Neuroinflammation is the response of the brain to injury, infection or disease when it’s trying to reduce damaging agents or repair damaged tissue.
A ‘neuroprotectant’ is a substance that helps to repair damage to the brain; damage whether by physical trauma, or diseases such as Alzheimer’s. Curcumin, which can cross the blood-brain barrier, has been shown in studies to have a neuroprotective and anti-inflammatory effect by balancing the functions of cytokines.
When these are more balanced, the chances of them causing conditions such as depression and mood disorders are reduced.
2. Turmeric and Stress-induced Depression
-
Curcumin doesn’t only have a positive effect on depression relating to inflammation. Studies have also shown that it also helps fight depression via other pathways.
One study showed that curcumin increases the levels of the ‘happy hormones’ dopamine, serotonin and norepinephrine (noradrenalin). These happy hormones help reduce stress and stress-related mood disorders.
Another study found curcumin increased levels of the protein Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor or BDNF. Low levels of which have been shown to cause depression.
-
3. Turmeric, Beta-amyloid Plaques and Alzheimer’s Disease
-
Our immune system uses a type of white blood cell called a ‘macrophage’ to engulf and digest unwanted substances around the body.
This debris includes bacteria, potentially cancerous cells (to a degree) and old, dead cells. Macrophages are an effective bodily vacuum cleaner!
Chronic brain inflammation causes a build-up of cytokines and a protein called beta-amyloid, which forms beta-amyloid plaques. Macrophages normally clean up these plaques but in patients with Alzheimer’s, this mechanism is broken. These plaques then start to collect around the nerve cells and neurons of the brain.
Curcumin has been shown to reduce the levels of beta-amyloid plaques and increase the function of macrophages in mopping them up. They’re early studies, but very encouraging. It’s little coincidence that Indians, who eat high levels of turmeric daily, have one of the lowest rates of Alzheimer’s in the world.