Huntington’s disease by Ray Sahelian, M.D.

Huntingtons disease, along with Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, belong to the family of neurodegenerative diseases caused by protein misfolding. The incurable disease is hereditary and has a prevalence of 1 in every 15,000 people. In Germany, about 8,000 cases are currently known, in the UK the figure is reported to be about 5,000, and in the US the figure is about 30,000.

Huntington's Disease Symptoms
The disease is characterize by jerky, uncontrolled movements, an unsteady gait and grimaces leading to its original common name of Huntington's chorea (from the ancient Greek for “dance”).

Huntington’s disease Gene
In 1993, scientists discovered the gene that encodes the mutant protein, the so-called huntingtin protein. A mutation in this protein results in elongation of parts of the protein called polyglutamine chains, which cause the overall huntingtin protein to lose its normal structure. These mutant proteins can not be disposed of by the body and accumulate in the brain of sufferers, eventually being toxic to the nerve cells in the brain.

Green Tea for Huntington's Disease
The green tea extract, epigallocatechin gallate ( EGCG ), may slow the accumulation of proteins that cause Huntington’s disease. The new research, led by Professor Erich Wanker from the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine Berlin-Buch (MDC), looked at the effect on EGCG on the aggregation of these mutant proteins in vitro, and found that the green tea extract could interfere with the very early events of this process. The research is published in the September issue journal Human Molecular Genetics (Vol. 15, pp. 2743-2751). Professor Wanker's group used laboratory-based experiments to show that the green tea extract inhibited misfolding of the huntingtin protein in vitro, as well as using fruit flies genetically modified to over-express the mutant protein. The latter experiments showed that the degeneration of the flies' photoreceptor and motor function improved. Further research is needed, particular to discern if the bioactive doses needed to produce these protective effects could be obtained from drinking green tea, or by taking supplements.

Huntington's disease questions
There is not a lot of information available to me on my Huntington disease.  I have been taking Gingko Biloba & 5HTP 50mg's - these have helped me.  I am just wondering if there are anything other supplements I should know about.
   A. Only green tea or egcg that we know of thus far.