Free Republic

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 disease can seem unrelentingly grim. There is no cure, no known way to prevent the illness, and the benefits of current treatments are modest at best. But in laboratories around the country, scientists are uncovering clues that may eventually — perhaps even in the next two decades — allow them to prevent, slow or even reverse the ruthless progression of the illness. "Things are more hopeful than perhaps people think," Dr. Karen Duff of the Nathan Kline Institute of New York University said. "We are on the cusp of having something really useful." That hope comes on the heels...

The drugs now available to treat the memory and thinking problems of Alzheimer's disease have not lived up to the public's high expectations for them and offer such modest benefits on average that many doctors are unsure about whether to prescribe them. Although the drugs have their advocates, grateful for any sign of improvement, others express disappointment in light of earlier hopes that the drugs approved in the last decade would stop the disease or markedly slow it. At a meeting in late March at Johns Hopkins University, doctors and other health professionals heard Alzheimer's researchers debate the usefulness of...

The red wine reduced the risks of insanity, the beer increases these risks Tuesday November 12, 2002 - 16h39 GMT WASHINGTON, Nov. 12 (AFP) - To regularly drink red wine reduced of more than half the risks of insanity while the beer has the opposite effect, doubling the probabilities of being touched in particular by the disease of Alzheimer, according to a study carried out in Denmark and published Tuesday in the United States. "These results are interesting because they could mean that certain substances of the wine reduce the supervening of the insanity", the author of the study...

XXXXX DRUDGE REPORT XXXXX SAT SEPT 28 2002 14:02:38 ET XXXXX NANCY REAGAN WORKS TO REVERSE BUSH STEM CELL POLICY "A lot of time is being wasted. A lot of people who could be helped are not being helped." The words of former first lady Nancy Reagan on the issue of Bush's policy of limited stem cell research. MORE Reagan's secret campaign to reverse the Bush decision on the matter is outlined publicly for the first time in Sunday runs of the NEW YORK TIMES, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned. Mrs. Reagan believes that embryonic stem cell research could uncover...