
Curry spice turmeric boosts memory by nearly 30%, eases depression, study finds - bcaulfield
https://ac.els-cdn.com/S1064748117305110/1-s2.0-S1064748117305110-main.pdf?_tid=55b0e2e0-013c-11e8-b35b-00000aab0f01&acdnat=1516822117_7ded3d2cd7f5c27fedf6a8992e549857
======
YeGoblynQueenne
From the Wikipedia page on Curcumin (section Research):

    
    
      In vitro, curcumin exhibits numerous interference properties which may lead to 
      misinterpretation of results.[3][6][20] Although curcumin has been assessed in 
      numerous laboratory and clinical studies, it has no medical uses established by 
      well-designed clinical research.[21] According to a 2017 review of over 120 
      studies, curcumin has not been successful in any clinical trial, leading the 
      authors to conclude that "curcumin is an unstable, reactive, non-bioavailable   
      compound and, therefore, a highly improbable lead".[3]
    

The study claims to have studied a bioavailable forom of curcumin, Theracumin®
but it uses a very restricted interpretation of "bioavailability":

    
    
      The use of adjuvants that block curcumin metabolism, or nanoparticles, liposomes, 
      phospholipid complexes, and other strategies have improved its bioavailability somewhat, 
      but only as defined as increased curcumin blood levels8,64–66 with minimum effects on   
      curcumin availability to the brain.
    

The study also notes its sample was small:

    
    
      The relatively small sample size in this study warrants caution in interpreting 
      our results and limits their generalizability. 
    

It just doesn't sound like their results are going to stand the test of time.

~~~
dumbneurologist
None of your criticisms from wikipedia pertain to this publication. The
paragraph is essentially making the argument that a randomized, double blind
(DB), placebo controlled (PC) clinical trial (RCT) is unlikely to show that
curcurmin is effective. yet, the published article is exactly that, and shows
a statistically measurable impact on a clinically meaningful endpoint: a
direct refutation of the paragraph.

the fact the "interference properties" and being an "unstable, reactive, non-
bioavailable compound" is subsumed by the study design.

    
    
      claims to have studied a bioavailable form of curcumin
    

This is not really relevant to the claim or conclusions. could it be that the
bioavailability matters? maybe. could it be that curcurmin is a trick molecule
to study? yes. but come what may, this is direct evidence (not proof) of a
cause-effect relationship between this treatment and the outcome.

the only thing this effects is the chance that other forms of curcurmin will
be comparable (and it might have consequences for regulatory status by the
FDA).

    
    
      The study also notes its sample was small
    

This is a very weak criticism when the study is _positive_ (i.e. shows an
effect). when the sample size (and statistical power) of the study is small,
you need a BIG EFFECT SIZE to be positive. The fact that the trial was
positive actually means that it's more likely to be clinically important,
because a big effect size means it protects memory in a dramatic way. This is
like penicillin: in the pre-antibiotic era, how many cases of pneumonia do you
need to treat in order to be satisfied that penicillin is effective? Not
bloody many, because the effect size is so dramatic. Likewise for parachutes.
few are the therapies that fall into this category, but when you have an
inkling that one does following a DB, PC, RCT, you better pay attention.

So does it need to be replicated? definitely. does the sponsorship matter?
definitely; they could have cheated in some way. until then does it make sense
to prescribe this to seniors, or encourage them to increase curcurmin in their
diet? quite possibly, given the presumably low rate of adverse effects.

Bottom line: this study is not the end-all be-all of curcurmin and memory, but
there is legitimate early evidence that the emperor has clothes.

edits: mainly spelling, formatting

~~~
closed
When a small sample size produces a big effect, it does not mean you can be
more confident in the effect!

All things equal, you'd expect confidence intervals / credible regions to be
very large.

Another way to say this, is that since the measurement error is large, you
expect spurious findings that result from something like p-hacking to be large
(they have to be to be significant).

~~~
vanderZwan
What annoys me as a someone not trained in statistics is that these
discussions are always abstract in-principle arguments about what proper
statistics should be like.

Meanwhile, we have a _real paper_ with _real p-values_ , why not discuss the
validity of that?

> _SRT Consistent Long-Term Retrieval improved with curcumin (ES = 0.63, p =
> 0.002) but not with placebo (ES = 0.06, p = 0.8; between-group: ES = 0.68, p
> = 0.05). Curcumin also improved SRT Total (ES = 0.53, p = 0.002), visual
> memory (BVMT-R Recall: ES = 0.50, p = 0.01; BVMT-R Delay: ES = 0.51, p =
> 0.006), and attention (ES = 0.96, p < 0.0001) compared with placebo (ES =
> 0.28, p = 0.1; between-group: ES = 0.67, p = 0.04). FDDNP binding decreased
> significantly in the amygdala with curcumin (ES = −0.41, p = 0.04) compared
> with placebo (ES = 0.08, p = 0.6; between-group: ES = 0.48, p = 0.07). In
> the hypothalamus, FDDNP binding did not change with curcumin (ES = −0.30, p
> = 0.2), but increased with placebo (ES = 0.26, p = 0.05; between-group: ES =
> 0.55, p = 0.02)._

I can see that there are a lot of p-values around 0.05, but that the supposed
improvements have much lower p-values:

    
    
        (ES = 0.63, p = 0.002)  SRT Consistent Long-Term Retrieval
        (ES = 0.53, p = 0.002)  SRT Total 
        (ES = 0.50, p = 0.01)   BVMT-R Recall 
        (ES = 0.51, p = 0.006)  BVMT-R Delay 
        (ES = 0.96, p < 0.0001) attention 
    

What does this imply? Is it a good sign, or does it actually make it more
fishy? pythonslange's comment[0] seems to suggest the latter, claiming that
none of the other pre-registered tests are mentioned, without any explanation
why.

(eyeing that "attention" one, if this _does_ hold up under scrutiny, could I
expect tumeric-based ADD medication somewhere in the future, without all the
nasty side-effects of my current amphetamine-based options?)

[0]
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16229693](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16229693)

~~~
closed
I agree with the other commenter, and Gelman's blog is a good place to start.
There are very clear, concrete statistical arguments, but they are difficult
to summarize in the comments section of HN.

