Defeat Alzheimer’s With This Miracle Spice

Dear Natural Health Solutions Reader,

The term “miracle drug” is in common parlance. It gets nearly 500,000 hits on Google.

But “miracle herb”? Under 100,000 hits.

And “miracle spice”? Forget about it — a mere 25,000.

Which is a shame or Big Pharma conspiracy (perhaps a bit of both).

Because if ever a spice deserved the term “miracle,” it’s turmeric, especially when it comes to its amazing ability to prevent, and even defeat, Alzheimer’s disease.

As you know, Dave Asprey reviewed some general virtues of this astounding plant in the current issue of Natural Health Solutions.

In today’s email, however, I want to specifically dig into its brain-protecting power.

Before we go further, a couple of definitions:

• Alzheimer’s disease is not the same as age-related “cognitive decline.” It is a disease that vastly accelerates the relatively minor loss of memory and thinking skills that comes with normal aging.

It is marked by excessive dead-tissue “plaques” and “tangles” in the brain. These slow or stop synapses — the connections between brain cells that are the basic currency of thinking.

The drugs commonly used to treat it are not very effective and tend to lose effectiveness over time.¹

The most public and tragic recent victim of Alzheimer’s disease was former President Ronald Reagan, who revealed his condition to the nation in a heartfelt letter published Nov. 5, 1994, when he was 83 years old. He withdrew from public life and died of Alzheimer’s complications on June 5, 2004

• Turmeric is a spice with over 5,000 years of history as both a food and medicine. Eastern — especially Indian — cultures regard it as sacred, probably because of its extraordinary ability to create and maintain mental and physical health.

Usually, only the bright orange root (technically a rhizome) is consumed.The active ingredient in turmeric is curcumin. This component is believed to be responsible for most of turmeric’s health effects.

With those terms clarified, let’s take a look at some of the evidence.

What the Studies Show

James A. Duke, Ph.D., published one of the biggest reviews of turmeric-against-Alzheimer’s studies in the October 2007 issue of HerbClip, a publication of the American Botanical Council.

Duke — still actively investigating at age 86 — is perhaps the most respected expert in America on the medicinal power of plants. (I once spent an unforgettable afternoon with him touring a ginseng farm in Maryland. His knowledge is absolutely encyclopedic.)

Carefully reviewing over 50 studies, Duke concluded turmeric dramatically outperforms many synthetic drugs in its power to both prevent and treat Alzheimer’s plaques.

As for how it works, an important review in Annals of Indian Academy of Neurology pointed out that “Curcumin has a potent anti-inflammatory effect. Through its various anti-inflammatory effects, it may have a role in the cure of Alzheimer’s.”²

(Note the uncharacteristic language for a medical journal. “Cure” isn’t a word that’s often bandied about in scientific reviews.)

Specifically, the reviewers note, curcumin tamps down an inflammatory protein called Egr-1. It also inhibits cyclooxygenase, popularly known as COX-2, a common source of pain and inflammation.

As is often the case for substances that turn the fire hose on raging inflammation, curcumin appears to lower risks and reverse symptoms for a whole range of diseases ravaging the developed world. As the authors put it:

“It decreases the low-density lipoprotein oxidation and the free radicals that cause the deterioration of neurons, not only in Alzheimer’s but also in other neuron degenerative disorders such as Huntington’s and Parkinson’s disease.”

Bringing the Spice of Life to Your Life

So…

The first question for anyone contemplating taking turmeric or curcumin is — which of the two is best?

This is a surprisingly difficult question to answer. One reason curcumin, rather than turmeric, is favored in scientific studies is that it’s easier to standardize it and isolate its effects.

Whole herbs can vary in quality and concentration of various constituents. Scientists prefer isolated compounds like curcumin for the sake of simplicity.

But that doesn’t mean isolated compounds are better. In fact, I tend to recommend turmeric over curcumin. Turmeric may have healthful constituents beyond curcumin that contribute to its anti-inflammatory power, as well as to its admirable safety record.

If you have a friend or loved one with diagnosed Alzheimer’s disease, should he or she be taking turmeric? Probably, but chances are that person is already taking prescription medications known as cholinesterase inhibitors, such as galantamine, rivastigmine, or donepezil.

So to avoid any potential negative interaction, be sure to check with the patient’s physician before you add daily turmeric (or turmeric with piperine — more on that below) to the regimen.

But as an Alzheimer’s preventive — not to mention an overall health tonic — here are some ideas for adding turmeric to your diet:

A Tasty Tea

Turmeric tea, a favorite in Okinawa — home of the world’s longest-lived citizens — is simple to make:

• Boil 4 cups of water
• Add 1 teaspoon of ground or finely chopped fresh turmeric
• Reduce to a simmer for 10 minutes
• Strain the tea through a fine sieve into a cup. Add honey and/or lemon to taste.

Beyond this, add a teaspoon of turmeric to every soup or stew you make. The deep, earthy flavor of the spice may soon become addictive — no dish seeming complete without it.

But if you dislike the flavor, any natural foods store has dozens of fluid extracts, tablets, or capsules that allow to you down it like any other supplement.

Look for dosages of 400-600 milligrams, and take two or three times a day.

I recommend versions that contain a compound called piperine — derived from black pepper – which has been shown to increase absorption.

But ask your doctor first if you are taking a prescription drug, as piperine may slow the drug’s elimination.

Similarly, if you are cooking with turmeric, be sure to add a few shakes of black pepper to the dish.

Bottom line: Don’t get hung up on which of the many ways to ingest turmeric is best. Experiment! Any way you consume it is better than missing out on the extraordinary healing power of this miraculous spice.

Brad Lemley
Editor, Natural Health Solutions

Citations

1. Alzheimer’s Disease Medications Fact Sheet. National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, June 2015

2. Mishra S, Palanivelu K. The effect of curcumin (turmeric) on Alzheimer’s disease: An overview. Annals of Indian Academy of Neurology. 2008;11(1):13-19. doi:10.4103/0972-2327.40220.