Turmeric can
Potentially Help Your Health in 150 Different Ways
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By Dr. Mercola: Most
spices have powerful medicinal properties, which is precisely why
they've been used to promote healing for thousands of years prior to the
advent of modern, synthetic drug-based medicine.
One such spice is turmeric, the
yellow-pigmented "curry spice" often used in Indian cuisine. Turmeric
contains curcumin, the polyphenol identified as its primary active
component and which exhibits over 150 potentially therapeutic
activities, which include antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer
properties.1
Curcumin is capable of crossing the
blood-brain barrier, which is one reason why it holds promise as a
neuroprotective agent in a wide range of neurological disorders.
Researchers have investigated curcumin for its potential role in
improving Parkinson's disease.
Preliminary results indicate that it may hold even more promise than the
drugs currently used for this disorder, many of which (ironically) have
serious neurotoxic side effects, including dyskinesia – a movement
disorder identical to the symptoms of Parkinson's disease.
Story at-a-glance
-
Curcumin crosses the blood-brain barrier and exhibits potent
neuroprotective properties, leading researchers to investigate it as
a possible drug alternative in the treatment of neurodegenerative
disorders such as Parkinson’s disease
-
Unlike Parkinson’s drugs, curcumin, a polyphenol identified as the
primary active component of the spice turmeric, it reduces
inflammation and oxidative damage in the brain
-
Curcumin has also shown promise for preventing other brain
disorders, including dementia, Huntington’s disease and Alzheimer’s
disease
-
Parkinson’s disease is related to certain lifestyle factors,
including exposure to pesticides, paint and solvents, and vitamin D
deficiency; animal-based omega-3 fats are also a powerful defense
against Parkinson's
Natural Curcumin Extract Outshines
Parkinson's Drugs
Parkinson's is a neurodegenerative
disease caused by a steady depletion of dopamine-producing nerve cells,
particularly in the area of your brain referred to as the substantia
nigra. Most of the current drug treatments for Parkinson's disease,
known as dopamine agonists, focus on replenishing dopamine.
Although such treatments provide
symptomatic relief during early Parkinson's disease, they are
ineffective in the long term where they may actually increase symptoms
such as tremor, postural instability and cognitive deficits that are
common with this disease. They are also associated with motor
complications and a laundry list of other strange and disturbing side
effects, including:
|
Euphoria |
Nausea |
|
Hallucinations |
Insomnia |
|
Causing or worsening psychosis |
Unusual tiredness or weakness |
|
Orthostatic hypotension (a dizzy
spell caused by a sudden drop in blood pressure) |
Dizziness, drowsiness,
lightheadedness, or fainting |
|
Increased orgasmic intensity |
Twitching, twisting, or other
unusual body movements |
|
Weight loss |
Pathological addiction (gambling,
shopping, internet pornography, hypersexuality) |
As researchers noted in the
journal Current Pharmaceutical Design:2
"Most of the current
pharmacotherapeutic approaches in PD [Parkinson's disease] are aimed
at replenishing the striatal dopamine. Although these drugs provide
symptomatic relief during early PD, many patients develop motor
complications with long-term treatment. Further, PD medications do
not effectively tackle tremor, postural instability and cognitive
deficits.
Most importantly, most of these drugs do not exhibit neuroprotective
effects in patients. Consequently, novel therapies involving natural
antioxidants and plant products/molecules with neuroprotective
properties are being exploited for adjunctive therapy."
Unlike Parkinson's drugs, curcumin is
neuroprotective and several studies strongly support its use for the
treatment of Parkinson's. For example:
- Curcumin showed
neuroprotective properties in an animal model of Parkinson's
disease; the beneficial effect was thought to be related, in part,
to its antioxidant capabilities and its ability to penetrate the
brain.3
- Curcumin alleviated the
effects of glutathione depletion, which causes oxidative stress,
mitochondria dysfunction and cell death – and is a feature of early
Parkinson's disease.4
- The c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK)
signaling pathway is involved in dopaminergic neuronal degeneration,
which is in turn associated with Parkinson's. Curcumin prevents
dopaminergic neuronal death through inhibition of the JNK pathway,
and thereby offers a neuroprotective effect that may be beneficial
for Parkinson's.5
- Slow-wriggling alpha-synuclein
proteins can cause clumping, which is the first step for diseases
such as Parkinson's. Curcumin helps prevent the proteins from
clumping.6
Curcumin Is a Powerful Ally for Your Brain
Health
For years now turmeric, and its active
ingredient curcumin, have shown powerful benefits to your brain health.
