Strawberries to the rescue
A chemical that is found in fruits and vegetables such as strawberries and cucumbers apparently stops memory loss that accompanies Alzheimer’s disease in mice, a new study has claimed.
Scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have discovered in experiments on mice which normally develop Alzheimer’s symptoms less than a year after birth, that a daily dose of the compound — a flavonol called fisetin — prevented the progressive memory and learning impairments. The drug, however, did not alter the formation of amyloid plaques in the brain, accumulations of proteins which are commonly blamed for Alzheimer’s disease. The new finding suggests a way to treat Alzheimer’s symptoms independently of targeting amyloid plaques.
“We had already shown that in normal animals, fisetin can improve memory,” Pamela Maher, a senior staff scientist in Salk’s Cellular Neurobiology Laboratory who led the new study, said. “What we showed here is that it also can have an effect on animals prone to Alzheimer’s,” she said.