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| Turmeric a healer of the brain as well as the body |
Long considered impossible to accomplish, new research
reveals how a simple spice might contribute to the regeneration of the damaged
brain.
Turmeric is hands down one of the, if not the, most
versatile healing spice in the world with over 600 experimentally confirmed
health benefits, and an ancient history filled with deep reverence for its
seemingly compassionate power to alleviate human suffering.
But, most of the focus over the past decade has been
centered on only one of its many hundreds of phytocompounds: namely, the
primary polyphenol in turmeric known as curcumin which gives the spice its
richly golden hue.
This curcumin-centric
focus has lead to the development of some very good products, such as
phospholipid bound curcumin concentrate (e.g. Meriva, BCM-95) which greatly
helps to increase the absorption and bio-activity of curcumin. But, curcumin
isolates are only capable of conferring a part of turmeric’s therapeutic power
– and therein lies the limitation and hubris of the dominant ‘isolate the
active ingredient’ model.
Indeed, it has become typical within the so-called
nutraceutical industry to emulate the pharmaceutical model, which focuses on
identifying a particular “monochemical” tree within the forest of complexity
represented by each botanical agent, striving to standardize the delivery of
each purported ‘active ingredient’ with each serving, as if it were a
pharmaceutical drug. These extraction and isolation processes also generates
proprietary formulas which are what manufacturers want to differentiate their
product from all others and henceforth capture a larger part of the market
share; a value proposition that serves the manufacturer and not the
consumer/patient.
Truth be told, there is no singular ‘magic bullet’ in foods
and herbs responsible for reproducing the whole plant’s healing power. There are, in fact, in most healing plants or
foods hundreds of compounds orchestrated by the intelligent ‘invisible hand’ of
God or ‘Nature,’ or whatever you wish to call it, and which can never be
reduced to the activity of a singularly quantifiable phytocompound or chemical.
Beyond The Curcumin ‘Magic Bullet’ Meme
Now, an exciting new study published in the journal Stem
Cell Research & Therapy provides additional support for the concept that
curcumin alone is not enough to explain the healing power of turmeric as a
whole plant. The study found that a little known, fat-soluble component within
turmeric – Ar-tumerone – may make “a promising candidate to support
regeneration in neurologic disease.”
Titled, “Aromatic-turmerone induces neural stem cell
proliferation in vitro and in vivo,” German researchers evaluated the effects
of this turmeric-derived compound on neural stem cells (NSCs) – the subgroup of
brain cells capable of continuous self-renewal required for brain repair.
The study found that when brain cells were exposed to
ar-tumerone, neural stem cells increased in number through enhanced
proliferation. Moreover, these newly formed neural stem cells also increased
the number of fully differentiated neuronal cells, indicating a healing effect
was taking place. This effect was also observed in a live animal model, showing
that rats injected with ar-tumerone into their brains experienced increases in
neural stem cell proliferation and the creation of newly formed healthy brain
cells.
This study did not go unnoticed by major medical news
channels. Here are some good reviews if you wish to explore the implications in
greater depth:
Newsweek: Curry Power: Turmeric Compound Boosts Growth of
Brain’s Stem Cells
Guardian Liberty Voice: Turmeric Cure Evidence Grows
Monthly Prescribing Reference: Turmeric May Help Regenerate
Brain Cells
Times of Malta: Turmeric Link to Brain Cell Repair
Medical Daily: Turmeric Helps Your Brain Heal Itself: Spice
Up Your Brain
The research clearly indicates that turmeric is a great
brain supportive plant. For a more layperson oriented review, read the
following articles:
How Turmeric Can Save the Aging Brain From Dementia
Turmeric Produces ‘Remarkable’ Recovery in Alzheimer’s
Patients
The Spice That Prevents Fluoride From Destroying Your Brain
How To Get The Most Out of Your Turmeric
One of the most frequent questions we field is ‘what is the
best type of turmeric or curcumin to use’? Obviously, given the aforementioned
research, the whole plant is going to carry a wider range of therapeutic
compounds than curcumin alone. And yet, most have been heavily enculturated to
focus entirely on the ‘how much’ question, opting to identify the molecular
weight (i.e. how many milligrams in a serving) of a particular compound as more
important than the qualitative dimensions (e.g. is it organic? It is delivered
within its natural context as food or a whole plant?) which reflect the type of
nutrigenomic information the substance contains, and therefore the
‘intelligence’ it embodies. To learn more about the intelligence of food watch
my e-course ‘The Wisdom of Food.’
And really, there is no generic answer to a generic question
about the best way to take turmeric/curcumin. The question always comes from an
individual with a particular need, and so, recommendations must be
bio-individualized.
For instance, if you have colonic inflammation or polyps,
and you are trying to use turmeric to reduce inflammation there or regress
precancerous growths, then using the whole plant is best versus a highly
bioavailable form of curcumin in capsule form (e.g. Meriva), for instance,
which will likely be absorbed by the small intestine and mostly pass through
the liver never getting adequate quantities to the large intestine. So, in this
person’s case taking a teaspoon of relatively difficult to absorb turmeric may
result in painting the diseased surfaces of that person’s intestinal or colonic
lumen with exactly the form needed to reverse disease.
But what if you have someone who wants to experience a
systemic effect, say, for arthritis or for brain cancer? In these instances,
getting turmeric compounds such as curcumin through the glucuronidation barrier
in the liver with a phospholipid-bound or black pepper (piperine) combination
could be ideal. There is certainly a place for the ‘nutraceutical’ model when
properly applied, especially when provided as an adjuvant to the pharmaceutical
model within an integrative medical setting.
Ultimately, the goal is not to wait to have such a serious
health problem that you have to force yourself to take a ‘heroic dose’ of any
herb or food extract. Better is to use small amounts in culinary doses in
combination with ingredients that synergize on a physiochemical/informational
and sensual basis (producing the all important vitamin P [pleasure] as well!).
Recently we actually featured a study that showed culinary doses of rosemary
helped improve memory whereas higher ‘heroic’ doses impaired it!
T
his is why exploring the use of turmeric in curries, or by
adding a pinch in a smoothie, may be an ideal daily supplementation approach,
versus capsules, whose questionably ‘natural’ capsules and excipients all can
add up to cause some stress on the liver you are trying to protect with these
natural interventions. Just remember
quality is everything and less is more!
