The Aging Brain and Curcumin

December 8, 2014

The Aging Brain and Curcumin

As we grow older so does our brain. This is a natural phase of life and everyone goes through it at some point. All human beings tend to develop a reduction in cognitive ability as they continue growing up. In fact, research has shown that these changes start occurring as early as when an individual is in their mid-twenties. curcumin

The changes in brain functioning are characterized with conditions such as forgetfulness, loss of focus or ability to maintain it, a decline in capabilities of problem solving among others. You probably have an older relative or friend and you haven’t failed to notice some of these conditions in them. These changes occur as one grows older and are inevitable although some of them are not normal aging factors.

We all want to remain young forever due to the factors associated with old age. If only that was possible. None of us wants a situation where they start forgetting every little thing that happens or is said to them. That is life and it was meant to happen in stages and old stage is just but one phase of life.

With brain aging often comes serious cognitive conditions such as depression, dementia, stroke and Alzheimer’s disease. On the brighter side, relax; I will show you an easy and natural way of keeping that brain healthy even when you are old. Research has come up with a natural solution to ease and prevent brain aging conditions. The secret is curcumin. It has been shown to be a very good remedy for that aging brain.

So what is Curcumin?

It is basically an active substance found in turmeric and also in limited potions in ginger. It is responsible for the yellow color of turmeric. Turmeric is a spice most commonly found in Indian foods. It is also part of the main components of curry powder. Past studies have shown that turmeric can help ease symptoms of pain and inflammation in diseases like rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis. Compounds such as curcumin in turmeric have medicinal functions. For one it helps in stopping the growth of certain types of tumors. Some studies have also shown that it can stabilize cancer that was not helped by other forms of treatments. It is therefore not surprising that this active ingredient can help the brain as it is aging.

It would be argued that curcumin is the perfect daily dietary supplement. However, not everyone would enjoy a daily taste of curry in their food. Routine is sometimes boring and people prefer doing different things every day, like not eating the same thing from the beginning of the year to the end. However the healthy benefits of turmeric would encourage you to enjoy that meal spiced with curry on a daily basis. As this is not possible, it is advisable to take small supplements of turmeric either on its own in food as you cook or in the different curry dishes. The good news is that there are now pills containing a small percentage of curcumin. So if you don’t want to eat carry every day, at least take a pill supplement once in a while.

How Curcumin Helps the Aging Brain

The most common known cause of cognitive decline and age related diseases is oxidative stress and inflammation. Naturally the brain consumes about 20% of the oxygen that is used by the whole body. It is therefore very much susceptible to damage due to oxidation stress. As people grow older there is an increase in the level of oxidation damage of lipids and DNA in the brain which leads to the death of neurons in the brain. Oxidative stress has been linked to conditions such as mental impairment and Alzheimer’s disease. This is why such conditions are common as people grow older.

So how does curcumin come in? Various studies conducted show that the active turmeric ingredient protects brain tissues against oxidation stress by enhancing the production of an enzyme called heme oxygenase-1. This enzyme helps protect the tissues from destruction of the neurons that have been exposed to oxidation stress in the brain. Traumatic injury in the brain is also a cause of oxidation stress leading to cognitive inabilities. Curcumin helps reduce this stress in the brain.

Curcumin

Curcumin has also been proved to work as an anti-depressant. The condition is very common as brain ages and it can be quite stressful and in some cases lead to severe brain conditions such as memory loss, decline in decision making and mental dysfunction. Depression is linked with reduced levels of brain activity as well as shrinking of the brain area responsible for memory and learning. Taking turmeric in your food had been proved to boost brain neurotransmitters. This will lead to a reverse of the changes that occur in the brain when one is depressed.

Regular dosage of curcumin will also help the aging brain by lowering the chances of getting dementia. Dementia leads to a reduction in cognitive ability of an individual. The condition can be so severe that it completely affects the daily functioning of an individual and social life. The most common condition associated with dementia is memory loss. Studies show that loss of memory often begins at the age of 50. However, by the time people hit 80, they have completely fallen into some state of dementia where memory loss is now severe.

