A
Adam Becker Sr
Guest
Quentin wrote:
> I thought OK, if ginger is good, turmeric is bound to be better
> as it has more of the intense yellow bioflavonoid curcumin, yet that
> might not be so.
Curcumin is back in the news today:
<BETTERHUMANS>
http://www.betterhumans.com/News/news.aspx?articleID=2004-12-28-4
Curry Compound Fights Alzheimer's
Pigment curcumin inhibits accumulation of destructive plaque
A new University of California, Los Angeles-Department of Veterans
Affairs study using genetically altered mice has found that curcumin,
the yellow pigment in curry spice, inhibits the accumulation of
destructive beta-amyloid plaques and breaks up existing plaques.
</BETTERHUMANS>
This is talking about beta-amyloid in the brain's glial cells - an
Alzheimer's process. A critical step in T2 progression is the
formation of beta-amyloid in the pancreas. Now beta-amyloid is
different in the two locations - beta-amyloid is really a particular
kind of metabolic sludge, containing fat, protein and starch stacked in
a special way. The protein varies from site to site, so what breaks up
beta-amyloid in the brain may not do anything to that in the pancreas.
Still, merits my interest. Forbes reported earlier this year that
there is an Israeli group that's working on medicines that will
dissolve diabetic beta-amyloid plaques, but it sounds like they've got
a long way to go.
http://www.forbes.com/lifestyle/health/feeds/hscout/2004/08/02/hscout520373.html
Quentin, your knowledge of flavonoids and other dietary antioxidants is
amazing and prodigious. I've been trying to educate myself on the
flavonoids. It's quite daunting. There are over 1500 different
flavonoids identified. There's a huge number of research articles of
the form "This group looked at this particular flavonoid (in a
retrospective study, in a rat study, in vitro...) and showed it has
some beneficial effect (on insulin resistance, on cancer treatment, on
cell apoptosis...)" I'm always left thinking, "Great. Should I
consider adding this to my diet? Would all of the other 1500
flavonoids had the same effect? How much would I need to eat to get
the same benefit? Any known side effects?" The articles don't say.
I read a bunch of articles about interesting flavonoids. I go to the
USDA online flavonoid resource at
http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/Data/Flav/flav.html
It lists a bunch of flavonoids I haven't heard of elsewhere.
Where's a good place to get a good overview of flavonoids? Where would
I find something sort of like "The dozen most common nutritionally
interesting flavonoids"?
Adam Becker
crossposting to sci.med.nutrition because somebody there might know
and because this has strayed a bit from specificly diabetes.
> I thought OK, if ginger is good, turmeric is bound to be better
> as it has more of the intense yellow bioflavonoid curcumin, yet that
> might not be so.
Curcumin is back in the news today:
<BETTERHUMANS>
http://www.betterhumans.com/News/news.aspx?articleID=2004-12-28-4
Curry Compound Fights Alzheimer's
Pigment curcumin inhibits accumulation of destructive plaque
A new University of California, Los Angeles-Department of Veterans
Affairs study using genetically altered mice has found that curcumin,
the yellow pigment in curry spice, inhibits the accumulation of
destructive beta-amyloid plaques and breaks up existing plaques.
</BETTERHUMANS>
This is talking about beta-amyloid in the brain's glial cells - an
Alzheimer's process. A critical step in T2 progression is the
formation of beta-amyloid in the pancreas. Now beta-amyloid is
different in the two locations - beta-amyloid is really a particular
kind of metabolic sludge, containing fat, protein and starch stacked in
a special way. The protein varies from site to site, so what breaks up
beta-amyloid in the brain may not do anything to that in the pancreas.
Still, merits my interest. Forbes reported earlier this year that
there is an Israeli group that's working on medicines that will
dissolve diabetic beta-amyloid plaques, but it sounds like they've got
a long way to go.
http://www.forbes.com/lifestyle/health/feeds/hscout/2004/08/02/hscout520373.html
Quentin, your knowledge of flavonoids and other dietary antioxidants is
amazing and prodigious. I've been trying to educate myself on the
flavonoids. It's quite daunting. There are over 1500 different
flavonoids identified. There's a huge number of research articles of
the form "This group looked at this particular flavonoid (in a
retrospective study, in a rat study, in vitro...) and showed it has
some beneficial effect (on insulin resistance, on cancer treatment, on
cell apoptosis...)" I'm always left thinking, "Great. Should I
consider adding this to my diet? Would all of the other 1500
flavonoids had the same effect? How much would I need to eat to get
the same benefit? Any known side effects?" The articles don't say.
I read a bunch of articles about interesting flavonoids. I go to the
USDA online flavonoid resource at
http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/Data/Flav/flav.html
It lists a bunch of flavonoids I haven't heard of elsewhere.
Where's a good place to get a good overview of flavonoids? Where would
I find something sort of like "The dozen most common nutritionally
interesting flavonoids"?
Adam Becker
crossposting to sci.med.nutrition because somebody there might know
and because this has strayed a bit from specificly diabetes.