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13.06.2025

How over-60s can improve their cognitive abilities with curcumin

People over 60 can improve their brain function by taking curcumin supplements, if they know how. Which is described in a Chinese meta-study that appeared in Frontiers in Nutrition in April 2025.

Study
Neurologists from Shandong First Medical University and the Shandong Academy of Medical Sciences collected 9 previously published trials in which subjects were given supplements containing curcumin and then measured the effect of supplementation on cognitive abilities using various tests.

A total of 501 subjects participated in these trials.

In 5 of the 9 trials, subjects were given supplements designed to increase the absorption of curcumin. In those trials, subjects were given products containing Theracurmin, BCM-95, Curcumin-Galactomannan Complex, Longvida, and a combination of curcumin and piperine.

Results
Supplementation with curcumin improved the subjects' cognitive abilities, the first figure below shows.

The figure above shows that the optimal dosage was 800 milligrams per day.

When the Chinese broke down their data, they found that supplementation worked if the subjects had been taking curcumin for at least six months and in subjects aged 60 and over.

Click on the tables below for a larger version.

The strongest factor in determining whether a curcumin supplement improved cognitive abilities, however, was the type of preparation. Supplements with improved bioavailability appeared to be effective, other supplements did not.

Mechanism
Some possible mechanisms by which curcumin protects mental abilities include increasing the activity of brain-derived neurotrophic factor [BDNF] in or inhibiting the formation of amyloid-beta plaques in the brain. However, one potential mechanism that the Chinese are most enamored with is that curcumin may reduce and help clear the accumulation of tau proteins in brain cells.

Tau proteins are proteins in nerve cells. They form microtubuli, a system of molecular pipelines that the nerve cell uses to pump nutrients and signaling molecules through nerve cells.

Through a damaging process called hyperphosphorylation, tau proteins can detach from the microtubules and accumulate as tangles within the cell. As a result, the cell not only loses its internal transport system, but the tangles can also poison the cell.

Source:
Front Nutr. 2025 Apr 16:12:1549509.

More:
Curcumin improves memory 26.01.2018
Do you cook curry often? It helps keep your brain cells in good condition 08.12.2017
Improve your learning with turmeric 26.08.2014

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