There's research showing a number of cases of Alzheimer's patients have experienced improvement in their symptoms when taking turmeric regularly. And there's research showing that curcumin supplements, the "active ingredient" in turmeric, do not show much improvement. So, why would that be?
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It looks like the most plausible reason there's a difference is that when we take turmeric, we're getting a dose of curcumin as well as hundreds of other compounds with it. And isn't it interesting that the investigators concluded that this was the first demonstration of turmeric as an effective and safe drug for the treatment of Alzheimer's. Of course, it isn't a drug at all. It's just a spice you can get at the grocery store. That's so cool.
This is one of the reasons we like eating Whole Food Plant Based (WFPB). When our meals are made of whole foods and not processed, we're getting all the nutrient value in the food. But when people include processed food in their meals, they only get some of the nutrient value, creating gaps in their nutritional needs.
This can often lead to supplementation to fill in the gaps, but that can be complicated to figure out, as well as expensive. For example, the 1/4 teaspoon of turmeric the patients in the study were taking would cost about 5¢. But a curcumin supplement costs many times that. And why concoct an artificial mixture when Mother Nature already packaged it all in turmeric?
It looks like the benefit of turmeric, the whole food, may be greater than the sum of its parts. Once again, getting the nutrients we need to stay healthy by eating our food in its whole form may be the easiest as well as the least expensive way to go.
When Hippocrates said, "Let food be your medicine, and medicine be your food," he was referring to food in its whole form. And that seems to be what's at play with the Alzheimer's patients in the study.
So, if you want to increase your daily intake of turmeric, there are many ways people add it to their food. The classic is to follow Indian and Middle Eastern recipes. And you can add it to most soups, stews and bean dishes as well as sprinkle it on roasted vegetables.
Another way people increase their daily amount is by mixing it into a smoothie. It goes with just about any combination of fruit or green smoothie.
I add it to the plant milks I make here at home. And the stout of heart down it in Turmeric Shots, a concentrated 2-4 ounce drink made of turmeric powder or fresh turmeric root, ginger, lemon juice, and black pepper. These are sold commercially and are easy to make at home.
Keep in mind, the curcumin in the turmeric is absorbed rather poorly on its own, so many people combine turmeric with black pepper because pepper contains piperine, which can dramatically increase curcumin absorption. And some research suggests absorption improves when turmeric is consumed with fats such as nuts, seeds, avocado, or soy products.
So, once again, research is showing us that getting the nutrients we need is best and easiest simply by eating WFPB. And isn't it wonderful to know that something as easily available as turmeric can help with cognitive function even as we age?
The recipe this week is Seed Crackers. I've been on a cracker craze lately, trying all kinds of new ways to make crackers here at home, and this one is the best so far. It's light and crunchy, quick and easy to make, and goes well with dips, hummus, guacamole, soups and stews. Give it a try.
To your Amazing Health,
Bill and Connie
Seed Crackers (makes about 36 crackers)
- ½ cup ground flax
- ½ cup sesame seeds
- ½ cup sunflower seeds
- ¼ cup pumpkin seeds
- 1 tablespoon dill
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1-2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
- 1 cup water
Preheat oven to 275º convection (air bake) or 300º conventional.
Add all ingredients to a bowl, mix and let sit 15 minutes to allow the ground flax to gel up.
Spread very thin over a 12” x 12” area and air bake at 275°F for 30 minutes, flip and air bake another 15 minutes. If you don’t have a convection oven or air bake air frier, bake at 300º.
If you want to score the crackers so they have a uniform shape, remove from oven after 10 minutes and score, then return to oven for another 20 minutes, flip and air bake another 15 minutes.