My husband's neuro/psychiatrist has told him to take 1 TB tumeric each day. Does anyone know about using tumeric medicinally, particulartly for HD? My husband is also taking a liquid hi potency fish oil and the combo is pretty hard on him - trying to find it in pill form - anyone have any info there? thanks very much!

I use Twinlab MegaTwin fish oil capsules that I get from Vitaminshoppe.com Three of those daily give me 1,800 mg of EPA, the good stuff for HD brains. Those capsules have never given me any side effects.

I don't know anything about tumeric.

Will

Thanks Will. He doesn't have a problem with the fish oil on its own - doesn't love it but endures - but adding the tumeric has put him over the edge. Thanks for the info maybe I'll see if they carry tumeric in capsules.

Tumeric is a spice that is sometimes referred to as "poor man's saffron". I like to put it in rice. It makes it a nice yellow color. I know many health stores sell those capsules, but I've only bought the powered spice to cook with. I have heard it's good for neurological problems and I believe its use has been mentioned on this site before. It is used in a lot of middle eastern and indian cooking so he could get it that way too.

Hope2, turmeric used to be recommended for hd, but it is NOT recommended for hd any more, in fact, it's been shown to make hd worse. Here is the latest research from a year ago on this, that Marsha posted:

[www.hdlf.org]

Funny thing is, when i tried turmeric about 8 years ago, i could tell right away it was making my hd worse, so i stopped it immediately.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/21/2012 07:19PM by Barb.

Will,
What else do you take.?

Curcumin is the active ingredient in turmeric and is widely available in capsule form. In fact those capsules appear to just contain turmeric powder with no further refinement. Curcumin is a known autophagy inducer.

Barb: the article you cite has no mention of either curcumin or turmeric. Where else has it been mentioned that curcumin is contraindicated for HD?

Remig, according to this article, the only autogaphy inducer that they recommend now, is trehalose. All other ones, that they know of at this time, cause ROS, which is not good for hd. And i have personally known this for a long time, because when i tried turmeric a few years ago, it made my hd tons worse.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/26/2012 01:17PM by Barb.

Barb: are you sure we are talking about the link you posted? The article says nothing about recommending anything.

Barb is referring to conclusions that Jeff Carroll and Lavonne Goodman have drawn from that article article about antioxidants. I disagree that antioxidants are harmful and I am still recommending curcumin and other antioxidants..

Marsha: do you have a link to the conclusions of Jeff Carroll and Lavonne Goodman against curcumin?

I can't bring up a link that contains all three pages of the discussion. Search under ' 'HDDW and supplements' for all dates and it will come up. Unfortunately only single pages come up as links. My view is on page 3.

With regards the original topic that fish oil and turmeric were causing digestive upset, both are available in enteric coated capsules. An enteric coating prevents the capsule from dissolving until it reaches the intestines. Though I have no personal experience, this might minimize your problems. Has anyone on the forum tried enteric coated capsules?

Marsha: thanks for the link. I missed that discussion the first time around.

I suggested above that curcumin capsules might just be unrefined turmeric powder. That is apparently not the case. Curcumin capsules contain 95% curcuminoids whereas turmeric powder contains only 5%. A TB of turmeric powder (15 grams) would therefore contain 750 mg of curcumin, about the same as in a typical curcumin capsule.

Though a TB of turmeric a day may sound like a lot, millions of South Asians likely consume near as much in their traditional cuisines. A TB of turmeric or a single curcumin capsule is hardly a megadose. It was doubt on the efficacy of megadose antioxidants that Lavonne raised in the linked discussion and then only in reference to NAC, cystamine and glutathione in the Rubinzstein study. Curcumin was not mentioned except by Barb, nor is curcumin's beneficial mode of action, if any, necessarily based on it being an anti-oxidant.

Interest in supplements extends not just to active phds but to those at risk as well who are trying to delay its onset. Caution on substances that increase ROS might be important for those in advanced stages of the disease but unimportant otherwise. Plenty of everyday things increase ROS such as red beans, exercise, iron supplements, etc. I agree with Marsha that too much is being read into the Rubinzstein study.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/28/2012 12:53PM by remig.