Curcumin a compound of turmeric commonly used in Indian curries prolongs life and boosts activity of fruit flies with a nervous disorder similar to Alzheimer's disease that afflicts millions of older people across the world. The study led by Ina Caesar of Linkoping University (Sweden) indicates that it is the initial stages of fibril (threadlike fibre or filament constituent of a cell) formation and fragments of the amyloid fibrils that are most toxic to nerve cells (neurons). For several years curcumin has been studied as a possible drug candidate to combat Alzheimer's disease which is characterized by the accumulation of
