|
|
| | |
|
Vitamin D and Curcumin May Benefit
Patients With Alzheimer's Disease
By Helping Clear Amyloid Plaques
UCLA
scientists and colleagues from UC Riverside and the
Human BioMolecular
Research Institute have found that vitamin D,
together with a natural
compound found in turmeric spice called curcumin,
may help stimulate
the immune system to clear the brain of amyloid beta,
which forms the
plaques considered the hallmark of Alzheimer's disease.
The
early research findings, which appear in the July issue of the Journal
of Alzheimer's Disease, may lead to new approaches in preventing and
treating Alzheimer's by utilizing the property of vitamin D, both alone
and
together with curcumin to boost the immune system in protecting the
brain
against amyloid beta.
Vitamin D is an essential nutrient
for bone and immune system health; its
main source is sunshine, and it
is synthesized through the skin. Deficiencies
may occur during winter
months or in those who spend a lot of time indoors,
such as Alzheimer's
patients. "We hope that vitamin D3 and curcumin,
both naturally
occurring nutrients, may offer new preventive and treatment
possibilities for Alzheimer's disease," explained a leading researcher
at the
David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and the Veterans Affairs
Greater
Los Angeles Healthcare System.
Using blood samples from
nine Alzheimer's patients, one patient with mild
cognitive impairment
and three healthy control subjects, scientists isolated
monocyte cells,
which transform into macrophages that act as the immune
system's
clean-up mechanism, traveling through the brain and body and
gobbling
up waste products, including amyloid beta. Researchers incubated
the
macrophages with amyloid beta, vitamin D3 and curcumin.
The team
discovered that curcuminoids enhanced the surface binding
of amyloid
beta to macrophages and that vitamin D strongly stimulated
the uptake
and absorption of amyloid beta in macrophages in a majority
of patients.
Previous
research by the team demonstrated that the immune genes are
associated
with the immune system's ability to better ingest amyloid beta.
In this
earlier work, it was shown that there are two types of Alzheimer's
patients: Type 1 patients, who respond positively to curcuminoids, and
Type II patients, who do not.
Since vitamin D and curcumin work
differently with the immune system,
we may find that a combination of
the two or each used alone may be
more effective, depending on the
individual patient. No dosage of vitamin D
or curcumin can be
recommended at this point. Larger vitamin D and
curcumin studies with
more patients are planned, the researchers noted.
The study was
funded by the Human BioMolecular Research Institute, the
Alzheimer's
Association and MP Biomedicals LLC, a global life sciences
and
diagnostics company dedicated to Alzheimer's disease research.
Interested in Learning More About Vitamin D Supplements?
View Vitamin
Power's exclusive Multiple Vitamin Formula
With Vitamin D and order
online, or call us toll free at 1-800-645-6567.
Sign up for our e-mail
newsletter filled with news and helpful
health information.
You have
the power to improve your nutritional health
and Vitamin Power is here
to help.
| |
| | |
|
|
|