Amyloid plaques have been associated with Alzheimer’s disease, but a new study has found that vitamin and mineral supplements could help to boost your immune system’s ability to clear your brain of these plaques. According to the study, published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, there are certain genes and signalling networks that play a key role in controlling inflammation and plaque clearance, and these components can be regulated by vitamin D3 and omega-3 fatty acid DHA (docosahexaenoic acid).
According Dr Milan Fiala, from the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, though his team has already clarified key mechanisms that are involved in helping vitamin D3 clear amyloid beta, their new findings extend this knowledge and highlights the role that omega-3 DHA plays. Fiala, who is also a consultant for Norwegian omega-3 drink firm Smartfish, said, ‘our new study sheds further light on a possible role for nutritional substances such as vitamin D3 and omega-3 in boosting immunity to help fight Alzheimer’s.’
When the plaque from beta-amyloid deposits builds up in your brain, it damages the cells and they can die from oxidative stress. This leads to a reduced cognitive function and increases your risk of Alzheimer’s, the most common form of dementia that affects the wellbeing of 13 million people worldwide. The disease also directly affects the nation’s financial wellness by £15 billion.
For the study, the team isolated macrophages from the blood of both health and AD participants, as these immune cells consume amyloid-beta and other waste products all over your body. They injected these cells with amyloid-beta, and then treated them with either an active form of vitamin D3 or an active form of omega-3 fatty acid DHA, both of which inhibited cell death and amyloid beta break down and regulated inflammation.
However, as inflammation increased in cells with decreased inflammation, and decreased in cells that were more inflamed, Fiala said that, when it comes to utilising the results of the study, ‘we may find that we need to carefully balance the supplementation with vitamin D3 and omega-3 fatty acids, depending on each patient in order to help promote efficient clearing of amyloid-beta.’
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