Quercetin, a potent antioxidant found in apples, protects against Alzheimer's disease

Per serving, fresh apples have higher levels of the antioxidant quercetin compared to other fruits and vegetables. Because quercetin is concentrated in the skin of apples, eating them fresh provides a better source.

Alzheimer’s causes severe memory loss, and eventually death. It affects an estimated 4.5 million people in the U.S., mainly the elderly.

• A potent antioxidant abundant in apples and some other fruits and vegetables appears to protect brain cells against oxidative stress, a tissue-damaging process associated with Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative disorders, according to a new study in rat brain cells conducted by researchers at Cornell University in New York.
• Evidence Links Protein Damage To Parkinson's (November 3, 2000) -- New evidence links oxidative damage in a protein found in nerve cells to the development of degenerative diseases of the nervous system, such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's.
• Early Vitamin E Supplements Stem Development Of Hallmark Alzheimer's Symptoms In Mice (March 26, 2004) -- Vitamin E, a well-known antioxidant, has been used to treat Alzheimer's disease, but with mixed results, especially in patients with advanced symptoms.
• The study adds strength to the theory --- bolstered by recent animal studies --- that the risk of developing Alzheimer's and similar diseases may be reduced by dietary intervention, particularly by increasing one's intake of antioxidant-rich foods.
• "On the basis of serving size, fresh apples have some of the highest levels of [the antioxidant] quercetin when compared to other fruits and vegetables and may be among the best food choices for fighting Alzheimer's," says study leader C.Y. Lee, Ph.D., professor and chairman of the Department of Food Science & Technology at Cornell University in Geneva, N.Y.
• "People should eat more apples, especially fresh ones," Lee says.
• For the current study, the researchers exposed groups of isolated rat brain cells to varying concentrations of either quercetin or vitamin C.
• Scientists are not sure of quercetin's mechanism of action, but some suspect it might work by blocking the action of highly-active chemicals called free radicals, an excess of which are thought to damage brain cells as well as other cell types over time.