London, Feb 9 (IANS): Green tea and red wine contain certain chemicals which could hinder the progress of Alzheimer's disease that afflict a growing number of aged people, says new research.

In early-stage laboratory experiments, the researchers from the University of Leeds identified the process which allows harmful clumps of protein to latch on to brain cells, causing them to die.

They were able to interrupt this pathway using the purified extracts of EGCG from green tea and resveratrol from red wine, reports Science Daily.

The findings, published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, offer potential new targets for developing drugs to treat Alzheimer's disease, which affects some 800,000 people in Britain alone, and for which there is currently no cure.

"This is an important step in increasing our understanding of the cause and progression of Alzheimer's disease," said lead researcher professor Nigel Hooper of the university's Faculty of Biological Sciences.

"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," he said.