There are reports in the media at the moment about the possible beneficial effect of eating curry.

The Alzheimer Society in the UK say that “Indian communities that regularly eat curcumin have a surprisingly  low incidence of Alzheimer’s disease but we don’t yet know why”. Curcumin is found in the spice Turmeric which is an ingredient in many curry mixtures.

Research carried out in mice suggests that curcummin may break down the amyloid plaques found in the brains of alzheimer sufferers. It is thought that it may also be effective in preventing the formation of theses plaques. More work in humans needs to be carried out to confirm these findings and of course it is possible that there is a completely different reason for the low incidence of alzheimers in Indians.

This has prompted me to share a recipe for cooking rice which I picked up at a cookery demonstration  couple of years ago. For six people you will need

• 18oz of good quality long grain rice
• 32 fl oz of stock
• 1 tablespoon of turmeric

Add the rice to a greased oven proof dish. Pour in the stock and mix in the turmeric. Cover and cook at 175C for 40 minutes or until the liquid is absorbed. This is a simple way to cook rice. It works for me every time and the turmeric gives the rice a lovely warm flavour.

Maybe nothing will come of the research and it is possible that very large quantities of turmeric may need to be consumed in order to have a beneficial effect. In the meantime until we have the results of these studies it cannot do any harm to eat more curry!