Chemical Lowers Cholesterol
“Plant sterols are present in various combinations in nuts, seeds and plant oils. As plant sterols are the equivalents of animal cholesterol, they can in principal influence metabolic processes, where cholesterol is involved. Because they also lower cholesterol levels, they are extensively used in the food industry and as dietary supplements,” said Marcus Grimm, Head of the Experimental Neurology Laboratory at Saarland University explained.
Cholesterol promotes the formation of plaque build-up in the brain. These plaques are one of the main causes of Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.
The research team based at Saarland University’s medical campus in Homburg collaborated with scientists from Bonn, Finland and the Netherlands to examine how the sterols that we ingest influence the formation of these plaque proteins. It was found that one sterol in particular, stigmasterol, actually inhibited protein formation.
Grimm explained that stigmasterol has an effect on a variety of molecular processes: it lowers enzyme activity, it inhibits the formation of proteins implicated in the development of Alzheimer’s disease, and it alters the structure of the cell membrane. Together, these effects synergistically reduce the production of beta-amyloid proteins.
The research team has been able to confirm the positive effect of stigmasterol in tests on animals. Grimm said that particularly in the case of Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease, it seems expedient to focus on the dietary intake of specific plant sterols rather than a man-made mixture of sterols.
Prion disease is now the fastest-growing cause of death in the world. The medical term for prion disease is transmissible spongiform encephalopathy, which includes ALS, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, mad cow disease, chronic wasting disease. The operative word is transmissible.
The major difference between these forms of neurodegenerative disease is the species under attack and the region of the brain that is under attack. The primary difference between Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease, for example, is the region of the brain that is under attack by the pathological protein.
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