Red Wine Compound May Help with Alzheimer's

Resveratrol, a compound found in red wine, red grapes, raspberries and dark chocolate, could slow cognitive decline in patients with Alzheimer’s disease, a new study found.

But don’t go reaching for the bottle of red wine just yet — this Georgetown University Medical Center (GUMC) study used resveratrol in amounts that are found in about 1,000 bottles of red wine.

Resveratrol appears to repair “leaky” blood-brain barriers in patients with Alzheimer’s, according to this study, which tested 119 patients. This repair may help to prevent harmful immune molecules from moving into the brain from the body. The researchers believe the resulting reduction in brain inflammation could slow cognitive decline in patients with Alzheimer’s disease.

"These are very exciting findings because it shows that resveratrol engages the brain in a measurable way, and that the immune response to Alzheimer's disease comes, in part, from outside the brain,” said study author Charbel Moussa, MD, PhD, scientific and clinical research director of the GUMC Translational Neurotherapeutics Program, in a press release.

This study was presented recently at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference 2016 in Toronto. Research presented at conferences may not have been peer-reviewed.

The use of resveratrol in Alzheimer’s disease requires additional studies to show its benefit. 

The National Institutes of Health/National Institute on Aging funded this research. Information on potential conflicts of interest was not available at the time this study was presented.