Turmeric pigment key to preventing dementia
Turmeric pigment key to preventing dementia : HindustanTimes.com
Curcumin, the yellow pigment in turmeric, may be the key to the low prevalence of dementia among the elderly in India, where the spice is used in most foods, a team of US researchers has said.
A team of researchers led by Greg M Cole, a neuroscientist at the Greater Los Angeles VA Healthcare System, identified curcumin as a potential cure to prevent or treat Alzheimer’s disease after they discovered low rates of dementia in India, according to the US Department of Veterans’ Affairs.
The Cole team identified curcumin as a nutrient that appears to combat Alzheimer’s plaques.
They also found that a diet high in docosahexenoic acid or DHA — an omega-3 fatty acid found in relatively high concentrations in cold-water fish — dramatically slowed the progression of Alzheimer’s in mice.
“Specifically, DHA cut the harmful brain plaques that mark the disease,” the team found. The results appear in the March 23 online edition of the Journal of Neuroscience.
Greg said that unlike many studies with mice, this one points to the benefits of a therapy that is easily available and already recommended for other medical conditions. DHA — either from food sources such as fish and soy, or in fish-oil supplements — is recommended by many cardiologists for a healthy heart.
“The good news from this study is that we can buy the therapy at a supermarket or drug store,” Cole was quoted as saying. “DHA has a tremendous safety profile — essentially no side effects — and clinical trial evidence supports giving DHA supplements to people at risk for cardiovascular disease.”
According to the studies, people who are genetically predisposed to the disease may be able to delay it by boosting their DHA intake.
Omega-3 fatty acids are deficient in the American diet, although they are essential for human health. DHA in particular is vital to proper brain function, as well as eye health and other body processes. Omega-3 fatty acids are found in fish such as salmon, halibut, mackerel and sardines, as well as almonds, walnuts, soy, and DHA-enriched eggs.
