In the first half, researcher Christian Wilde detailed the health benefits of the natural spice turmeric, and its use as a treatment or preventative for such ailments as Parkinson's disease, MS, cancer, and Alzheimer's. According to his research, there are some 650 to 700 conditions that could benefit from turmeric supplementation. For people concerned about fluoride in their water supply, turmeric has been found to neutralize toxins, he noted, as well as having anti-microbial, anti-bacterial, anti-oxidant, anti-viral, and anti-fungal properties. The neurodegenerative disease Parkinson's involves the death of neurons in the brain, and patients have low levels of Vitamin D. Testing in Petri dishes has shown that neurons bathed in turmeric have 80% regrowth, and these results are being studied for further applications, he reported. In China and India, the numbers for Alzheimer's patients are much lower, which may relate to the fact that they have more turmeric in their diet, he indicated. A study from Vanderbilt University found that curcumin (the active ingredient in turmeric) "has demonstrated ability to enter the brain, bind to, and destroy the beta-amyloid plaques present in Alzheimer's disease," Wilde quoted from the paper. Turmeric has also shown some promise as a cancer preventative and remedy. Working with the MD Anderson Cancer Centers, biochemist Bharat Aggarwal has said 'in 50 years of research, I have seen no cancer that has not benefited from turmeric.' It's well established, Wilde added, that turmeric kills cancer cells on contact but preserves healthy cells. Further, oncologists are now considering combining turmeric with chemotherapy treatments to enhance effectiveness. https://www.coasttocoastam.com/show/2019/11/26 https://foodhow.com/piperine-pepper-extract-turmeric/ https://www.infowarsstore.com/bodease
"India, the numbers for Alzheimer's patients are much lower, which may relate to the fact that they have more turmeric in their diet," I have studied the issue and this is kind of a myth because of the following reasons: 1. Americans' life expectancy is 10 years LONGER than India's, and Alzhaimer's presents itself usually at old age. Simply put: Indians may die earlier before they could get Alzheimer's. 2. Their number is not much lower and we can safely assume they don't report it the same way as we do in the States. Millions are living on the streets, etc. 3. Turmeric's bioavailability in food is not that great. Alright, it is bad. One needs to take it with black pepper to increase this significantly. Because of this reason turmeric supplements have all kind of varieties, where this is achieved in different ways. Those supplements 20-30 times more bioavailable than turmeric in food. The point is here, that food turmeric is probably less responsible for lots of good things than supplement turmeric.
For anyone ready to go down the rabbit hole that turmeric supplementation is, here is a short* explanation of Meriva, Longvida, BCM 95, Theracurcumin, Curcuwin, etc.: https://pureprescriptions.com/scientific-study-reveals-the-best-curcumin-product/ TL;DR: No brand likes a direct comparison to its competitors. It is hard to choose and they are expensive. *OK, I lied, it is long and rather scientific. These are also not your regular turmeric supplements from the grocery store but chemically increased bioavailability pricey products that act differently from each other on the body. That is why the direct comparison is hard. Edit: For those who really don't have a life, here is another comparison based on how long the supplement stays in the body: https://www.patrickholford.com/advice/how-to-get-full-benefits-of-turmeric
Americans probably live longer lives because of things like basic sanitation, reliable food and water, decent medical, etc. I'm not sure you can draw a parallel and say that Tumeric isn't something Americans should use because of the differences between the 1st and 3rd worlds.
He wasn't saying that at all. He was saying it's a false inference that anything done in India (in this case eating tumeric) reduces the chances of Alzheimer's simply because the rate of Alzheimer's is lower in India. As he points out, given a lower percentage of the population in the age range for Alzheimer's (actually he said life expectancy which isn't quite correct given that isn't necessarily the same as an older population, interestingly, it could just mean less infant mortality) India should have a lower rate of Alzheimer's and in fact if it was the same as the US it would point to a significantly higher chance of developing Alzheimer's in India than in the US.
I recall reading research in India about a particular area that had abnormally low rates of Alzheimers (adjusted for lower life expectancy), the conclusion was that the locals had unusually low cholesterol diets. edit: found a link Ballabgarh in northern India has unusually low levels of Alzheimer's disease. More than 820,000 people in the UK are living with dementia, a number that is expected to double by 2051. Is there anything that can be learnt from this region to slow the trend? Enjoying a chat, the elders are still on the ball As the sun breaks through the morning mist in Ballabgarh, the elders of the village make their way to their regular meeting spot to exchange stories and share a traditional hookah pipe. These men are in their sixties and seventies, while their faces bear the evidence of years of hard work in the fields, their minds are still sharp....... http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8492918.stm
Slight correction: Should have used curcumin as the last word. Curcumin is the active ingredient in turmeric and some of the supplements have only curcumin in it.
Dietary cholesterol has minimal effect of blood serum cholesterol levels. So in this case the correlation probably doesn't equal causation. Otherwise this connection would have been well known.
Well as cholesterol does not cross the blood brain barrier (if recalling correctly), this complicates serum cholesterol in the body affecting Alzheimer disease(s) also. Being too thin late in life has also been tied to increased Alzheimer's risk. At armchair level, I'd say these odd paradoxes do get solved. Low dietary cholesterol may having a very different mode of action or something further down the line. Their other observation that obesity was almost unheard of in the area. What seems to be reasonable to conclude is brain cholesterol seems to be connected though the actions or genetic/other modifiers are still a puzzle. If you google it, there is a fair amount of research on the subject so the researchers on this Indian area are not pulling cholesterol out of their hat anyway. Have to read the actual research of course.