Turmeric and Curcumin Health Benefits

When it comes to a natural supplement that provides amazing health benefits and has the potential to cure some of the most notorious diseases known to man, Turmeric is arguably the most promising and intriguing. There have been plenty of competent scientific studies centered around Turmeric in recent years and what they have all found out is that the oriental spice does have the power to improve not just our physical health but our mental wellness as well.

Why Turmeric and Curcumin Are Good for the Body

Overall, here are the top 10 health benefits of Turmeric based from scientific research and studies:

1.) Turmeric has active compounds that have potent healing qualities

The main reason why curry appears yellow is because Turmeric is added to the dish. The nutritional supplement (like those here) originated in India where it was originally used for centuries both as food condiment and natural medicine. In the past few years, however, scientific studies have finally confirmed the thousand-year-old truth about Turmeric – it holds key ingredients that promote health and healing.

The group of compounds that play a primary role in Turmeric’s miraculous healing properties is called curcuminoids, with curcumin known to be the main active ingredient. Curcumin is powerful at alleviating inflammations and extremely effective in detoxifying the body.

The problem, however, is that Turmeric doesn’t contain a lot of curcumin – it only comprises about 3% of Turmeric’s total mass. Majority of the research conducted on the health benefits of Turmeric are centered around concoctions that include curcumin often amounting to greater than a gram.

With that being said, if you integrate Turmeric in your diet simply as a spice or food additive, it’s highly unlikely that you will achieve the required levels of curcumin to enjoy optimum results. Therefore, if you want to harness the full healing potential of Turmeric, using a supplement that has high concentrations of curcumin is essential.

Another major challenge with curcumin, however, is that our bodies are not good at absorbing the compound. Experts suggest taking curcumin extracts mixed with black pepper because of its piperine content – an organic compound that helps boost the absorption rate of curcumin by as much as 2,000%.

For this reason, it would be best to opt with curcumin dietary products that include piperine as it will allow you to enjoy the most desirable results. Additionally, curcumin is easily dissolved by fat which means it you might want to take it alongside foods that have high fat content.

2.) Curcumin is highly effective in combating inflammation

Inflammation plays an integral role in our overall health. It is one of our bodies natural defense against harmful pathogens and can help restore damaged cells and tissues as well. If it becomes compromised, it won’t take much for harmful bacteria and viruses to wreak havoc inside our body. Inflammation is vital to health and living so long as it is functioning properly. But when it becomes chronic and abnormal, however, our very own cells begin to suffer.

Science has recently discovered that chronic inflammation is a major contributor to some of the most common chronic diseases in the West such as cancer, cardiovascular problems, and chronic obstructive lung disease. Thus, when you combat chronic inflammation, you are also combating the onset of disease.

Curcumin is a highly effective natural anti-inflammatory substance with the potential to outperform various pharmaceutical drugs in the market with the added benefit of zero side-effects. So how does it help stop chronic inflammation anyway? By restricting a molecule called NF-KB which is responsible for altering your body’s natural inflammation system.

Simply put, curcumin can help fight the harmful effects of inflammation down to its roots – in the molecular and cellular level.

3.) Turmeric is a powerful natural antioxidant

Scientists have long discovered that oxidative stress is one of the main culprits behind rapid aging and the development of various ailments. Oxidative stress occurs when the delicate balance between reactive oxygen species and natural bodily mechanisms that appropriately detoxify free radicals becomes impaired.

Antioxidants are extremely vital in our body because they help prevent the buildup of harmful free radicals. Among the numerous known antioxidants in nature, curcumin is one of the most powerful in countering free radicals.

And aside from directly negating free radicals, curcumin also enhances our body’s natural antioxidant enzymes. This potent anti-free radical combination makes Turmeric and its special compound curcumin extremely beneficial to our health when added to a meal plan like those we detail here.

4.) Curcumin strengthens our brains functioning and its resistance against disease

In the past, a widely held belief regarding neurons is that they will simply stop growing in number once you reach early adolescence. As to the reason why scientists can’t pinpoint exactly.

The truth, however, is that neurons can naturally reproduce in certain regions and areas of the brain. A key stimulant in the birth of new neurons is a brain-derived neurotrophic factor or BDNF. It’s basically a kind of growth hormone inside the human brain. A large percentage of the most widely prevalent neurological diseases around the world such as ALS and Dementia are connected to low levels of BDNF.

To the surprise of many researchers, curcumin exhibited a natural ability to enhance the brain’s ability to produce BDNF. With the right curcumin dosage, a patient suffering from a particular neurological condition or disease may be able to alleviate its symptoms or even alter its effects. Curcumin also has the potential to boost memory, focus, and overall brain functioning because of improved levels of BDNF. More extensive studies are needed, however, to validate curcumin’s benefits to the brain.

5.) Curcumin can help prevent heart disease

At present times, heart disease is the leading cause of mortality in the planet (1 in every 4 deaths in America and approximately 18 million fatalities each year worldwide are due to heart attack. Years of research and study about the global population killer has revealed a lot about its nature. As expected, the disease is particularly complex and there are numerous different factors, such as heredity and lifestyle, that contribute to its development.

Curcumin may be our strongest weapon in fighting the world’s number 1 killer. The biggest benefit that your heart can get from curcumin is a tougher and healthier endothelium – the cells that line the interior surface of blood vessels and lymphatic vessels. It has been heavily documented that a weak or compromised endothelium can lead to heart disease and an array of vascular problems.

So how beneficial is curcumin to the endothelial? Recent studies pointed out that it offers the same health effects as exercise and is as effective as popular Statins like Atorvastatin. What’s more, curcumin also lowers inflammation and fights free radicals, which are both vital in building resistance against heart disease.

