Daily turmeric intake boost memory and mood

Turmeric or haldi is commonly used in Indian cooking as a spice. Turmeric has been an intrinsic part of our lives beyond kitchens too. It is prized in Ayurveda for its health, antiseptic, medicinal and beauty benefits. Findings of a new study in the battle against brain diseases have revealed that consuming turmeric may help improve memory and mood.

It is turmeric’s abundance of a compound called curcumin that makes it so special. Scientists have already said curcumin has anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties.

They have also suggested that people in India regularly consume curcumin in turmeric and therefore senior citizens in the country have lower incidences of Alzheimer’s disease performance.

“Exactly how curcumin exerts its effects is not certain, but it may be due to its ability to reduce brain inflammation, which has been linked to both Alzheimer’s disease and major depression,” said Gary Small, from the University of California, Los Angeles in the US.

The study, published in the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, examined 40 adults between the ages of 50 and 90 years who had mild memory complaints.

For the study, they were randomly assigned to receive either a placebo or 90 milligrammes of curcumin twice daily for 18 months. All 40 subjects received standardised cognitive assessments at the start of the study and at six-month intervals, and monitoring of curcumin levels in their blood at the start of the study and after 18 months.

Additionally, 30 of the subjects — 15 of whom who were receiving curcumin — had positron emission tomography (PET) scans of their brain at the beginning and end of the study.

These scans were conducted in order to assess levels of the beta-amyloid and tau, which are proteins that are considered a hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease. Research has suggested that an increase in levels of beta-amyloid and tau can occur up to 15 years before symptoms of Alzheimer’s arise, suggesting that the proteins may be an early indicator of the disease.

The findings revealed that people who took curcumin experienced significant improvements in their memory and attention abilities, while the subjects who received placebo did not, Small said.

Results revealed that the subjects who took curcumin twice daily demonstrated a 28 percent improvement in memory tests over the course of the study, while those who took the placebo showed no significant memory improvements.

Those taking curcumin also had mild improvements in mood, and their brain PET scans showed significantly less amyloid and tau signals in the amygdala and hypothalamus than those who took placebos.

The amygdala and hypothalamus are regions of the brain that control several memory and emotional functions.

“These results suggest that taking this relatively safe form of curcumin could provide meaningful cognitive benefits over the years,” said Small.