Cocoa Extract Prevents, Repairs Alzheimer's Damage

An extract of cocoa powder called lavado may reduce or prevent damage to nerve pathways in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients long before symptoms appear, according to a new study.

Lavado is a minimally processed cocoa extract that contains high amounts of polyphenols—antioxidants found in fruit and vegetables—and works by preventing the protein β-amyloid from building up in the brain, damaging nerve cells.
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In order to test the efficacy of lavado against normal and Dutched cocoa extracts, researchers from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai genetically engineered mice with conditions mimicking human Alzheimer’s disease.

Of the 3 extracts, lavado was the most effective at disrupting the collection of β-amyloid (Aβ oligomers) around synapses, preventing the immune inflammatory responses that are intended to destroy the build-up but instead damage the nerve cells of the brain. 

Lavado was also the most effective at reversing damage already done to synapses by the collection of Aβ oligomers.

Dutched cocoa extract, which undergoes a process known as “Dutching” to remove its acidity, had no beneficial effect against Aβ oligomer formation.

“Our finding of protection against synaptic deficits by Lavado cocoa extract, but not Dutched cocoa extract, strongly suggests that polyphenols are the active component that rescue synaptic transmission, since much of the polyphenol content is lost by the high alkalinity in the Dutching process,” they concluded.

–Michael Potts

References

Wang J, Varghese M, Ono K, Yamada M, Levine S, Tzavaras N, et al. Cocoa extracts reduce oligomerization of amyloid-B: implications for cognitive improvement in Alzheimer’s disease.  JAD. 2014 June 23 [epub ahead of print] doi: 10.3233/JAD-132231

Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Cocoa extract may counter specific mechanisms of Alzheimer’s disease [press release].  June 23, 2014. http://icahn.mssm.edu/about-us/news-and-events/cocoa-extract-may-counter-specific-mechanisms-of-alzheimers-disease. Accessed June 26, 2014.