To highlight the positive effects of curcumin, there was a study conducted on 112 individuals who were currently experiencing coronary artery bypass surgery. Every day, each patient was randomly given a placebo or a health supplement that contains 4 grams of curcumin, on a set number of days prior and later to surgery.

Those who took the curcumin supplement where 65% less likely to suffer a heart attack while they were confined in the hospital.

6.) Turmeric can aid your body fight cancer

Cancer is one of the most terrifying diseases known to man mainly because they are difficult to detect in the early stages and are almost impossible to treat in the late stages. It is distinguished by an abnormal growth of cells in an organ or region of the body that can spread relentlessly and affect other parts. While there are certainly various kinds of cancer known to man, all of them share a number of similar characteristics. There are also certain forms of cancer that react negatively to curcumin.

There have been plenty of research and studies on curcumin as a viable remedy to cancer throughout the years and the conclusion was that it does have the ability to inhibit cancer cells from multiplying and advancing at the molecular level. Evidence suggests that curcumin can somehow aid in the demise of abnormally growing cancer cells and prevent them from growing and spreading as well.

Numerous findings also reveal that curcumin has the natural ability to slow down the development of cancer cells in a lab setting and stop the maturation of tumors in animal subjects. If such unprecedented results can be replicated on cancer patients, however, remains to be seen as there are still no clinical trials conducted on humans as we speak. Nevertheless, there is plenty of strong evidence that suggests that curcumin does hold the potential to avert the event of cancer, especially those that affect the digestive tract like colorectal cancer.

A month-long research was conducted on 44 men diagnosed with colon lesions which at times can become cancerous. After consuming 4 grams of curcumin daily, the number of lesions diminished by 40%.

With that being said, there may come a time in the near future when curcumin will become an integral part in cancer treatment. While the Science behind curcumin as a miracle cure for cancer is still in its infancy stage, the early results offer plenty of hope and more research is also underway.

7.) Curcumin could be the cure for Alzheimer

Alzheimer’s disease is currently the primary root cause of dementia and the most prevalent neurodegenerative disease worldwide. Sadly, there is still no true medication for Alzheimer’s which means prevention is presently our best weapon against it.

A ray of hope glimmers in the horizon, however, as curcumin has been observed to prevent the onset of Alzheimer’s disease in humans. It has long been documented that chronic inflammation and oxidative stress are two of the main contributors of Alzheimer’s and curcumin just so happens to be especially effective in dealing with both.

What’s more, one of the main attributes of Alzheimer’s is a sticky accumulation outside neurons that is known as amyloid plaques. There is evidence that point out that curcumin can aid in the removal of such harmful plaques. However, more research needs to be done to verify if curcumin is indeed capable of mitigating the advancement of Alzheimer’s disease.

8.) People with arthritis can benefit tremendously from a daily dose of curcumin

Many people in the west suffer from a wide assortment of arthritis that generally features chronic joint pain and inflammation. Since curcumin is a powerful anti-inflammatory compound, it can also serve as a natural remedy for arthritis. There are also a number of scientific researches that confirm its positive effects.

In one study involving patients with rheumatoid arthritis, curcumin proved to be an even more potent medication than standard pharmaceutical drugs used for treating joint inflammation. There also numerous studies that investigated the effectiveness of curcumin for treating arthritis and found that it was a major player in alleviating symptoms such as joint pain, swelling, and stiffness.

9.) Curcumin can be a safe and natural antidepressant

There is also plenty of evidence that hints to curcumin’s potential in curing depression, a common worldwide mental illness that can happen even to the best of us. On one clinical experiment, 60 patients diagnosed with depression were randomly divided into 3 groups. The first group was given Prozac, the second group was given a gram of curcumin, and the last group a combination of Prozac and curcumin, on a daily basis.

In just 2 months, patients who took curcumin experienced the same positive results as those that took Prozac. The last group, however, the ones that consumed both Prozac and curcumin, reported the best results. Based on the experiment, curcumin can be an alternative medicine for depression minus the side effects that inevitably comes with antidepressant drugs.

Depression has also been linked with lower levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BNDF) and a contracting hippocampus, a small organ in the brain associated primarily with memory, in particular, long-term memory, and also serves a vital role in spatial navigation.

Curcumin is known to enhance BNDF levels, which could possibly alter the effects of depression on the hippocampus. Some findings also reveal that curcumin can improve serotonin and dopamine levels in the brain which is key to combating depression.

10.) Curcumin slows down aging and fights off ailments and health conditions related to old age

Since curcumin has the potential to inhibit the development of heart disease, cancer, arthritis, and Alzheimer’s, then it can potentially help prolong people’s lives and improve quality of living as well. This is why curcumin supplements have increasingly become synonymous with anti-aging in many parts of the world including countries from the west. And because oxidation and inflammation have long been known as agents of aging, curcumin may, in fact, offer us health benefits that transcend far beyond the boundaries of simple disease prevention.

The Conclusion

Science has revealed that turmeric, and in particular its primary active compound curcumin, can provide us with numerous amazing health benefits, from preventing heart disease and cancer, slowing down the aging process, to potentially reversing the effect of Alzheimer’s. And because it’s an extremely strong anti-inflammatory and oxidation substance, it can also help mitigate the symptoms of two the world’s most common conditions: depression and arthritis.

Now if you are considering purchasing an effective turmeric or curcumin supplement that you can easily add in your regular diet (like this one), you can find an array of superb choices in Amazon that have garnered thousands of exceptional reviews and positive feedback from users.

And don’t forget to focus your selection on supplements that contain BioPerine (the trademarked name for piperine), a natural chemical that boosts the absorption rate of curcumin in the body by a whopping 2,000%. If you opt with a product that doesn’t have piperine, chances are, curcumin will just become an unfortunate part of your digestive waste.

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