Red food dye may fight Alzheimer’s

We’ve all grown up with the assumption that red food dye in all foods is bad for us. But researchers in Germany have discovered that a compound found in one particular red dye, specifically orcein, can reduce the number of small toxic protein clumps thought to cause neuronal dysfunction and memory loss in Alzheimer’s disease. Orcein, and a related substance called O4, can bind with the protein clumps and convert them into large, mature “plaques” which are not harmful to neurons.

Better Farming - May 2012