Top 8 Health Advantages of Curcumin – Knowing Nutritional Component In Turmeric Better

Health By Sangati Jogwar December 4, 2018

Advantages Of Curcumin

Turmeric is a common spice used widely in the subcontinent of India and worldwide. For thousands of years, turmeric has been an integral part of cooking as well as folk medicine. Indians have been using it as a quintessential antiseptic for treating cuts and burns as well as a proven remedy for treating respiratory conditions and gastrointestinal comfort. It is also used in Ayurvedic medicines for treating various ailments.

Update On Curcumin

The flowering plant of turmeric belongs to the ginger family. The yellow pigment in Curcumin gives this spice a yellow-orange color. It is a type of polyphenol having anti-inflammatory properties and hence is highly useful in abating pain, depression and inflammation-related problems. Curcumin also contributes to increasing the production of three antioxidants in the body: catalase, glutathione, and superoxide dismutase.

Preliminary evidence says that curcumin can possibly slow down the progression of some types of cancer, promote cardiovascular health, and alleviate cognitive decline in aged people. It reduces diabetes risk and also slows down the diabetes-related complications as well as inflammation.

How To Obtain Curcumin Through Diet?

Curcumin is absorbed very little every time you swallow it as it has a very poor oral bioavailability. That is why when you have to take it as a remedy for soothing colon or improving digestion it should be made more bioavailable. You can pair it with piperine, component found in black pepper. Most of the Ayurveda practitioners advise you to take turmeric with black pepper, honey, ginger or garlic to improve its bioavailability.

Doses up to around 8 gms of curcuminoids do not cause any adverse effects. The in vitro evidence also indicates that curcumin has a high safety threshold. The best way to derive benefits of curcumin is to mix it with other spices for creating curry powder or adding turmeric as one of the ingredients in marinades or rubs, salads or in vegetables. Turmeric works best as smoothies and as a golden mix in grass-fed milk.

Health Benefits Of Curcumin

1. Anti-Inflammatory Properties

According to research, turmeric can restrict the synthesis and activity of cyclooxygenase and 5-lipooxygenase, enzymes related to inflammation. One of the studies conducted on rats also showed that curcumin is extremely helpful in reducing joint inflammation.

2. Improves Digestive Health

Curcumin has a positive effect on improving the overall digestive system of a body. A study revealed that five people with inflammatory bowel disease showed improvement in their symptoms, post taking curcumin.

3. Good For Eye-Health

A Phytotherapy Research journal recently published that patients affected with inflammation of the uvea commonly termed as chronic anterior uveitis or the milled layer of the eye when asked to take 375 milligrams of curcumin for 12 days three times in a day, showed improvement in their symptoms. Importantly, the affected patients did not report any side effects.

4. Accelerates Post-Surgical Recovery

More often, the site of surgery is tender and can lead to soreness or redness with slight abrasion. Such patients when given 400 milligrams of curcumin three times a day during a study showed around 84.2 percent reduction in the intensity of tenderness.

5. Neuroprotective Properties

Curcumin has been found to have neuroprotective properties. A study showed that this important component in turmeric can be effectively used against the neurodegenerative Parkinson’s disease. Curcumin induces the brain to produce the negatively affecting dopamine levels in small amount thereby restricting the advancements of this disease.

The vitro and vivo experiments have found that curcumin restores the striatal dopamine levels by targeting multiple degenerative pathways, protein aggregation, and mitochondrial dysfunction.

6. Lowers Risk Of Cancer

Curcumin helps lower risk of different types of cancer as it has the ability to modulate genetic activity and expression. According to studies, curcumin specifically:

Stops protein synthesis that plays a major role in tumor formation

Restrict the transformation of normal cells into tumor cells

Destroys mutated cancers cells thereby preventing the spread of cancer throughout the body

Induces anti-angiogenesis preventing the production of additional blood required for the growth of cancer cells

7. Promotes Healthy Functioning Of Mental Aspects

Curcumin not only keeps the brain healthy but it also promotes healthy functioning of different mental aspects including psychological and emotional wellbeing. The result of a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind study conducted with 123 participants suffering from a major depressive disorder indicated that patients taking curcumin and curcumin-saffron combination showed improvements in their symptoms as compared to those in the placebo group.

All through the study, the patients were given a low dose of curcumin extract, a mixture of curcumin-saffron and a high-dose extract.

8. Good For Skin

Curcumin has healing properties and hence when a cream based on curcumin is applied on the skin it heals as well as prevents the onset of skin disease. During a study on 10 subjects affected with vitiligo, researchers used the procedure of combining a UVB therapy in a curcumin cream leading to significant repigmentation.

Another study conducted on patients with psoriasis showed rapid improvement (88 percent) when they were provided with a 450-gram curcumin supplement every day for around 12 weeks.

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