Health Benefits of Turmeric
Turmeric
Health Benefits of Turmeric Introduction
even identity of other species and cultivars in other parts of the world still need to be established and validated. Various species currently utilized and sold as “turmeric” in other parts of Asia have been shown to belong to several physically similar taxa, with overlapping local names.urmeric has been used in Asia for centuries and is a major part of Ayurveda, Siddha medicine, traditional Chinese medicine, Unani, and the animistic rituals of Austronesian peoples. It was first used as a dye, and then later for its supposed properties in folk medicine.
From India, it spread to Southeast Asia along with Hinduism and Buddhism, as the yellow dye is used to color the robes of monks and priests. Turmeric has also been found in Tahiti, Hawaii and Easter Island before European contact.There is linguistic and circumstantial evidence of the spread and use of turmeric by the Austronesian peoples into Oceania and Madagascar. The populations in Polynesia and Micronesia, in particular, never came into contact with India, but use turmeric widely for both food and dye. Thus independent domestication events are also likely.
Turmeric was found in Farmana, dating to between 2600 and 2200 BCE, and in a merchant’s tomb in Megiddo, Israel, dating from the second millennium BCE. It was noted as a dye plant in the Assyrians‘ Cuneiform medical texts from Ashurbanipal’s library at Nineveh from 7th century BCE. In Medieval Europe, turmeric was called “Indian saffron.”
A relative of ginger, this vivid yellow-orange spice is common in Indian, Southeast Asian, and Middle Eastern cooking. It’s also been used as medicine in places like India for centuries to treat breathing problems. Turmeric has been touted lately as a super food that can fight cancer, ease depression, and more. Find out what turmeric can — and can’t — do for your health.
Depression
Several compounds in turmeric may support your health. The most well-known of these is curcumin. Scientists are excited about curcumin’s potential to ease depression and help antidepressants work better. But so far, research results have been mixed.
Type 2 Diabetes
Because curcumin can help fight inflammation and keep blood sugar levels steady, it could be a valuable tool to prevent or treat type 2 diabetes. One study followed 240 adults with prediabetes and found that taking a curcumin supplement over nine months lowered their odds of developing diabetes. Research is ongoing, but a lot of the studies so far have been on animals, not people.
Viral Infections
The next time you’re under the weather, you may want to sip some turmeric tea. Curcumin might help you fight various viruses, including herpes and the flu. (But most of this research was done in a lab, not on people.) Remember that turmeric is only about 3% curcumin, and your body doesn’t absorb curcumin well, so the occasional cup of tea won’t be a cure-all.
Premenstrual Syndrome
A recent study that followed women for three menstrual cycles in a row found that curcumin supplements helped ease PMS symptoms. A survey on muscles from guinea pigs and rats suggests that turmeric could relieve menstrual cramps, too.
High Cholesterol
Research on turmeric’s ability to protect your ticker has been mixed. Some studies have found that turmeric can lower LDL “bad” cholesterol, while others concluded that the spice has no effect. Scientists continue to look into the heart-protective possibilities of turmeric. One study found that turmeric can help prevent heart attacks in people with bypass surgery.
Alzheimer’s Disease
People with Alzheimer’s have chronic inflammation, and turmeric has natural anti-inflammatory effects. So does turmeric fight Alzheimer’s? Sorry, there’s no scientific evidence that taking turmeric effectively prevents the disease.
Arthritis
Turmeric has shown promise in easing joint pain, stiffness, and inflammation. However, we need more research before turmeric becomes a go-to arthritis treatment. If you try it for joint pain, help your body absorb natural curcumin by eating turmeric and black pepper.
Cancer
In lab and animal studies, turmeric has stopped the growth of tumor cells, helped detoxifying enzymes work better, and more. What these studies can’t tell us, though, is what will happen in the human body when a person eats turmeric. Plus, there’s a chance that turmeric might interfere with some chemotherapy drugs.
Irritable Bowel Syndrome
Early research, including a pilot study of 207 adults and another using rats, found that turmeric could help improve IBS symptoms such as abdominal pain. Like many things we’ve already covered here, more research is needed. Turmeric is also being studied to treat diseases like Crohn’s and ulcerative colitis.
Headaches
Since its relative ginger is a well-known natural headache remedy, it’s no surprise that turmeric gets recommended as a headache treatment, too — especially for migraines. Although people sing its praises online, there’s little scientific evidence showing that turmeric can treat or prevent headaches, although one study suggests it could be part of a new approach.
Acne
Some people claim that putting a turmeric mask on their skin or eating turmeric will help fight stubborn pimples — perhaps because of the spice’s reported antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties. Unfortunately, there’s no hard science to back this up.
uses
In 2019, the European Medicines Agency concluded that turmeric herbal teas, or other forms taken by mouth, on the basis of their long-standing traditional use, could be used to relieve mild digestive problems, such as feelings of fullness and flatulence.
Turmeric grows wild in the forests of South and Southeast Asia, where it is collected for use in classical Indian medicine (Siddha or Ayurveda). In Eastern India, the plant is used as one of the nine components of nabapatrika along with young plantain or banana plant, taro leaves, barley (jayanti), wood apple (bilva), pomegranate (darimba), Saraca indica, manaka (Arum), or manakochu, and rice paddy. The Haldi ceremony called gaye holud in Bengal (literally “yellow on the body”) is a ceremony observed during wedding celebrations of people of Indian culture all throughout the Indian subcontinent.
In Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, as a part of the Tamil–Telugu marriage ritual, dried turmeric tuber tied with string is used to create a Thali necklace. In western and coastal India, during weddings of the Marathi and Konkani people, Kannada Brahmins, turmeric tubers are tied with strings by the couple to their wrists during a ceremony, Kankana Bandhana.
Turmeric makes a poor fabric dye, as it is not light fast, but is commonly used in Indian clothing, such as saris and Buddhist monks’ robes. During the late Edo period (1603–1867), turmeric was used to dilute or substitute more expensive safflower dyestuff in the production of beni itajime shibori. Friedrich Ratzel reported in The History of Mankind during 1896, that in Micronesia, turmeric powder was applied for embellishment of body, clothing, utensils, and ceremonial uses. Native Hawaiians who introduced it to Hawaii (Hawaiian: ʻōlena) make a bright yellow dye out of it.
Research
Turmeric and curcumin have been studied in numerous clinical trials for various human diseases and conditions, with no high-quality evidence of any anti-disease effect or health benefit. There is no scientific evidence that curcumin reduces inflammation, as of 2020. There is weak evidence that turmeric extracts may be beneficial for relieving symptoms of knee osteoarthritis, as well as for reducing pain and muscle damage following physical exercise.There is good evidence that turmeric is an allergen.
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