Alzheimer is one of the most common diseases among the elderly as aging playing a contributing role in the developing process of it. Recently scientists found a natural compound beneficial to slow down the deterioration and treatment of Alzheimer. At present a phase 2 study is carried out to probe more about the medical ability of the natural compound on Alzheimer.

The compound is resveratrol, a type of inhibitor commonly existing in fruits, vegetables and other food like grapes, peanuts and chocolate etc. Resveratrol was considered as a potential compound for Alzheimer treatment for its well known ability of activating sirtuins a type of protein working in aging related problems.

Scientists used synthetic form of resveratrol to test its medical capability for Alzheimer patients or people who are at risk for the diseases in the phase 2 study. The pure resveratrol used in the study is equal to that existing in about 1000 bottles of red wine.

119 Alzheimer patients were invited to participate in the phase 2 study lasting about one year. They were grouped into two halves, one for resveratrol and the other for placebo drug. Amyloid-beta40 (good for the Alzheimer condition) difference was found in the trial. Patients who took resveratrol experienced little change in level of amyloid-beta40 amount in blood, whilst the other group got a decline.

Besides, a brain volume declination was observed in the group of people who had resveratrol for a period of 12 months. And no such signs were found in people who took placebo in the study. It’s an important indicator to furtherly know the capacity of resveratrol on Alzheimer though the relation between the brain volume decrease and Alzheimer is yet to know. Scientists suggested that it might be used to explain the improvement in inflammation and swelling in brain with the treatment.

With the present experiment data and fact, no exact conclusion can be drawn to describe the accurate connection between resveratrol and Alzheimer. A phase 3 study will be performed to probe more detail about that. And it will be definitively conducted out soon.

However, from the study, we can know that resveratrol is good to bodies in ways like preventing the amyloid-beta40 from decreasing and decreasing the brain volume. Thus taking food contain resveratrol will be a good practice as an accessible preventive measure in daily lives.

Source from the Journal of Neurology and the original title is Resveratrol is safe and well-tolerated in individuals with mild-moderate dementia due to Alzheimer’s disease.