Turmeric

Ever wonder why Indian curries have a typical yellow colour? The answer is Turmeric.

What exactly is Turmeric and why is it referred to as ‘the golden spice’? Let’s find out.

What Is Turmeric?

Turmeric is a flowering plant, derived from the rhizome Curcuma longa and a member of the ginger family. In South Asia, it’s commonly used as a spice and referred to as “Indian saffron”. Not only does Turmeric taste great in food, it’s also been used as medicine in various traditional medicine systems of the olden world.¹

Science has identified more than 100 organic compounds in Turmeric powder.

Why Is Turmeric Yellow?

Its typical yellow colour is due to its content of curcuminoids, and among them, Curcumin is regarded to be most important.

Is Turmeric Good for Your Health?

Yes. Though traditional Indian medicine (Ayurveda) primarily used Turmeric for health benefits, modern science understands that most of its beneficial effects are due to the Curcumin found in Turmeric.

Freshly ground Turmeric powder has about 5-6% of curcumin, though commercially culinary grade powders may have 3-4%. Therapeutic grade commercial powders can have 5%-6% curcumin content.¹^,²

This is why most health supplements contain curcumin for better health benefits.

What Are the Health Benefits of Curcumin?

Curcumin is one of the most researched herbal extracts supported by more than 10,000 scientific papers – that’s a lot of research!

So, what did all the scientific papers find? Here are just some of its health benefits:

Anti-Inflammatory Compound

Inflammation is an essential defensive reaction. A prolonged inflammatory response however, does more harm than good. In fact, researchers believe that low level, persistent inflammation is behind the rise of cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, cancer, and neurodegenerative conditions. ³^,⁴^,⁵This is likely why anti-inflammatory drugs are the most commonly used medications, as they help reduce the severity of various diseases and infections.

Another alternative? Curcumin. Curcumin has a strong anti-inflammatory action, and it seems that curcumin only reduces inflammatory markers; it may even block NF-kB molecules to reduce the inflammatory responses at the level of genes.

Comparative studies between curcumin and various anti-inflammatory drugs show that curcumin has better anti-inflammatory action than aspirin or ibuprofen, and it also has antiproliferative effects.⁶

Pain Relief

In addition to an anti-inflammatory action, curcumin may decrease both acute and chronic pain. How? Well, it appears that curcumin can desensitise pain receptors. 400 mg of curcumin can exert a pain-relieving effect comparable to 1 g of acetaminophen.⁷

Antioxidants

Oxidative stress is now understood to be behind many disease conditions and even faster aging. Antioxidants, protect various body molecules, including DNA from free radicals.

Curcumin is now accepted as a potent antioxidant. At the same time, it boosts the body’s own antioxidant abilities, meaning that it strengthens the body in two ways. One, by direct action, and the other by stimulating the production of antioxidant defenses.⁸

Lowers Risk of Brain Disease

In recent years, Alzheimers and other brain diseases have emerged as a significant health threat. Fortunately, though, Curcumin can help prevent them by stimulating the brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF).⁹

Autoimmune Disease Prevention

Curcumin may also reduce the risk of numerous autoimmune conditions such as type 1 diabetes, lupus, inflammatory bowel disease, rheumatoid arthritis, cancer, and much more.¹⁰^, ¹¹^, ¹²

Liver Protectant and Detoxifying Effect

Liver issues have become more common due to pollution, toxins, medication, and substance abuse, just to name a few. There is strong evidence that Turmeric may help with detoxification, along with protecting liver cells. Turmeric is not just an antioxidant; it suppresses inflammatory responses, reduces lipid peroxidation products and acts as a free radical scavenger.¹³

Do I Need a Bioavailability Enhancer?

One of the issues with taking curcumin as a supplement is a problem of bioavailability (the proportion of a drug or other substance which enters the circulation when introduced into the body). It means that only a small amount of it is absorbed through the intestine.

Science has found various ways to increase these properties though – through the addition of so-called bioavailability enhancers.¹⁴

So, yes, when taking Turmeric (curcumin), a bioavailability enhancer is recommended. One such well-known bioavailability enhancer is piperine, an extract from black pepper. Studies show that it can increase the bioavailability of curcumin by as much as 2000%¹⁵ – Pretty incredible, isn’t it?

When taken correctly, in the right dose and with a bioavailability enhancer, Turmeric can really do wonders for your health.

Properties

Anti-Bacterial¹
Anti-Fungal¹³
Anti-Inflammatory⁶^,¹²
Antioxidant⁵
Arthritis¹²
Blood Pressure – Reduction⁶
Brain Function / Neuroprotective⁹
Bruises⁷
Cancer Prevention⁷^,¹³
Cardiovascular Support⁶^,⁵
Cholesterol⁶^,⁸
Colic¹³
Diabetes / Blood Sugar⁶^,⁸^,¹²
Digestive Restoration¹²^,¹³
Eye Health⁹
Flatulence¹³
Gall Stones¹³
Haemorrhoids⁸
Hypertension³
Immune Booster⁸^,¹²
Indigestion¹³
Kidney Support⁶
Liver Health¹³
Pain Relief⁷
Sprains⁶
Toothache⁴
Toxin Removal⁸
Ulcer Support¹³
Wound Healing⁷

References