Health benefits of Turmeric!

by Team VN January 02, 2018

Powerful Turmeric

Introduction

Turmeric has a deep, golden-orange colour and looks similar to ginger. It is widely used as a spice in cooking. Turmeric is usually boiled, sun-dried and then ground into a powder, and it is in this form that it is most commonly used. It has a peppery, warm flavour and a mild fragrance.

One of the components of the spice is a substance called curcumin, which has potential healing properties. Curcumin (the active component) comes from a group of compounds called curcuminoids. When curcumin is ingested it is not readily absorbed by the digestive tract, however by taking it alongside black pepper (which contains piperine) curcumin absorption is increased by 2000% (1).

Turmeric has been used for many thousands of years in Chinese and Indian Ayurvedic medicine for conditions including heartburn, diarrhoea, stomach bloating, colds, fibromyalgia and depression. Followers of Chinese and Ayurvedic medicine also sometimes apply turmeric to the skin as it's said to have anti-bacterial properties.

What are the health benefits?

Turmeric has many health benefits and research has gained a lot of traction recently. Below we have outlined some key findings from turmeric consumption backed up by studies taken place around the world.

1- Curcumin has natural anti-inflammatory properties

Inflammation is very important, and our body uses it as a function to fight off many pathogens. However chronic inflammation can lead to detrimental effects on the body (2,3,4), and it is in these situations where natural anti inflammatory remedies can make a significant difference and possibly help treat or manage these types of diseases.

It turns out that curcumin has strong anti-inflammatory properties, it is so powerful that it matches the effectiveness of some anti-inflammatory drugs (5).

Therefore turmeric can help manage long term chronic inflammatory conditions such as arthritis, heart disease, cancer, metabolic disease and Alzheimers, very similarly to taking potent anti inflammatory drugs without the associated side effects (6,7)

2- Turmeric is a powerful antioxidant

Oxidative damage is believed to be one of the major causes of many diseases and ageing. These free radicals attack organic matter, proteins and fatty tissues causing detrimental effects.

In recent studies turmeric has shown to be a powerful antioxidant, protecting the body from free radicals. This is achieved by turmeric neutralising the free radicals and thus prevent damage to significant systems of the body (8).

Therefore by taking turmeric it can help 'mop up' any free radicals roaming around the body and reduce the chance of them attacking.

3- Turmeric may be useful in the prevention of Alzheimer’s

Alzheimer's is the most common neurodegenerative disease in the world. Unfortunately, no good treatment is available for Alzheimer's yet. Therefore, preventing it in the first place, is most important.

It is known that oxidative stress and inflammation play an important role in the development of Alzheimer's disease. We also know that Turmeric can help reduce oxidative stress and inflammation.

However a key feature of Alzheimer's disease is the development of amyloid plaques, we have found recent studies to suggest that turmeric can help reduce these plaques (9)

Whether turmeric can slow down or even treat Alzheimer’s is something that needs to be studied further. However, we know that turmeric helps reduce inflammation, oxidative damage and amyloid plaques. Therefore having the potential to help reduce the incidence of Alzheimer’s.

Anything else?

There are many other health benefits of Turmeric. The ones we have touched on are backed up with evidence. From our research and recent studies we know that Turmeric helps reduce inflammation and oxidative damage, furthermore piperine (which is found in black pepper) increases the absorption of turmeric by 2000%.

We have developed Turmunity so people can harness the powerful benefits of Turmeric in a quick and easy form. We have also added black pepper to ensure turmeric absorption is increased. We have created it so that it is well balanced and all ingredients used are organic. Our aim is that we want people to live a healthier life through natural sources.