Therapeutic Potential of Turmeric in Alzheimer's Disease: Curcumin or Curcuminoids?

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common form of dementia. There is limited choice in modern therapeutics, and drugs available have limited success with multiple side effects in addition to high cost. Hence, newer and alternate treatment options are being explored for effective and safer the...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Phytotherapy research 2014-04, Vol.28 (4), p.517-525
Main Authors: Ahmed, Touqeer, Gilani, Anwarul‐Hassan
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
adverse effects
Alzheimer disease
Alzheimer Disease - drug therapy
Animals
Curcuma - chemistry
Curcuma longa
curcumin
Curcumin - analogs & derivatives
Curcumin - pharmacology
Curcumin - therapeutic use
curcuminoids
dementia
Diarylheptanoids
drugs
etiology
Humans
Molecular Structure
Phytotherapy
synergy
therapeutics
therapy
turmeric
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Summary:Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common form of dementia. There is limited choice in modern therapeutics, and drugs available have limited success with multiple side effects in addition to high cost. Hence, newer and alternate treatment options are being explored for effective and safer therapeutic targets to address AD. Turmeric possesses multiple medicinal uses including treatment for AD. Curcuminoids, a mixture of curcumin, demethoxycurcumin, and bisdemethoxycurcumin, are vital constituents of turmeric. It is generally believed that curcumin is the most important constituent of the curcuminoid mixture that contributes to the pharmacological profile of parent curcuminoid mixture or turmeric. A careful literature study reveals that the other two constituents of the curcuminoid mixture also contribute significantly to the effectiveness of curcuminoids in AD. Therefore, it is emphasized in this review that each component of the curcuminoid mixture plays a distinct role in making curcuminoid mixture useful in AD, and hence, the curcuminoid mixture represents turmeric in its medicinal value better than curcumin alone. The progress in understanding the disease etiology demands a multiple‐site‐targeted therapy, and the curcuminoid mixture of all components, each with different merits, makes this mixture more promising in combating the challenging disease. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
ISSN:0951-418X
1099-1573
DOI:10.1002/ptr.5030