American Journal of Epidemiology Advance Access originally published online on July 26, 2006
American Journal of Epidemiology 2006 164(9):898-906; doi:10.1093/aje/kwj267
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Original Contribution |
Curry Consumption and Cognitive Function in the Elderly
1 Department of Psychological Medicine, National University of Singapore, Republic of Singapore
2 Institute of Mental Health, Ministry of Health, Republic of Singapore
3 Department of Behavioural Medicine, Singapore General Hospital, Republic of Singapore
Reprint requests to Tze-Pin Ng, Department of Psychological Medicine, National University of Singapore, 5 Lower Kent Ridge Road, Republic of Singapore 119074 (e-mail: pcmngtp{at}nus.edu.sg).
Curcumin, from the curry spice turmeric, has been shown to possess potent antioxidant and antiinflammatory properties and to reduce ß-amyloid and plaque burden in experimental studies, but epidemiologic evidence is lacking. The authors investigated the association between usual curry consumption level and cognitive function in elderly Asians. In a population-based cohort (n = 1,010) of nondemented elderly Asian subjects aged 6093 years in 2003, the authors compared Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) scores for three categories of regular curry consumption, taking into account known sociodemographic, health, and behavioral correlates of MMSE performance. Those who consumed curry "occasionally" and "often or very often" had significantly better MMSE scores than did subjects who "never or rarely" consumed curry. The authors reported tentative evidence of better cognitive performance from curry consumption in nondemented elderly Asians, which should be confirmed in future studies.
cognition; Curcuma; curcumin; dementia
Abbreviations: ADL, activities of daily living; CI, confidence interval; MMSE, Mini-Mental State Examination; NSAID, nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drug