THIS WEEK IN THE HSI HEALTHIER TALK COMMUNITY

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THIS WEEK IN THE HSI HEALTHIER TALK COMMUNITY If you've never visited the HSI Healthier Talk community forums, here's a quick primer on how to quickly make the most of this handy resource:

First, go to our web site: hsibaltimore.com In the toolbar at the top of the page, click on "Forum" Choose a health issue from the list Now – say, for instance, you need information on how to treat depression without resorting to prescription drugs. Just go to the Depression/Mood forum and you'll find more than 80 different discussions regarding depression. In one of those discussions (titled "Turmeric for depression and more") a member named Hank writes: "I found this to be very interesting. Apparently, turmeric extracts may have valuable applications for mood disorders as well as the many other documented benefits." As noted in several e-Alerts, turmeric is a spice that contains curcumin, which is an anti-inflammatory that's been shown to relieve pain. An HSI member named D. Bergy offers this revealing response to Hank's posting: "My 30 years worth of depression went away when I started having problems related to Crohn's disease. This seemed so illogical since when you are sick as a dog and wondering if you are going to live…it would seem that this would bring the depression on in spades. "That never happened, and for about three years now I have not had any more episodes of this. I could go maybe three months before my Crohn's but never longer. I had a theory that maybe I killed a bacteria or virus that caused depression with my frequency treatments. This research on Turmeric seems to be a more solid explanation. "When I started getting my Crohn's symptoms I also upped my dose of Ginger and Curcumin (extract of Turmeric) in the hopes of easing my symptoms and killing bad bacteria that I thought may be causing my symptoms. This coincides with the loss of my depression problems. A couple of months ago I switched to Turmeric in its natural form because it was supposedly a better form for killing bacteria. Just my experience. Seems to coincide with the Chinese research." Jurplesman: "Crohns disease can be responsible for depression because it interferes with the absorption of nutritional forerunners of essential amino acids necessary in serotonin production. By improving symptoms of Crohns disease one may expect depression to improve." Barbara: "I always thought that depression may be caused by an inflammatory process in the brain. This is part of the reason why fish oils sometimes help people with depression, so I might venture to guess that turmeric could help also." Other topics being discussed this week in the Healthier Talk community forums include:

General Health Topics: Can pharm drugs cause diabetes? Cancer: Bee propolis may combat prostate cancer Health Revelations: Oral chelation Diabetes: Milk thistle may aid diabetics Depression: Folic acid Humor: American old goats To reach the HSI Healthier Talk community forums, just go to our web site at www.hsibaltimore.com, choose "Forum," and add your comments to the wide range of topics concerning health care and nutrition.