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The Curry Cure

 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.