Tuesday Oct 8, 2013 (foodconsumer.org) -- A study released this month in American Journal of Chinese Medicine suggests that taking a dietary supplement called curcumin, the yellow compound found in the spice turmeric may be enlisted to treat Alzheimer's disease, which doctors say has no cure.

Curcumin has been known to have protective effects against cancer and type 2 diabetes mellitus.  It should not be a surprise that curcumin has antidiabetic and anticancer bioactivities because it is a polyphenol that may render the protection as an antioxidant against a range of disease-associated medical conditions including tumorigenesis, oxidation, inflammation, apoptosis and hyperlipemia.

In addition to Alzheimer's disease and diabetes, taking curcumin dietary supplements may help prevent or treat multiple myeloma, pancreatic cancer, myelodysplastic syndromes, colon cancer, and psoriasis, according to early studies.

The current study led by Y. Wang and colleagues form The 148th Hospital in Zibo, Shandong China shows that curcumin supplementation helped spatial memory and the expression of Glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), a marker specific to astrocytes in animals suffering a disease similar to Alzheimer's disease. Astrocytes play a role in the onset of Alzheimer's disease.

Curcumin dietary supplements led to the improvement of spatial memory of Alzheimer's disease and the expression of GFAP mRNA and a decrease in the number of cells where GFAP is found.

This is not the only study that suggests that taking curcumin dietary supplements can help prevent or treat Alzheimer's disease.

A report released in Sept 2013 in Journal of Experimental Pharmacology suggests that taking curcumin may help prevent Alzheimer's disease - a disease that affects an estimated five million Americans.

Pamela E Potter from Midwestern University in Glendale, Arizona, USA, author of the report, says observational studies have shown people who ate a diet high in curcumin were at a lower risk of Alzheimer's disease, suggesting curcumin dietary supplements may help prevent the disease.

Early studies have found curcumin can not only inhibit amyloid sedimentation but also promote disaggregation of amyloid plaque.

No safety issue has been associated with a dose like up to 12 grams of curcumin per day.  An Indian study revealed taking 6 grams of curcumin per day can help prevent type 2 diabetes in prediabetics and no adverse effects were associated with this dose. (DL)