Turmeric improves post-prandial working memory in pre-diabetes independent of insulin

Cognitive impairment develops with pre-diabetes and dementia is a complication of diabetes. Natural products like turmeric and cinnamon may ameliorate the underlying pathogenesis.

People ≥ 60 years (n=48) with newly-recognised untreated pre-diabetes were randomised to a double-blind metabolic study of placebo, turmeric (1 g), cinnamon (2 g) or both (1 g & 2 g respectively), ingested at a white bread (119 g) breakfast. Observations were made over 6 hours for pre- and post-working memory (WM), glycaemic and insulin responses and biomarkers of Alzheimer's disease (AD)(0, 2, 4 and 6 hours): amyloid precursor protein (APP), γ-secretase subunits presenilin-1 (PS1), presenilin-2 (PS2), and glycogen synthase kinase (GSK-3β). Differences between natural product users and non-users were determined by Students t and chi square tests; and between pre-test and post-test WM by Wilcoxon signed rank tests. Interaction between turmeric and cinnamon was tested by 2-way ANOVA. Multivariable linear regression (MLR) took account of BMI, glycaemia, insulin and AD biomarkers in the WM responses to turmeric and cinnamon.

No interaction between turmeric and cinnamon was detected. WM increased from 2.6 to 2.9 out of 3.0 (p=0.05) with turmeric, but was unchanged with cinnamon. WM improvement was inversely associated with insulin resistance (r=-0.418, p<0.01), but not with AD biomarkers. With MLR, the WM responses to turmeric were best predicted with an R2 of 34.5%; and with significant turmeric, BMI and insulin/glucose AUC beta-coefficients.

Co-ingestion of turmeric with white bread increases working memory independent of body fatness, glycaemia, insulin, or AD biomarkers.