Abstract

Background: Spices play major role in adding taste to the Indian food by imparting various flavours. In addition to the various flavours of food, spices also possess certain medicinal properties that provide sound health to the human body and can cure the diseases in the form of traditional medicine which is known as Ayurveda in India. Cholinesterase inhibition based therapy is a significant method for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases. Various cholinesterase inhibitors are used for the treatment of memory loss and dementia, but these compounds have been reported to have side effects, including gastrointestinal disturbances. Hence, the present review focussed at understanding the epidemiology of the disease and its mechanism; also the current treatment methods and their side effects are mentioned. Finally, the herbal spices which are traditionally used in India and many parts of the world to enhance memory were studied and their therapeutic evidences were collected.
Conclusions: The studied Indian spices can be a rich source for development of new and promising agents which can be significant for the treatment of memory loss and dementia. Further studies are needed to isolate, identify and characterize the active compounds from the spices which are responsible for cholinesterase inhibition activities.

Keywords: Alzheimer’s diseases; Spices; Therapeutic potential