It has a warm, bitter taste and is frequently used to flavor or color curry powders, mustards, butters, and cheeses. But the root of turmeric is also used widely to make medicine. It contains a yellow-colored chemical called curcumin, which is often used to color foods and cosmetics.
Benifits :
- Turmeric Contains Bioactive Compounds With Powerful Medicinal Properties :
- Turmeric is the spice that gives curry its yellow color.
- It has been used in India for thousands of years as a spice and medicinal herb.
- Recently, science has started to back up what the Indians have known for a long time. it really does contain compounds with medicinal properties.
- These compounds are called curcuminoids, the most important of which is curcumin.
- Curcumin is the main active ingredient in turmeric. It has powerful anti-inflammatory effects and is a very strong antioxidant.
- However, the curcumin content of turmeric is not that high. it's around 3%, by weight
- Most of the studies on this herb are using turmeric extracts that contain mostly curcumin itself, with dosages usually exceeding 1 gram per day. It would be very difficult to reach these levels just using the turmeric spice in your foods.
- Therefore, if you want to experience the full effects, then you need to take an extract that contains significant amounts of curcumin.
- Unfortunately, curcumin is poorly absorbed into the bloodstream. It helps to consume black pepper with it, which contains piperine. a natural substance that enhances the absorption of curcumin by 2000%
- I personally prefer to swallow a few whole peppercorns along with my curcumin supplement, in order to enhance absorption.
- Curcumin is also fat soluble, so it may be a good idea to take it with a fatty meal.
- Curcumin is a Natural Anti-Inflammatory Compound :
- Inflammation is incredibly important.
- It helps the body fight foreign invaders and also has a role in repairing damage.
- Without inflammation, pathogens like bacteria could easily take over our bodies and kill us.
- Although acute (short-term) inflammation is beneficial, it can become a major problem when it is chronic (long-term) and inappropriately deployed against the body's own tissues.
- It is now believed that chronic, low-level inflammation plays a major role in almost every chronic, Western disease. This includes heart disease, cancer, metabolic syndrome, Alzheimer's and various degenerative conditions.
- Therefore, anything that can help fight chronic inflammation is of potential importance in preventing and even treating these diseases.
- It turns out that curcumin is strongly anti-inflammatory, it is so powerful that it matches the effectiveness of some anti-inflammatory drugs.
- Curcumin actually targets multiple steps in the inflammatory pathway, at the molecular level.
- Curcumin blocks NF-kB, a molecule that travels into the nuclei of cells and turns on genes related to inflammation. NF-kB is believed to play a major role in many chronic diseases.
- Without getting into the gory details (inflammation is extremely complicated), the key takeaway here is that curcumin is a bioactive substance that fights information at the molecular level.
- In several studies, its potency has compared favorably to anti-inflammatory pharmaceutical drugs. except without the side effects.