What Are The Benefits Of Turmeric?

What Is Turmeric?

Turmeric is a spice that is obtained from the roots of Curcuma longa, a plant somewhat related to ginger. The roots are minced down to form a yellow powder. For culinary purposes, the spice, which tastes warm and bitter, is used in curries, scrambled eggs, soups, and as a natural food coloring.

Turmeric has been used for both culinary and medicinal purposes for a long time in India and Southeast Asia. It's also been used as a dye (so now you know why if you spill turmeric you will never get that yellow color out).

It's considered possibly one of the most valuable medicinal plants in the world, as well as being delicious in a curry.

What Is Curcumin?

The key to turmeric's value is a substance called curcumin, which also happens to be what gives it that bright yellow color. Curcumin is a bioactive substance that has anti-inflammatory properties.

What Health Conditions Can Turmeric Help With?

Turmeric has been heavily studied due to the fact that in Indian traditional medicine it is said to help with all kinds of things. Evidence supports the use of turmeric to:

• Reduce systemic inflammation that can contribute to many diseases.
• Increase your body's antioxidant capacity. Animal studies show that curcumin, in addition to being a potent antioxidant, may support the action of other antioxidants.
• Boost brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), which plays a role in memory and learning. This means it can improve your mood, support your memory and attention. BDNF also affects appetite control.
• Improve the function of the lining of your blood vessels.
• Reduce inflammation in joints.
• Reduce the symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome.
• Help balance blood sugar.
• Improve skin health.
• Reduce hay fever symptoms.

Side Effects Of Turmeric

Turmeric is recognized as safe, but can have side effects. The most common is an upset stomach. Turmeric supplements have not been tested during pregnancy. If you are on any medication, you should talk to your doctor before supplementing with turmeric, particularly medication to lower blood pressure, blood thinners, and medication for bleeding disorders.

Sources of Turmeric

The amount of curcumin in turmeric used as a culinary herb is too low to have any bioactive response. Eating curry is not going to give you the health benefits of turmeric, although it still has plenty of taste benefits.

Instead, you should take turmeric in the form of a supplement that has been refined to increase the curcumin content. Turmeric is an ingredient in some supplement compounds as well. Turmeric supplements typically also contain piperine, a substance from black pepper that helps your system absorb curcumin better.

Some studies show that it is better to take a turmeric supplement over pure curcumin, as turmeric contains other antioxidant compounds which might also affect your health. Make sure that any supplement you take is high quality and that you know what the dosage is.

Turmeric can help with a variety of health problems and is safe for the majority of people (although you should check with your doctor if you are on long-term medications).

Our Mdrive Joint supplement contains turmeric for its ability to reduce inflammation and pain in joints, especially after exercise. Try Mdrive Joint if you have pain or limited mobility from strenuous exercise, especially as you get older. It also includes hyaluronic acid, bromelain, boswellia, and sodium hyaluronate. Try Mdrive Joint today!