TWO Mediterranean plants could be an elixir of life by protecting against Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.

Chemicals found in the prickly pear and brown seaweed, commonly known as Peacock’s tail, could extend the lives of Alzheimer’s patients by more than six years by delaying ageing diseases.

The extracts from these two ubiquitous Mediterranean plants also improve mobility by a fifth.

In Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, sticky protein clumps accumulate over time and damage the nervous system to erode mobility or memory.

But plant extracts could stop the build-up of these toxins into plaques and tangles that kill off brain cells.

It is estimated about 800,000 people in the UK have dementia and one in three over-65s will develop it, with numbers increasing to more than one million by 2021 as people live longer.

There are also 127,000 Britons with Parkinson’s – one in every 500.

Professor Dr Neville Vassallo, at the University of Malta School of Medicine and Surgery, said: “We have long been screening plants scattered across the Mediterranean for small molecules that interfere with the build-up of toxic protein aggregates.

“The robust effects of chemicals derived from the prickly pear and brown seaweed confirm our search has certainly not been in vain.”

Lead author Dr Ruben Cauchi added: “We believe the discovery of bioactive agents that target pathways that are hit by multiple neurodegenerative conditions is the most viable approach in our fight against brain disorders.

“If the findings hold in clinical trials, the Mediterranean is set to become a source for the ‘elixir of life’.”