Promising News For Parkinson’s Disease and YOUR Brain Health

June 9, 2009 by GiGi

Welcome back!

parkinsons disease study A new study just released confirms the benefits of two important antioxidants to brain health and in particular – Parkinson’s Disease.

These antioxidants aren’t new and the research confirms what has been suspected all along. The two antioxidants are resveratrol and quercetin.

I’ve covered resveratrol quite a bit – more recently with this post Not All Resveratrol Is Created Equal. That’s important because the resveratrol they were using in the study was trans-resveratrol, which I explained in the post.

The other powerful antioxidant was quercetin, which is found in high concentrations in green tea.

Parkinson’s disease is a degenerative brain disorder characterized by impairment of motor skills and speech, muscle rigidity, tremor, a slowing of physical movement and possible loss of physical movement.

The symptoms are a consequence of reduced formation and action of the neurotransmitter dopamine due to death or dysfunction of the dopamine-producing cells. Prior research advised that the death of the dopamine-producing nerve cells ( neurons ) may be due to reactive oxygen species produced by oxidative stress.

Since resveratrol and quercetin are known to combat oxidative stress, they used those antioxidants against a Parkinsonian toxin known as MPP+.

Their conclusion?

The analysts concluded, “Our results indicate that resveratrol and quercetin lessen apoptotic neuronal cell death by acting on the expression of pro- and anti-apoptotic genes.”

Okay, so what does that mean in English? That these two powerful antioxidants MAY play an important role in preventative or as complementary treatments for other neurodegenerative diseases caused by oxidative stress. This could also mean preventative treatments for Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) as well as Parkinson’s Disease.