The gist is like this. Imagine that someone had people play 20 different slot
machines. Then they went into a private room and looked at the results for
each machine. After, they come out with the results of 5 of the machines and
say, "look, our slot machines pay out at a higher than chance level!".

Do you believe them? I hope not. If only 4 machines had done well, maybe they
would have shown only 4, or 3, etc.. They've effectively stacked the deck.

On the other hand, suppose someone said they were running an honest experiment
with 20 slot machines. How many machines would you expect them to report on?

~~~
vanderZwan
I can follow your analogy, but it doesn't quite add up.

The researchers took a group of people and submitted each of them to an _"
extensive neuropsychologist test battery"_.

That's not just testing 20 different slot machines, that's testing 20
different _designs_ of slot machines.

(Also, each person does each test on their own, which is the equivalent of
having them not only play twenty different models, but a unique production per
person unit per model)

In that light, the claim that _all_ slot machines have a high pay-out chance
is obviously suspicious, but would coming back and saying "these five
_designs_ have a higher than chance level of winning!" be an incorrect
conclusion?

If each slot machine types is unique, no. But if one slot machine design is
known to have a flaw, and if it shares this flaw with another design, and if
that other design does not show the same increased performance, then things
get really suspicious.

So the question becomes: do we know how strongly correlated the results of
these tests typically are? If that is a lot (which I would expect to be true
with at least some of these tests), the absence of the other tests is
suspicious. If it is low, it might be less of an issue.

~~~
closed
You hit on a lot of important points. The key here is that they are making a
claim about memory, a psychological construct, that is being represented by
some of their measures (batteries). But their batteries also purport to
measure other psychological constructs, too.

To connect this with the slot machine analogy, it might be like if groups of
slot machines had different colors, and they chose the color that yielded the
best results.

> but would coming back and saying "these five designs have a higher than
> chance level of winning!" be an incorrect conclusion?

It would be if you didn't take into account that you analyzed 20 machines in
your analysis .

------
mrguyorama
>Because curcumin's anti-inflammatory properties may protect the brain from
neurodegeneration

My very first question was: Please provide a possible physiological pathway
for this. I'm so glad it was answered in the very first sentence. So many of
these "Superfood does X" studies are just trials with 10 people over a month,
with no explanation as to __how__ it could possibly happen. It significantly
increases the skepticism I have whenever something like this comes up

I also did not know Turmeric had anti-inflammatory properties. I guess I have
reading to do.

Also interesting that they used (what seems to be) a name brand supplement
instead of Turmeric

~~~
dumbneurologist
I am a neurologist. this is actually the exact opposite of what you _should_
care about, which is "does it work to treat ___"

In this trial, and 99% of other trials, there is no mechanism provided by the
study, only a measurement of causality (which is the same thing as
effectiveness).

The authors may think they know based on other, prior, basic science research
(as they are postulating here), but it does not affect the conclusions of the
trial ( whether they do or don't (or even if they are wrong).

Obviously it's intellectually satisfying to understand WHY, but it's not as
important as "is it true?"

~~~
zaptheimpaler
Obviously you don't understand HN.. everyone here is a "very smart software
engineer" and knows far better than a simpleton like you with your decades of
medical training and experience.

~~~
jeffdavis
The neurologist wants what's best for his patients today, which is to know
whether a treatment is likely to work or not.

Others may value the mechanism more for very legitimate reasons. For instance,
if you underatand the mechanism it leads to further research that could
utilize a related mechanism or perhaps see potential side effects that would
otherwise be hard to identify.

You really need both. "Is it true?" is a great starting place and oofers some
treatments, but discovering the mechanism gives potentially a whole new class
of treatments.

~~~
dumbneurologist
completely true.

the problem is that efficacy studies (like I want) are not that exciting to
report. as a result, the lay press reports only mechanism studies (because
their readers like to be "wowed" and think about things, like the poster I
originally replied to).

that wouldn't matter at all, but we all get sick. and when a person gets sick
with this mentality that they need to understand the mechanism, then they
start overthinking the treatments that are available today, drawing all kinds
of spurious conclusions, and making medical decisions that are unjustified at
best and harmful at worst. and in my experience, the smarter the patient is,
the more willing (and insistent) they are to take this approach (witness Steve
Jobs). This is absolutely not the patient being "dumb" or stubborn: it's
completely understandable given how they understand science. But it hurts
them, which no physician likes to see.

let's note how incredible it is that we are having this conversation in the
setting of some incredibly expert scientists (albeit in other fields). it
really shows how hard science can be to understand sometimes.

------
hannob
Small study, probably not preregistered (didn't find anything about it in the
description). Likely Publication Bias or p-hacking. I'm starting to get
interested when it's been independently replicated.

~~~
sov
> Small study

Almost entirely irrelevant, provided it's properly powered--and based on the
effect size and p-values, it is. Furthermore, for an 18 month trial, 40 people
is larger than most.

> probably not preregistered

I mean, true, and we should definitely promote pre-reg, but, 1. so few are
preregistered that I'm not sure it's prudent to disregard a study based on
this and 2. it's an academic study, neither a clinical trial nor a public-
health decree--not a typical study type that necessitates pre-registration.

> Likely Publication Bias or p-hacking.

What? You're arrived at this conclusion based on... the fact that it's "small"
and you couldn't find preregistration about it?

> I'm starting to get interested when it's been independently replicated.

Yeah, if only there were another trial that showed a positive cognitive effect
of bioavailable curcumin...
[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25277322](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25277322)

I mean, the title of this post is by far the most wrong thing about this
article, as...

1\. it's not turmeric, it's curcumin, which is about 2% of turmeric by mass
(so, you'd need to eat ~4.5g turmeric daily to match study doses).

2\. curcumin doesn't even have any reasonable bioavilability by itself, so
they're using a bioavailable analogue.

~~~
andrewjl
What prevents researchers from running studies like these on the order of
thousands of individuals, as opposed to 40 or 100?

~~~
sov
A lot of things that basically boil down to budget, optimization and space
available. If you have a drug that you believe you can show a strong effect
with the effect group at ~15 people, maybe you run the trial with 40 (15 e.g.,
15 control, plus wiggle room for drop-outs over the 18-month course and extra
certainty).

Check the last few paragraphs--"The authors thank Shayna Greenberg, Dev
Darshan Khalsa, and Anya Rosensteel for help in recruitment, data management,
and study coordination; John Williams, University of California, Los Angeles,
Nuclear Medicine Clinic, for performing the PET scans; and Vladimir Kepe,
Cleveland Clinic, for developing the FDDNP-PET analysis procedures for
proteinopathies in patients with neurodegenerative diseases." Add all that to
the effort involved in the actual chemical extraction of the bioavailable
curcumin analogue and it just doesn't make sense to add any more people than
you need.

