Post by: Sindawe on August 07, 2006, 07:24:40 AM
Quote
Popular curry spice is a brain booster
04 August 2006
From New Scientist Print Edition. Subscribe and get 4 free issues.
Call it yellow ginger, haldi, turmeric or E100, the yellow root of Curcuma longa, a staple ingredient in curry, is turning out to be gratifyingly healthful. Now Tze-Pin Ng and colleagues at the National University of Singapore have discovered that curry eating seems to boost brain power in elderly people.
Curcumin, a constituent of turmeric, is an antioxidant, and reports have suggested that it inhibits the build-up of amyloid plaques in people with Alzheimer's. Ng's team looked at the curry-eating habits of 1010 Asian people unaffected by Alzheimer's and aged between 60 and 93, and compared their performance in a standard test of cognitive function, the Mini Mental State Examination. Those people who consumed curry "occasionally" (once or more in 6 months but less than once a month) and "often" (more than once a month) had better MMSE results than those who only ate curry "never or rarely" (American Journal of Epidemiology, DOI: 10.1093/aje/kwj267).
"What is remarkable is that apparently one needs only to consume curry once in a while for the better cognitive performance to be evidenced," says Ng, who says he wants to confirm the results, possibly in a controlled clinical trial comparing curcumin and a placebo.
Source: http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19125635.500-popular-curry-spice-is-a-brain-booster.html
Time to fix me up a batch of Shrimp Vindaloo 04 August 2006
From New Scientist Print Edition. Subscribe and get 4 free issues.
Call it yellow ginger, haldi, turmeric or E100, the yellow root of Curcuma longa, a staple ingredient in curry, is turning out to be gratifyingly healthful. Now Tze-Pin Ng and colleagues at the National University of Singapore have discovered that curry eating seems to boost brain power in elderly people.
Curcumin, a constituent of turmeric, is an antioxidant, and reports have suggested that it inhibits the build-up of amyloid plaques in people with Alzheimer's. Ng's team looked at the curry-eating habits of 1010 Asian people unaffected by Alzheimer's and aged between 60 and 93, and compared their performance in a standard test of cognitive function, the Mini Mental State Examination. Those people who consumed curry "occasionally" (once or more in 6 months but less than once a month) and "often" (more than once a month) had better MMSE results than those who only ate curry "never or rarely" (American Journal of Epidemiology, DOI: 10.1093/aje/kwj267).
"What is remarkable is that apparently one needs only to consume curry once in a while for the better cognitive performance to be evidenced," says Ng, who says he wants to confirm the results, possibly in a controlled clinical trial comparing curcumin and a placebo.
Source: http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19125635.500-popular-curry-spice-is-a-brain-booster.html
Post by: Mabs2 on August 07, 2006, 07:30:53 AM
Man I miss that quick reply box.
Post by: Preacherman on August 07, 2006, 09:26:05 AM
Post by: grampster on August 07, 2006, 11:36:32 AM
Post by: 280plus on August 07, 2006, 11:38:56 AM
I just had some Chicken with Green Curry and Basil at the local Thai resturant. YUM YUM!!
Post by: Iain on August 07, 2006, 12:10:14 PM
I've been aware of turmeric as the latest 'wonder food' for a while, along with fish oils. To achieve therapeutic doses though I'd end up bright yellow and smelling like a trawler.
Post by: Mabs2 on August 07, 2006, 01:14:34 PM