One of the ways that it works, similar to vitamin D, is modulating large
numbers of your genes; in fact, curcumin has been shown to influence
more than 700 genes.
The potential healing power of this
spice, which is an important part of Eastern cultural traditions
including traditional Chinese medicine and Ayurveda, perhaps first came
about when it was noticed that the prevalence of Alzheimer's disease
among older adults in India is more than four times lower than the rate
in the United States.
Why such a significant difference?
Some researchers believe the answer for
this drastic disparity in Alzheimer's disease prevalence is a direct
result of curcumin. Research has shown that curcumin may help
inhibit the accumulation of destructive beta amyloids in the brain
of Alzheimer's patients, as well as break up existing plaques. People
with Alzheimer's tend to have higher levels of inflammation in their
brains, and curcumin is perhaps most known for its potent
anti-inflammatory properties. The compound can inhibit both the activity
and the inflammatory metabolic byproducts of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX2) and
5-lipooxygenase (5-LOX) enzymes, as well as other enzymes and hormones
that modulate inflammation.
And that's not all. The growing interest
in curcumin over the past 50 years is understandable when you consider
the many health benefits researchers have found when studying this
spice. According to an ever-expanding clinical body of studies, curcumin
may help:
|
Support healthy cholesterol levels
|
Prevent low-density lipoprotein
oxidation |
Inhibit platelet aggregation
|
|
Suppress thrombosis and myocardial
infarction |
Suppress symptoms associated with
type 2 diabetes |
Suppress symptoms of rheumatoid
arthritis |
|
Suppress symptoms of multiple
sclerosis |
Suppress symptoms of Alzheimer's
disease |
Inhibit HIV replication
|
|
Suppress tumor formation
|
Enhance wound healing |
Protect against liver damage
|
|
Increase bile secretion
|
Protect against cataracts
|
Protect against pulmonary toxicity
and fibrosis |
Two More Important Tools for Parkinson's:
Vitamin D and Omega-3
There is a correlation between
insufficient levels of vitamin D and the development of early
Parkinson's disease, and research has suggested that
long-term deficiency may play a role in the pathogenesis of the
disease. There are three major points you want to remember about vitamin
D:
- Your best source for this vitamin
is exposure to the sun, without sunblock on your skin, until your
skin turns the lightest shade of pink. While this isn't always
possible due to the change of the seasons and your geographic
location (and your skin color), this is the ideal to aim for. A safe
tanning bed is the next best option, followed by oral vitamin D3
supplementation.
- If you do supplement with vitamin
D, you'll only want to supplement with natural vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol).
Do NOT use the synthetic and highly inferior vitamin D2, which is
the one most doctors will give you in a prescription most of the
time unless you ask specifically for D3.
- Get your vitamin D blood levels
checked! The only way to determine the correct dose is to have your
blood tested since there are so many variables that influence your
vitamin D status. I recommend using Lab Corp in the U.S. Getting the
correct test is the first step in this process, as there are TWO
vitamin D tests currently being offered: 1,25(OH)D and 25(OH)D.
From my perspective, the preferred test
your doctor needs to order is 25(OH)D, also called 25-hydroxyvitamin D,
which is the better marker of overall D status. This is the marker that
is most strongly associated with overall health. You'll want to
optimize your levels according to the chart below. If you currently
have Parkinson's disease you will want to keep your vitamin D level in
the higher 70-100 ng/ml range to help fight the disease.
Animal-based omega-3 fats are also a
powerful defense against Parkinson's, as they contain two fatty acids
crucial to human health, DHA and EPA. Most of the neurological benefits
of omega-3 oils are derived from the DHA component rather than the EPA
component.
