Eating spicy Indian food may help boost the brain’s ability to heal itself, based on new information published in Friday’s edition of the journal Stem Cell Research and Therapy.
According to Damian Gayle from the Daily Mail, aromatic turmerone, a substance found in the popular curry spice turmeric, could encourage the development of nerve cells believed to help repair the brains of those struggling with neurodegenerative conditions such as dementia or Alzheimer’s disease.
In lab tests involving rats, researchers in the Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-3) in Germany, the University Hospital of Cologne Department of Neurology and also the Max Planck Institute for Neurological Research discovered that aromatic turmerone promoted the proliferation of brain stem cells as well as their development into neurons.
The study authors believe it may help scientists develop new ways to treat conditions that kill brain cells, including strokes and Alzheimer’s. However, they told BBC News health reporter Smitha Mundasad that additional trials are required to see if the affect does apply to humans.
The researchers injected the rodents with the compound, and then scanned their marbles, Mundasad explained. They discovered that activity increased within the parts of the brain known to be involved in nerve cell growth following infusion using the bioactive compound. Specifically, they discovered that the subventricular zone (SVZ) was wider and also the hippocampus had expanded within the brains of rats injected with aromatic turmerone.
In another area of the trial, they bathed rodent neural stem cells (NSCs) in various concentrations of aromatic tumerone extract. NSCs are stem cells found within adult brains that differentiate into neurons, and play a vital role within the self-repair and recovery of brain function in neurodegenerative diseases, the authors explained.
Rat fetal NSCs were cultured and grown in six different concentrations of aromatic tumerone during a 72-hour period, and also at some concentrations, the compound was proven to increase stem cell proliferation up to 80 % without having any effect on cell death. Furthermore, the cell differentiation process also became accelerated in cells treated with the aromatic tumerone compound when compared to untreated controls.
In a statement, lead author and INM-3 researcher Dr. Maria Adele Rueger said, “While several substances have been described to promote stem cell proliferation in the brain, fewer drugs additionally promote the differentiation of stem cells into neurons, which is really a major goal in regenerative medicine. Our findings on aromatic turmerone take us a measure closer to accomplishing this goal.”
Dr. Laura Phipps of Alzheimer’s Research UK told the BBC that it’s “not clear if the outcomes of these studies would mean people, or whether the ability to generate new brain cells in this manner would benefit individuals with Alzheimer’s disease.” Until additional research reveals the compound’s effect on neurodegenerative diseases, she that that individuals should not go ahead and take new study as “a sign to stock up on supplies of turmeric for the spice rack.”
