Researchers at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) have shown that a diet rich in polyphenols substances and polyunsaturated fatty acids, known for its antioxidant properties, increases the production of stem cells in the brain, the subsequent birth of new neurons and could promote the delay of the emergence and evolution of Alzheimer’s, characterized by the deterioration of these cells.
The polyphenols found in foods such as tea, beer, grapes, wine, olive oil, cocoa, nuts and other fruits and vegetables. Polyunsaturated fatty acids found in oily fish and vegetables such as corn, soybean, sunflower and pumpkin.
The study showed greater cell proliferation in the brains of mice fed – for 40 days, equivalent to 5 years in a human – with this diet than in those fed a standard diet. In both cases they studied the two regions where neurons are born – the olfactory bulb and hippocampus – which are particularly damaged in Alzheimer’s disease.
The findings, published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease ‘and directed by Mercedes Unzeta strengthen the hypothesis that a diet based on foods rich in antioxidant substances could delay the onset of the disease or slow its progress.
Unzeta addition, Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the UAB, has participated in the research work of this Department and the Departments of Cell Biology, Physiology and Immunology and Psychiatry and Legal Medicine, all assigned to the Institute of Neuroscience University, and the company La Morella Nuts and ACE Foundation Catalan Institute of Applied Neuroscience.
For work, has developed a paste formed by a mixture of natural products: nuts, coconut, vegetable oils rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids and soluble fiber-rich meal. Has been developed and patented by the company La Morella Nuts. Previous studies have validated its function in regulating cholesterol and hypertension, two common risk factors in cardiovascular disease and Alzheimer’s disease. During brain development, stem cells generate different neural cells – neurons, astrocytes, oligodendrocytes – that will form the adult brain.
Until the late 60′s it was thought that the provision of adult mammalian neurons decreased as they grew old without any possibility of renewal. It is now known that there is formation of new neurons, although this ability is restricted to two regions of the brain: the olfactory bulb and hippocampus – the area involved in memory and cognitive processes -.
We also know that although the rate of cell proliferation decreases with age and neurodegenerative diseases, exercise and personal welfare state favor this process.
The research is part of a CENIT project, awarded to the company La Morella Nuts, 1996, as part of a program Ingenio 2010 and directed to establish methodologies for the design, evaluation and validation of functional foods in prevention cardiovascular disease and Alzheimer’s .. .
