Many seniors have diabetes and a recent discovery related to the condition could change the eldercare these individuals receive.
Resveratrol is a natural molecule that is found in the skin of red grapes. It can reportedly protect against diabetes in mice by lowering insulin levels when injected into the brain and able to act directly on certain proteins.
"Our study shows that the brain plays an important role in mediating resveratrol’s anti-diabetic actions, and it does so independent of changes in food intake and body weight," said Dr Roberto Coppari of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School.
"These animals were overrun with fat and many of their organs were inflamed. But when we delivered resveratrol in the brain, it alleviated inflammation in the brain."
Dr Coppari’s research appears in the December issue of an online publication entitled Endocrinology. He stresses that while resveratrol is found in red grapes, this does not mean that consuming the fruit will alleviate diabetes because the molecule does not pass the blood-brain barrier efficiently. Dr Coppari’s work was supported by the American Diabetes Association.
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