Evidence suggests that curcumin may have cognitive and mood elevating effects in humans. A number of studies have been performed to investigate these effects. For example, one group of researcher were interested in the short and long term effects of curcumin on elderly individuals. In this regard, they investigated the mood and memory enhancing effects of curcumin in the short term (a single dose of curcumin), long term (4 weeks of supplementation) and short and long term (4 weeks of supplementation with additional supplement prior to testing). Immediately following supplementation curcumin was able to significantly improve sustained attention and working memory, suggesting that curcumin was effective at improving cognitive function in the short term. In addition, curcumin was also effective at improving working memory and mood following 4 weeks of treatment. When additional supplements were given on top of a chronic intake prior to testing, improvements in alertness and contendeness were also observed.
Short term supplementation with curcumin appear to benefit cognitive function, whereas longer term supplementatin with ccurcumin appears to benefit mood and cognitive function. Supplements of curcumin are available that are standardised for curcumoids, but using turmeric daily in food preparation may be another beneficial way to obtain the improvements in memory and cognition that curcumin appears to offer.
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