After doing some research into Turmeric I’ve found it is that it is really one of the best nutritional supplements around. People from other cultures have known about this for centuries. Especially in places like India where it has been consumed for a long time. If you like curry, and have ever wonder how it gets its yellow color you can thank turmeric. Many people from around the world have been using turmeric for its medicinal properties associated with the spice for centuries. But only recently has science backed up these claims after rigorous studies.
The compounds that help with health are called Curcuminoids, and the most important of these is Curcumin. It is only in modern times the West have caught up on benefits of turmeric. They have also been numerous studies shown to prove the effectiveness of turmeric. So, basically if you want all the health benefits that go along with turmeric you need to take a supplement that contains a high amount of curcumin. My advice is if you want the best supplements go for supplements that contain piperine it increases the effectiveness of the supplement.
Now onto Some Benefits of Turmeric:
Curcumin is a natural Anti-inflammatory compound inflammation is very important in regard to health. The reason for this is it helps the body fight foreign invaders. If you do not have inflammation, pathogens like bacteria would find it very easily to get into your body causing sickness.
Scientists now think that a lot of chronic illnesses we have here in the West is related to low level inflammation. Diseases that we know all too well like heart disease, cancer, metabolic syndrome, Alzheimer’s and various different other diseases are attributed to inflammatory issues. Basically what it boils down to is that anything that can help fight chronic inflammation is really important especially here now in the West. As I, have mentioned these diseases are really prevalent here in Europe and across the Western Hemisphere.
Turmeric helps increases the antioxidant capacity of the body. Again after doing a little research on this I found out why this would be important. Oxidation damage is believed to be one of the mechanisms behind aging and a lot of other diseases. You may have heard of free radicals before they are not good for you, and having a healthy dose of antioxidants in your body can protect you from them. Curcumin is a very strong antioxidant that can easily minimize free radicals due to its chemical structure. Also, Curcumin can help with the activity of your body’s own antioxidants enzymes. This helps two-fold against free radicals. It stops them directly, and then goes on to stimulate your body’s own antioxidants defenses.
Curcumin can decrease your risk of heart disease. Heart disease especially amongst older people is one of the biggest factors in deaths amongst ageing population in the West. Curcumin may help reverse many steps in the heart disease process. There has been plenty of studies to suggest that the use of curcumin leads to better function of the endothelial. One such study has found that it is even better than exercise . I myself find this claim hard to believe.
Also curcumin decreases inflammation and oxidation which are major players in heart disease. Turmeric may help prevent or help treat cancer. It also may be useful in preventing and treating Alzheimer’s diseases. More studies and research in the future will have to be done to see how turmeric can be used to combat these types of diseases. There they will cover a whole range of uses for turmeric. From beauty care, hair growth, depression and much more.
My Own Experiences With Turmeric
I have been using turmeric for a couple of years now. I first starting using it because of a knee injury I sustained while playing football. I had heard it was great for reducing swelling, and helped with alleviating pain. My knee injury was a torn cruciate ligament and for nearly 2 years i could not walk properly. I use the turmeric mainly in my food and also use it in a mixture with warm water and drink it. I have not purchased the supplements so far, but the results I have had from just using the regular powdered turmeric have been very good.
Conclusion
From my personal use of powdered turmeric I have noticed a major difference in pain relief in my injured knee and, over all my body seems to be less sore especially the joints. If you would like to leave a comment below or have a question in relation to turmeric you can leave it below in the comment section.
Article by Joseph Webster
Soul Series Health and Wellness
http://www.soulserieshealth.com