~~~
andrewjl
For the recruitment, data management, and study coordination piece, sounds
like a great area to optimize with software. I'm sure big pharma will also
happily shell out for something to help them manage their own clinical trials.
Academia PIs can then get the same stuff at a lower rate.

Edit: Heck, you can even lease top grade medical space in all major metro
areas and offer it as part of the package in a WeWork style arrangement. I'm
sure they are tons of nuances to rolling something like this out, but it
sounds like it can cut costs substantially.

------
Karupan
Personal anecdote: was born and brought up in south India and my grandma used
to make me drink turmeric + ground black pepper milk every night. It was a
standard practice to serve it with black pepper, even though I’m sure they
didn’t really know about bioavailability. Kids were forced to drink it when
they have the flu.

Used to hate it as a kid, but of late I’ve been looking to replace one
coffee/tea with turmeric milk.

~~~
Florin_Andrei
Just curious: what's the amount of each ingredient that goes in one drink?

~~~
Karupan
200ml of hot (not boiling) milk

1 tsp of ground turmeric powder

A pinch or two ground black pepper

If you’re not used to turmeric, I’d suggest starting with half tsp as it’s got
quite a strong flavour (especially when not cooked with other spices)

~~~
gopalv
> 200ml of hot (not boiling) milk

If you're lactose intolerant, you can do this with yoghurt with a little water
& salt instead.

Since this usually happens when I do have a cold, my laziness translates into
a coffee cup of yoghurt + water + 1 minute in a microwave to zap all the
bacteria out of it.

~~~
contingencies
There is a school of thought that the worst thing to consume in case of a cold
is dairy.

~~~
nathan_f77
I think that's an old wives' tale. There's probably a better article
somewhere, but I found this one:
[http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20170421-should-you-avoid-
ic...](http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20170421-should-you-avoid-ice-cream-
when-you-have-a-cold)

~~~
carlmr
Turmeric is an Indian old wives' tale apparently.

------
sandGorgon
Fun fact - tumeric was the trigger for India creating a patent fighting engine
around Indian traditional medicine (Ayurveda and unaani) including a gene bank
and international legal force around biopiracy.

We now have something called Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL) -
[http://www.tkdl.res.in/tkdl/langdefault/common/Home.asp?GL=E...](http://www.tkdl.res.in/tkdl/langdefault/common/Home.asp?GL=Eng)

[http://www.mondaq.com/india/x/586384/Patent/Traditional+Know...](http://www.mondaq.com/india/x/586384/Patent/Traditional+Knowledge+And+Patent+Issues+An+Overview+Of+Turmeric+Basmati+Neem+Cases)

------
glangdale
For those commenting on bioavailability, black pepper supposedly makes it more
bioavailable:

[https://examine.com/supplements/curcumin/](https://examine.com/supplements/curcumin/)

It's an interesting result, but they do note that the subpopulation is
somewhat self-selected: "Only approximately 15% of the screened volunteers
were included in the study, and our recruitment method yielded a sample of
motivated, educated, physically healthy subjects concerned about age-related
memory problems. The sample, therefore, was not representative of the general
population. "

~~~
nwah1
Black pepper increases bioavailability of _everything_ by inhibiting your
cytochrome p450 enzymes, which increases your vulnerability to toxins.

~~~
IAmGraydon
There’s a difference between bioavailability and half life. Metabolic enzyme
inhibition increases half life due to decreased hepatic metabolism of certain
drugs. Bioavailability is how much of a drug your body absorbs from the
initial dose.

Also, black pepper inhibits CYP3A4, not 450.

~~~
nwah1
Interestingly, it seems that curcuminoids themselves also inhibit p450, with
less specificity.

[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2574793/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2574793/)

And p450 exists in the brain, which may relate to the OP suggestion that
turmeric boosts memory, but doesn't give me confidence that it boosts it in a
way that is absent of tradeoffs.

[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3223320/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3223320/)

------
sturmen
Note: this was a relatively small sample (40 total, split in half for
placebo/not), who were elderly people who already have "mild" memory problems,
and given a concentrated turmeric derivative rather than just sprinkling it
over food.

In summary: very cool, and I'd offer these curcumin supplements to anyone 50+
but sprinkling turmeric on your breakfast cereal ain't going to do much for
high schoolers.

~~~
mkempe
Actually the age range was 51-84, so middle plus old age, not all "elderly".
Normal people flourish and are in their prime around 50.

Volunteers had "objective cognitive performance scores and clinical histories
consistent with _normal aging_ or MCI (i.e., mild neurocognitive disorder) and
inconsistent with dementia (i.e., major neurocognitive disorder)." [emphasis
added]

~~~
quacker
> Normal people flourish and are in their prime around 50

How do you mean? I don't think most people in their 50s would describe
themselves as being "in their prime".

For example, ELO ratings of Chess players tend to decline in their 30s[1]. For
NBA players, their "prime" is typically the late 20s, with performance
declining in their 30s.

1\. [https://www.chess.com/blog/LionChessLtd/age-vs-elo---your-
ba...](https://www.chess.com/blog/LionChessLtd/age-vs-elo---your-battle-
against-time)

~~~
mkempe
Note that I wrote _around_ 50, not _after_ 50\. Middle age is usually defined
as the 40 to 60 range (or more recently held to be slightly later, 45-65).
That is the period when people flourish. That is certainly not when people are
"elderly." Interestingly the Ancient Greeks used to report the time when one
_flourished_ rather than their date of birth.

