National Alzheimer’s Awareness Month

Spice it up with Turmeric

The Alzheimer’s Association claims that “5.4 million Americans are living with Alzheimer’s disease, and it is the sixth-leading cause of death in the United States and the fifth-leading cause of death in those aged 65 and older.”  I came across an article asking how nutrition plays an impact on someone who has a history of Alzheimer’s in their family.  The diet and fitness expert gave about three suggestions of what foods should be consumed to help stave off the disease.  I was most intrigued by her last entry about spicing up your diet with turmeric.

Spice things up. India has a much lower incidence of Alzheimer’s disease, and many researchers believe it may be due in part to their extensive use of turmeric (a component of curry) in their cooking.

Turmeric contains a powerful phytonutrient called curcumin which may help protect the brain from Alzheimer’s disease in several ways. Research is currently underway to determine the optimal intake (very little taken by mouth actually gets to the brain) but consuming curry regularly along with a little healthy fat may help and certainly can’t hurt.  -Dr. Melina Jampolis

What a coincidence, India is also where they extensively cook with coconut oil!   I can’t believe that coconut oil wasn’t identified in this piece as the “healthy fat” that can be added to one’s diet.  It isn’t just the turmeric that leads to a lower incidence of Alzheimer’s in India.  They aren’t using the refined, hydrogenated oils that most American’s use.  More stories about the benefits of unrefined, virgin coconut oil and brain health are coming out everyday.  Here is a couple’s story of their experiences with coconut oil.

To get the other health tips offered by Dr. Jampolis, read the full article posted on CNN.

 

– EM

 

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Post a Comment

Your email is never published nor shared.
Required fields are marked *

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>

*
*