Daily Alzheimer's-fighting substance best

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind., Aug. 18 (UPI) -- In a study of rats, polyphenols in red wine or grape juice that help prevent Alzheimer's are absorbed better after continued ingestion, U.S. researchers say.

Mario Ferruzzi, Connie Weaver and Elsa Janle of Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind., and Dr. Giulio Pasinetti of Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York say previous studies of a single or sporadic dose found little bioactive polyphenols reaching the brain.

However, the study published in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, finds the amount of polyphenols from grapeseed extract that can reach a rat's brain is as much as 200 percent higher on the 10th consecutive day of feeding as compared to the first.

"This shows that reasonable and chronic consumption of these products may be the way to go, rather than single, high doses, similar to drugs," Ferruzzi says in a statement. "It's like eating an apple a day, not a case of apples over two days every month."

Polyphenols, compounds found in the skins and seeds of grapes, are thought to prevent the formation of beta-amyloid protein, which creates the plaque in the brain that causes Alzheimer's disease, the researchers say.