Depression now affects one in ten adults in
the U.S. and is projected to be the second
leading cause of disability in the world by
the year 2020. Depression is also one of the
leading causes of workplace healthcare expense, costing
employers and employees billions of dollars in medical
costs, absenteeism, and presenteeism. Attempts to find
a medication to treat depression have been going on for
over 50 years with surprisingly poor results. Some evidence
indicates that response rates to the top medications are
often as low as 17 percent and about 63 percent of patients
experience side effects such as anxiety, insomnia, weight
gain, sexual dysfunction and thoughts of suicide.
In 2013 there was a double-blind, placebo-controlled
study comparing curcumin to Prozac and curcumin
was just as effective, but without the potentially
harmful side effects. Over time most prescription
medications lose their effectiveness while producing
ever-increasing negative side effects. Curcumin,
on the other hand, has increasingly beneficial side
effects including improved attentiveness, better
sleep, emotions and learning. It accomplishes this
through the increase of norepinephrine, serotonin and
dopamine as well as the reduction of inflammation in
the brain.
It should be noted that the curcumin used in the above
mentioned study was a special form of curcumin called
BCM-95. The form is seven times more bioavailable
than any other form of curcumin.
There are some even more significant positive side
effects or benefits to taking curcumin beyond its ability
to improve brain function. Curcumin also suppresses
the growth of inflammatory cells in our joints, thus
helping to prevent and even reverse many cases of
osteoarthritis. By preventing the breakdown of joint-lining
cartilage curcumin has even been shown to
provide significant relief for people with rheumatoid
arthritis, a genetic and more difficult to treat disease.
And finally, curcumin may very well be one of the
leading natural methods for the prevention and the
treatment of cancer. Scientific evidence has shown
the ability of curcumin to help in the following types
of cancer: breast; uterine; cervical; prostate; brain;
lung; throat; bladder; pancreas and gastrointestinal.
Curcumin actually has been shown to intervene
and disrupt cancer at virtually every stage of its
development. It achieves this primarily through the
suppression of inflammation, which is one of the major
contributors to most forms of cancer. By preventing
the proliferation, migration and thus the very survival
of cancer, curcumin helps the body's natural defense
mechanisms, as well as the conventional and the
natural treatments that have been proven to kill
cancer cells. This natural compound derived from the
spice turmeric deserves serious consideration for the
treatment of depression as well as the other chronic
diseases mentioned here.