USA: Curry some flavour to reduce inflammation

. GLENVIEW, Illinois / Pioneer Local / January 29, 2009 By Ruth Solomon rsolomon@pioneerlocal.com Could curry powder in their food explain the low incidence of Alzheimer's disease in India? Recent studies support that notion. The key Alzheimer's-fighting spice in curry powder is turmeric, whose main chemical is curcumin. A pigment in curcumin gives turmeric its yellow color. Its curative powers have been known for centuries in India, where it has been used to heal wounds and treat inflammation. Curcumin comes from the Curcuma longa plant, which is native to South Asia. A 2001 study from the University of Pittsburgh comparing a population older than 65 found only 4.7 cases of Alzheimer's disease per 1,000 population living in Ballabgarh, India versus 17.5 cases per 1,000 living in the Monongahela Valley of Western Pennsylvania. And a 2006 published study by Tze-Pin Ng at the National University of Singapore of 1,010 individuals older than 60 with no dementia showed those eating curry at least occasionally scored higher on cognitive tests than those who rarely or never ate it. Anti-inflammatory Curcumin appears to perform its magic in reducing the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease in a variety of ways. One way is to stop harmful inflammation in the brain that comes from an overreaction by the microglia, a type of brain "soldier" cell. The microglia are believed to have been recruited to fight the pesky plaques made of the amyloid protein that hover around neurons or brain cells. These plaques have long been associated with Alzheimer's disease, although whether they are a contributing cause or just a sign of the illness is not yet clear. Microglia are also the precursors to macrophages, whose function is to destroy cells the brain wants cleaned out. But when these soldier cells overreact, healthy neurons may be swept up in the frenzy, much the way civilians die as "collateral" damage in war, researchers believe. Widespread neuronal destruction in the brain results in damage to memory, thinking and behavior. Eventually death ensues in brain diseases such as Alzheimer's. One way curcumin prevents this death of healthy neurons is to stop the creation of two enzymes, cyclooxygenase 2 (COX2) and lipooxygenease, that are vital to brain inflammation. COX2 is well known as the target of attack by Celebrex and Vioxx, two medications used to treat asthma, another disease where inflammation in the body gets out of hand. Other studies have stated curcumin may work through its ability to block the activation of macrophages. And yet other studies state that curcumin may directly break up existing clumps of plaque in the brain, or prevent proteins from clumping into plaque in the first place. Brain repair And finally, curcumin may also stimulate the growth of new neurons in the brain, something that was unheard of until recently, 2008 studies show. So far the more definitive studies have been in the laboratory and on mice. But the results of a 2007 study on humans at UCLA should be coming out soon, said researcher Sally Frautschy. But before you go out and start taking curcumin pills, you may want to consider doing what the Indians do, and try using turmeric in your cooking. The reason is that the curcumin-containing turmeric is absorbed better when it is ingested with oil, according to a 2008 study by Dr. Greg Cole and Frautschy and others at the University of California, Los Angeles. "(T) the traditional method of dissolving turmeric in fat during cooking is likely an effective method to improve absorption, and it could play a role in India's low incidence and prevalence of Alzheimer's disease," stated the 2008 Cole and Frautschy article published in the Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics. © Copyright 2009 Digital Chicago, Inc