricardo Maccioni, which demonstrated the preventive and curative power present in certain foods.
“Nutraceuticals are a component that comes from natural sources such as fruits, roots or plants, and that together with their nutritional properties have a disease-preventing effect”explains the neuroscientist who, due to his career, is ranked in the highest 1% of Alzheimer’s researchers in the world.
Among the roots, plants and foods that can help in this disease, the benefits of Andean Shilajit, Turmeric and Rosemary; well, as well as the red berries and grapes, for its antioxidant properties; onions, garlic and ginger, for its anti-inflammatory power. And the apples, which, thanks to Quercetin, slows down the cellular aging process.
Based on the Theory of Neuro Immunomodulation – which establishes that inflammation is a process common to all neurodegenerative diseases, which leads to the dysregulation of proteins and cellular activity – it was established that, in the case of Alzheimer’s disease, this Inflammation produces a phosphorylation of the TAU protein (responsible for regulating the balance of nerve cell traffic), which causes neurofibrillary tangles to form. With this, it is concluded that there are multiple factors that produce this pathology.
“We have come to the conclusion that Alzheimer’s is a multifactorial pathology, and that, therefore, the search for effective and preventive treatments should have this approach. In this sense, nutraceutical therapies are ‘multitarget’, that is, directed at different targets in the brain organization. The drugs themselves are only directed at a single target, which may not be the determinant of pathogenesis “, assures the academic.
With this premise, the researchers looked for natural sources that could have these “anti-Alzheimer” properties; They selected them, according to scientific evidence, and made a more specific analysis of their molecules until they found natural compounds that had the healing characteristics that were sought.
“We focus on tau protein, which is the line of research that the laboratory has, and we found nutraceuticals that have properties that would allow to stimulate the neuroregeneration of neurons, and -combined with other compounds with anti-tau protein characteristics, they can reduce the effects of the illness”, says Dr. Camila Calfio, associate researcher at the International Center for Biomedicine.
The main observations of this study – in which Dr. Andrea Gonzalez, Dr. Leonel Rojo from the University of Santiago de Chile and Dr. Sandeep Singh from the Center of Biomedical Research in India also participated – were published by the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease . Titled ‘The Emerging Role of Nutraceuticals and Phytochemicals in the Prevention and Treatment of Alzheimer’s Disease’, it presents the complete list of nutraceutical compounds with useful properties for the treatment or prevention of Alzheimer’s.
It should be noted that according to a history of Alzheimer’s Disease International, it is estimated that 1 in 9 people, over 65 years of age, have some type of dementia. A figure that increases by 1 every 2, in those over 85 years of age. In Chile, it is projected that by 2050, more than 600,000 people will suffer from this pathology, or some other type of dementia.
“The main contribution of our research is not only in the scientific support given to the use of nutraceuticals for the treatment and prevention of Alzheimer’s, but also in the paradigm shift that we propose regarding the multitarget approach to the disease. We believe that this is the right path to continue advancing in the search for answers about this pathology that affects millions of people in the world. We continue working ”, concludes Dr. Maccioni.
[ad_2]
