by Chris Shugart
It'll help you look better naked, keep your brain healthy, improve memory, and boost your mood.
You've heard all about the science-backed benefits of curcumin (Buy at Amazon). If not, here's a short list:
- Controls excess estrogen, boosts testosterone
- Controls cortisol levels
- Improves sexual health (better erections)
- Reduces body fat
- Fights off catabolism (muscle loss) when dieting or not training
- Reduces soreness and acts as a mild pain reliever
- Reduces inflammation
- Reduces plaque levels in arteries
- Reduces risk of diabetes
This list just keeps getting longer. Well, let's add one more thing:
- Improves memory, attention, and mood
The Study
Researchers gathered 40 people between 51 and 84 for this double-blind, placebo-controlled study. These folks had mild issues with memory, but none were suffering from dementia.
Half were given a placebo and half were given 90 milligrams of curcumin twice daily for 18 months. The researchers did their due diligence and conducted a lot of cognitive assessments, blood tests, and PET scans.
What They Found
The subjects who took curcumin experienced significant improvements in memory and attention. Those who received the placebo got nothing. The curcumin users improved by 28 percent on the memory tests and even showed mild improvements in mood.
Those subjects also showed significantly less amyloid and tau signals in their brains. That's a good thing. Beta-amyloid and tau proteins are toxic. People with Alzheimer's have faulty blood-brain barriers that prevent the clearing of these tangled proteins, resulting in brain inflammation. That's not good. Curcumin seems to help with this.
How to Use This Info
The scientists concluded that taking curcumin daily "could provide meaningful cognitive benefits" for everyone. It could prevent a memory decline and maybe help reduce your risk of getting Alzheimer's.
The study used a form of curcumin with improved bioavailability (27% better absorption than plain curcumin). That's good, but that was the previous generation of curcumin-delivery technology. The new generation – micellar curcumin using solid lipid particles – has 95 times greater absorbability.
It would be great to see studies like this conducted again using the new tech: Micellar Curcumin (Buy at Amazon). It's more effective, you only need one daily capsule, and it doesn't stain your fingers orange, which is nice.
If you really want to keep your mind sharp as you age, consider stacking curcumin with a punicalagin supplement (pomegranate whole fruit extract), also shown to improve learning, memory, and cognitive function.
Reference
- Small GW et al. "Memory and Brain Amyloid and Tau Effects of a Bioavailable Form of Curcumin in Non-Demented Adults: A Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled 18-Month Trial." Am J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2018 Mar;26(3):266-277. PubMed: 29246725.