Not to toot my own horn, but sometimes I’m ahead of the curve in natural health news.  It doesn’t happen often, but every once in a while, a report comes out that I’ve written about some time ago.  An example…

A good while back, I talked about a 2003 study that looked into how the chief ingredient found in curry, curcumin, was believed to help block amyloid plaques that build up in the brain, the genesis in Alzheimer’s disease formation.  What spurred this investigation was the abundance of curry eaten by elderly Indians and the low, low Alzheimer’s prevalence rate among them (approximately four times lower than the average 70 to 79-year-old male or female).

But researchers say that the brain-boosting benefits of curcumin may be boosted even further when combined with vitamin D.

Researchers from the University of California Los Angeles – better known as UCLA, of course – discovered this after taking blood samples from several Alzheimer’s patients and combining specific white blood cells to vitamin D compounds and curcumin compounds (also called curcuminoids) in an isolation chamber of sorts.  The white blood cells under scrutiny were monocytes, which play a key role in the immune system, as they move to parts of the body under stress and offer protection.

Previous research has shown that monocytes typically love to absorb curcuminoids, the same compounds found in curcumin, in turn boosting monocytes’ ability to stave off amyloid plaque buildup through improved immune system function.  When combined with vitamin D, however, monocytes’ absorption capability is enhanced even further, creating a more muscular monocyte.

What really makes this study stand out, though, was how all of the patients’ monocytes improved their absorption and function with vitamin D.  Past studies have shown how not everyone’s monocytes are able to absorb curcuminoids (scientists classify Alzheimer’s patients as either type I or type II, type I being those that respond favorably to curcuminoids supplementation and type II being those that don’t respond favorably).  Vitamin D appears to have bridged that gap, though.

The researchers are not as definitive in their own assessments.  For one, the sample size was quite small (13 individuals, three of whom were healthy and one with only minor Alzheimer’s-like symptoms) and secondly, the study itself is in its early stages.  A larger sample size and further studies are in the offing, however.

In the meantime, this is just one more weapon scientists and natural health experts can add to their arsenal in the ongoing battle with Alzheimer’s – a disease that’s rapidly claiming more and more lives the world over (it’s estimated that 13 million people worldwide have the disease, with millions more indirectly affected by it, as the book “The 36-Hour Day” illustrates).

This study is published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease.

Source
nutraingredients.com