Turmeric and Curcumin

Turmeric has long been used as a powerful anti-inflammatory in Eastern medicine, mainly in China and India; where it has been harvested for more than 5,000 years. It has played an important role especially in Ayurvedic medicine.

Turmeric has a long history as a healing herb and culinary spice in India. Interestingly, India has the highest per capita consumption of turmeric and the lowest incidence of cognitive decline worldwide!

Turmeric has been used for its healing properties for centuries. Turmeric comes from the rhizome (rootstock) of the Curcuma longa plant and has a tough brown skin and a deep orange flesh.. To manufacture it, the roots of the plant are boiled, dried and then ground into a powder.

The powerful anti-inflammatory and antiseptic qualities of turmeric are amazing and able to treat a wide range of illnesses.

1. Medicinal Properties

Turmeric contains Bio active compounds with powerful medicinal properties.  It’s primary component, Curcumin holds some profound healing benefits for the entire body including the brain.  Curcumin also has powerful anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties.Curcumin has been shown in numerous studies to tame joint pain and muscle soreness, protect the brain, support cardiovascular health, bolster immunity.

2. Anti-Inflammatory

Chronic inflammation is known to be a contributor to many  common diseases, like  heart disease, cancer, Alzheimer’s and various degenerative conditions.  Curcumin is one of the most powerful, natural anti-inflammatories ever studied. 
The dangers of “silent” inflammation have made headlines in publications such as Newsweek and Time.

Curcumin can inhibit molecules known to play major roles in inflammation.  Curcumin is so effective because it is a potent inhibitor of the body’s most powerful inflammation-causing chemical, called Nf-kappa beta.

3. Antioxidant

Curcumin has powerful antioxidant effects. It neutralizes free radicals on its own, then stimulates the body’s own antioxidant enzymes. Free radicals tend to react with important organic substances, such as fatty acids, proteins or DNA.  Curcumin is able to neutralize free radicals, chemicals that can travel through the body and cause great amounts of damage to healthy cells and cell membranes. This is important in many diseases, such as arthritis, where free radicals are responsible for the painful joint inflammation and eventual damage to the joints. Turmeric’s combination of antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects explains why many people with joint disease find relief when they use the spice regularly.

4.  Brain Diseases

Curcumin, a unique antioxidant compound found in the root of the turmeric plant, is a powerful, natural substance that can pass into the brain to combat harmful free radicals.  By doing this, it may be effective at delaying or even reversing many brain diseases and age-related decreases in brain function. . 

Curcumin boosts levels of the brain hormone Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF), which increases the growth of new neurons and fights various degenerative processes in the brain. This includes depression and Alzheimer’s disease. It also protects against cognitive impairment and memory defects from heavy ion irradiation.

Besides helping to improve memory and make you smarter; turmeric can improve the oxygen intake of the brain, which helps in all of the brain’s functions and processes. Turmeric is extremely healing for the brain and for increasing memory function. Not surprisingly, when your brain functions at its best, then you increase the uptake of hormones, such as seratonin and melatonin. So, by healing the basic functioning of the brain, you can also heal other mental illnesses.  So, Curcumin offers an amazingly effective way to protect your brain from the ravages of cognitive decline and boost your thinking and memory abilities quickly, naturally and safely.

5. Heart Disease

Curcumin has beneficial effects on several factors known to play a role in heart disease. It improves the function of the endothelium which is the lining of the blood vessels.

6. Cancer

Curcumin leads to several changes on the molecular level that may help prevent and perhaps even treat cancer.  Studies have shown that it can reduce angiogenesis (growth of new blood vessels in tumors), metastasis (spread of cancer), as well as contributing to the death of cancerous cells

Recent studies show turmeric is a powerful adversary to cancer. Curcumin shows a marked ability to inhibit cancer cell growth, boost antioxidant levels and the immune system, and kill cancer cells. It seems to work on improving mitochondrial function at a cellular level, and it improves metabolism.

7.  Alzheimer’s Disease

Alzheimer’s disease is the most common neuro-degenerative disease in the world and a leading cause of dementia.  Losing one’s memory and mental abilities to cognitive decline is something we all fear.

Curcumin can cross the blood-brain barrier and has been shown to lead to various improvements in the pathological process of Alzheimer’s disease.  A key feature of Alzheimer’s disease and a hallmark process associated with certain types of cognitive decline is the formation in the brain of abnormal protein structures.  This buildup of protein tangles is called Amyloid plaques. Studies show that curcumin can help clear these plaques.   The  Normally when malformed proteins are formed with the brain, the immune system sends out cells known as macrophages, which engulf and destroy the proteins. If this ordinary function fails, defective proteins accumulate in the brain and cognitive decline can follow.  Curcumin encourages the immune system to send macrophages to the brain.  Curcumin has the ability to effectively pass into the brain, bind to beta-amyloid plaques and assist the body in their breakdown.  Once inside of the brain, curcumin wipes out the free radicals that can damage healthy cells. This can have a profoundly positive impact on an aging brain.

8. Arthritis

Arthritis is a common disorder characterized by joint inflammation. Many studies show that curcumin can help treat symptoms of arthritis and  in some cases, it may be more effective than anti-inflammatory drugs.

9.  Depression

A study in 60 depressed patients showed that curcumin was as effective as prozac in alleviating the symptoms of depression. Curcumin is as effective as an antidepressant.  Depression is also linked to reduced levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor and a shrinking hippocampus, a brain area with a role in learning and memory. Curcumin boosts BNDF levels, potentially reversing some of these changes.  There is also some evidence that curcumin can boost the brain neurotransmitters serotonin and dopamine

10. Age-Related Chronic Diseases

If curcumin can really help prevent heart disease, cancer and Alzheimer’s… then this would have obvious benefits for longevity.

11. Skin and Aging

Turmeric has many healing properties for skin. It’s a natural anti-inflammatory so it reduces redness or other skin irritations. It’s antibacterial, so it’s great for blemishes, acne and skin balance. Turmeric is wonderful at improving the texture of the skin because it is an exfoliant but also rich in antioxidants.

12. Diabetes

Turmeric is shown to lower blood glucose levels and reverse insulin resistance.  Curcumin suppresses glucose production in the liver.  Turmeric acted as an anti-diabetic and antioxidant, improved metabolic function and reduced the risk of plaque buildup in the arteries of type 2 diabetes patients

How to use Turmeric

You can take turmeric in many ways depending on what you want to treat. For healing and medicinal properties, it’s easiest to take in capsule form. If you want to enjoy the turmeric benefits of enhancing beauty and anti-aging qualities, add it into your face mask or buy a turmeric facial scrub.  You may try to incorporate therapeutic amounts of curcumin into your diet by adding turmeric to your foodon a daily basis.

Since trying to find high quality turmeric powder and verify its purity and potency may be  a challenge; a high-quality curcumin supplement may be a good option.  The supplement you choose should have  consistent levels of active ingredients (plant extracts). The active ingredients of turmeric are called curcuminoids, and a good curcumin supplement should include  curcumin, demethoxycurcumin and bisdemethoxycurcumin.

Curcumin is not easily absorbed by itself – however, an extract of black pepper, called piperine, significantly enhances absorption bioavailablity of curcumin by 2,000%.  The minimum recommended daily dose is 1,000 mg per day.