Spicy Indian curry thwarts Alzheimer's, dementia

The magic of tumeric
The medical fraternity has reasons to believe that amyloid plaques, along with interwoven nerve fibres, lead to the dilapidation of the wiring in brain cells. This condition, in due course, leads to dementia.

Curcumin, a component of spice turmeric, appears to foil the spread of these amyloid protein and thus, wards off dementia, noted Professor Murali Doraiswamy, director of the Mental Fitness Laboratory at the Department of Psychiatry, Duke University Medical Center, Carolina.

Professor Doraiswamy said: "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.”

Professor Doraiswamy noted that plenty of exercise coupled with a good diet and regular intake of curry could help prevent dementia. He however cautioned that an occasional curry intake would not compensate for a poor lifestyle.

Dr Susanne Sorensen, Head of Research at the Alzheimer's Society, has a case in point that corroborates Professor Doraiswamy’s findings, “Indian communities that regularly eat curcumin have a surprisingly low incidence of Alzheimer's disease but we don't yet know why.”

Turmeric has always been an integral part of the ancient Indian medical knowledge and has often been referred to as the spice of life in India.

About the disease
Dementia is a neurological disorder marked by a progressive decline in cognitive function. Typically age related, it results in a loss of mental abilities such as thinking, remembering and reasoning.

Alzheimer's disease, on the other hand is the most common form of dementia. Till date, experts are grappling with figuring out the cause behind this degenerative and terminal disease.

The typical symptoms of Alzheimer's, which eventually ends with the death of an individual, include confusion, anger, mood swings, language breakdown and long-term memory loss.