A Potential Role of the Curry Spice Curcumin in Alzheimer’s Disease

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Curr Alzheimer Res. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2006 December 15.

Published in final edited form as:

Curr Alzheimer Res. 2005 April; 2(2): 131–136.

PMCID: PMC1702408

NIHMSID: NIHMS3585

A Potential Role of the Curry Spice Curcumin in Alzheimer’s Disease

John M. Ringman,^1,^* Sally A. Frautschy,² Gregory M. Cole,² Donna L. Masterman,³ and Jeffrey L. Cummings^1,⁴

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The publisher's final edited version of this article is available at Curr Alzheimer Res

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Abstract

There is substantial in-vitro data indicating that curcumin has antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anti-amyloid activity. In addition, studies in animal models of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) indicate a direct effect of curcumin in decreasing the amyloid pathology of AD. As the widespread use of curcumin as a food additive and relatively small short-term studies in humans suggest safety, curcumin is a promising agent in the treatment and/or prevention of AD. Nonetheless, important information regarding curcumin bioavailability, safety and tolerability, particularly in an elderly population is lacking. We are therefore performing a study of curcumin in patients with AD to gather this information in addition to data on the effect of curcumin on biomarkers of AD pathology.

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