When memory loss starts, it may lead to depression as on feels they do not belong. Their life is completely changed and always to the negative. This condition typically affects the elderly but it’s not part of normal aging. It is often in most cases results from the Alzheimer’s disease. Drugs prescribed only improve the symptoms and slow them down but they do not cure dementia. Studies conducted have shown that curcumin works in preventing dementia by protecting aging brains from decline in mental ability.

Often make it a habit to take Curminin in your meals. It’s not only useful for the aged but also necessary as people grow older. Taking it regularly will help your brain as you grow older and you may prevent even those aging symptoms from occurring at all. Take change and remember a small dose of curcumin a day, keeps the brain awake and kicking.

AwareMed is the best place to learn all you need to know about how to manage the aging brain. You will also get more expert opinion about this from Dr. Dalal Akoury who has a wide experience on this and other health matters.

The Aging Brain and Curcumin

Curcumin and triple negative cancer

August 7, 2014

Curcumin Is a Triple Negative Cancer Treatment Compound

curcumin Cancer doctors and researchers have always done a great job in trying to find us the best treatment to this disease. This is not because there are no cancer treatments that work but because some of the most common conventional cancer treatments like chemotherapy radiation therapy and surgery have left some loophole that needs to be filled for cancer treatment to be effective and safe for all cancer patients. Chemotherapy and radiation therapy have been used for a long time in cancer treatment. However they focus on killing of cancerous by poisoning them. When done the chemotherapy drugs not only kill the cancerous cells but also kill the healthy body cells that are vital for optimum body functioning . This leads to many side effects that make cancer treatments a very painful ordeal. Several cancer patients have died after chemotherapy because of the severe side effects that it is associated with.

Today we have very many alternative cancer treatments thanks to the tireless researchers and cancer doctors who have continued to do research on better cancer treatment alternatives. The researchers have availed varied cancer treatments alternatives ranging from dietary manipulations to natural cancer treatments. Use of natural cures of cancer treatments have since gained popularity due to their availability and cost effectiveness. Another reason that has seen cancer patients seeking natural cancer treatment alternatives is because of the facts that they are devoid of the life threatening side effects that most conventional cancer treatment methods are always associated with. Use of fruits and vegetables are popular today and are sought after as some of the most effective cancer treatment methods worldwide. Some of the diets that have been proposed to work best in cancer treatment involve the use of these fruits and vegetables. The Gerson’s therapy is one of the most famous alternative cancer treatments that have been used in cancer treatment. Researchers have also been able to discover compounds that are effective in fighting cancer in some of these fruits and vegetables. Recently researchers found that a compound in the peach fruit helped in fighting cancer. However peaches are not the only fruits that have been promoted as effective alternatives to cancer treatment. Berries among other fruits are part of the long list. One of these naturally occurring compounds that help in fighting cancer is curcumin. Curcumin is an effective component in turmeric.

Curcumin

Curcumin is a compound in Turmeric. Turmeric is a member of the ginger family, turmeric has been highly valued for its many medicinal abilities, among most of its medicinal abilities is that it is very effective in reducing inflammations. Turmeric is a common spice to Indians who value it for its health benefits. Curcumin is the most active component of turmeric. Curcumin is effective in reducing inflammations. It exerts its anti-inflammatory activity by inhibiting the enzymes and prostaglandins that are essential for inflammation. Curcumin has not only been promoted as an anti-inflammation agent but several studies have proved that it helps in cancer treatment.

