Daily intake of green tea and an occasional glass of red wine may help reduce plaques in the brain associated with Alzheimer's disease, according to a study. The researchers from Tufts University in the US found that two common compounds -- green tea catechins and resveratrol, found in red wine and other foods -- reduced the formation of plaques in neural cells with few or no side effects.

They tested 21 different compounds in Alzheimer's-afflicted neural cells in the lab, measuring the compounds' effect on the growth of sticky beta amyloid plaques. These plaques develop in the brains of people with Alzheimer's. The researchers reported their findings in the journal Free Radical Biology and Medicine.