An Indian-Australian PhD graduate claims to have discovered a treatment for Alzheimer’s.
Dr Syed Haris Omar, who received his doctorate in biomedical science from Charles Sturt University on Friday found in his research that .
Over 353,800 Australians live with dementia and this number is expected to increase to 400,000 in less than five years. Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia, affecting up to 70% of all people with dementia.
Dr. Omar in his research found that the rate of Alzheimer’s was much lower in Mediterranean countries.
"The health benefits of a Mediterranean diet, of which olives are a major ingredient, are well recognised," said Mr Omar. "This prompted to me investigate if olive compounds may be an effective therapeutic agent in the prevention of Alzheimer's disease."
He conducted test tube experiments which showed the ‘phenolic’ compounds inhibited enzymes believed to be responsible for the formation of toxic ‘amyloid beta plaques’, are one of the hallmarks of the Alzheimer's disease.
Source: Public Domain
“This is a protein that’s accumulating in the brain like dust from when we’re born,” Dr Omar said.
“It causes a deposit of plaque on neurotransmitters that disrupt the signals in the brain, so information cannot pass through easily.
“I incubated neurons with these compounds and after they were exposed to the toxin they were not affected.”
His next stage of the research involved taking mutagenic mice – which would develop the plaques – and giving some of them an olive leaf extract with their food.
After four months, the treated mice were able to pass memory tests but the others showed clear signs of forgetfulness and memory loss.
Brain slices revealed the untreated mice had the tell-tale plaque build-ups while the treated mice did not.
“I’m very happy with the results, now I’m communicating with a number of journals to have them published,” Dr Omar told the .
“Alzheimer’s is the second highest cause of death in Australia and there is no clinical treatment, there’s only symptomatic relief.”
“If we can get in the daily habit of taking it in our diet, even an extract in the form of a capsule, then we can get rid of this disease,” Dr Omar said.
Dr Omar hopes to run clinical testing soon.
For more information about Alzheimer's disease contact the 1800 100 500 or .
