Green tea and red wine have been touted as being heart healthy and a possible weapon against cancer, now new evidence shows that compounds in both may help fend off Alzheimer's disease.

University of Leeds researchers have found that natural chemicals -- EGCG in green tea and resveratrol in red wine -- may disrupt a key step of the Alzheimer's disease pathway.

Researchers were able to interrupt a process that allows harmful clumps of proteins to latch onto brain cells using purified extracts of EGCG and resveratrol.

"This is an important step in increasing our understanding of the cause and progression of Alzheimer's disease," says lead researcher Professor Nigel Hooper. "It's a misconception that Alzheimer's is a natural part of aging; it's a disease that we believe can ultimately be cured through finding new opportunities for drug targets like this."

The findings were published Tuesday in the Journal of Biological Chemistry.

Access: http://www.jbc.org/content/early/2013/02/05/jbc.M112.400358