If you are reading this article, it means you are part of the current modern world, so you can’t have missed the new trend of people having their “Golden Latte” or “Golden Milk” every morning. This “golden Milk” is a mix of Turmeric root juice with Almond/Cashew/Coconut Milk. Turmeric is what gives it its golden color. Same for curry: it is Turmeric that gives curry its shiny yellow aspect.
But this is not just a latest fad: Turmeric has been used for its therapeutic benefits for thousands of years by the Ancient Chinese, Ancient Greeks, Ancient Romans, or even by the Indians in Ayurvedic medicine. They have been using it for its ability to restore, heal, and prevent infections or diseases.
The most active component of Turmeric is Curcumin. This is a potent antioxidant that kills off free-radicals. Those free-radicals make you age, increase your overall physical stress at a cellular level, and damage your system, therefore contributing to the weakness of your Immune System and the start of chronic diseases or infections.
Let’s see what are the main effects of Curcumin:
1. Power anti-inflammatory effect
Turmeric is very rich in nutrients and minerals, such as Manganese, Iron, Potassium, Magnesium, vitamin B6, vitamin C and fibers. All those nutrients help decrease inflammation in your body and restore balance where it is needed.
Inflammation may play a key role in every Chronic Disease like Heart Disease, diabetes, Obesity, Metabolic Syndrome, Atherosclerosis, Degenerative disorders, Alzheimer’s, or even Cancer. Therefore it is important to prevent and/or decrease inflammation to help your body function optimally and preserve your Immune system.
The way curcumin fights inflammation is at cellular level: it prevents the transfer of a molecule that triggers the genes related to inflammation.
The anti-inflammatory effects of curcumin are actually compared to those of prescription drugs, but without the harmful side effects obviously (ulcer, internal bleeding…). This is the power of benefits of nature, experienced for thousands of years.
2. A potent antioxidant
Free radicals are very damaging compounds, that come from all stressors around you, the environment, the polluted air, the toxins in water and food… They are the result of chemical reactions that damage your body chronically. They make you age faster, and are probably at the root of many diseases. Antioxidants are crucial to stop them and kill them off. Turmeric is very rich in antioxidants that stay in your body and protect you for several days. They help protect your brain, your liver, your kidneys, your heart… they are active throughout your whole body.
Studies show that Turmeric helps your body manage oxidative DNA damage and stress in a more efficient way, by increasing cellular adaptation to stress.
3. Strong prevention for Cancer and Alzheimer’s Disease
Turmeric may help to prevent and even reverse Cancer cells growth.
The active substance – curcumin – targets different pathways to fight cancer cells:
- It decreases the growth of new blood vessels in tumors
- It inhibits the spread of cancer cells
- It destroys cancer cells
Curcumin may also prevent and even treat neurodegenerative diseases in general, like dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. It does that by crossing the natural blood/brain barrier, that protects brain from toxins (but that sometimes become permeable due to harmful chemicals and heavy metals in our food and water more particularly). Curcumin can break down the levels of plaque around the brain (that make it weaker) and therefore increases the amount of Oxygen that is able to reach it.
Also, when curcumin crosses the blood/brain barrier, it improves significantly the cognition by decreasing the degradation of neurons and helps enhance the overall brain health.
It was important for me to make a point about Cancer and Alzheimer’s more particularly as we are all concerned with them. But Turmeric (and its curcumin) have much more health benefits in overall: turmeric can help prevent or decrease the symptoms of:
- Liver disease: curcumin helps detoxify your blood and your liver by neutralizing the toxins in the bloodstream
- Gastric ulcer
- Hemorrhoids
- Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBS)
- Joint Pain
- Arthritis (turmeric is being taken orally as supplement in some treatments)
- Atherosclerosis
- Insuline Resistance: turmeric is often used by Diabetics to regulate the blood sugar levels and prevent Insuline Resistance to build up even more
- Digestive Help: Turmeric stimulates the Gallbladder, and therefore increases the secretion of bile that facilitates digestion of foods, and more particularly fats
CONCLUSION
Turmeric, thanks to its active component curcumin, is a powerful spice that has powerful health benefits, especially regarding inflammation and cellular oxidative stress damage.
To fully benefit from all those benefits, it is better to supplement yourself with high concentrated turmeric extract. And ADD BLACK PEPPER to increase its absorption by 2000%!
As usual, choose a good organic pure source. Trust Nature, it’s all there around us for a good reason.
In Health and Happiness,
Stephanie