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Red wine compound slows brain plaque linked to Alzheimer's disease, study finds
A compound in red wine may offer yet another health benefit–it may slow formation of the amyloid plaques associated with Alzheimer's disease.
Resveratrol is a compound that is generating a lot of health buzz, and not just because it is found in red wine. Results from a newly published laboratory study show the compound may slow the development of protein clumps–called amyloid fibrils. The fibrils–made of beta-amyloid protein–ultimately aggregate into the distinctive plaques commonly found in Alzheimer's patients.
Alzheimer's disease is a form of dementia that robs people of their ability to remember and perform simple tasks, such as eating and dressing. There are no known medications to ease or cure this debilitating and fatal disease.
Preventing the formation of fibrils and untangling them once they aggregate into plaques are the current focus of efforts to combat this illness that attacks brain tissue. As many as 5.3 million people in the United States live with the disease, according to the Alzheimer's Association.