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Alzheimer's May Be Prevented By a 'Cocktail of Cheap Drugs': Research

by Tanya Thomas on Nov 25 2010 10:01 AM

 Alzheimer
A cheap diabetes drug taken with a red wine 'miracle pill' could prevent Alzheimer's disease.
British doctors at Dundee University believe the two-in-one cocktail could keep the brain healthy into old age, stopping dementia developing in some cases and halting it in others.

The latest breakthrough centres on drugs called metformin and resveratrol, reports the Daily Mail.

While Metformin has been safely used for more than 50 years to control blood sugar levels in age and obesity-related diabetes, Resveratrol, the 'miracle ingredient' behind many of red wine's health-boosting qualities, has also been hailed as an elixir of life.

The Dundee researchers showed that metformin interferes with the formation of toxic 'tangles' of a protein called tau that clog the brain in Alzheimer's, leading to the destruction of memory cells.

Resveratrol has a similar protective effect and taken together, the two could have the power to hold Alzheimer's at bay, researchers believe.

Professor Susann Schweiger said, "The best hope is that it would stop it."

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Source-ANI


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