Neither extreme athletic performance nor ELO rating are measures of normal
flourishing (I'm surprised one would bring up such abnormal elements; the
lives of NBA players and elite chess players deviate very far from that of a
normal human). I wonder how the kind of argument you offer, and that of the
sibling "olympus" comment, feeds into reported ageism in SV and related tech
companies.

~~~
quacker
Are you equating "flourishing" with "being in your prime"? Because I don't
consider those to be the same.

Being in your prime is about peak potential. And sure, the age at which you
have peak potential varies by activity. My early 20s is when I have the
_opportunity_ to be the best sprinter I'll ever be. That's my prime. But say I
first take up sprinting in my late 30s, and put in my best sprint time at the
age of 40. I might be "flourishing" at that point, but in no way does it mean
I'm in my prime at age 40. The 20 year old version of myself, with the similar
conditions and preparation, is simply physically capable of sprinting faster.

Certainly, there are activities where your peak potential is greatest in
middle age. I'm not disputing that (however, I'm highly skeptical that memory
and physical ability are in their prime past age 40).

> I'm surprised one would bring up such abnormal elements; the lives of NBA
> players and elite chess players deviate very far from that of a normal human

I mean, where can I get performance statistics for "normal people"? If we're
talking about maximizing potential, why not look at the ones putting in the
most effort toward that goal?

Also, the linked ELO ratings were for 179,221 "registered FIDE players". They
weren't just the top-100 or even top-1000 players. Yes, this is biased toward
people who play chess - but where else can you get the data?

I'm curious what you think a "normal human" is? Do you think any of those
179,221 chess players are "abnormal"?

~~~
mkempe
To be in one's prime means to be productive, rational, social, and in good
health. Not _past one 's prime_, not "elderly" \-- which is the particular
term I was responding to.

I don't understand your (and others') focus on peak extreme-athletic
performance, or peak chess-playing ranking. Why is it problematic to assert
that people in their middle age are normally healthy, fully functional,
flourishing human beings?

------
mikeleung
There are side effects to be aware of taking curcumin together with other
medications:

"Medications for diabetes (Antidiabetes drugs) Interaction Rating: Moderate Be
cautious with this combination. Talk with your health provider. Turmeric might
decrease blood sugar in people with type 2 diabetes. Diabetes medications are
also used to lower blood sugar. Taking turmeric along with diabetes
medications might cause your blood sugar to go too low. Monitor your blood
sugar closely. The dose of your diabetes medication might need to be changed.

Some medications used for diabetes include glimepiride (Amaryl), glyburide
(DiaBeta, Glynase PresTab, Micronase), insulin, pioglitazone (Actos),
rosiglitazone (Avandia), chlorpropamide (Diabinese), glipizide (Glucotrol),
tolbutamide (Orinase), and others."

Turmeric might slow blood clotting. Taking turmeric along with medications
that also slow clotting might increase the chances of bruising and bleeding.

Medications changed by the liver (Cytochrome P450 3A4 (CYP3A4) substrates)
Interaction Rating: Moderate Be cautious with this combination. Talk with your
health provider. Some medications are changed and broken down by the liver.
Turmeric might decrease how quickly the liver breaks down some medications.
Taking turmeric along with some medications that are broken down by the liver
can increase the effects and side effects of some medications. Before taking
turmeric talk to your healthcare provider if you take any medications that are
changed by the liver.

Some medications that are changed by the liver include some calcium channel
blockers (diltiazem, nicardipine, verapamil), chemotherapeutic agents
(etoposide, paclitaxel, vinblastine, vincristine, vindesine), antifungals
(ketoconazole, itraconazole), glucocorticoids, alfentanil (Alfenta), cisapride
(Propulsid), fentanyl (Sublimaze), lidocaine (Xylocaine), losartan (Cozaar),
fexofenadine (Allegra), midazolam (Versed), and others."

[https://www.rxlist.com/turmeric/supplements.htm#Interactions](https://www.rxlist.com/turmeric/supplements.htm#Interactions)

------
dahidahi1
Turmeric has been used in India since ancient times. There are many references
to it in Ayurveda - the Indian/Hindu medical sciences. Ayurveda believes in
using food as medicine to non only prevent a large majority of human diseases,
but also to cure several of them — all with almost zero side effects. Turmeric
is just one such extremely powerful & healthy food item that Western science
seems to be playing catch up on. Many others like black pepper, honey,
asafoetida (hing), coconut oil, copper utensils, cloves, cardamom, mustard
seeds, neem (gold), milk, clarified butter (ghee). So, expect more things to
come out from the research of Western labs, knowledge that is common to most
grandmothers in India for ages. But the other aspect is that we are slowly
losing all that because Indians try to mimic the West in almost everything
they do & nowadays do not trust our own sciences like Ayurveda etc, even at
the risk of debilitating side effects.

Side fact: An American company tried to patent turmeric & almost got away with
it. This had to be fought by the Indian government to prevent (or nullify) the
patent application.

~~~
ksk
>There are many references to it in Ayurveda - the Indian/Hindu medical
sciences. Ayurveda believes in using food as medicine to non only prevent a
large majority of human diseases, but also to cure several of them — all with
almost zero side effects.

Homeopathy also has zero side effects (apart from having zero effects). There
is no medical wisdom in any of the old texts (from any culture) that are
relevant in 2018. The vast majority is pseudo-scientific nonsense that should
be rejected.

>Turmeric is just one such extremely powerful & healthy food item that Western
science seems to be playing catch up on. Many others like black pepper, honey,
asafoetida (hing), coconut oil, copper utensils, cloves, cardamom, mustard
seeds, neem (gold), milk, clarified butter (ghee).

All of those are known to the entire world, both their exaggerated benefits
and their limitations. Sorry to burst your bubble.

>But the other aspect is that we are slowly losing all that because Indians
try to mimic the West in almost everything they do &

You are severely confused. Do you take coconut oil when you get cancer? Or do
you take Turmeric? If you get liver disease do you use copper vessels? Nobody
cares where the idea originated. When it comes to their health, people will go
where there are results.

> nowadays do not trust our own sciences like Ayurveda etc, even at the risk
> of debilitating side effects.

That doesn't explain the success of pseudo-scientific products marketed under
the "Patanjali" brand.

Also, there is no such thing as "Western science". Its a global science and
people from around the world are contributing to it. Go into any research lab
in the "west". You'll find a large portion of people there belonging to
chinese and south asian heritage apart from the local ethnic majority.

~~~
palimpsests
> There is no medical wisdom in any of the old texts (from any culture) that
> are relevant in 2018.

Seriously? We can do better than that - if you're going to make a statement
that extreme, you'll need to provide sources to back it up.

~~~
ksk
The more extreme statement is that those texts have any value. Lets start with
that first.

