The 14-Day Rapid Fat Loss Eating Blueprint PDF eBook Free Download The Ultimate Fitness Formula eBook PDF | Page 87

CHAPTER 6
Curcumin and Memory:
Alzheimer’s and Dementia
B
rain health is at the core of who we are as humans.
If you have a healthy brain, you have an inquiring mind, you
are engaged in the world around you, and you communicate clear-
ly with others and form nurturing relationships.
Brain chemistry malfunctions take place when, for unknown
reasons, brain cells begin to die, resulting in impaired memory, also
known as dementia. It is a disease in itself and is not a normal con-
sequence of aging.
Alzheimer’s disease is probably the best-known form of demen-
tia, accounting for 50 to 70% of all cases of dementia, so the terms
Alzheimer’s and dementia are often used interchangeably. Many
people with Alzheimer’s show signs of dementia caused by strokes
or mini-strokes called transient ischemic accidents (TIAs) as well.
Dementia can also be caused by chemical exposures, other neu-
rological diseases like Parkinson’s and Creutzfeldt-Jakob (mad cow
disease), long-term depression, multiple strokes, AIDS, chronic
drug use, infections and toxic side effects of medications. It can
also be caused by head injuries, as we’ve learned through recent
media coverage of compromised brain function in professional
football players and boxers who are exposed to relentless blows to
the head. For the most part these, like Alzheimer’s, are incurable
and irreversible. Conventional medicine has little to offer in terms
of treatment.
26