A specific combination of seven amino acids in a complex known as Amino LP7 reduces dementia in mouse models for Alzheimer’s disease, a new study appearing in Science Advances concluded. Dementia, a condition involving extreme loss of cognitive function, is caused by a variety of disorders including Alzheimer’s disease, and affects 10 million new individuals each year, WHO estimates, primarily impacting older people. Of note, insufficiencies in protein intake are a major concern in elderly people among other leading nutritional concerns.
 
Amino LP7, a supplement containing seven amino acids, was able to slow down brain degeneration and dementia development in these animals in comparison to a control group, a team of Japanese researchers found.
 
“In older individuals, low-protein diets are linked to poor maintenance of brain function,” Dr. Makoto Higuchi one of the lead authors of this study from Japan’s National Institutes for Quantum Sciences and Technology, said. “Amino acids are the building blocks of protein. So, we wanted to understand whether supplementation with essential amino acids can protect the brains of older people from dementia, and if yes, what mechanisms would contribute to this protective effect.
 
Low-protein diets in mice modeled after Alzheimer’s disease are linked to brain degeneration through what are dubbed “Tau” aggregates in the brain, which are also directly correlated with poor neuronal activity. However, this effect was reversed in mice administered Amino LP7, the researchers found.
 
“Tau plaques in the brain are characteristic of Alzheimer’s and most treatments target them,” Dr. Akihiko Kitamura, fellow lead author, noted. “Tau plaques in the brain are characteristic of Alzheimer’s and most treatments target them. However, we have shown that it is possible to overcome this Tau deposition and prevent brain injury via supplementation with Amino LP7”
 
The researchers also analyzed gene-level changes induced by Amino LP7 in hopes of establishing a mechanism of action for the protective benefits the complex of amino acids had in the test animals. They observed that supplementation inhibited kynurenine, a pro-inflammatory compound, from entering the brain, thereby preventing inflammatory immune cells from attacking neurons. Additionally, the supplement reduced neuronal death, and improved neuronal activity, another link to improved brain function.
 
“These results suggest that essential amino acids can help maintain balance in the brain and prevent brain deterioration,” Drs. Hideaki Sato and Yuhei Takado, contributing authors of the present study, said. “Our study is the first to report that specific amino acids can hinder the development of dementia. Although our study was performed in mice, it brings hope that amino acid intake could also modify the development of dementias in humans.”