Not long ago researchers at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas conducted a research that involved dividing 45 patients with rheumatoid arthritis into three groups. One group received curcumin, the second group was given a standard rheumatoid arthritis drug and the third group was given both. After eight weeks, both the group who took curcumin alone and the group that got both the drug and the spice had a greater reduction in symptoms such as joint swelling and pain compared with those who only took the drug devoid of curcumin. It was also noted that those who were on the curcumin did not suffer any side effect as was the case with those who were under the standard drugs. The findings of this research is pointer that curcumin can help in cancer treatment as inflammation is a feature in cancer.

A new research study done by researchers from Zheijian Provincial People’s Hospital in Zheijiang, China shows that a compound in turmeric known as curcumin, which gives the spice its characteristic saffron-like color, has the ability of inducing cell death, also known as apoptosis within triple negative breast cancer cells.

Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) is the most difficult cancer to treat as these cancer cells are very resistant to drugs. These cancer cells do not have the characteristic receptors for estrogen, progesterone and Her2/neu. This makes it very hard to treat a patient with Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) as most treatments especially the conventional cancer treatments target these receptors that are missing in the cells. Without these receptors such treatments do not work. For example Tamoxifen targets estrogen receptors, in absence of estrogen receptors Tamoxifen cannot work in cancer treatment. For this reason, TNBC is considered the most aggressive, the most likely to be treated with less-targeted (and therefore more toxic) forms of chemotherapy, and the soonest to return when treatment fails. For Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) target therapies are not the best options for treatment.

Today it is approximated that between 15-25% of all breast cancer cases are triple negative. This statistics remind us of other treatments that can best work in cancer treatment. Unfortunately those bodies that are known to create awareness on Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) are only focused on raising money for a pharmaceutical cure that is yet to be made. Curcumin can effectively be used in treatment of Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) as it works better here than any other target therapies.

Curcumin Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) can be treated best in integrative cancer centers such as AWAREmed where all the possible cures will be put to use to ensure that the disease is fought and won.

Dr. Dalal Akoury (MD) is an experienced integrative cancer doctor that has helped many cancer patients in their fight against the disease. She has worked hard not only in treating the disease but also in availing informational support to cancer patients at Awaremed which has become a place called home for many cancer patients. Call on her now and get help on cancer.

Curcumin Is a Triple Negative Cancer Treatment Compound

Inflammation Linked To Cancer

July 19, 2014

Research Proves That Inflammation Causes Cancer

There are very many causative agents to cancer but still with the global climate change and pollution to our environment, deforestation that has changed air composition in most parts of the world, even more cancer causative agents are yet to be known. Current research studies have linked inflammation to cancer.

Inflammation is one of the most effective defense mechanisms that our bodies use to protect us against the invasion of disease causing pathogens. Inflammation helps our bodies to eliminate bacteria and other chemicals that may cause disease in our bodies. Scientists say that without inflammation we can barely survive especially during infancy. So inflammations are typically beneficial to us but it also has a negative effect in our bodies. Inflammations can help in the formation as well as in the growth of cancerous cells. It may also help in metastasis.

When our bodies are invaded by foreign bodies, the bodies will react to counter the effects of the foreign body. An example is an open wound will open a path through which bacteria and other disease causing pathogens enter the body. As the bacteria enters through the open wound, the white blood cells respond by coming to the site of injury and initiates a war against the bacteria by the help of toxins that it uses to kill the bacteria. During this fight it can be seen that a swelling is developing around the injury, the area becomes red and painful. This condition should not last for long as it may cause damage to the healthy cells. After this the fighters leave the site leaving space for tissue repair and recovery agents to promote healing. This is how helpful inflammation is.

However incase the inflammation becomes too much, it may cause serious health problems. When inflammation becomes persistent, it may lead to diseases such as the rheumatoid arthritis as well as psoriasis. It may also cause cancer. Chronic inflammation leads to diseases such as pancreatitis and the Crohn’s disease which have been proved to increase one’s risk to cancer. Chronic inflammation has also been found to be the root cause of certain types of cancers stomach cancer and liver cancer.

How does inflammation cause cancer?

