Luteolin an antioxidant, found in celery, has been found to reduce brain inflammation linked to Alzheimer’s disease in a study of mice that suggests some plant chemical’s may help protect the brain.

Mice given Luteolin, which also found in hot peppers, parsley and chamomile tea, had less inflammation than other rodents when researchers tested them with a bacteria, according to a study in the May 27 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Brain inflammation has been linked in other studies to Alzheimer’s disease, multiple sclerosis and memory loss. This study, the first to focus on luteolin’s brain-protecting properties, showed the substance modulates the body’s response to diseases that inflame the brain. Luteolin and other plant chemicals, called flavonoids, also reduce cardiovascular disease and stroke in humans.

“We’re not recommending anyone go out and binge on celery, but the ability to mitigate brain inflammation through the diet is exciting,” said Rodney W. Johnson, the study’s author and an associate professor in the department of animal sciences at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Posted: 05|22|08 at 10:14 am. Filed under: News.