Turmeric and its compound curcumin, is a favorite spice in Indian curries. It is a powerful herb at fighting inflammation and pain, with a great potential for reversing disease.
This herb, Curcuma longa, or Turmeric is best used with ingredients of the whole plant plus the Curcumin compound in one supplement. Since curcumin is poorly absorbed in the body it is best if your supplement has Bioperine, or black pepper extract, added for best absorption.
Bioperine helps curcumin to go to work 20 times faster than without the black pepper.
Research Studies on Turmeric
Today, there is solid research and studies, over 10,000 peer reviewed articles, on the wonderful benefits of turmeric and curcumin.
The Journal Phytotherapy Research published a study, in 2014, about curcumin and depression disorders against the recommended pharmaceutical drug, fluoxetine, and found that curcumin was equally effective as the drug in managing depression.
Another study reported in Phytotherapy Research 2012, assessed the efficacy of curcumin for rheumatoid arthritis patients for joint pain and swelling. They reported that the curcumin group had the highest percentage of improvement overall on all symptoms.
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Benefits of Curcumin Compound
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- Turmeric has great response in reducing those with long-term chronic pain.
- It potentially could reduce risk of blood clots from forming; thereby decreasing stroke risk.
- Curcumin research shows it could be better managing Diabetes type 2, than the leading drug, metformin.
- It is a powerful fighter for inflammation; even possibly reversing the plaque buildup in Alzheimer’s brains.
- Turmeric is effective at lowering depression symptoms
- Curcumin compound in Turmeric root, treats multiple skin problems. It can speed up healing of wounds, lesions, psoriasis and other skin conditions.
- It could stabilize abnormal cell growth and seems to block the tumor growth of certain kinds of cancer. In July 2017, at Baylor Scott and White, researchers found curcumin was able to break up cells in a chemo resistant pancreatic duct carcinoma.
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Avoid any product that includes ingredients that are fillers, contaminants or additives and make sure the company name guarantees a high-quality product and good manufacturing practices.
You may need to find what amount of dose is good for you, everyone will respond differently, depending on your amount of inflammation and pain. Start with the recommended and increase if necessary, till you have good results.
If you are on blood thinners, like warfarin or coumadin, you may want lower dosages, high doses could increase thinning of the blood. Check with your doctor before taking any large doses of curcumin.
References:
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/turmeric-and-black-pepper
https://draxe.com/nutrition/turmeric-curcumin-benefits/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23832433/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22407780/
Cindy Burrows, B.S., M.T., Herbalist and is a Nutrition and Wellness Consultant helping individuals with health programs to improve life and happiness. She is a writer, speaker and owner of several businesses.
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