~~~
palimpsests
You're making some very, very broad, blanket statements about vast swaths of
human experience and recorded wisdom (hint: that usually doesn't work out so
well - nuance is our friend!).

But, to play along, in attempt to affirm or deny this - let's start with what
you mean by "those texts". Which texts, specifically, are you referring to,
when you say that they contain absolutely zero applicable content to the care
of modern humans? (Where I'm paraphrasing your statement: "There is no medical
wisdom in any of the old texts (from any culture) that are relevant in 2018").

edit:

you know what? I'll help you out with a single counterexample to your
statement, so that we can move on:

[http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-china-
blog-34451386](http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-china-blog-34451386)

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tu_Youyou#Malaria](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tu_Youyou#Malaria)

To summarize, the plant Artemesia Annua was recorded approximately 2500 years
ago in traditional Chinese medical herbal texts as being an effective
treatment for the disease known as malaria. The 2015 Nobel Prize in Medicine
and Physiology was awarded to the chemist who used this specific information
from these texts to aid in the discovery of a compound that is now the defacto
treatment for this disease.

There's plenty more examples like this; I will end my confrontation of your
current system of beliefs here. The rest of this form of work is completely up
to you!

~~~
ksk
>You're making some very, very broad, blanket statements about vast swaths of
human experience and recorded wisdom (hint: that usually doesn't work out so
well - nuance is our friend!).

I don't know about you, but when I read about applying dung into my wounds, I
kinda lose interest in the remaining 4000 pages, and also happily forgo the
'ward off evil spirits' bonus that it brings.

>Which texts, specifically, are you referring to, when you say that they
contain absolutely zero applicable content to the care of modern humans?
(Where I'm paraphrasing your statement: "There is no medical wisdom in any of
the old texts (from any culture) that are relevant in 2018").

Your paraphrasing is out of context. I am speaking about medical knowledge.
Our knowledge has improved, but our flaws still remain. In other non-medical
contexts, a lot of things would still apply.

Back to your counter point.

>the plant Artemesia Annua was recorded approximately 2500 years ago in
traditional Chinese medical herbal texts as being an effective treatment for
the disease known as malaria. The 2015 Nobel Prize in Medicine and Physiology
was awarded to the chemist who used this specific information from these texts
to aid in the discovery of a compound that is now the defacto treatment for
this disease.

While that maybe be what is being reported it is not even close to the truth.
The texts don't say "here's how to treat malaria". They don't even know what
malaria actually is or how it works or anything about it. Traditional medicine
applied a 'throw shit to the wall' approach (common in ancient times) to treat
fevers using hundreds of different herbs. None of these actually worked,
because there was no knowledge of what was causing those fevers
(parasite/virus/disease etc). This is also why we don't treat malaria by
giving someone a cup of herbal tea - it doesn't work.

What was a world record for a marathon a hundred years ago is barely the
qualifying time for the Boston marathon in 2018. So yeah, The Chinese,
Egyptians, Indians, etc all had their own world records. Its time to let them
go. I prefer to take my medical science from the time when we know the most
about the human body, not when we knew the least. You can make your own
choice.

~~~
vishaltelangre
Knowledge is everywhere, science doesn't tell you to be narrow minded. If you
deny human kind's past experiences, you would just end up reinventing the
wheel. It is always hard to find the reason behind anything as it requires us
to find the pattern first. Call it symptoms in medical science. Human kind has
been doing it since its inception. Ancient texts are just there to help you
out. Remember that there were no technological advancements as of today, still
our ancestors had found reasons and solutions (cures in medical science) to
many problems. You do not need to really trust anything, but what I am saying
is that you cannot also simply deny it.

------
blambljoob
The wikipedia for curcumin suggests that it is not bioavailable. The results
of this study are attributed to the supplement Theracurmin, which is a
bioavailable form of curcumin. So maybe don't bother increasing your turmeric
intake based on this study.

Lots of people won't realize that though, and by the time this research gets
through the news cycle people will be buying turmeric in bulk. Good time to
buy stocks in turmeric producers?

~~~
xutopia
There isn't very much curcumin in turmeric. About 2% by weight. It would take
4.5grams of dried turmeric to get the same dose from the study. Admittedly it
doesn't talk about bioavailability of turmeric powder.

~~~
happybit
Sorry to leave two comments in the same thread, but while I’m here... A
tablespoon of turmeric weighs about 8 grams, so I don’t see why 4.5 would be
an unrealistic amount to consume per day.

Coffee is only about 1.8% caffeine by weight, but it gets the job done.

~~~
mlechha
Nobody eats a tablespoon of turmeric! We usually use 1/4 teaspoon for a 4
person meal. Source: I'm Indian.

------
jmckib
So is this outdated now?

> The review goes into four examples for which details are available, all of
> them complete wipeouts, and those would seem to serve as good proxies for
> the rest given that no curcumin trial has ever reported any convincing
> positive results.

[http://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/archives/2017/01/12/cur...](http://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/archives/2017/01/12/curcumin-
will-waste-your-time)

~~~
feifan
Looks like the original paper was published in Oct 2017; that critique is
dated Jan 2017

~~~
jtmcmc
there are a lot of papers on curcumin

------
mtw
For every turmeric study claiming health benefits, I can also find a study
finding none. It's one of the most controversial subject. Read several papers
at least before deciding anything. It's even less clear when you try to
evaluate curcumin vs turmeric.

~~~
carlmr
>For every turmeric study claiming health benefits, I can also find a study
finding none.

Which is why this should be filed under P for _publication bias_. If there are
enough studies with 40 people, some of them will show positive results.

------
xiaopanga
Did no one read the last bit on the people who did the research? there seems
to a clear conflict of interest in this paper. " Dr. Small also reports having
served as an advisor to and/or having received lecture fees from Allergan,
Argentum, Axovant, Cogniciti, Forum Pharma- ceuticals, Herbalife, Janssen,
Lundbeck, Lilly, Novartis, Otsuka, and Pfizer. Dr. Heber reports receiving
consult- ing fees from Herbalife, and the McCormick Science Institute.The
manufacturer of Theracurmin, Theravalues Corpora-tion, provided the
Theracurmin and placebo for the trial,funds for laboratory testing of blood
curcumin levels, and funds for Dr. Small’s travel to the 2017 Alzheimer’s As-
sociation International Conference for presentation of the findings"

------
buyx
I’m wary about where I source my turmeric from, because of Lead Chromate
contamination: [https://www.bu.edu/sph/2017/04/04/high-levels-of-lead-
detect...](https://www.bu.edu/sph/2017/04/04/high-levels-of-lead-detected-in-
turmeric-purchased-from-boston-stores/)

~~~
quickpost
Have any suggestions on the best sources to avoid this type of contamination?

