Comprehensive Library Of Resveratrol News

Amyloid protein is now said to “poison” insulin-secreting islet cells in the pancreas and may be the triggering event in adult-onset diabetes say researchers in Dublin today.  It is believed amyloid protein is a “rogue protein that sparks diabetes,” say researchers.

According to a BBC News report, “the researchers said that they hoped the finding would ‘spur new research’ to target the mechanisms of the disease,” acting as if underlying mechanisms are unknown.  In fact, the accumulation and lack of control of copper has been clearly identified as the factor responsible for the accumulation of amyloid protein in the pancreas and other human tissues with advancing age.

This research may explain why the red wine molecule resveratrol, which is solely a copper chelator (key-lay-tor), shows such promise in the treatment and prevention of a wide array of age-related diseases including Alzheimer’s, diabetes and liver disease.

Amyloid protein is better known for its formation in the brain and its association with Alzheimer’s disease and is related to copper toxicity.  In the brain and the pancreas, it is not the formation of amyloid, but the lack of “amyloid efflux” or exit that causes its accumulation.

Of great interest is the fact that an overabundance of stored or loose (unbound) copper in relation to low zinc levels induces high circulating cholesterol levels.  Low zinc and high copper ratios often explain high cholesterol levels.  But doctors treat this problem as a statin drug deficiency.  – Copyright 2010 Bill Sardi, ResveratrolNews.com