Today’s Usage Tip: Fisetin from fruits and vegetables protects the aging brain and helps fight cancer

Fisetin is a unique flavonoid compound found naturally in many fruits and vegetables including strawberries, blueberries and the skin of cucumbers. A wealth of scientific research now explains how a diet packed with raw fruits and vegetables can help prevent amyloid plaque formation in the aging brain and can promote the early destruction of cancer cells by triggering the body's innate immune response. Researchers reporting in the journal Neuroscience Letters found that fisetin is neuro-protective and helps to maintain normal memory processes while inhibiting plaque formation around synapses. 

 

The International Journal of Oncology has published the work of Chinese scientists documenting how fisetin promotes the natural death of potentially malignant breast cancer cells. Fisetin is rapidly emerging as a powerful tool in the arsenal against a number of diseases associated with premature aging.

Fruits and vegetables in their natural state are typically packed with polyphenols; these polyphenols are structurally bioactive and target specific areas of the body or help to lower oxidative stress and inflammation that is behind many disease processes. The brain is particularly sensitive to stress from a high rate of metabolism necessary to oxygenate and fuel the sensitive neurons that control memory and cognition.

Fisetin Helps Prevent Inflammation in the Brain to Boost Memory and Cognition

Researchers have found that fisetin operates in a very specific pathway to boost nerve cell glutathione levels and to reduce one of the most damaging free radicals, peroxynitrite. Scientists have determined that the natural compound protects nerve cells from damage during stroke, while at the same time maintaining vital energy production in the brain. Fisetin also prevents excess activation of specialized glial cells in the brain that helps deter inflammatory nerve damage, excitotoxicity, and declining neurological health. And fisetin reduces amyloid beta fiber accumulation to improve memory and thwart cognitive decline.

In a separate body of research, scientists examined the effect of fisetin from dietary and supplemental sources on breast cancer programmed cell death. Cancer cells normally are detected and destroyed by an alert immune system response. Inflammatory messengers such as TNFa (tumor necrosis factor alpha) allow cancer cells to become cloaked and invisible to our immune system, which prevents cancer cell death through the process known as apoptosis. Fisetin negates the damaging effect of TNFa, reducing systemic inflammation and enabling the normal immune response.

Many health-conscious individuals may not be immediately familiar with fisetin, although they already consume therapeutic quantities from their healthy dietary choices.
Nutrition experts recommend including fruits such as strawberries and mangoes as a source of dietary fisetin or supplementing with 50 mg per day to boost memory and high-level brain function and to promote natural cancer cell death.

References:
http://www.wellnessresources.com/health/articles/fisetin_demonstrates...
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2775892/?tool=pubmed
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18761054
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21922137