The Amazing Curcumin Can Improve Memory and Mood!
The bright yellow substance known as ‘curcumin’ in Indian curry not only makes food enticing. Curcumin also improves memory and mood in people wild mild, age-related memory loss, according to UCLA researchers.
The UCLA researchers found that daily consumption of curcumin, found in turmeric, can improve memory performance of people with dementia and Alzheimer’s.
This amazing discovery was confirmed by Dr. Gary Small, director of geriatric psychiatry at UCLA’s Longevity Center and of the geriatric psychiatry division at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA, and the study’s first author.
Small said, “Exactly how curcumin exerts its effects is not certain. It may be due to its ability to reduce brain inflammation, linked to both Alzheimer’s disease and major depression.”
Curcumin has proven anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties.
The Study and Key Results
Researchers tested the effects of curcumin supplement on memory performance in people with mild memory loss. They invited 40 adults between 50 – 90 years with mild memory complaints to be respondents in the double-blind, placebo-controlled study.
All 40 subjects received standardized 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. Thirty of the volunteers underwent positron emission tomography, or PET scans. PET scans determined the levels of amyloid and tau in their brains at the start of the study and after 18 months.
Here are the interesting results!
The people who took curcumin experienced significant improvements in their memory and attention abilities, whereas subjects who received placebo did not. In memory tests, the people taking curcumin improved by 28 percent over the 18 months. Those taking curcumin also had mild improvements in mood. 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.
