Eat more curry!
keep eating Indian Curries, you will live longer & get no
Alzheimers!!!!
TIMES NEWS NETWORK TUESDAY, JUNE 08, 2004
WASHINGTON :
Too bad Ronald Reagan never developed a taste for curry. It might
have saved him from Alzheimer's disease. As the former President's
death focuses attention on the degenerative brain condition that
devastates memory, recent studies have shown that diets rich in
curcumin, a compound found in the common Indian curry spice
turmeric (haldi) can help prevent Alzheimer's.
In fact, American researchers reckon the high
incidence of turmeric use is one reason why the disease is rare in
India. Studies have noted that the elderly living in Indian
villages appear to have the lowest incidence of Alzheimer's in the
world, with just 1 per cent of those above 65 contracting it.
According to a recent paper by Dr Sally Frautschy of the University
of California, Los Angeles, Alzheimer's is characterized by the
build up of amyloid protein "plaques" within the brain. But in
studies on rats, curcumin not only reduced the amyloid, but also
reduced the (brain's) response to the amyloid. Dr Frautschy had not
returned calls at the time of writing, but while presenting her
findings at an annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience
recently, she suggested that curcumin found in curry could provide
a clue to the Indian resistance since the compound has "a long
history of dietary and herbal medicinal use" and is also a powerful
antioxidant and anti-inflammatory
agent.
Unlike Clinton, who developed a taste for Indian
food, Reagan lived on an all-American diet, to the extent of
keeping a jar
of jelly beans on his table. He was roasted by critics because his
administration once tried to classify ketchup as a vegetable to
justify budget cuts. He often ate dinners at the White House from a
TV tray table.
Several other researchers have now endorsed curcumin as having
neuroprotective and anti-degenerative properties and there is raft
of studies underway to determine how precisely to apply it as a
prophylactic.
Dr Frautschy meanwhile has suggested other spices like ginger (also
widely used in India ) and rosemary that have similar properties as
turmeric might also help fight Alzheimer's.
