Wheat Extract May Fight Alzheimer’s
Wheat, the staff of life, also may be used to fight Alzheimer’s disease.
Korean scientists believe that an extract of wheat could be used to develop treatments to treat and prevent Alzheimer’s.
Water extract of wheat suppresses beta amyloid in the brain, said researcher Lee Jong-Wong of Daegu Catholic University. Beta amyloid is the main component of the amyloid plaques in the brains of victims of Alzheimer’s.
In addition to treating and preventing Alzheimer’s, Lee believes the wheat extract could be pivotal in developing treatments to improve dementia and common forgetfulness.
“Aricept and a number of other drugs produce short-time improvements in memory loss and cognition in Alzheimer’s patients, but side effects were an obvious problem,” Lee told Korea Times.
“Drugs like Aricept focus on improving memory assessment through brain cells that are alive, while wheat extract works by preventing brain cells from dying, which would make them complementary to existing treatments and drugs and provide a synergy effect.”
Animal tests showed that the wheat extract can treat damaged cells as well as prevent Alzheimer’s and speculates that as little as five grams daily could prevent the disease, Lee said.
