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| Alzheimer ’s disease |
Nutritional Supplements as an Adjuvant Treatment for Alzheimer ’s disease
In a new study, researchers at the Biodesign Institute suggest that a substantial nutrient sold as a health supplement can protect against Alzheimer's disease from one generation to the next, they have detected a safe and simple treatment for one of the most destructive, and perplexing sufferings and devastating and shocking afflictions: Alzheimer's disease (AD).
Lead authors Salvatore Oddo and Ramon Velazquez, along with their colleagues in the ASU-Banner Neurodegenerative Disease Research Center (NDRC), examine the effects of choline, an important nutrient that can promise in the war against memory- stealing disorder.
The study concentrates on mice bred to demonstrate the symptoms of AD-like symptoms. The results showed that when these mice are given high-quality choline in their diet, their offspring will show improvement in spatial memory, compared to those who received normal choline regimen in the womb.
Notably, the beneficial effects of choline supplementation appear transgendered, not only protect rats and mice receiving choline supplementation during lactation and gestation but also the posterity and subsequent offspring of these mice.
Although this second generation did not receive any direct choline supplementation, they recovered the benefits of the treatment, possibly due to their heritage revision and inherited modifications in their genes. The discovery of such epigenetic changes may be further exciting in new ways of research and recommend ways to treat a wide range of transgenerational afflictions including fetal alcohol syndrome and obesity.
Supplementing the brain
Choline works to protect the brain from Alzheimer's disease in at least two ways, both of which have been detected in the new study.
First of all, choline reduces homocysteine levels, homocysteine is an amino acid that can act as a powerful neurotoxin, contributing to the hallmarks of AD:. neurodegeneration and the manufacture of amyloid plaques. Homocysteine is known to double the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease and is found at high levels in patients with AD. Choline makes a chemical change, converts harmful homocysteine into adjuvant chemical methionine.
First of all, choline reduces homocysteine levels, homocysteine is an amino acid that can act as a powerful neurotoxin, contributing to the hallmarks of AD:. neurodegeneration and the manufacture of amyloid plaques. Homocysteine is known to double the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease and is found at high levels in patients with AD. Choline makes a chemical change, converts harmful homocysteine into adjuvant chemical methionine.
Secondly, choline supplementation reduces the activity of microglia - cells responsible for deletion of debris in the brain. While their housekeeping work is essential for brain health, active microglia can be out of control, as they usually do during Alzheimer's disease. Over-activation of microglia has to swell in the brain more actively and can eventually lead to neuronal death. Choline supplementation reduces the activation of microglia and provides protection from the ravines of AD.
The conclusions appear in the current issue of the Nature journal Molecular Psychiatry. The researchers of Neurodegenerative Disease Research Center were included in co-authors of the Translational Genomics Research Institute in Phoenix.
Unremitting devastation
Alzheimer's disease is now believed to start the path of destruction in the brain decades before the onset of clinical symptoms. Once the disease is diagnosed, the disease becomes permanently fatal, leading to the closure of one vital system after another. Mental decline is unstable, patients experience a range of symptoms that may include disorientation, confusion, delusions, disorientation, agitation, forgetfulness, aggression, movement and progressive damage of motor control.
The disease is poised to infect 13.5 million people in the United States alone by the middle of the century if nothing is done to treat the disease. The astounding costs of Alzheimer's are expected to exceed $ 20 trillion over the next 40 years. The development of effective therapies rooted in a more comprehensive understanding of this complex disease is one of the most daunting challenges facing the global healthcare and modern medicine infrastructure.
Altered states
Research on the origin of Alzheimer's disease strongly suggests a wide variety of factors. While advancing age is still the greatest risk factor, other risks involved in the disease include lifestyle and genetic predisposition.
For this, studies show that diet may have a significant effect in increasing or decreasing the risk of cognitive decline, and the risks can be transmitted to generations. A classic case is known as the Dutch Hunger Winter - in 1944-45 a severe famine that affected pregnant women and their offspring.
When a recent study examined the adult health records of people born in the Netherlands during this period, the results suggested that the lack of serious diet suffered by the mothers of these children has increased the incidence of obesity, above-average LDL cholesterol and, interestingly, schizophrenia, their offspring In this population, mortality rate rose by 10 percent after the age of 68 years.
It is believed that these adverse health effects are as a result of the silence of genes in unborn children. These health-related genes remain silent throughout life, causing health problems.
It is believed that these adverse health effects are as a result of the silence of genes in unborn children. These health-related genes remain silent throughout life, causing health problems.
On a more expected note, a healthy diet has been shown to provide protection against diseases including Alzheimer's disease and cancer. For 4.5 years, patients who follow the Mediterranean diet; reduced the risk of AD by 54 percent. In another study, nutrient supplementation worked as an adjuvant treatment for Alzheimer's disease, in this circumstance, fruits and vegetables, legumes, whole grains, and nuts as well as poultry and fish have been advised in the diet.
Effects of choline
Choline is a vitamin-like essential nutrient and supplements that are naturally present in some foods and is also available in the form of dietary supplements. Choline is a source of essential methyl groups needed for several stages in metabolism. All animal and plant cells require choline to sustain their structural integrity. The body uses choline to produce acetylcholine, an important neurotransmitter essential for nervous system and brain functions, including muscle control, memory, and mood. Choline also plays an important role in regulating gene expression
It has long been believed that choline is especially important in early brain development. Pregnant women are advised to sustain the level of choline by 550 mg per day for the health of their developing fetus. Studies have shown that almost 90 percent of women also do not meet the requirement. Choline deficits are linked to the failure of fetus development to complete the expected milestone in walking and raging. But researchers have shown that even if you have the recommended amount, supplementing with more nutrients in mice model provides more benefit.
Indeed, when the study of Alzheimer's disease in mice found supplemental choline in their diet, the offspring of mice showed a significant improvement in spatial memory, which was tested in a water maze. Post-examination of the mouse tissue extracted from the hippocampus, a brain area, known to play a central role in memory building, later confirms the epigenetic change induced by the colline supplements. The modified gene associated with microglial activation and swelling of the brain, and low levels of homocysteine, were the result of improvements in the performance seen in spatial memory functions. Due to epigenetic modifications induced by colline, the offspring of mice receiving supplemental choline in the womb has improved.
Researchers found that while increasing the methionine, the initial colline supplement reduced homocysteine, suggesting that the level of high colline turns homocysteine into methionine. This conversion happens because of an enzyme called betaine-homocysteine methyltransferase (BMHT). They found that choline supplementation increased the production of BMHT in 2 generations of mice.
The importance of the study is two-fold, in order to the establishment of beneficial effects of nutrient supplementation in the generations and the proposition of the epigenetic system to the reduction of AD memory deficit in mice. Nobody has shown transgenerational benefits of choline supplements. Choline is a very attractive candidate for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease as it is a very safe alternative compared to many medications. t takes about 9 times of choline's recommended daily dosage to produce harmful side effects.
Future work will detect the effects on Alzheimer's disease of choline administered in adult rather than fetal mice. Although the author insists that the results in the mice are promising, a controlled clinical trial in humans will eventually determine the effectiveness of choline as a new weapon in the fight against Alzheimer's disease.
Journal Reference:
Molecular Psychiatry, Published: