Health Benefit of consumed of Turmeric –
Health Benefit of consumed of Turmeric –
Turmeric may be the most effective nutritional supplement in existence.
Many high-quality studies show that it has major benefits for your body and
brain.
Here are the top 10 evidence-based health benefits of turmeric.
1.
Turmeric Contains Bioactive Compounds With Powerful Medicinal Properties
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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
Indians have known for a long time — it really does contain compounds with
medicinal properties (1Trusted Source).
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 (2Trusted Source).
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, you need to take a supplement 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 2,000% (3Trusted Source).
The best curcumin supplements contain piperine,
substantially increasing their effectiveness.
Curcumin is also fat soluble, so it may be a good
idea to take it with a fatty meal.
Summary Turmeric contains curcumin, a
substance with powerful anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. Most
studies used turmeric extracts that are standardized to include large amounts
of curcumin.
2. Curcumin Is a
Natural Anti-Inflammatory Compound
Inflammation is incredibly important.
It helps your body fight foreign invaders and also
has a role in repairing damage.
Without inflammation, pathogens like bacteria could
easily take over your body and kill you.
Although acute, short-term inflammation is
beneficial, it can become a major problem when it becomes chronic and
inappropriately attacks your body's own tissues.
Scientists now believe 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 (4Trusted Source, 5Trusted Source, 6Trusted Source).
Therefore, anything that can help fight chronic
inflammation is of potential importance in preventing and even treating these
diseases.
Curcumin is strongly anti-inflammatory. In fact,
it’s so powerful that it matches the
effectiveness of some anti-inflammatory drugs, without the side
effects (7Trusted Source, 8Trusted Source, 9Trusted Source ).
It blocks NF-kB, a molecule that travels into the
nuclei of your cells and turns on genes related to inflammation. NF-kB is
believed to play a major role in many chronic diseases (10, 11Trusted Source).
Without getting into the details (inflammation is
extremely complicated), the key takeaway is that curcumin is a bioactive
substance that fights inflammation
at the molecular level (12Trusted Source, 13,
14).
Summary Chronic inflammation
contributes to many common Western diseases. Curcumin can suppress many
molecules known to play major roles in inflammation.
3. Turmeric
Dramatically Increases the Antioxidant Capacity of the Body
Oxidative damage is believed to be one of the
mechanisms behind aging and many diseases.
It involves free radicals, highly reactive
molecules with unpaired electrons.
Free radicals tend to react with important organic
substances, such as fatty acids, proteins or
DNA.
The main reason antioxidants are so beneficial is
that they protect your body from free radicals.
Curcumin is a potent antioxidant that can
neutralize free radicals due to its chemical structure (15Trusted Source, 16Trusted Source).
In addition, curcumin boosts the activity of your
body's own antioxidant enzymes (17,
18,
19Trusted Source).
In that way, curcumin delivers a one-two punch
against free radicals. It blocks them directly, then stimulates your body's own
antioxidant defenses.
Summary Curcumin has powerful
antioxidant effects. It neutralizes free radicals on its own but also
stimulates your body's own antioxidant enzymes.
Back in the day, it was believed that neurons
weren't able to divide and multiply after early childhood.
However, it’s now known that this does happen.
Neurons are capable of forming new connections, but
in certain areas of the brain they can also multiply and increase in number.
One of the main drivers of this process is
brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), which is a type of growth hormone
that functions in your brain (20Trusted Source).
Many common brain disorders have been linked to
decreased levels of this hormone, including depression and Alzheimer's disease
(21,
22).
Interestingly, curcumin can increase brain levels
of BDNF (23,
24).
By doing this, it may be effective in delaying or
even reversing many brain diseases and age-related decreases in brain function
(25Trusted Source).
It may also improve memory
and make you smarter, which seems logical given its effects on BDNF levels.
However, controlled studies in people are needed to confirm this (26).
Summary Curcumin boosts levels of the
brain hormone BDNF, which increases the growth of new neurons and fights
various degenerative processes in your brain.
5. Curcumin
Should Lower Your Risk of Heart Disease
Heart disease
is the number 1 cause of death in the world (27Trusted Source).
Researchers have studied it for many decades and
learned a lot about why it happens.
Unsurprisingly, heart disease is incredibly
complicated and various things contribute to it.
Curcumin may help reverse many steps in the heart
disease process (28Trusted Source).
Perhaps the main benefit of curcumin when it comes
to heart disease is improving the function of the endothelium, which is the
lining of your blood vessels.
It’s well known that endothelial dysfunction is a
major driver of heart disease and involves an inability of your endothelium to
regulate blood pressure, blood clotting and various other factors (29Trusted Source).
Several studies suggest that curcumin leads to
improvements in endothelial function. One study found that it’s as effective as
exercise while another shows that it works as well as the drug Atorvastatin (30Trusted Source, 31Trusted Source).
In addition, curcumin reduces inflammation and
oxidation (as discussed above), which play a role in heart disease as well.
One study randomly assigned 121 people, who were
undergoing coronary artery bypass surgery, either a placebo or 4 grams of
curcumin per day, a few days before and after the surgery.
The curcumin group had a 65% decreased risk of
experiencing a heart attack in the hospital (32Trusted Source).
Summary Curcumin has beneficial
effects on several factors known to play a role in heart disease. It improves
the function of the endothelium and is a potent anti-inflammatory agent and
antioxidant.
6. Turmeric Can
Help Prevent (And Perhaps Even Treat) Cancer
Cancer is a terrible disease, characterized by
uncontrolled cell growth.
There are many different forms of cancer, which
still have several things in common. Some of them appear to be affected by
curcumin supplements (33Trusted Source).
Curcumin has been studied as a beneficial herb in
cancer treatment and been found to affect cancer growth, development and spread
at the molecular level (34Trusted Source).
Studies have shown that it can contribute to the
death of cancerous cells and reduce angiogenesis (growth of new blood vessels
in tumors) and metastasis (spread of cancer) (35Trusted Source).
Multiple studies indicate that curcumin can reduce
the growth of cancerous cells in the laboratory and inhibit the growth of
tumors in test animals (36Trusted Source, 37Trusted Source).
Whether high-dose curcumin (preferably with an
absorption enhancer like piperine) can help treat cancer in humans has yet to
be studied properly.
However, there is evidence that it may prevent cancer
from occurring in the first place, especially cancers of the digestive system
like colorectal cancer.
In a 30-day study in 44 men with lesions in the
colon that sometimes turn cancerous, 4 grams of curcumin per day reduced the
number of lesions by 40% (38Trusted Source).
Maybe curcumin will be used along with conventional
cancer treatment one day. It's too early to say for sure, but it looks
promising and is being intensively studied.
Summary Curcumin leads to several
changes on the molecular level that may help prevent and perhaps even treat
cancer.
7. Curcumin May
Be Useful in Preventing and Treating Alzheimer's Disease
Alzheimer's disease is the most common
neurodegenerative disease in the world and a leading cause of dementia.
Unfortunately, no good treatment is available for
Alzheimer's yet.
Therefore, preventing it from occurring in the
first place is of utmost importance.
There may be good news on the horizon because
curcumin has been shown to cross the blood-brain barrier (39Trusted Source).
It’s known that inflammation and oxidative damage
play a role in Alzheimer's disease, and curcumin has beneficial effects on both
(40).
In addition, a key feature of Alzheimer's disease
is a buildup of protein tangles called amyloid plaques. Studies show that
curcumin can help clear these plaques (41Trusted Source).
Whether curcumin can really slow down or even
reverse the progression of Alzheimer's disease in people is currently unknown
and needs to be studied properly.
Summary Curcumin can cross the
blood-brain barrier and has been shown to lead to various improvements in the
pathological process of Alzheimer’s disease.
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8. Arthritis
Patients Respond Very Well to Curcumin Supplements
Arthritis
is a common problem in Western countries.
There are several different types, most of which
involve inflammation in the joints.
Given that curcumin is a potent anti-inflammatory
compound, it makes sense that it may help with arthritis.
Several studies show this to be true.
In a study in people with rheumatoid arthritis,
curcumin was even more effective than an anti-inflammatory drug (42Trusted Source).
Many other studies have looked at the effects of
curcumin on arthritis and noted improvements in various symptoms (43Trusted Source, 44Trusted Source).
Summary Arthritis is a common
disorder characterized by joint inflammation. Many studies show that curcumin
can help treat symptoms of arthritis and is in some cases more effective than
anti-inflammatory drugs.
9. Studies Show
That Curcumin Has Incredible Benefits Against Depression
Curcumin has shown some promise in treating
depression.
In a controlled trial, 60 people with depression
were randomized into three groups (45Trusted Source).
One group took Prozac, another group one gram of
curcumin and the third group both Prozac and curcumin.
After 6 weeks, curcumin had led to improvements
that were similar to Prozac. The group that took both Prozac and curcumin fared
best (45Trusted Source).
According to this small study, curcumin is as
effective as an antidepressant.
Depression is also linked to reduced levels of
brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and a shrinking hippocampus, a brain
area with a role in learning and memory.
Curcumin boosts BDNF levels, potentially reversing
some of these changes (46).
There is also some evidence that curcumin can boost
the brain neurotransmitters serotonin and dopamine (47,
48).
Summary A study in 60 people with
depression showed that curcumin was as effective as Prozac in alleviating
symptoms of the condition.
10. Curcumin May
Help Delay Aging and Fight Age-Related Chronic Diseases
If curcumin can really help prevent heart disease,
cancer and Alzheimer's, it would have obvious benefits for longevity.
For this reason, curcumin has become very popular
as an anti-aging supplement (49Trusted Source).
But given that oxidation and inflammation are
believed to play a role in aging, curcumin may have effects that go way beyond
just preventing disease (50Trusted Source).
Summary Due to its many positive
health effects, such as the potential to prevent heart disease, Alzheimer’s and
cancer, curcumin may aid longevity.
Turmeric and especially its most active compound
curcumin have many scientifically-proven health benefits, such as the potential
to prevent heart disease, Alzheimer’s and cancer.
It’s a potent anti-inflammatory and antioxidant and
may also help improve symptoms of depression and arthritis.
If you want to buy a turmeric/curcumin supplement,
there is an excellent
selection on Amazon with thousands of great customer reviews.
It’s recommended to find a product with BioPerine
(the trademarked name for piperine), which is the substance that enhances
curcumin absorption by 2,000%.
Without this substance, most of the curcumin just
passes through your digestive tract.
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