A new research study has proved that inflammation may cause cancer. The study done by researchers at the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center — Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC — James) found that inflammation triggers a rise in levels of a molecule called microRNA-155 (miR-155). The rise in levels of microRNA-155 (miR-155) causes a drop in the protein that are used in DNA repair and this results in higher rates of spontaneous gene mutations which finally leads to formation of cancer cells.

“Our study shows that miR-155 is unregulated by inflammatory stimuli and that over expression of miR-155 increases the spontaneous mutation rate, which can contribute to tumorigenesis,” explains Dr. Esmerina Tili a post-doctoral researcher who also authored the research findings.

“People have suspected for some time that inflammation plays an important role in cancer, and our study presents a molecular mechanism that explains how it happens.”

“Our findings also suggest that drugs designed to reduce miR-155 levels might improve the treatment of inflammation-related cancers,” Tili explains.

The researchers have so far proved that inflammation can cause cancer, so what next? How can we limit inflammations? You need not to worry nature has provided most of the powerful anti inflammation vegetables and fruits that will help you to avoid chronic inflammations and reduce your risk to inflammation induced cancers. Some of these are curcumin and Boswellia.

Anti-inflammation properties of Curcumin and Boswellia

Turmeric (Curcumin)

Turmeric is a member of the ginger family, turmeric has been highly valued for its many medicinal abilities, among most of its medicinal abilities is that it is very effective in reducing inflammations. Turmeric is a common spice to Indians who value it for its health benefits. Curcumin is the most active component of turmeric. Curcumin is effective in reducing inflammations. It exerts its anti-inflammatory activity by inhibiting the enzymes and prostaglandins that are essential for inflammation.

Researchers at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas conducted a research that involved dividing 45 patients with rheumatoid arthritis into three groups. One group received curcumin, the second group was given a standard rheumatoid arthritis drug and the third group was given both. After eight weeks, both the group who took curcumin alone and the group that got both the drug and the spice had a greater reduction in symptoms such as joint swelling and pain compared with those who only took the drug devoid of curcumin. It was also noted that those who were on the curcumin did not suffer any side effect as was the case with those who were under the standard drugs.

Boswellia

Boswellia is also known as frankincense. It was highly valued in the ancient times so much that when Jesus was born, the wise men brought him boswellia as a gift. This wonderful product has proved its medicinal value in treating various conditions. It is useful in reducing inflammations as well as repairing degenerated muscle tissues. Researchers have showed that it contains boswellic acids that are useful in reducing inflammations. The boswellic acids are also less toxic and do not cause any harm on the patient.

A research that was done to determine the treatment abilities of boswellia proved that it was effective. The research involved 30 patients that were suffering from osteoarthritis of the knee that were taken through placebo for 8weeks after which they were treated to boswellia for another 8weeks. The research found out that the patients’ conditions improved on the boswellia treatment than when on placebo.

To tame cancer you need reliable information. Dr. Dalal Akoury (MD) has a commitment of making this information available to you so that you can take care of your health better. Visit her website regularly and learn more.

Research Proves That Inflammation Causes Cancer

Curcumin: What is it for?
CARDIOVASCULAR Eden Pond Turmeric Curcumin, 1000mg in Two Daily Capsules, 120 Caps #1 Best Seller in Turmeric Nutritional Supplements
CARDIOVASCULAR Eden Pond Turmeric Curcumin, 1000mg in Two Daily Capsules, 120 Caps #1 Best Seller in Turmeric Nutritional Supplements
CARDIOVASCULAR Eden Pond Turmeric Curcumin, 1000mg in Two Daily Capsules, 120 Caps #1 Best Seller in Turmeric Nutritional Supplements
Boswellia (Boswellia serrata) – Health Benefits, Mechanisms of Action, Effects and Chemical Composition.
CARDIOVASCULAR Eden Pond Turmeric Curcumin, 1000mg in Two Daily Capsules, 120 Caps #1 Best Seller in Turmeric Nutritional Supplements

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