More Research Is the Key to Unlocking the Potentials of Resveratrol As an Anti-Alzheimer's Compound

A Latin proverb states that, "It is well to remember that there are five reasons for drinking: the arrival of a friend; one's present or future thirst; the excellence of the wine; or any other reason."

If the Latin sage who has penned the above saying is alive today, he would probably include another good reason why people should drink wine: getting a good dose of resveratrol.

Resveratrol is produced by several plants, such as grapes, to protect themselves from invasion of bacteria, fungi, and other pathogenic organisms. It is commonly found in the skin of red grapes and is an essential constituent of red wine.

Resveratrol was discovered by the Japanese scientist M. Takaoka in 1939. It would take another sixty years, however, before the importance of resveratrol would be fully recognized. In a groundbreaking study that was published in Nature back in 2003, David Sinclair and Konrad Howitz described how polyphenols like resveratrol prolong the lifespan of budding yeast.

Yet it is not a magical "Fountain of Youth." Further research is still needed to be performed in order to clearly define its capabilities on thwarting the effects of aging in higher organisms. On the positive side, resveratrol is a promising compound that may hold the key to battling numerous age-related diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease (AD).

The most prevalent form of dementia, AD afflicts more than 5 million US citizens. Seniors aged 65 years old and above comprise the majority of AD patients in America. The CDC estimates that about 5 percent of seniors 65 to 74 years old have AD.

While the exact cause of AD is not yet known, studies have revealed that aggregation of a specific type of protein called amyloid-beta peptide in the brain plays a major role in the development of AD. Long term accumulation of amyloid-beta plaques causes widespread inflammation and degradation of neurons, which subsequently leads to extreme memory loss and other classic manifestations of AD.

Recent studies, such as one conducted by Marambaud, Zhao, and Davies, have found that application of resveratrol may result to reduced levels of amyloid-beta plaques in treated cells of rodent models. According to their findings, proteasome, a complex protein component of resveratrol, breaks down amyloid-beta peptide chains into smaller peptides and amino acid molecules, preventing plaque formation in that may wreck havoc in the neurons.

In another recent study by Karuppagounder et al, it has been found that addition of resveratrol in a transgenic animal model's diet may result in decreased Alzheimer's plaque concentration.

Yet research on the potential of resveratrol as an anti-Alzheimer's compound is still in its infancy. Much is needed to be done in order to prove the efficacy of resveratrol on fighting Alzheimer's disease on humans.

And it is imperative that more research should be done quickly. AD is fatal and causes numerous deaths per year. As of the latest estimates by the CDC, AD is the 7th leading cause of death in the United States. And the fact that the population is graying at a fast rate is alarming. The latest Census report estimates that the number of seniors 65 years and older (the group that is most prone to develop AD) will increase to 72 million by the year 2030. More seniors translate into more AD patients.

While there are critics who say that resveratrol may be overhyped as the long-awaited cure for Alzheimer's disease, results from recent studies cannot be discounted. It is very much worth to do more research that will explore the curative potentials of resveratrol in Alzheimer's disease.