We call it turmeric, yellow ginger, 'haldi' or E100, the yellow root of Curcuma longa, a staple ingredient in curry, is turning out to be very healthy. Now Tze-Pin Ng and colleagues at the National University of Singapore have discovered that curry eating seems to boost brainpower in elderly people.
Curcumin, a constituent of turmeric, is an antioxidant, and reports indicate that it inhibits the build-up of amyloid plaques in people with Alzheimer's. Ng's team looked at the curry-eating habits of 1010 Asian people unaffected by Alzheimer's and aged between 60 and 93, and compared their performance in a standard test of cognitive function, the Mini Mental State Examination. Those people who consumed curry "occasionally" (once or more in 6 months but less than once a month) and "often" (more than once a month) had better MMSE results than those who only ate curry "never or rarely"
(American Journal of Epidemiology, DOI: 10.1093/aje/kwj267).
Popular curry spice is a brain booster
(From New Scientist Print Edition, 04 August 2006)
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19125635.500
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