There are plenty of anti-inflammatory drugs out there that may reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease, but stomach, liver, and kidney toxicity precludes their widespread use. So, maybe using an anti-inflammatory food like the spice, turmeric, found in curry powder, could offer the benefits without the risks? Before even considering putting it to the test, though, one might ask, “Well, do populations that eat a lot of turmeric have a lower prevalence of dementia?” And indeed, those living in rural India who do just that may actually have the lowest reported prevalence of dementia and Alzheimer’s.
In rural Pennsylvania, the incidence rate of Alzheimer’s disease among seniors is 19/1000. Nineteen people in a thousand over age 65 develop Alzheimer’s every year in rural Pennsylvania. In rural India, using the same diagnostic criteria, that same rate is three, confirming they have among the lowest reported Alzheimer’s rates in the world.
Although the lower prevalence of Alzheimer’s in India is generally attributed to the turmeric consumption as a part of curry, and it is assumed that people who use turmeric regularly have a lower incidence of the disease, let’s not just assume. As highlighted in my video, Preventing Alzheimer’s with Turmeric, a thousand people were tested, and those who consumed curry at least occasionally did better on simple cognitive tests than those who didn’t. Those that ate curry often also had only about half the odds of showing cognitive impairment, after adjusting for a wide variety of potential confounding factors. This suggests that curry consumption may indeed be associated with better cognitive performance.
Of course, it probably matters what’s being curried—are we talking chicken masala, or chana masala, with chickpeas instead of chicks? It may be no coincidence that the country with among the lowest rates of Alzheimer’s also has among the lowest rates of meat consumption, with a significant percentage of Indians eating meat-free and egg-free diets.
Studies have suggested for nearly 20 years now that those who eat meat—red meat or white meat—appear between two to three times more likely to become demented compared to vegetarians. And the longer one eats meat-free, the lower the associated risk of dementia, whether or not you like curry.
There’s another spice that may be useful for brain health. See my video Saffron for the Treatment of Alzheimer’s. What about coconut oil? See Does Coconut Oil Cure Alzheimer’s? In terms of preventing cognitive decline in the first place, check out my video How to Slow Brain Aging By Two Years.
I’ve raised the issue of plant-based diets and dementia in Alzheimer’s Disease: Grain Brain or Meathead?
For more on spices and inflammation, see Which Spices Fight Inflammation? and the follow-up, Spicing Up DNA Protection.
What about treating Alzheimer’s disease with the spice turmeric? That’s the topic of my video, Treating Alzheimer’s with Turmeric.
In health,
Michael Greger, M.D.
PS: If you haven’t yet, you can subscribe to my free videos here and watch my live year-in-review presentations Uprooting the Leading Causes of Death, More Than an Apple a Day, From Table to Able, and Food as Medicine.
