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American Journal of Epidemiology Advance Access published online on July 26, 2006
American Journal of Epidemiology, doi:10.1093/aje/kwj267
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American Journal of Epidemiology Copyright © 2006 by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health All rights reserved; printed in U.S.A.
Received July 6, 2005
Accepted April 5, 2006

ORIGINAL CONTRIBUTIONS

Curry Consumption and Cognitive Function in the Elderly

Tze-Pin Ng 1 *, Peak-Chiang Chiam 2, Theresa Lee 2, Hong-Choon Chua 2, Leslie Lim 3, and Ee-Heok Kua 1

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

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
Tze-Pin Ng, E-mail: pcmngtp{at}nus.edu.sg


  Abstract

Curcumin, from the curry spice, tumeric, has been shown to possess potent antioxidant and antiinflammatory properties and to reduce {beta}-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 60-93 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.

Keywords: cognition; Curcuma; curcumin; dementia.
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