~~~
dharma1
Buy organic turmeric or grow your own. It's crazy that some Asian growers add
lead on purpose - [https://www.naturalstacks.com/blogs/news/is-your-turmeric-
co...](https://www.naturalstacks.com/blogs/news/is-your-turmeric-contaminated-
with-lead)

------
jtwebman
30 total people with 15 on placebo seems like a very small sample size to me
but a great study to maybe get funding for a bigger one for sure.

~~~
psychometry
Everyone without statistical training thinks sample sizes are too small, but
rest assured these studies are usually planned very deliberately. Power
calculations are usually done in advance to determine the necessary sample
sizes needed to demonstrate the magnitudes of different hypothesized effects
according to a desired confidence level.

~~~
dsjoerg
In this day and age one cannot "rest assured" about the quality of statistical
practice in science. For example:
[http://retractionwatch.com/2016/03/16/evidence-based-
medicin...](http://retractionwatch.com/2016/03/16/evidence-based-medicine-has-
been-hijacked-a-confession-from-john-ioannidis/)

------
reubenswartz
Don't know about the study-- it seems interesting but like more research is
needed-- but I do know that if you throw a little turmeric on your broccoli or
cauliflower or whatever, before you roast, the veggies come out extra
delicious. My kids will even eat them without complaining. ;-)

~~~
always_good
Yeah, it's just a good, mild spice that turns food a beautiful golden color
from rice to lentils. Health benefits would be a cool bonus but the vegetables
you put them on are more obviously healthy anyways.

------
ggm
And in late breaking news, sales of bleach and clothes whitener are up
worldwide as turmeric is discovered to be a potent yellow dye for clothes...

~~~
Finnucane
Hah, yes, its power to stain anything it touches requires no controversial
studies to demonstrate.

~~~
ggm
...small children, "lets cook", spice jar with stuck lid...

------
relyks
I'm surprised no one has mentioned here that there's been research on using
Turmeric as an antidepressant. It's known to increase BDNF in the brain, the
same protein generated during aerobic exercise. BDNF is one of the reasons
exercise is so beneficial for mental health.

"Antidepressant-like effects of curcumin in WKY rat model of depression is
associated with an increase in hippocampal BDNF"
([https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S016643281...](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0166432812006997))

"Effects of curcumin on brain-derived neurotrophic factor levels and oxidative
damage in obesity and diabetes"
([http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/10.1139/apnm-2013-0133](http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/10.1139/apnm-2013-0133))

------
rdtsc
I also heard turmeric is an antibiotic.

Here is at least one study I found on it:

[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4374920/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4374920/)

So I wonder if helps because it alters the bacterial flora in the body.

~~~
rincebrain
Taking general-purpose antibiotics is usually not a great thing for your gut,
since it doesn't discriminate.

Now, if it more selectively nuked some nastier things, I could buy that.

------
AdmiralAsshat
Glanced at the study. The supplement appeared to be 90mg of curcumin, taken
twice daily.

A quick google search says there are about 15 mg per tablespoon. That would
mean you'd need to eat about 6 tbsp of turmeric to get a comparable amount.
Probably even more so, since I don't think turmeric is pure curcumin. For
reference, the average curry or other dish using turmeric in my household
takes about 1 tbsp, so at a glance I would consider it impractical to get that
much naturally through your food.

My next curiosity would be whether a smaller amount _can_ show similar
benefit, or whether it needs to be at a level only available in a supplement.

~~~
cpcallen
I think your numbers might be off. From
[https://www.livestrong.com/article/543411-how-much-
curcumin-...](https://www.livestrong.com/article/543411-how-much-curcumin-is-
there-in-powdered-turmeric/) :

"Turmeric contains approximately 2 percent curcumin by weight, so a tablespoon
of turmeric, which weighs 6.8 grams, contains about 0.136 gram curcumin, or
136 milligrams."

So that means the study quantity was equivalent to about two teaspoons a day.

------
booleandilemma
I’m very surprised to not see any Dune comments in this thread.

~~~
geraldcombs
There are if you interpret "bioavailability" as "THE SPICE MUST FLOW."

------
lifeisstillgood
So, just as a sanity check, would we expect to see 30% less depression in
country sized populations where turmeric consumption is common - for example
is India less depressed than, say, USA. And how on earth do we control for it?

~~~
ghostbrainalpha
No. For 3 Reasons.

1\. The 30% number was for memory, not depression.

2\. Also it says that it may "ease" depression, not eliminate it. So you would
still have the roughly the same numbers of depressed people, but they may rate
their depression slightly lower.

3\. The definition of depression might be slightly different in a different
country, so even a basic sanity check is still going to need to look at
individual subjects and evaluate depression levels before and after turmeric
treatment.

------
Nomentatus
It's well known that turmeric is a powerful anti-histamine. Interrupting
inflammation will make you feel better; but whether you're doing yourself good
or harm in the long run is a very different matter. The body's responses
aren't always wrong.
[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=turmeric+histamine](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=turmeric+histamine)

------
sudhirj
If this is real, we Indians have the best memory on the planet and the lowest
depression in the world.

With the UK a close second after the appropriated all out “curry” recipes.

Colour me skeptical.

~~~
cbzbc
> Colour me skeptical.

Can also be arranged, as long as the colour of sceptical is an off-orange
shade.

------
tudorw
If your interested in 'food as medicine', Watercress is very interesting,
"This is the first study to report an effect of vegetable consumption on
metabolism of a lung carcinogen in humans."

