Rosemary Herb Helps Memory

New research details how the culinary and medicinal herb, rosemary, a delight to taste and smell, also protects our brains against neurodegeneration from free radicals. Who doesn’t love the tangy, aromatic smell of rosemary? Picked fresh off a bush, bought in the market or cooked with your favourite foods. Roast lamb with rosemary and garlic, skillet fried chicken with rosemary, white wine and butter, oven-roasted potatoes with sea salt, olive oil and rosemary, mm mm! Culinary and Medicinal Herb Originally a native of the Mediterranean, the evergreen shrub Rosemary, (Rosmarinus officinalis), grows well in most countries, and has been an important part of many cuisines since the Greeks and the Romans first used it for flavouring foods and wine. It also has a long medicinal history, brewed into remedies for respiratory, digestive, skin and nervous complaints. In the Middle Ages, rosemary was used to fumigate houses against the plague. The herb also had spiritual and religious significance, particularly in remembering the dead, as Shakespeare tells us: “There’s rosemary: that’s for remembrance”, and it is often planted around war memorials and cemeteries. Now scientists are able to tell us how rosemary can assist with memory and thinking by protecting our brains. Carnosic Acid Fights Free Radicals A collaborative group from the Burnham Institute for Medical Research in La Jolla, California and in Japan, report that rosemary contains carnosic acid (CA) which fights off free radical damage in the brain. CA can protect the brain from stroke and neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer’s Disease resulting from damage caused by free radicals. These free radicals are thought to contribute not only to stroke and Alzheimer’s, but also to the ill effects of normal aging on the brain. The scientists report that CA activates a novel signaling pathway that protects brain cells from the ravages of free radicals. In animal models, the group, led by Drs. Takumi Satoh (Iwate University, Japan) and Stuart A. Lipton, MD, PhD, Director, Professor, and Senior Vice President at the Burnham’s Del E. Webb Neuroscience, Aging, and Stem Cell Research Center found that CA becomes activated by the free radical damage itself, remaining innocuous unless needed. This makes it the perfect drug. they say. New Drugs From Rosemary? The Institute is looking at ways to isolate CA as the basis for a medication for elderly and neurologically-ill patients. Doctors Satoh and Lipton have filed a United States patent application for a whole series of novel compounds that show increased benefits over rosemary itself. “This is not to say that rosemary chicken is not good for you,” said Dr. Satoh, “but it means that we can do even better in protecting the brain from terrible disorders such as Alzheimer’s and Lou Gehrig’s disease, perhaps even slowing down the effects of normal aging, by developing new and improved cousins to the active ingredient in rosemary.” “This new type of drug works through a mechanism known as redox chemistry, in which electrons are transferred from one molecule to another in order to activate the body’s own defense system,” said Dr Lipton “Moreover, unlike most new drugs, this type of compound may well be safe and clinically tolerated because it is present in a naturally-occurring herb that is known to get into the brain and has been consumed by people for over a thousand years.” The studies are reported in the latest editions of The Journal of Neurochemistry and Nature Reviews Neuroscience. While the scientists get on with developing new drugs from rosemary, we can go on enjoying the aromatic herb in many delicious dishes, knowing it not only smells and tastes heavenly, but is protecting our brains as we eat.