What is turmeric exactly, and what is it good for?  Turmeric (Pronounced term ur ick) has been around for 2500 years at least.  Oxford Dictionary describes it as: a bright yellow aromatic powder obtained from the rhizome of a plant of the ginger family, used for flavoring and coloring in Asian cooking and formerly as a fabric dye.  The active ingredient in turmeric is curcumin which has powerful anti-inflammatory effects and is a very strong antioxidant.  Yet another reason to eat more curry, right??! 😉

The amount of curcumin in turmeric is pretty low, so to get the proper dosage to be medicinal you’d need to take a supplement, and the best of those has one with bioperine (another name for piperine), which is the substance that enhances absorption of curcumin by 2000%. There’s a great selection on Amazon (for you Prime folks!) of Turmeric Supplements.

So now we know where to get them, WHY should we be including more turmeric in our diets?  There are a lot of benefits, so I’ll try to list a few here.

• Curcumin is a Natural Anti-Inflammatory Compound  –  Inflammation helps the body fight foreign invaders and also has a role in repairing damage. It is now believed 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. Curcumin is strongly anti-inflammatory; it is so powerful that it matches the effectiveness of some anti-inflammatory drugs. and actually targets multiple steps in the inflammatory pathway, at the molecular level.  In several studies, its potency has compared favorably to anti-inflammatory pharmaceutical drugs… except without the side effects.
  

• Turmeric Dramatically Increases The Antioxidant Capacity of The Body – We’ve been told for years that we should have more Antioxidants in our diet. Oxidative damage involves free radicals, highly reactive molecules with unpaired electrons. Curcumin delivers a one-two punch against free radicals. It blocks them directly, then stimulates the body’s own antioxidant mechanisms.
  

• Curcumin Leads to Various Improvements That Should Lower Your Risk of Heart Disease –Perhaps the main benefit of curcumin when it comes to heart disease, is improving the function of the endothelium, which is the lining of the blood vessels. It is well known that endothelial dysfunction is a major driver of heart disease and involves an inability of the endothelium to regulate blood pressure, blood clotting and various other factors.

• Turmeric Can Help Prevent (And Perhaps Even Treat) Cancer – Researchers have been studying curcumin as a beneficial herb in cancer treatment. It can affect cancer growth, development and spread at the molecular level. Multiple studies have shown that curcumin can reduce the growth of cancerous cells in the laboratory and inhibit the growth of tumors in test animals.  Perhaps we will soon see it used along with other cancer medication! 

That’s a lot of info for one day, and I don’t want to overload you, so I’ll continue this “discussion” later.  There are many more benefits of Turmeric, so stay tuned!!