[http://cebp.aacrjournals.org/content/4/8/877.short](http://cebp.aacrjournals.org/content/4/8/877.short)

Seems it inhibits CYP2E1, here's a long list of the interactions between drugs
and the genes CYP2D6 and CYP3A4 [https://liferaftgroup.org/long-list-of-
inhibitors-and-induce...](https://liferaftgroup.org/long-list-of-inhibitors-
and-inducers-of-cyp3a4-and-cyp2d6/)

[edit] Pharma-Nutrition is the buzzword for this, one only needs to look at
the acquisitions of nutritional science assets by big pharma. The book is a
bit expensive but there is some previews;

[https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/331906150X/ref=oh_aui_se...](https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/331906150X/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1)

------
swapsmagic
I forgot to mention, Turmeric is a natural antiseptic. Can be applied to small
cut wounds and protects from infection.
[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK92752/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK92752/)

------
iambateman
Couple questions...

I’ve read that Bromelain (from Pineapples) can help with sinus inflammation.
Is there any indication about Turmeric helping with sinus inflammation?

Silly question...is “inflammation” one thing? As in do brain inflammation and
sinus inflammation go together?

Finally, any resources on reducing inflammation generally?

~~~
DiabloD3
Reducing inflammation is surprisingly easy, which is why most people just
don't do it (they want an expensive magic pill instead of just using methods
that actually work).

First, remove the largest inflammatory things from your diet: no grains, no
refined sugars, no processed meat, no dairy (unless it is truly fermented,
such as hard cheeses and true greek yogurt), and no legumes.

Second, walk about 2 miles a day (at least 5000 steps), and frequently
(preferably every two days, but not everyone can do it this frequently) do
lifting, preferring higher weight over higher reps.

Third, sleep properly. Enforce a proper sleep schedule as if it's the last
thing you do, even if you have to wear sleep masks and avoid bright and/or
blue artificial light like the plague.

Fourth, after the first one, still make sure you're getting the proper
nutrition (focus on your minerals, you never get enough), and you may still
have to supplement with a good vitamin. NOW Adam softgels is the least
expensive one I know of that isn't garbage, and is a good base to build a
supplement program around (if you choose to do that).

~~~
CuriouslyC
Not only is there strong anecdotal evidence for legume consumption being
healthy given the prevalence of legumes in blue zone diets, there is also a
mountain of scientific evidence indicating the short chain fatty acids
produced by fermentation of legume polysaccharides provides a large number of
health benefits. Additionally, low fat non-greek yogurt consumption has been
linked to a variety of positive health outcomes. Finally, moderate grain
consumption is alright assuming you're physically active and the grains are
unrefined. If you spend more time studying the scientific literature you will
see that the paleo diet is mostly trendy bullshit.

In terms of training, high repetition weight training is absolutely
beneficial, while being much easier to recover from than lower rep weight
training. While it shouldn't make up the majority of your training, it is
worth making a significant portion of your total training volume.

~~~
DiabloD3
Notice you say _fermented_ legumes. There may be a place for them, but the
jury is still out on that.

Low fat yogurt often contains sugar for flavoring (out of necessity due to
removing both it's natural flavoring, and as a byproduct, a lot of it's
nutritional value), so that's out altogether. In addition, scaremongering fat
has no scientific basis, and is generally frowned upon by anyone that is
actually following science-based diets. On top of that, the greeking process,
which strains it to remove excess whey, also removes the remaining lactose and
other compounds that tend to trigger inflammation in some people.

In other words, non-greek and/or low fat yogurt is a uniquely American fuckup
of an otherwise healthy food.

As for high rep/low weight, "no". You shouldn't do it instead of low
rep/height weight, but if you do decide to do it, you should do it _in
combination_. One of the best ways to combine both is drop weight sets to
maximize both time and effort in the gym.

~~~
CuriouslyC
Legumes are automatically fermented by the bacteria in your gut, that's why
they make you gassy. There's a ton of science on short chain fatty production
by gut biota having beneficial health effects. I'd go so far as to say high
fermentable fiber intake is the most important aspect of a healthy diet.

Greek yogurt is marginally better than non-strained yogurt, but you can make
regular yogurt at home for a few dollars a gallon while greek yogurt is
pricey.

You demonize sugar, but it is only a problem for sedentary people who overeat.
The problem is that monosaccharides are reactive molecules, and they can
participate in harmful chemical reactions if floating free in the blood. If
(liver) glycogen is depleted then those monosaccharides are polymerized into
glycogen before they can enter circulation, and they are essentially harmless.
If you're active don't eat too much moderate amounts of sugar are fine.

As for your "no" comment regarding my training advice, I'm 220lbs and ripped
at 6ft. tall. I've deadlifted 600lbs for reps at nearly 40 years old. All of
this without drugs. What have you accomplished?

------
cellularmitosis
“What I’ve learned” just did a video on tumeric for hangovers. Summary: mix it
with pepper and fat for best results.
[https://youtu.be/Ij_aJI5O9Rs](https://youtu.be/Ij_aJI5O9Rs)

Tumeric may also help with ulcerative colitis. Here’s a summary of the
studies: [https://youtu.be/teJ9QHCdN2Q](https://youtu.be/teJ9QHCdN2Q)

Avoid tumeric if you are taking blood thinners.

------
perseusprime11
What happens to the bioavailability of turmeric when you put it in your food
for cooking purposes? I know turmeric is a common ingredient in Indian foods.

------
Grazester
My dad drinks a cup of turmeric tea every night. Its seems like people have
always known it was good for you but its good this study proves it.

------
option_greek
For those who want to try the turmeric directly and without preparing curry,
you can take it this way. This is a traditional recipe for cold/flu but can be
generally taken everyday. Mix a half teaspoon full of turmeric with little bit
of black pepper powder (varies based on how much you can tolerate) in a glass
of milk with either a spoon of sugar or honey.

------
DiabloD3
Even more fun: "Vanillin Affects Amyloid Aggregation and Non-Enzymatic
Glycation in Human Insulin"
[https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-15503-5](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-15503-5)

Vanillin is a metabolite of curcumin, which is the medicinal chemical of note
in turmeric.

------
FlyingSideKick
As an athlete (and former competitive snowboarder) I find turmeric tea to be a
more powerful pain reliever for my knees, which have little cartledge left,
than Advil. I make my tea with fresh turmeric, black pepper, honey and a bit
of cream. This recipie seems to work wonders for joint pain however it doesn’t
seem to have improved my forgetfulness.

