Maintaining brain health in the senior years is a goal well worth achieving. Of the dreaded diseases that strike seniors the ones that incapacitate the brain are among the most cruel. Among the diseases of the brain, Alzheimer’s disease is one of the worst. Beta-amyloid deposits that cause the buildup of plaque are the precursor of oxidative stress and cell damage that leads to an increased risk for Alzheimer’s. Recent research in the laboratory using a combination of curcumin and vitamin D3 was shown to provide an immune system boost which would protect the brain against beta-amyloid.

The immune system is organized to protect the body against the precursors of diseases so the researchers investigated using either vitamin D3 or curcumin or both in their study for boosting the immune system. One of the tools that the immune system uses to absorb and eject unwanted visitors is the macrophages. In this case vitamin D3 apparently improves the macrophages’ ability to absorb the beta-amyloid. The other half of the dynamic duo, curcumin, apparently improves the macrophages’ ability to hold on to the beta-amyloid until it can eject it. Based on the lab results, the researchers concluded that the combination of curcumin and vitamin D3 may assist the immune system in clearing out the plaque that causes Alzheimer’s.