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

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

#101
post #3

Note: this was a relatively small sample (40 total, split in half for placebo/not), who were elderly people who already have "mild" memory problems, and given a concentrated turmeric derivative rather than just sprinkling it over food. In summary: very cool, and I'd offer these curcumin supplements to anyone 50+ but sprinkling turmeric on your breakfast cereal ain't going to do much for high schoolers.

40? so nothing relevant? :(

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

#102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I buy bulk 95% powder, pop a piperine tablet, and dump 3/4 tsp of powder in my mouth - eating something with it to get it down. I experimented with mixing it with various things, but it's hydrophobic and stains everything bright yellow, so the quicker the better. I was mostly interested in the anti-inflammatory properties, my family is full of arthritis, and between climbing and typing, I started noticing some in my…

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

I used to have to do it every single morning for a bogus supplement pyramid scheme my guardian fell for.

It doesn't get any less disgusting even after a couple years.

They also sometimes made me drink hydrogen peroxide mixed with water, but that's another story.

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

#103
post #95

And in late breaking news, sales of bleach and clothes whitener are up worldwide as turmeric is discovered to be a potent yellow dye for clothes...

Hah, yes, its power to stain anything it touches requires no controversial studies to demonstrate.

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

#104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I buy bulk 95% powder, pop a piperine tablet, and dump 3/4 tsp of powder in my mouth - eating something with it to get it down. I experimented with mixing it with various things, but it's hydrophobic and stains everything bright yellow, so the quicker the better. I was mostly interested in the anti-inflammatory properties, my family is full of arthritis, and between climbing and typing, I started noticing some in my…

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

It's a small spoonful, I don't find it hard. You can certainly find things it will mix with (like yogurt, peanut butter, or honey) but it is really in another league when it comes to staining things, and I don't find that worth the trouble.

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

#105
Even more fun: "Vanillin Affects Amyloid Aggregation and Non-Enzymatic Glycation in Human Insulin" https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-15503-5

Vanillin is a metabolite of curcumin, which is the medicinal chemical of note in turmeric.

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

#106
Couple questions...

I’ve read that Bromelain (from Pineapples) can help with sinus inflammation. Is there any indication about Turmeric helping with sinus inflammation?

Silly question...is “inflammation” one thing? As in do brain inflammation and sinus inflammation go together?

Finally, any resources on reducing inflammation generally?

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

#107
post #59
post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually the age range was 51-84, so middle plus old age, not all "elderly". Normal people flourish and are in their prime around 50. Volunteers had "objective cognitive performance scores and clinical histories consistent with normal aging or MCI (i.e., mild neurocognitive disorder) and inconsistent with dementia (i.e., major neurocognitive disorder)." [emphasis added]

> Normal people flourish and are in their prime around 50 How do you mean? I don't think most people in their 50s would describe themselves as being "in their prime". For example, ELO ratings of Chess players tend to decline in their 30s[1]. For NBA players, their "prime" is typically the late 20s, with performance declining in their 30s. 1. https://www.chess.com/blog/LionChessLtd/age-vs-elo---your-ba...

> I don't think most people in their 50s would describe themselves as being "in their prime".

I are not going to be part of a professional sports franchise. But at my age (59) I know more than I ever did, and I have no serious physical problems.

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

#108

Turmeric has been used in India since ancient times. There are many references to it in Ayurveda - the Indian/Hindu medical sciences. Ayurveda believes in using food as medicine to non only prevent a large majority of human diseases, but also to cure several of them — all with almost zero side effects. Turmeric is just one such extremely powerful & healthy food item that Western science seems to be playing catch up o…

But how do you actually know if these Ayurvedic practices work without the rigorous trial and error that "Western" science demands? Unless I'm mistaken, the Ayurvedic texts do not contain repeatable evidence of the efficacy of the treatments described within them, nor do they describe plausible explanations of how those treatments work.

Whatever truths are contained in Ayurvedic texts are accidental unless they were arrived at by some sort of experimentation, and they're mixed in with a lot of nonsense which "Western" science is attempting to sift through. Along with proving the potency of some Ayurvedic treatments, science is also DISproving that of many others, which means that it's not "catching up" with Ayurvedic so much as catching it, shining a bright light on it, and asking it much tougher questions than anybody thought to ask before.

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

#109

So, just as a sanity check, would we expect to see 30% less depression in country sized populations where turmeric consumption is common - for example is India less depressed than, say, USA. And how on earth do we control for it?

No. For 3 Reasons.

1. The 30% number was for memory, not depression.

2. Also it says that it may "ease" depression, not eliminate it. So you would still have the roughly the same numbers of depressed people, but they may rate their depression slightly lower.

3. The definition of depression might be slightly different in a different country, so even a basic sanity check is still going to need to look at individual subjects and evaluate depression levels before and after turmeric treatment.

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

#110
post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you take it?

I buy bulk 95% powder, pop a piperine tablet, and dump 3/4 tsp of powder in my mouth - eating something with it to get it down. I experimented with mixing it with various things, but it's hydrophobic and stains everything bright yellow, so the quicker the better. I was mostly interested in the anti-inflammatory properties, my family is full of arthritis, and between climbing and typing, I started noticing some in my…

For arthritis i would advise simple and cheap solution: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7889887
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