| Research says that natural polyphenol in red wine is beneficial for preventing alzheimer;s disease. |
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 A compound found in grapes and red wine reduces levels that cause the tell-tale senile plaques of Alzheimer's disease. "Resveratrol is a natural polyphenol occurring in abundance in several plants, including grapes, berries and peanuts. The polyphenol is found in high concentrations in red wines. The highest concentration of resveratrol has been reported in wines prepared from Pinot Noir grapes. Generally, white wines contain 1 per cent to 5 per cent of the resveratrol content present in most red wines," said researcher Philippe Marambaud.
A characteristic feature of Alzheimer's disease is the deposition of amyloid-beta peptides in the brain. The researchers administered resveratrol to cells which produce human amyloid-beta and tested the compound's effectiveness by monitoring amyloid-beta levels inside and out side the cells. They found that levels of amyloid-beta in the treated cells were much lower than those in untreated cells. The researchers believe the compound acts by stimulating the degradation of amyloid-beta peptides by the proteasome, a barrel-shaped multi-protein complex that can specifically digest proteins into short polypeptides and amino acids.
 Grapes and wine however contain more than 600 different components, including well-characterised anti-oxidant molecules. Therefore, we cannot exclude the possibility that several compounds work in synergy with small amounts of resveratrol to slow down the progression of the neurodegenerative process in humans," said Marambaud.
"Our goal is now to elucidate the exact molecular mechanisms involved in the beneficial properties of resveratrol as a necessary prerequisite to the identification of novel molecular targets and therapeutic approaches," he said.
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