Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Curry spice turmeric boosts memory by nearly 30%, eases depression, study finds

ac.els-cdn.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

81–90 of 406 posts

Re: Curry spice turmeric boosts memory by nearly 30%, eases depression, study finds

#81

Post by mikeleung »

There are side effects to be aware of taking curcumin together with other medications:

"Medications for diabetes (Antidiabetes drugs) Interaction Rating: Moderate Be cautious with this combination. Talk with your health provider. Turmeric might decrease blood sugar in people with type 2 diabetes. Diabetes medications are also used to lower blood sugar. Taking turmeric along with diabetes medications might cause your blood sugar to go too low. Monitor your blood sugar closely. The dose of your diabetes medication might need to be changed.

Some medications used for diabetes include glimepiride (Amaryl), glyburide (DiaBeta, Glynase PresTab, Micronase), insulin, pioglitazone (Actos), rosiglitazone (Avandia), chlorpropamide (Diabinese), glipizide (Glucotrol), tolbutamide (Orinase), and others."

Turmeric might slow blood clotting. Taking turmeric along with medications that also slow clotting might increase the chances of bruising and bleeding.

Medications changed by the liver (Cytochrome P450 3A4 (CYP3A4) substrates) Interaction Rating: Moderate Be cautious with this combination. Talk with your health provider. Some medications are changed and broken down by the liver. Turmeric might decrease how quickly the liver breaks down some medications. Taking turmeric along with some medications that are broken down by the liver can increase the effects and side effects of some medications. Before taking turmeric talk to your healthcare provider if you take any medications that are changed by the liver.

Some medications that are changed by the liver include some calcium channel blockers (diltiazem, nicardipine, verapamil), chemotherapeutic agents (etoposide, paclitaxel, vinblastine, vincristine, vindesine), antifungals (ketoconazole, itraconazole), glucocorticoids, alfentanil (Alfenta), cisapride (Propulsid), fentanyl (Sublimaze), lidocaine (Xylocaine), losartan (Cozaar), fexofenadine (Allegra), midazolam (Versed), and others."

https://www.rxlist.com/turmeric/supplements.htm#Interactions

Re: Curry spice turmeric boosts memory by nearly 30%, eases depression, study finds

#82

Post by dasil003 »

utkarshsinha wrote: post #71
ng12 wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem is it's hard to make money off of those things. There's strong evidence suggesting papaya seeds are remarkably good for purging parasites from the digestive system -- but why research it further when you can push Albendazole for $400/treatment?

You can sell papaya seeds for $200/treatment.

Only until people find out they're papaya seeds and just go buy a papaya for $3.

Re: Curry spice turmeric boosts memory by nearly 30%, eases depression, study finds

#83

Post by ng12 »

2muchcoffeeman wrote: post #76
ng12 wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem is it's hard to make money off of those things. There's strong evidence suggesting papaya seeds are remarkably good for purging parasites from the digestive system -- but why research it further when you can push Albendazole for $400/treatment?

You see a lot of turmeric and a ton of other spices and herbs in SE Asian cooking too. But I really wouldn’t say that these populations are particularly healthier. The idea that modern medicine is ‘playing catch-up’ is laughable. For every home remedy they get right, they probably get many others wrong. I agree drug companies are still fairly evil.

> But I really wouldn’t say that these populations are particularly healthier

How would you be able to tell?

Re: Curry spice turmeric boosts memory by nearly 30%, eases depression, study finds

#84

Post by nwah1 »

glangdale wrote: post #24

For those commenting on bioavailability, black pepper supposedly makes it more bioavailable: https://examine.com/supplements/curcumin/ It's an interesting result, but they do note that the subpopulation is somewhat self-selected: "Only approximately 15% of the screened volunteers were included in the study, and our recruitment method yielded a sample of motivated, educated, physically healthy subjects concerned about…

Black pepper increases bioavailability of everything by inhibiting your cytochrome p450 enzymes, which increases your vulnerability to toxins.

Re: Curry spice turmeric boosts memory by nearly 30%, eases depression, study finds

#85

Post by epmaybe »

Just some quick questions regarding the volunteer flow chart in the paper (sorry for those of you behind a subscription paywall). What do the authors mean when a patient was excluded for an abnormal MRI? Why were only 30/40 of the remaining participants' PET scan data analyzed? Was it due to sufficient power?

Some other random questions

The authors used a "t test" for continuous measures of data. What kind of t-test though? Since these are repeated measures over time, I have been told a dependent t-test is needed. Is that what was used? PROC MIXED in SAS has a parameter for "repeated" measures, so I would assume so but it's really not clear.

Very interesting paper, and I will hopefully be reading it in full shortly.

Re: Curry spice turmeric boosts memory by nearly 30%, eases depression, study finds

#86

Post by dsjoerg »

psychometry wrote: post #73
jtwebman wrote: post #49

30 total people with 15 on placebo seems like a very small sample size to me but a great study to maybe get funding for a bigger one for sure.

Everyone without statistical training thinks sample sizes are too small, but rest assured these studies are usually planned very deliberately. Power calculations are usually done in advance to determine the necessary sample sizes needed to demonstrate the magnitudes of different hypothesized effects according to a desired confidence level.

In this day and age one cannot "rest assured" about the quality of statistical practice in science. For example: http://retractionwatch.com/2016/03/16/evidence-based-medicin...

Re: Curry spice turmeric boosts memory by nearly 30%, eases depression, study finds

#87

Post by sincerely »

tomcam wrote: post #80
michael_h wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Eating a spoonful of powder sounds like a nightmare I sometimes have.

Or an arguably more wholesome version of the YouTube meme of eating Tide pods

In 2012 there was a similar meme called the Cinnamon challenge: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinnamon_challenge

Re: Curry spice turmeric boosts memory by nearly 30%, eases depression, study finds

#88

Post by agumonkey »

telesilla wrote: post #39
agumonkey wrote: post #29

turmeric can be expensive, I bought a few bottles last year, I should investigate how to grow some home.

Fresh turmeric root cost dollars, find a local asian grocery store and make your own. It's great as a tea.

I'm on tetley green tea these days, it's lovely. Thanks for the tip.

Re: Curry spice turmeric boosts memory by nearly 30%, eases depression, study finds

#89

Post by agumonkey »

praneshp wrote: post #79
agumonkey wrote: post #29

turmeric can be expensive, I bought a few bottles last year, I should investigate how to grow some home.

If you have an Indian grocery store, you can go there and find it super cheap.

I have a few around, I will rob them half their stock. My grandmother used to cook with these, I'm sure my mother will be delighted.
Post reply on HN