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Monday 26 October 2015

Brain food for alzheimer-free ageing: Focus on herbal medicines

Volume 863, 2015, Pages 95-116


School of Applied Sciences & Health Innovations, Research Institute, RMIT University, GPO Box 2476, Melbourne, Australia

Abstract

Healthy brain aging and the problems of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease (AD) are a global concern. Beyond 60 years of age, most, if not everyone, will experience a decline in cognitive skills, memory capacity and changes in brain structure. Longevity eventually leads to an accumulation of amyloid plaques and/or tau tangles, including some vascular dementia damage. Therefore, lifestyle choices are paramount to leading either a brain-derived or a brain-deprived life. The focus of this review is to critically examine the evidence, impact, influence and mechanisms of natural products as chemopreventive agents which induce therapeutic outcomes that modulate the aggregation process of beta-amyloid (A“), providing measureable cognitive benefits in the aging process. Plants can be considered as chemical factories that manufacture huge numbers of diverse bioactive substances, many of which have the potential to provide substantial neuroprotective benefits. Medicinal herbs and health food supplements have been widely used in Asia since over 2,000 years. The phytochemicals utilized in traditional Chinese medicine have demonstrated safety profiles for human consumption. Many herbs with anti-amyloidogenic activity, including those containing polyphenolic constituents such as green tea, turmeric, Salvia miltiorrhiza, and Panax ginseng, are presented. Also covered in this review are extracts from kitchen spices including cinnamon, ginger, rosemary, sage, salvia herbs, Chinese celery and many others some of which are commonly used in herbal combinations and represent highly promising therapeutic natural compounds against AD. A number of clinical trials conducted on herbs to counter dementia and AD are discussed. © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2015.

Author keywords

Alzheimer’s disease; Amyloid-beta; Dementia; Herbal polyphenols; Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM)

Indexed keywords

EMTREE drug terms: amyloid beta protein; baicalin; butylphthalide; carnosic acid; cholic acid; curcumin; epigallocatechin gallate; herbaceous agent; jasminoidin; kai xin san; plant medicinal product; polyphenol; qingkailing; squamosamide derivative; unclassified drug; plant medicinal product
EMTREE medical terms: aging; Alzheimer disease; Angelica archangelica; Angelica sinensis; Annona glabrais; antidementia activity; Article; celery; Curcuma aromatica; diet supplementation; drug activity; drug efficacy; drug safety; evidence based medicine; food intake; Gastrodia elata; ginger; ginseng; human; lifestyle modification; Magnolia officinalis; medicinal plant; neuromodulation; neuroprotection; outcome assessment; oxidative stress; phytochemistry; Poria cocos; priority journal; protein aggregation; Radix polygalae; Rehmannia; Rheum coreanum; Rhizoma acori; Rhizoma zingiberis; Scutellaria baicalensis; Semen ziziphi; aging; Alzheimer disease; brain; medicinal plant; metabolism; pathology; phytotherapy; procedures; trends
Species Index: Apium graveolens var. dulce; Cinnamomum verum; Curcuma longa; Panax ginseng; Rosmarinus officinalis; Salvia; Salvia miltiorrhiza; Zingiber officinale
MeSH: Aging; Alzheimer Disease; Brain; Humans; Phytotherapy; Plant Preparations; Plants, Medicinal
Medline is the source for the MeSH terms of this document.
Chemicals and CAS Registry Numbers: amyloid beta protein, 109770-29-8; baicalin, 21967-41-9; butylphthalide, 194085-46-6, 3413-15-8, 6066-49-5; carnosic acid, 3650-09-7; cholic acid, 32500-01-9, 361-09-1, 81-25-4; curcumin, 458-37-7; epigallocatechin gallate, 989-51-5; polyphenol, 37331-26-3;Plant Preparations
ISSN: 00652598 CODEN: AEMBASource Type: Book series Original language: English
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-18365-7_5 PubMed ID: 26092628Document Type: Article
Publisher: Springer New York LLC