Alzheimer is a devastating disease affecting approximately 6.7 million Americans – but scientists may have only found a way to turn its effects using a common herb in many hair loss products.
A new study published in the Antioxidant Journal has identified carnosic acid – an ingredient found in Rosemary and Sageâ “as a promising fighter in the fight against Alzheimer’s.
Researchers found that when mice with disease were given a stabilized form of carnosic acid, their brain function was dramatically improved.
Memory loss was overturned and inflammation of the brain – a major impeller of the cognitive fall – was significantly reduced.
“We did a lot of different memory tests, and they all improved with the medicine,” said lead author Stuart Lipton, a neuroscientist at the Scripps Research Institute, in a statement.
“It did not slow down the fall, it practically improved back to normal.”
Thanks to its anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties, carnosic acid is often used to promote hair growth-with some believing that rosemary oil, which is rich in composition, can renew and strengthen the hair glands by stimulating blood circulation in the scalp.
Previous research has found that carnosic acid can have neuroprotective effects by protecting the hypocampal neurons as well as helping the oxidative stress of the brain battle – both of these signs of Alzheimer’s disease.
Like this new study, previous research is based on mouse models – but since Carnosic acid is already considered “generally safe” by FDA, Lipton hopes that human evidence is not far away.
He also believes that the complex has the potential in the treatment of other inflammatory diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and parkinsons – and this can make current Alzheimer’s medicines “work better by removing or limiting their side effects.”
A Mediterranean herb, rosemary has long been greeted for its medicinal properties – especially when it comes to memory.
“There is rosemary, this is for memory,” Ophelia says in Shakespeare’s “Hamlet”.
Meanwhile, scientists are constantly finding new ways to combat dementia and slow down the aging of the brain, from drinking green tea to having more children.
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