If you are looking for nutritional curcumin, you have probably read or heard about the health benefits of this antioxidant that occurs in turmeric. Unlike other nutrients, it is not "essential" to the human body. People that do not eat turmeric will not develop an acute deficiency disease. It is just one of many antioxidants that are beneficial to human health.

Oxidation occurs throughout nature and all over the human body. Fats are oxidized and stick to arterial walls. Proteins are oxidized and become hard plaques that kill brain cells. Without oxidation, nothing would ever degrade or die. The planet could not support a species that lived forever.

We all have to die sometime. But according to many scientists, biologists and other experts, every human being is capable of living for over 100 years. If you follow the news, you know that there are more than 36,000 people over the age of 100 living in Japan, and another 20,000 were set to turn 100 in 2009. The UN estimates that there will be nearly a million 100 year old Japanese people by the year 2050.

Not only are these people achieving that age, they are active. At the time of this writing, Matsu Yamazaki is 103 years old and still works in her family's grocery store. She says that she hopes to go on living, but she does not want to lose brain function. She has seen many people have trouble with their memory and doesn't want to become one of them.

Most of us would be happy to live for 100 or more years, but we were about diseases like Alzheimer's. That's one of the reasons that scientists are interested in nutritional curcumin.

Right now, there is no effective treatment for Alzheimer's. On the average, a newly diagnosed person lives only about seven more years. The disease destroys their brains, which eventually kills them. In the last years of their lives, they sometimes lose the ability to take care of themselves. An effective treatment needs to be found.

Scientists have looked at hundreds of different plant compounds, hoping to find something that works. Of those they have studied, the best results were seen with green tea catechins, curcumin from turmeric, alpha lipoic acid (notable sources are spinach and broccoli) and resveratrol from red grapes. As antioxidants, all of these nutrients may help prevent cancer and heart disease, as well. How many of those things did you eat today?

Alpha lipoic acid is an essential cofactor for many enzymatic functions that go on within the human body. Essential means that the body has to have it, as mentioned above. But, how many people eat spinach or broccoli every single day? Even if they do, research has shown that spinach and broccoli are not as nutrient rich as they once were.

Like many other health experts, I believe that every person needs to supplement their nutrient intake. As far as we can tell, this is our best defense against chronic disease and may be the key to living over 100 years, while still being active and retaining all of our mental faculties. Find a good supplement that contains nutritional curcumin, resveratrol, green tea and alpha lipoic acid, as well as the basic essential vitamins and minerals. It could be the best thing that you ever do for your health.