Ten Amazing Health Benefits of Turmeric by Dirk Hooper

Adding Turmeric to your diet could lead to a boatload of scientifically-backed health benefits. Turmeric is a spice that is in Indian curries and even makes American mustard yellow, but it may also be one of the most effective nutritional supplements available.

Turmeric contains compounds called curcuminoids, the most important being curcumin. Curcumin is the main active ingredient in turmeric. It has strong anti-inflammatory effects and is powerful antioxidant. Unfortunately, the curcumin content of turmeric is only 3% so finding an extract is important to get the full benefits.

Here are a list of ten health benefits of turmeric.

1. Super Anti-Inflammatory Compound

Chronic inflammation plays a major role in almost every chronic, Western disease. If heart disease, cancer, metabolic syndrome and various other degenerative conditions concern you then fighting chronic inflammation is important.
Curcumin is such a strong anti-inflammatory that it matches the effectiveness of some anti-inflammatory drugs (without the side-effects).

2. Super Anti-Oxidant Properties

Oxidative damage is believed to be one of the mechanisms behind aging and many diseases. Free radicals, which are highly reactive molecules, react and disrupt with important organic substances like fatty acids, proteins and DNA. Antioxidants help protect our bodies from free radicals.

Curcumin is a powerful antioxidant that can neutralize free radicals. It can also boost the activity of the body’s own antioxidant enzymes.

3. Block Alzheimer’s Disease

Ethnobotanist Dr. James A. Duke published a comprehensive review of turmeric studies in the October 2007 issue of Alternative & Complementary Studies which found over 50 studies on turmeric’s effect on Alzheimer’s disease. The reports indicate that turmeric contains a number of natural agents that block the formation of beta-amyloid the substance that slowly obstructs the cerebral function in Alzheimer’s disease.

Another study found that ar-turmerone, part of the substances of turmeric, promotes repair to stem cells in the brain.

4. Fight Cancer

Dr. Duke also found more than 700 citations for turmeric, curcumin and cancer. He noted that curcumin or turmeric were effective in animal models for the prevention or treatment of prostate cancer, colon cancer, mammary cancer and more.

5. Fight Arthritis

Curcumin has been found to have powerful anti-inflammatory powers. One of the most promising studies found that turmeric extract supplements worked just as well as Ibuprofen in patients with knee osteoarthritis.

6. Delay Diabetes

In a 2012 study, curcumin capsules were found to delay the onset of Type 2 diabetes.

7. Battle Heart Disease

Heart disease is the world’s number one killer. While heart disease has a multitude of contributing factors, curcumin may help reverse the damage.

Curcumin is also a powerful anti-inflammatory and antioxidant (above) which help fight heart disease.

8. Improve Your Brain

There is a possibility that curcumin could improve your memory and make you smarter. Curcumin boosts levels of the brain hormone BDNF, which increases the growth of new neurons.

9. Benefits Against Depression

Curcumin has shown some promise in treating depression. One study found that curcumin was just as effective as Prozac. Depression is linked to reduced levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factors and a shrinking hippocampus. Curcumin boosts BNDF levels, which might counteract these changes. Also, there is evidence that curcumin can boost the brain neurotransmitters serotonin and dopamine.

10. Beauty Secrets of Turmeric

If you’re still on the fence about adding turmeric to your diet, there are ton of ways to use turmeric to enhance your beauty. In fact, here are a list of 28 Benefits of Turmeric for Skin, Hair and Health. Turmeric is used in the treatment of acne, wrinkles, signs of aging, stretch marks, cracked heels and many other things.

The Science

The studies that fueled this article are all available to read below. You're going to be pleasantly surprised by the results of those studies.

If you're interested in the health benefits of Turmeric, the wonderful thing is that it's a spice that you can simply add to your meals.

A more concentrated and effective form of turmeric that focuses on curcumin is available online at places like Amazon (here's a highly rated and reasonably-priced option: https://amzn.to/2q8SEy6) or you can check at your local health food store where they can answer questions for you as well.

Links to Read the Science Behind this Article:

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/natural/662.html
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19594223
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17569207
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jat.1517/abstract
http://stemcellres.com/content/5/4/100
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19678780
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12676044
http://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/early/2012/07/02/dc12-0116
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19233493
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10522-013-9422-y
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23832433
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00213-008-1300-y
http://www.stylecraze.com/articles/turmeric-history-how-to-use-benefits/

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All images are copyright 2018 by Dirk Hooper.

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