------
dberhane
Here is another research published recently by BMJ about benefits of curcumin
for cancer (myeloma) patients:

Long-term stabilisation of myeloma with curcumin
[http://casereports.bmj.com/content/2017/bcr-2016-218148.long](http://casereports.bmj.com/content/2017/bcr-2016-218148.long)

------
LearnerHerzog
There are many benefits to turmeric. I've been using it in a lot of things for
a while now

[https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/top-10-evidence-
based-h...](https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/top-10-evidence-based-health-
benefits-of-turmeric)

------
Sinidir
I had heard of the positive effects of tumeric/curcumin but this is just on
another level.

------
mrmondo
I was not expecting to be linked to what appears to be properly conducted
science based trial. As others have noted the sample size was small at 40
people which just leads me to looking forward to a larger scale controlled
study.

------
gshakir
It is a great spice to use in your cooking. But use only a pinch, it is very
potent.

~~~
mc32
It also seems to stain chopping boards.

~~~
gshakir
Yes, it can stain skin as well. Actually, you can apply it to the skin (via a
recipe) to make it vibrant. This is common practice in India. I usually get
turmeric powder (unadulterated) instead of raw.

~~~
mc32
And kitchenware for a couple of wash cycles too, I've found.

Only reason I've used the root is when I'm out of ginger. Not perfect
substitute, but, meh, kind of okay.

------
dawhizkid
Is the interesting thing that turmeric has anti-inflammatory properties or
that reducing inflammation eases depression and boosts memory? There are many
ways to reduce bodily inflammation...fasting and keto come to mind.

------
sabujp
Indians will die of heart attacks and cancer before they become old enough to
get alzheimers or other mental issues. Before you downvote me to oblivion,
many indian and non-indian dr.s friends have told me this.

~~~
dmix
As others have pointed out, there is hardly enough bioavailable curcumin is
regular turmeric powder. This study used a supplement called theracurmin which
is a specially crafted form of high bioavailability theracurmin.

~~~
sabujp
what if you put it on almost everything?

------
dnt404-1
Turmeric is a base spice used in many dishes from South Asian Indian
subcontinent. It is good news if this has positive benefits. Maybe country
comparative research can provide more evidence.

------
epmaybe
Just some quick questions regarding the volunteer flow chart in the paper
(sorry for those of you behind a subscription paywall). What do the authors
mean when a patient was excluded for an abnormal MRI? Why were only 30/40 of
the remaining participants' PET scan data analyzed? Was it due to sufficient
power?

Some other random questions

The authors used a "t test" for continuous measures of data. What kind of
t-test though? Since these are repeated measures over time, I have been told a
dependent t-test is needed. Is that what was used? PROC MIXED in SAS has a
parameter for "repeated" measures, so I would assume so but it's really not
clear.

Very interesting paper, and I will hopefully be reading it in full shortly.

------
elchief
Anti-inflammatories are in the news lots now. Low-dose aspirin, intermittent
fasting, turmeric. Why are we chronically inflamed?

~~~
JofArnold
Pollution.

~~~
upbeatlinux
Currently there are a studies [1] suggesting Alzheimer's is an inflammatory
disease where a bunch of different particles like micro-plastics, heavy
metals, microfibers, etc accumulate in the brain causing a brain immune
response (amyloid beta and tau) that is more dysregulated in people with
certain genetic backgrounds.

Honestly I think this hypothesis makes the most sense - especially if you look
at Alzheimer's global and local distribution patterns. Locally people near
freeways get Alzhiemer's at way higher rates [2] (I've seen interesting maps
of this before but can't find any ATM).

Think about all the particulate matter (incomplete combustion products, rust
particles, little pieces of tire) you are breathing in near freeways.

Globally industrial countries have the highest rates of dementia, and the
lowest rates are in Africa, India, and South Asia [3]. These places have less
industry, less traffic, less plastic (I mean, they are catching up fast, but
historically if you're looking at patterns), etc.

[3] also mentions a correlation between meat eating and dementia. I don't
necessarily think this is due to the "any meat is bad for you" FUD instead
it's most likely due to two factors

\- plants have greater anti-inflammatory properties

\- any type of fat will accumulate loads of particles and plants don't have
fat

tl;dr nutrition is complicated and there is a lot of FUD

\- [1] [https://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/alzheimers-disease-
consis...](https://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/alzheimers-disease-consists-of-
three-distinct-subtypes-according-to-ucla-study)

\- [2] [http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-air-
poll...](http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-air-pollution-
alzheimers-20170131-story.html)

\- [3] [https://nutritionfacts.org/2015/11/12/where-are-the-
lowest-r...](https://nutritionfacts.org/2015/11/12/where-are-the-lowest-rates-
of-alzheimers-in-the-world/)

------
trs80
In Japan they have been drinking turmeric tea for ages. This is an easy option
for you if you'd like to try it out.

------
exabrial
What doseage though? I've read that it does have a lot of good properties but
you'd have to eat pounds of it

------
m3kw9
So do you have to eat a pound of it? A lot of studies now a days shows
significant effects only in significant amounts

------
tmaly
I see turmeric root in grocery store. How would this compare to say a powdered
turmeric?

------
justaman
I'll add it to my kael, coconut oil, avacado smoothie.

~~~
contingencies
If you're going to overtly retro/exotico-stylize then why not go the whole hog
with _kæl_? :)

------
arca_vorago
Anecdotal but my grandfather with severe rheumatoid arthritis takes two
glasses of of water with tumeric every day and has said he notices significant
benefits.

------
agumonkey
turmeric can be expensive, I bought a few bottles last year, I should
investigate how to grow some home.

~~~
telesilla
Fresh turmeric root cost dollars, find a local asian grocery store and make
your own. It's great as a tea.

~~~
agumonkey
I'm on tetley green tea these days, it's lovely. Thanks for the tip.

------
thibautg
I’ve just added some turmeric on my 256 Gb SSD and its memory increased to 332
Gb. It works.

------
DaniFong
It's also delicious

------
rsbartram
Eating and living healthy is critical to a long life. Most studies show that
balanced eating is more important to your health than exercise so it is no
wonder mother nature provides so many natural remedies for so many ailments.
Setting smart health goals is one thing, [https://latechnews.org/setting-
smart-health-goals/](https://latechnews.org/setting-smart-health-goals/) but
improving your mental health through natural remedies is always preferred in
the holistic approach.

------
jlebrech
also look at other types of nootropics
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nootropic](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nootropic)

