Curcumin for Alzheimer’s disease: Can it help? Original paper

Alzheimer’s disease (AD), the most common neurodegenerative disease, accounts for 60–70% of dementia cases. Curcumin, due to its anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and neuroprotective properties, is a promising compound for the treatment or prevention of cognitive decline in AD patients.

This systematic review of 37 curcumin studies included 32 animal trials (21 evaluating AD and 11 evaluating healthy aging) and 5 human trials (all 5 evaluating cognition: 3 in healthy geriatric population and 2 in patients with mild to moderate AD).

In most animal trials, curcumin had positive effects on AD and healthy aging. In people with AD, it didn’t outperform placebo. In healthy people, it did: it improved cognition in 1 trial, prevented cognitive decline in 1 trial, and had positive effects on markers (either improving them or preventing a decline) in 1 trial.

There are only a handful of (small) human trials examining curcumin’s effects on cognition, and these have used different types and doses of curcumin, as well as different cognitive tests, so there is a need for more homogenous human research before conclusions can be drawn.