Alzheimer's disease can be slowed and some of its
symptoms curbed by a natural compound that is found in pomegranate. Also, the
painful inflammation that accompanies illnesses such as rheumatoid arthritis
and Parkinson's disease could be reduced, according to the findings of a
two-year project headed by University of Huddersfield scientist Dr Olumayokun
Olajide, who specialises in the anti-inflammatory properties of natural
products.
Now, a new phase of research can explore the
development of drugs that will stem the development of dementias such as
Alzheimer's, which affects some 800,000 people in the UK, with 163,000 new
cases a year being diagnosed. Globally, there are at least 44.4 million dementia sufferers, with the numbers expected
to soar.
The key breakthrough by Dr Olajide and his
co-researchers is to demonstrate that punicalagin, which is a polyphenol – a
form of chemical compound – found in pomegranate fruit, can inhibit
inflammation in specialised brain cells known as micrologia. This inflammation
leads to the destruction of more and more brain cells, making the condition of
Alzheimer's sufferers progressively worse.
There is still no cure for the disease, but the
punicalagin in pomegranate could prevent it or slow down its development.
Dr Olajide worked with co-researchers – including
four PhD students – in the University of Huddersfield's Department of Pharmacy
and with scientists at the University of Freiburg in Germany. The team used
brain cells isolated from rats in order to test their findings. Now the
research is published in the latest edition of the journal Molecular
Nutrition & Food Research and Dr Olajide will start to disseminate his
findings at academic conferences.
He is still working on the amounts of pomegranate
that are required, in order to be effective.
"But we do know that regular intake and
regular consumption of pomegranate has a lot of health benefits – including
prevention of neuro-inflammation related to dementia," he says,
recommending juice products that are 100 per cent pomegranate, meaning that
approximately 3.4 per cent will be punicalagin, the compound that slows down
the progression of dementia.
Dr Olajide states that most of the anti-oxidant
compounds are found in the outer skin of the pomegranate, not in the soft part
of the fruit. And he adds that although this has yet to be scientifically
evaluated, pomegranate will be useful in any condition for which inflammation –
not just neuro-inflammation – is a factor, such as rheumatoid arthritis,
Parkinson's and cancer.
The research continues and now Dr Olajide is
collaborating with his University of Huddersfield colleague, the organic
chemist Dr Karl Hemming. They will attempt to produce compound derivatives of
punicalagin that could the basis of new, orally administered drugs that would
treat neuro-inflammation.
Dr Olajide has been a Senior Lecturer at the
University of Huddersfield for four years. His academic career includes a post
as a Humboldt Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Centre for Drug Research at
the University of Munich. His PhD was awarded from the University of Ibadan in
his native Nigeria, after an investigation of the anti-inflammatory properties
of natural products.
He attributes this area of research to his
upbringing. "African mothers normally treat sick children with natural
substances such as herbs. My mum certainly used a lot of those substances. And
then I went on to study pharmacology!"
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