Photo by Eric Chou
Eating a meal of curry once or twice a week could help prevent the onset of Alzheimer's disease and dementia. The potent ingredient in curry is curcumin, a component of the turmeric spice.
Professor Murali Doraiswamy, director of the Mental Fitness Laboratory at Duke University Medical Center, told delegates at the Royal College of Psychiatrists' Annual Meeting in Liverpool that curcumin prevented the spread of amyloid plaques, which are found outside brain cells.
Amyoloid plaques are thought to contribute to the degeneration of the wiring in brain cells and lead to the symptoms of Alzheimer's disease.
Professor Doraiswamy stated: "There is very solid evidence that curcumin binds to plaques, and basic research on animals engineered to produce human amyloid plaques has shown benefits. Turmeric has been studied not just in Alzheimer's research but for a variety of conditions, such as cancer and arthritis. Turmeric is often referred to as the spice of life in ancient Indian medical lore."
A clinical trial is now underway at the University of California, Los Angeles, to test the effect of curcumin in human Alzheimer's patients. A small pilot trial was conducted to determine the right dose and researchers have recently begun a larger study.
Professor Doraiswamy told the Royal College of Psychiatrists' Annual Meeting: "You can modify a mouse so that at about 12 months its brain is riddled with plaques. If you feed this rat a curcumin-rich diet it dissolves these plaques. The same diet prevented younger mice from forming new plaques. The next step is to test curcumin on human amyloid plaque formation using newer brain scans and there are plans for that."
Population studies show that people who eat a curry meal two or three times a week seem to have a lower risk for dementia, he told the Annual Meeting. "Those studies seem to show that you need only consume what is part of the normal diet - but the research studies are testing higher doses to see if they can maximize the effect. It would be equivalent of going on a curry spree for a week."
Professor Doraiswamy predicted a day when, for those unwilling or unable to consume curries regularly, the public may be advised to take a curry pill daily if the findings are confirmed in human studies.
Professor Doraiswamy, a leading expert on brain health, grew up in the Southern Indian town of Madras, which is famous for its spicy curries. He is currently on a lecture tour promoting his book The Alzheimer's Action Plan, published in April.
Reference: Annual Meeting of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, Liverpool, June 2-5, 2009
Comments
Neat! Too bad I don't like Indian food...
Regarding the story about eating weekly curry as prevention for dementia: Recent research has shown that Alzheimer's is a type of insulin resistance in which glucose, the usual fuel for brain cells, is not transported normally into the cells in certain parts of the brain and the neurons begin to die off as much as 10-20 years before symptoms appear. Ketone bodies are an alternative fuel for brain cells and do not require insulin to enter the brain. Certain oils, such as coconut and palm kernel oil as well as human breast milk and goat milk, contain medium chain fatty acids, which are converted in the liver to ketone bodies and readily cross into the circulation to the brain where they can be used as fuel by brain cells. Real curry is usually made with coconut milk, which is loaded with the oil, therefore contains medium chain fatty acids. If there is not enough curcumin to make a difference in a meal of curry, maybe this other ingredients will. Mary T Newport MD. For more information,
For more information about ketones and AD go to www.coconutketones.com
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