The Curry Cure

Articles

..............................................................

This article first appeared in the November 2007 issue of Proteus

The Curry Cure

by Dr. Deborah Gleason

Indian curry is a blend of spices whose main ingredient is turmeric, an herb which contains curcumin which gives curry powder its yellow color. This wonderfully aromatic spice has recently earned top ranking on my list of therapeutic foods.

In my review of the research literature published in this year alone, I found twenty conditions where either animal or human clinical trials demonstrated curcumin's therapeutic effects. These include: wound healing, diabetes, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, cardiovascular disease, pulmonary disease, arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, ulcerative colitis, colon polyps, colon cancer, pancreatic cancer, hypercholesteremia, atherosclerosis, pancreatitis, psoriasis, arthritis, allergy, asthma, and uveitis. (I can't even say all that in one breath.) Other studies are under way, funded by the National Institutes of Health, testing curcumin's effects on cystic fibrosis and scleroderma.

Chemically, curcumin is diferuloylmethane. This substance regulates the expression of inflammatory enzymes, cytokines, adhesion molecules, and cell survival proteins. Preclinical cell culture and animal studies suggest that curcumin has potential as an antiproliferative, anti-invasive, and antiangiogenic agent processes which are involved in cancer growth and spread. An additional substance also found in turmeric, and believed to be part of its disease fighting action, is bisdemethoxycurcumin. This additional substance has been found to increase the efficiency of macrophages in eliminating amyloid material taken from brains of Alzheimer's patients.

Curcumin has also demonstrated antioxidant, antiviral, antibacterial, and antifungal activities. When combined with ferulic acid, an antioxidant found in fruits and vegetables, the body's heat shock response is increased. The heat shock response is responsible for the preservation and repair of correct protein conformation, a necessary component of the "longevity assurance processes" which are integrated with the expression of genes termed "vitagenes." According to Dr. Suresh Rattan, Department of Molecular and Structural Biology, University of Aarhus, Denmark, maintaining and recovering the activity of vitagenes leads to a delay of aging, a decreased occurrence of age-related diseases, and a prolongation of a healthy life span.

Given the heavy use of curries in Asian Indian cuisine, I went in search of epidemiological population studies in an attempt to determine whether Asian Indians who consume a lot of curry dishes show a tendency toward better health. I found four things. One is the problematic confound that Asian Indians have a greater genetic tendency to develop diabetes and coronary heart disease than do people of other ethnic groups worldwide, which is independent of diet. Second is the confound that greater levels of nutritional deficiencies are found among those living in India, particularly vitamin B12 and selenium, which would have negative effects on health and longevity.

My third discovery, however, was a positive trend found in a population-based study of elderly Asians in mental status. Those who reported consuming curry "often" had significantly better scores on the Mini-Mental State Examination than did those who reported consuming curry "rarely." My fourth finding was a report by the College of Health and Human Development Sciences, Chicago, IL published in 1999 stating that Asian Indians living in the Indian subcontinent have low rates of breast cancer. However, when these rates were compared to Asian Indians who migrated to the US, the standard American diet worked its evil, bringing cancer incidence more in line with that of Americans. This seems to indicate that medicinal foods can only go so far in treating and preventing disease. In this land of abundance it is all too easy to override the therapeutic benefits of so-called "functional foods" (i.e. disease fighting) by cramming our bodies full of junk.

Now for the caveat. Not all curries are created equal. Researchers at Hashemite University in Jordan compared 28 brands of turmeric and curry powders. They found, no surprise, that pure turmeric powder had the highest curcumin concentration. The curry powder samples, with one exception, had relatively small amounts of curcumin, and the variability was great. To achieve medicinal effects I therefore recommend supplementation with extracts of turmeric or curcumin. (These can often be found at health food or vitamin stores.)

But if you rely on supplements alone, you are missing out on what I consider to be the finest of the world's cuisines. Among my favorite Indian curry dishes are: kofta curry, chicken tikka masala, rogan josh and vindaloo curry. (Stay away from the vindaloo unless, like me, you go for four-alarm tongue-scorching pyroclastic events in your mouth.) Indian cookery is very labor intensive. If you don't have time to spend in the kitchen, find a favorite Indian restaurant and give these healthy foods a try. Not into going out to restaurants? Prepared dishes such as kofta curry are making their way into the frozen foods section of some supermarkets, so check it out.

Dr. Gleason is a nutritional therapist and psychotherapist in private practice. She can be reached at doctordeb@copper.net or visited online at doctordebnaturalhealth.com.