While many people associate spicy curry with a burning sensation
on the tongue, the brain may be using the spice to prevent certain
diseases.
A yellow pigment in foods such as mustard and curry has the
potential to combat the effects of Alzheimer’s Disease,
traumatic injury to the head and Huntington’s Disease, a
UCLA-Veterans Affairs study has found.
The yellow pigment curcumin directly decreases the build-up of
beta amyloid proteins by binding to it. The beta amyloid proteins
collect to form plaque that disrupts neuron function in the brain,
affecting thought processes which make carrying out daily
activities difficult.
“(Curcumin) has interesting properties in the use against
age-related diseases,” said Gregory Cole, principal
researcher and professor of medicine and neurology at the David
Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.
Curcumin has antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects that may
be effective in treating several diseases of aging.
The pigment’s polarity and low molecular weight allow it
to enter the highly selective blood-brain barrier, which is closed
off to many drugs, to bind to the accumulated proteins.
In another UCLA study, it was found that curcumin can protect
the brain after traumatic brain injury.
Researchers placed rats on a curcumin-based diet for three weeks
prior to a concussion injury similar to that which one might
experience in a car accident.
“Part of the effect of the injury is that the animals lose
some capacity for learning and memory,” said Fernando
Gomez-Pinilla, professor in the department of neurosurgery and
physiological sciences.
“When the animals are maintained on the curcumin diet, the
brains of the animals are protected,” he added.
BDNF, brain-derived neurotrophic factor, which was shown by the
group to be important in neuron communication based on synaptic
strength, memory and learning in conjunction with exercise, is
reduced when the brain is injured. Curcumin reduces the negative
effects of head injury on the BDNF levels.
Curcumin may also be used prior to undergoing brain surgery.
“If, for example, someone is going to have surgery within
a week, we can adapt the diet to make the situation much healthier
in terms of healing the brain after the surgery,”
Gomez-Pinilla said.
Yet in another separate study, Marie-Francoise Chesselet, chair
of the department of neurobiology at the David Geffen School of
Medicine and Miriam Hickey, a postgraduate researcher, is studying
the effects of curcumin on Huntington’s Disease.
Huntington’s Disease is characterized by an abnormal
genetic mechanism which results in accumulation of the Huntington
protein similar to the build-up of beta amyloids in
Alzheimer’s Disease.
“We found that if we give curcumin to mice they will have
less aggregate in their brains, but we don’t know yet if that
will improve symptoms,” Chesselet said.
Since curcumin acts as an antioxidant, it can be additionally
beneficial to those with Huntington’s Disease.
“It is also safe because people can ingest a lot of
curcumin and it’s not bad for them,” Chesselet
said.
“The advantage is that it can be given in the food without
being injected,” she added.
Karen Gylys, assistant professor at the UCLA School of Nursing
and Brain Research Institute, is leading similar research on
tetrahydrocurcumin which is a white version of curcumin, found in
curry.
“What everybody wants to know is what happens early in
Alzheimer’s Disease because the earlier the disease progress
is, the more possibility there is to reverse it,” Gylys
said.
The Gylys research group is studying the effect of white
curcumin on synaptic damage which results in the earliest cognitive
changes and memory loss.
By studying the earlier effects of white curcumin on synaptic
changes in Alzheimer’s brain tissue and mouse models, they
look at how synaptic effects of Alzheimer’s Disease can be
abated prior to plaque build-up.
Clinical trials are available at the UCLA Alzheimer’s
Disease Research Center, (310) 825-8908.