PEF scientists at IBR find walnuts help fight Alzheimer’s disease


By SHERRY HALBROOK A diet rich in walnuts might help you


reduce the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease, delay its onset or slow its progression. This discovery by a team of researchers


headed by a PEF member, was announced in October by the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease and has drawn wide national and international attention. The research was led by Abha Chauhan,


PhD, a PEF member who has been conducting research at the state Institute for Basic Research in Developmental Disabilities on Staten Island for 29 years, where she has authored 85 publications and a book, “Autism: Oxidative Stress, Inflammation and Immune Abnormalities.” Dr. Chauhan heads IBR’s


Developmental Neuroscience Laboratory. Using a mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease, she and her team found significant improvement in learning skills, memory, anxiety reduction, and motor development in mice fed a walnut-enriched diet. Other members of the team included


Balu Muthaiyah, PhD; Musthafa M. Essa, PhD; Moon Lee, PhD; Ved Chauhan, PhD; and Kulbir Kaur, PhD, of IBR’s Department of Neurochemistry. Dr. Ved Chauhan is a PEF member and heads IBR’s Cellular Neurochemistry Laboratory. “It’s important for the public to


recognize the quality and importance of the work done by the state and by state employees,” said PEF President Susan M.


Kent. “This research and the resulting discoveries are a great example of that.” Oxidative stress and inflammation are


prominent features of Alzheimer’s disease, which affects more than 5 million Americans. Walnuts are exceptionally rich in anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory components. Walnuts are the only nut that contains a


significant source of alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), an omega-3 fatty acid with heart and brain health benefits that also may have helped improve behavioral symptoms seen in the study. The researchers believe the


cumulative anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory content of walnuts may have been a contributing factor in protecting the mouse brain from the oxidation, inflammation and degeneration typically seen in Alzheimer’s. “These findings are very promising


and help lay the groundwork for future human studies on walnuts and Alzheimer’s disease – a disease for which there is no known cure,” Chauhan said. “Our study adds to the growing body of research that demonstrates the protective effects of walnuts on cognitive functioning.” In the U.S. someone develops


Alzheimer’s disease every 67 seconds, and the number of Americans with Alzheimer’s and other dementias is expected to rapidly escalate in coming years and by 2050 could


reach 16 million, emphasizing the importance of determining ways to prevent, slow or stop the disease. Dr. Abha Chauhan said she began this


research by studying the effects of the walnut extract on cell cultures, which demonstrated the protective effects of walnut extract against the oxidative damage caused by amyloid beta protein. This protein is the major component of amyloid plaques that form in the brains of those with Alzheimer’s disease. The impressive results from that study led to the transgenic mouse model study of Alzheimer’s. She and the research group examined the effects of dietary supplementation on Alzheimer’s mice with 6 percent or 9 percent


walnuts, which are equivalent to 1 ounce and 1.5 ounces per day, respectively, of walnuts in humans. This study was funded by the state Office for People with


Developmental Disabilities and the California Walnut Commission, which has renewed its grant for this research. Dr. Chauhan now will begin investigating the exact biochemical mechanism of walnuts’ beneficial effects in Alzheimer’s. The article detailing these findings,


“Dietary Supplementation of Walnuts Improves Memory Deficits and Learning Skills in Transgenic Mouse Model of Alzheimer’s Disease,” was published in the October 2014 issue of the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease 42(4): 1397-1405 (2014). You can find it online at http://iospress.metapress.com/content/n 644184610325684/. Dr. Chauhan and the Developmental


Neuroscience Laboratory also continue to study the biochemical and immunological changes associated with autism in blood samples, lymphoblast cell cultures, and postmortem brain samples, particularly as they relate to markers of oxidative stress, mitochondria dysfunction and inflammatory response. Excessive oxidative damage eventually


PROBING THE BRAIN’S SECRETS – PEF member Abha Chauhan, PhD, and other researchers at the NYS Institute of Basic Research in Developmental Disabilities on Staten Island. They are: Kulbir Kaur, PhD; Ved Chauhan, PhD; and Feng Gu.


Page 14—The Communicator December 2014 - January 2015 – Photo courtesy of the NYS Office for People with Developmental Disabilities


leads to cell death, and recognizing that oxidation could be a significant factor in both autism and Alzheimer’s, Chauhan said, led her to investigate “whether diets rich in anti-oxidants can attenuate oxidative stress and associated cellular death and/or can improve cognitive and behavioral function in neurological diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease.”


PEF Information Line: 1-800-553-2445


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40