Is Food Dye The Key To Fighting Alzheimer's Disease?

Is treating Alzheimer's disease as simple as eating a Red Velvet cupcake?

Not exactly, but research published this month in the scientific journal Nature Chemical Biology suggests that certain food dyes contain chemical substances that may help treat the degenerative brain disorder currently affecting more 5 million Americans, according to the The Alzheimer's Association.

So what's so special about food dye, and how can it help treat Alzheimer's disease?

According to io9, the key lies in a chemical compound in the dye called orcein, along with the similar compound O4, and the way they react to proteins in the body.

In Alzheimer's patients, toxic proteins build up in the brain, forming lumps that impede neural functioning and cause memory loss, according to io9. But when orcein and a substance called O4 chemically bind to the toxic protein aggregates, the lumps transform into non-dangerous plaques that don't seem to have any negative effects on the brain's neurons.

The food dye study marks a departure from previous attempts to treat Alzheimer's disease, which focused on changing the structure of the toxic protein aggregates in order to stop their growth, io9 reported.

Unfortunately, it will take many more years of testing and clinical trials before researchers can begin giving orcein-based treatment to those suffering from Alzheimer's disease.

In the meantime, though, researchers continue to study a number of Alzheimer's treatments in various stages of development:

Insulin Spray: CNN reported that using insulin spray once or twice a day helped improve memory skills in Alzheimers patients, researchers reported earlier this year in a study published in the Archives of Neurology. The finding makes sense considering that diabetics are more likely to develop the disease: insulin has been shown to promote cell genesis and counter the ill effects of toxic protein aggregates.

Vaccine: Researchers at Georgetown University found that giving patients a vaccine when they are in the earliest stages of Alzheimer's disease may slow it down. Much like a flu shot, the vaccine would inject certain proteins into the body so that it builds up antibodies to the disease. Unfortunately, Georgetown researchers emphasize, the vaccine must be given in the disease's earliest stages or else the patient may develop brain inflammation.

Spinal Fluid Test:Researchers have found that testing the spinal fluid of patients with significant memory loss can be 100 percent accurate in determining whether those patients will go on to develop the disease, according to The New York Times. Because people developing Alzheimer's disease can go years without showing any symptoms, the hope is that those identified as having the disease early on can be studied by researchers working on ways to measure or slow the disease during its progression.

Comments

[psandysdad]

12:02 PM on 12/09/2011

Well, I guess I'll just start huffing red#5. And none too soon to tell me this stuff!

[Knot MaFawlt]

10:05 AM on 12/09/2011

This is total crap. Wanna bet the study is funded by food companies who make their fortune by feeding us artificial garbage? Get your kids off the pre-packaged, artifically colored & flavored poison and watch ADHD and autism rates drop like a rock.

[lraymermaid]

09:43 AM on 12/09/2011

Food dye is MAN MADE so how could it ever truly CURE anything? Anything man made is only a temporary fix that gives people the illusion that they have been healed. Even if the symptoms go away it is only a matter of time before disease will rear it's ugly head again to get us and then what? More drugs? It's a rollercoaster ride. The only way to get off this road to nowhere is to live in harmony with NATURE as we were meant to do and stop being brainwashed by the FDA & pharmaceutical companies and our government. Be responsible for our own health instead of depending on them to make decisions for us. They will never be smarter than nature. As long as we are on drugs we are never truly healed. Covering up symptoms is not the same as being HEALED. Nature is the ONLY true way to health.

[lraymermaid]

09:25 AM on 12/09/2011

Red Food Dye to treat Alzheimer's??? What a crock of BS. This is poison to our body and eventually will cause more disease. Some people just don't get it. Synthetic drugs or anything made in a lab will never be the answer. We are not smarter than nature. Following the laws of nature to treat diseases are the only way to truly heal our bodies. As long as we have to keep relying on taking a drug to hide our symptoms we are NEVER truly healed. Don't let the pharmaceutical companies and FDA brainwash you. They are clueless!

[azted123]

09:23 AM on 12/09/2011

If it cures anything the FDA will make sure it never reaches the American people. It must pass through a Drug company and be patented so it will make Huge amounts of money for them and then it will be allowed to be used. However even then it will never be allowed to cure anything.
In this country this is a list of things that will never be investigated properly. JF Kennedy Killing, 9/11, the FDA and our Government politicians.

[ultraclen2]

08:35 AM on 12/09/2011

ah..... what did the article say?

[Lindsey Graff]

09:13 AM on 12/09/2011

seriously

[farmilyman]

06:57 AM on 12/08/2011

Coconut oil is too simple and effective to be used so they have to find a drug to make money with.

[asimplefunguy]

06:07 PM on 12/07/2011

I suggest to take a look and reference the research at Johns Hopkins Medicine http://www.alzresearch.org/basicresearch.cfm and in
Alzheimer's Association http://www.alz.org/research/
There are currently 5 Alzheimer's drugs(FDA approved) http://www.alz.org/research/science/alzheimers_disease_treatments.asp#approved