Diagram of the brain of a person with Alzheimer's Disease. Credit: Wikipedia/public domain.
Posted on 01/20/2015 12:46:10 PM PST by Red Badger
One of the most promising new treatments for Alzheimer's disease may already be in your kitchen. Curcumin, a natural product found in the spice turmeric, has been used by many Asian cultures for centuries, and a new study indicates a close chemical analog of curcumin has properties that may make it useful as a treatment for the brain disease.
"Curcumin has demonstrated ability to enter the brain, bind and destroy the beta-amyloid plaques present in Alzheimer's with reduced toxicity," said Wellington Pham, Ph.D., assistant professor of Radiology and Radiological Sciences and Biomedical Engineering at Vanderbilt and senior author of the study, published recently in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease.
Accumulation and aggregation of protein fragments, known as beta-amyloid, drives the irreversible loss of neurons in Alzheimer's disease.
Developing small molecules to reduce this accumulation or promote its demolition is crucial, but the ability of these small molecules to cross the blood-brain barrier has been a restricting factor for drug delivery into the brain.
Pham and colleagues at Shiga University of Medical Science in Otsu, Japan, developed a new strategy to deliver a molecule similar to curcumin more effectively to the brain.
"One of the difficulties in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease is how to deliver drugs across the blood brain barrier," he said. "Our body has designed this barrier to protect the brain from any toxic molecules that can cross into the brain and harm neurons.
"But it is also a natural barrier for molecules designed for disease-modifying therapy," Pham said.
To work around the problems of giving the drug intravenously, the researchers decided to develop an atomizer to generate a curcumin aerosol. The Japanese researchers developed a molecule similar to curcumin, FMeC1, which was the one actually used in this study.
"The advantage of the FMeC1 is that it is a perfluoro compound, which can be tracked by the biodistribution in the brain noninvasively using magnetic resonance imaging. Curcumin is a very simple chemical structure, so it is not expensive to generate the analog," Pham said.
"In this way the drug can be breathed in and delivered to the brain," he said, noting that nebulizers are out in the market already, and are relatively inexpensive.
"In this paper we also showed that delivery to the cortex and hippocampal areas is more efficient using aerosolized curcumin than intravenous injection in a transgenic mouse model of Alzheimer's disease," Pham said.
Explore further: Biotech company develops way to carry antibodies across blood-brain barrier to treat Alzheimer's
More information: "Inhalable curcumin: offering the potential for translation to imaging and treatment of Alzheimer's disease." J Alzheimers Dis. 2014 Sep 16. [Epub ahead of print] www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25227316
Journal reference: Journal of Alzheimer's Disease
Diagram of the brain of a person with Alzheimer's Disease. Credit: Wikipedia/public domain.
Coconut oil too.
Curcumin is a beloved molecule among middle easterners and others, including westerners who attribute all sorts of disease fighting ability to it.
It’s an interesting molecule but doesn’t make a very good drug and it’s effects are quite exaggerated beyond any solid data.
It would be great if all the things attributed to it were true.
As it is, I think it’s a fine supplement to take or to get in eating curry or other food with it.
But it’s not a wonder drug.
Curcumin supposedly relieves inflammation, other medical conditions.
Research also going on at Oregon State U. Quite a lot of info about it here:
http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/infocenter/phytochemicals/curcumin/
Just to be on the side of the angels, I use as much turmeric in cooking as I can stand. It’s rather an acquired taste. Easier to acquire if I dump in red pepper in one form or another. Tabasco. Sriracha. Gringo Bandito sauce, etc.
Turmeric — good stuff!
Tired of the same old oatmeal? Try cooking your next batch seasoned with turmeric. Comes out a gorgeous saffron and with a nice spicy (bot not too hot) kick.
I want to add further info on turmeric to my post #3:
http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-supplements/ingredientmono-662-turmeric.aspx?activeingredientid=662&activeingredientname=turmeric
Apparently some people can “overdose” with turmeric. Highly doubtful you’d OD on any amount you’d use in cooking, but might if you take turmeric “supplements” in capsule form.
Anyway, if you’re planning to use turmeric, please take a look at this webmd link.
Thanks................
bkmk
One of my co-workers is from India. When I was recovering from the flu she suggested turmeric as a tea. I mixed it with ginger and honey.
I do think it helped.
“Try cooking your next batch seasoned with turmeric.”
Oatmeal? Blech! Wonder how it would taste with grits?????
How much do you add to oatmeal?
I take 500mg of curcumin three times daily, mainly for its anti-inflammatory properties.
That sounds interesting. I order oatmeal quite often. Might be a good change of pace. About a half tsp?
Yes.
Don’t measure, but 1/2 teaspoon sounds about right.
Thanks! I’m gonna give it a try.
Thanks!
coconut oil is great!
After a year of taking it as a supplement, I now no longer take pain meds, either prescription or over the counter, other than an occasional Advil if I over work something or do damage.
I've read that it is extra effective if combined with black pepper and now I look for supplements with that combination.
It's also one of the ingredients in Synovi G3 and G4, a joint and bone care supplement for horses and for dogs. Seems to do what they say it does.
Thank God!
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