Turmeric in recent times has become the new buzz word in the health and fitness world with many reported health benefits.
It wasn’t until I started to notice Dr Rhonda Patrick rave about this wonder plant though that I really started to pay attention.
Generally when Dr Rhonda Patrick enthuses about anything health related you’d be a fool not to listen as it will be deeply researched legit information, so I delved deeper to find out what exactly gives this colorful spice its super powers.
If you suffer from any ailment or disease brought on by chronic inflammation, I recommend you read on for some interesting research on the many health benefits of turmeric.
What Is Turmeric
Turmeric is a flowering plant from the ginger family native to India and south East Asia. The stems of the plant are boiled, dried in an oven and then ground to make the deep yellow-orange powder that we use today.
Turmeric has been used over the years as a food coloring and is one of the main ingredient in curry powder which is what gives Asian food its rich yellow-orange color.
It also has deep roots in traditional Ayurvedic medicine and was used to treat many ailments way before we were introduced to the chemically enhanced remedies of today’s modern medicine.
It seems that traditional medicine is slowly working its way back into the zeitgeist of society as we are starting to realize that these natural remedies can be extremely effective without the serious side effects of the medicine were prescribed now days.
What Makes Turmeric Good For You
Turmeric itself makes a great dye and food coloring because of its deep potent color but it’s actually the curcuminoid compounds in turmeric that give it its healing properties.
The principle curcuminoid in turmeric is curcumin and is the compound which provides the powerful anti inflammatory benefits.
The problem is that turmeric only contains a small amount of curcumin and the small amount that it does possess does not absorb well into the body.
Turmeric only contains between 3-5% curcumin which would require extremely high doses to have any effect whatsoever.
The poor bioavailability of curcumin further reduces the amount that’s is absorbed by the body making turmeric very in effective in its pure form.
What Is The Most Effective Way To Take Curcumin?
The best way to take curcumin to benefit from all its healing properties is through a supplement with a high concentration of curcumin a opposed to a turmeric supplement which will only contain a minimal amount of the good stuff.
To further enhance the absorption of curcumin it has been shown in many studies that by combining curcumin with bioperine, you can increase the bioavailability by 2000%.(Study)
Bioperine is the patented name for piperine which is a black pepper extract and similarly to turmeric which contains a small amount of curcumin, black Peper only contains 5% piperine.
Bioperine was developed as a potent form of piperine containing 95% and when combined with 95% curcumin that’s where the magic happens.
What Are The Benefits Of Curcumin?
May Fight of Cancer
It is reported that curcumin has powerful anti cancer properties with the ability to not only kill cancer cells but to stop them from developing.
I thought it would be interesting to see what the cancer rates are among countries that use turmeric heavily in their food to see if there was any correlation between higher consumption of turmeric and lower rates of cancer.
According to this article “overall cancer rates are much lower in India than in western countries.” U.S. men get 23 times more prostate cancer than men in India. Americans get between 8 and 14 times the rate of melanoma, 10 to 11 times more colorectal cancer, 9 times more endometrial cancer, 7 to 17 times more lung cancer, 7 to 8 times more bladder cancer, 5 times more breast cancer, and 9 to 12 times more kidney cancer.
Now I’m not saying that the low cancer rates are down to their love of curry because there could be many lifestyle and environmental factors involved but it’s an interesting correlation.
There have been countless reports though on the benefits of curcumin and cancer, and a recent study has actually discovered the mechanism behind why curcumin is able to fight cancer.
They found that curcumin binds to DYRK2, an enzyme involved in cellular growth and development which inhibits proteasome which is the cellular protein machinery that destroys unneeded or damaged proteins in cells and at least in animal trials has shown to reduce cancer in mice.
Help with depression
Antidepressant medication although effective in certain situations have a long list of unpleasant side effects from nausea to fatigue and drowsiness.
Curcumin can be an effective natural alternative which can be taken in high doses without any of the pitfalls of the pills prescribed now days.
In this randomised double blind placebo controlled study, 500 mg of curcumin extract was shown to reduce depressive symptoms and anxiety in people with major depressive disorder.
Inflammatory markers associated with depression such as TNF alpha, interleukin 1B, and C reactive protein can also been lowered with the administration of curcumin.
Improve Symptoms Of Alzheimer’s
Brain inflammation has been linked as one of the main causes of Alzheimer’s disease.
This double- blind, placebo controlled study found that 90mg of curcumin twice a day for eighteen months for subjects between the age of 50 and 90 years of age with mild memory complaints showed significant improvements in their memory and attention abilities.
Brain PET scans also showed significantly less inflammation in the amygdala and hypothalamus regions of the brain that control memory.
Large amounts a dietary curcumin consumption has also been suggested as a possible factor for lower rates of Alzheimer’s disease and better cognitive function in senior citizens living in India.
Reduce Symptoms Of Arthritis
Curcumin is known to be a potent anti inflammatory and is therefore a great substitute for anti inflammatory drugs when it comes to dealing with Rheumatoid arthritis.
This study pitted curcumin against Diclofenac, a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) used to treat mild-to-moderate pain and found curcumin to perform significantly better in reduces symptoms of arthritis along with no threat of negative side effects.
Fight obesity
Curcumin has been shown to be able to fight obesity by controlling “the starvation hormone” leptin.
Leptin is a protein that is made in fat cells, circulated in the bloodstream and transported to the brain to either tell the brain you have enough stored energy in your fat cells and to stop eating or more energy is needed so time to eat.
In overweight people, the body can become leptin resistant, meaning that even though they have high levels of leptin stored in their fat calls, the brain isn’t receiving the signal to stop eating.
By controlling the modulation of leptin and several other cellular mechanisms related to obesity, curcumin can improve the brain’s ability to better know when to eat and when to stop eating.
This study concludes that turmeric may contribute to the decreasing of body fat by its ability to regulate leptin secretion.
Aid Workout Recovery
Working out can cause muscle fiber damage, followed by inflammation leading to delayed-onset muscle soreness for up to 2 days post workout.
Curcumin has been shown at least in mice to partially offset some of the damage and functional deficits associated with exercise.
This study examined the effects of curcumin on inflammation and recovery of running performance following downhill running in mice and found that curcumin can reduce inflammation and offset some of the performance deficits associated with eccentric exercise-induced muscle damage.
Summary Of Turmeric And Black Pepper As A Powerful Anti inflammatory
As you can see, turmeric has amazing healing potential for even some of the most serious of diseases and illnesses.
It has been extensively researched for over 50 years and has been shown in clinical trials to possess anti inflammatory, antioxidant, cancer fighting properties even more effective than pharmaceutical drugs.
Unfortunately, because drug companies cannot patent this natural product for major profit, it is not widely subscribed to prevent, heal or reduce the symptoms of the ailments it has been proven to effectively fix.
The silver lining is that it remains a relatively inexpensive natural remedy which we can all greatly benefit from which is safe to take even in high doses.
Curcumin, because of its poor bioavailability due to its rapid metabolism in the liver and intestinal wall, is one of those natural products that is much more effective when taken in a supplement form.
A concentrated mix of curcumin with piperine which has been shown to increase bioavailability by 2000% seems to be the most effective way for your body to benefit from its healing properties.
In my opinion, the best supplement out there right now is Turmeric with Bioperine by Science Natural Supplements.
Click here to find out more about this amazing supplement and to benefit from the offer of 3 free bottles to keep inflammation at bay for even longer.
You may want to moderate your turmeric consumption if you are on blood thinners, pregnant or suffer from gallstones or kidney stones.