In fact, DHA is one of the major
building blocks of your brain. About half of your brain and eyes are
made up of fat, much of which is DHA -- making it an essential nutrient
for optimal brain and eye function. Your brain activity actually depends
greatly upon the functions provided by its outer, fatty waxy membrane to
act as an electrical nerve-conduction cable. In your brain alone, DHA
may help to ward off Parkinson's by:
- Reducing brain inflammation
- Stimulating neuron growth, and
development and repair of synapses. (Your brain is a vast complex
system of nerve cells sending and receiving electrical impulses
across junctions called synapses. The small space between the two
cells is where the action occurs. One neuron may synapse with as
many as 1,000 other neurons.)
- DHA protects your brain's function
by supporting optimal glutamate function. Glutamate and GABA are
considered your brain's 'workhorse' neurotransmitters. They work
together to control your brain's overall level of excitability,
which controls many body processes.
I believe
krill oil is your best option for getting animal-based omega-3 fats
because of the fact that the omega-3 is attached to phospholipids that
dramatically increase its absorption, especially into brain tissue.
Lifestyle Changes to Help Prevent
Parkinson's
Parkinson's disease is related to
lifestyle factors, including the following:
|
Environmental toxins and pesticides
|
Aspartame consumption |
|
Petroleum-based hydrocarbon
solvents, like paint and glue |
Deficiencies in vitamin D and
vitamin B folate |
|
Excess iron in your body |
Pasteurized milk |
In addition to avoiding these toxic
exposures, I recommend lifestyle adjustments including:
- Exercise regularly, including
high-intensity exercise like Peak Fitness. It's one of the best ways
to protect against the onset of symptoms of Parkinson's disease
- Get plenty of sunshine to optimize
your vitamin D levels
- Avoid pesticide and insecticide
exposure (as well as exposure to other environmental toxins like
solvents)
- Eat more organic vegetables, which
are high in folate, the natural form of folic acid (folate after all
comes from foliage)
- Make sure your body has healthy
levels of iron and manganese (neither too much nor too little of
either)
- Consider supplementing coenzyme
Q10, which may help to fight the disease. But remember, the oxidized
form of coenzyme Q10 called ubiquinone or plain CoQ10 is actually
found in elevated levels in neurodegenerative conditions involving
enhanced oxidative stress, as it is a residual marker of lipid
peroxidation (brain rancidity). This is why ubiquinol, the reduced
form that is capable of donating electrons to quench brain-damaging
free radicals, while at the same time providing a boost to brain
mitochondrial function, is the only logical choice in Parkinson's
disease and related neurodegenerative conditions.
As for getting the full benefits that
curcumin has to offer, look for a turmeric extract that contains 100
percent certified organic ingredients, with at least 95 percent
curcuminoids. The formula should be free of fillers, additives and
excipients (a substance added to the supplement as a processing or
stability aid), and the manufacturer should use safe production
practices at all stages: planting, cultivation, selective harvesting,
and then producing and packaging the final product.
Unfortunately, at the present time there
really are no formulations available for the use against cancer. This is
because relatively high doses are required and curcumin is not absorbed
that well. There is much work being done to provide a bioavailable
formulation in the near future.
In the event you need higher doses (such
as in the case of treating cancer), use the curcumin powder and make a
microemulsion of it by combining a tablespoon of the powder and mixing
it into 1-2 egg yolks and a teaspoon or two of melted coconut oil. Then
use a high-speed hand blender to emulsify the powder (be careful when
doing so as curcumin is a very potent yellow pigment and can permanently
discolor surfaces if you aren't careful).
Another strategy that can help increase
absorption is to put one tablespoon of the curcumin powder into a quart
of boiling water. It must be boiling when you add the powder; it will
not work as well if you put it in room temperature water and heat the
water and curcumin. After boiling it for 10 minutes you will have
created a 12 percent solution that you can drink once it has cooled
down. It will have a woody taste. The curcumin will gradually fall out
of the solution, however. In about six hours it will be a 6 percent
solution, so it's best to drink the water within four hours.
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