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| Edited By: |Source: ANI |Updated: Jun 28, 2011, 03:39 PM IST
A new study has revealed that cinnamon has the potential to prevent the degenerative brain disorder, Alzheimer's disease, which affects at least one in eight Americans over the age of 65.
A team of researchers from the Tel Aviv University (TAU) discovered ‘Ceppt’, the cinnamon extract obtained from its bark that curbs the progression of Alzheimer's.
The team isolated Ceppt by grinding cinnamon and extracting the substance into an aqueous buffer solution.
They added this solution into the drinking water of mice that had been genetically altered to develop an aggressive form of Alzheimer's and fruit flies that had been mutated with a human gene that also stimulated the disorder and shortened their lifespan.
After four months, the researchers discovered that development of the disease had slowed significantly and the animals' activity levels and longevity were comparable to that of their healthy peers.
They concluded that the extract had inhibited the formation of toxic amyloid polypeptide oligomers and fibrils, which compose deposits of plaque found in the brains of Alzheimer's patients.
“The discovery is extremely exciting. While there are companies developing synthetic AD inhibiting substances, our extract would not be a drug with side effects, but a safe, natural substance that human beings have been consuming for millennia,” said Prof. Michael Ovadia, Department of Zoology at Tel Aviv University.
The findings indicated that Ceppt may not just fight against the development of the disease, but may help to cure it after Alzheimer's molecules have already formed, according to Ovadia.
