Alzheimer’s disease and preventive food factors

Abstract

A cognitive dysfunction is growing up year by year as a serious social issue. However, appropriate therapeutic drugs and preventive foods have not been developed yet. Thus far, it has been reported that polyphenols and peptides could improve a cognitive decline, whereas no evidence on their intact transport across the blood-brain barrier and accumulation in the brain parenchyma has been claimed. The signs of the Alzheimer's disease might be initiated 10 to 20 years before clinical definitive diagnosis, by impaired glutamate signaling at the astrocyte as well as amyloid-β accumulation in the brain. Thus, in this review we discuss the possibility of prevention of initial Alzheimer's disease by food factors.