Turmeric has very beneficial and interesting effects. Let’s look at the effects of turmeric and how to consume turmeric? Let’s answer the questions.
I am trying to address many issues related to healthy living. It would be quite illogical to examine the plants and foods that have important effects here. Because these plants and nutrients will help us achieve many goals that we consider for a healthy life.
The most important of the foods mentioned is turmeric. Turmeric has many beneficial effects with its active ingredients.
What is turmeric?
Turmeric is a yellow-colored plant that has been known for hundreds or even thousands of years, and is used for medicinal purposes, especially in Asia. The full discovery that this plant is not just a spice dates back to nearly a hundred years by modern medicine.
During the investigation of the cause of the diseases at the molecular level, after it was seen that many modern diseases are associated with oxidative stress and chronic inflammation, various active substances have been tried for these problems.
One of these active ingredients is curcumin, which is concentrated in turmeric. Studies go deeper after seeing the effect of the active ingredient curcumin on chronic inflammation. We have witnessed the miraculous effects of turmeric with many different experiments / studies since then.
Benefits of turmeric
I will make a disease and problem-oriented explanation about turmeric. For this reason, I know there will be some points I miss regarding the effects of turmeric. Do not worry about the missed points, as they contain too many details and will not interest you.
Dementia, Alzheimer’s and neurological diseases
Neurological diseases have a wide variety of causes. I would like to talk about BDNF (Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor), which has an important place among these reasons and is associated with many neurological diseases.
BDNF is a growth factor that works to keep your brain tissue healthy. We see that this factor decreases in many neurological diseases, especially depression and Alzheimer’s. We know indirectly that many neurological diseases are linked to BDNF levels.
Turmeric plays a key role here. Because the active ingredient “curcumin” increases the BDNF level on the brain. While this increase is protective in degenerative diseases that damage the brain tissue, it may delay the current progression.
Obesity, metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular diseases
At the beginning of the article, I briefly mentioned the effect of turmeric on chronic inflammation. Now is the time to go into the details.
Inflammation is a very essential mechanism for the healthy functioning of the body. These processes, which are involved in repairing damaged structures and neutralizing alien living / non-living structures, can also be activated involuntarily.
This is where the problem starts. Chronically occurring inflammation is directed towards the body’s own tissue, not harmful and damaged structures. This can result in many things, from rapid aging to damage to healthy cells.
In fact, almost all of the chronic diseases you see and hear frequently are related to chronic inflammation in some way. The consequences of obesity (especially insulin resistance) and diseases caused by metabolic syndrome are only part of the list.
Curcumin, the active ingredient in turmeric, blocks the inflammation mechanism with several different mechanisms.
The mechanism of cardiovascular diseases is not limited to chronic inflammation. The deterioration of the vascular wall and the plaques formed in the vascular wall are important findings related to cardiovascular disease.
Turmeric can be used to prevent these events and correct advanced problematic structures.
As a result, turmeric can reduce the complications of chronic diseases by preventing chronic inflammation and protect cardiovascular health.
Other important effects
Turmeric’s effects are not just related to neurological, cardiovascular disease and metabolic syndrome. Because the research areas are vast and turmeric has enormous potential.
One of the important features here is the antioxidant property of the active ingredient curcumin.
Curcumin has a positive effect on the aging process with its antioxidant properties.
Arthritis is a disease that develops with joint pain and difficulty in movement and seriously disrupts the standard of living. There are a few things I will talk about in this disease, which is directly linked to turmeric because it has inflammation in its origin.
Studies show that the active ingredient curcumin taken orally in cases of arthritis reduces the complaints by an average of 41%.
As such, the use of turmeric is considered to be very suitable for use in arthritis cases, especially in advanced ages.
I would also like to point out that turmeric has cancer-preventing properties. In addition, it has been observed that turmeric, which is used in addition to the treatment in some of the individuals undergoing cancer treatment (especially breast cancer), activates the breakdown of cancerous cells.
How should turmeric be used?
There is a major problem with turmeric. It has water-insoluble components, so its absorption is very low. In addition, curcumin has a structure that degrades rapidly with acidic pH. If you want to get enough curcumin active ingredient by consuming turmeric alone, a significant amount of consumption is required, which is often not possible.
As such, we need several different methods to increase absorption.
The first method – actually the most natural one – is to consume turmeric with black pepper. The active ingredient “piperine” in black pepper inhibits several different enzymes, increasing absorption by an average of 20 times.
Here, since the active ingredient piperine does not change the water solubility, absorption may still be somewhat lacking. The most important method here is to combine curcumin molecules with different structures to prevent damage from enzymes and to increase absorption.
Many different turmeric extracts that you will see on the market are sold in this process. This is the only way to get an almost therapeutic dose of curcumin.
It is best to comment on the disease depending on the dose, because the amount of agent to be taken according to the problem varies significantly. Likewise, since the structure of each supplement is different, the level of absorption is different and how much of it will pass into the blood depends on the structure.
Therefore, it is most logical to talk about the blood curcumin level. Adequate blood curcumin density varies between 15 and 50 μM. For this reason, your doctor should definitely adjust the dose.
Who should not consume turmeric?
Since the beginning of the article, I’ve been talking about how effective turmeric is. Such an effective molecule can harm you in some cases. Especially those who use warfarin and clopidogrel (known market names, respectively Coumadin, Plavix) active ingredient drugs should not consume turmeric.
In addition, turmeric, which can be used in cancer treatment under the control of a doctor, should not be consumed together with vinblastine (a frequently used chemotherapeutic agent).
Although the above interactions are the most serious, other drug interactions may occur. For this reason, if you are on medication, you should consume turmeric under the control of a physician.
Conclusion: Is turmeric a miracle food?
Turmeric is a very useful plant that can be used for people who have a healthy lifestyle. Although I am quite aloof to the word miracle, I will consider turmeric almost miraculous.
Although it is often necessary to use turmeric as an extract due to the difficulty in absorbing the active ingredients and reaching an adequate level, I recommend the use of these supplements in the right people.
In some special patient groups, the use of turmeric should be well regulated and the blood level should be determined according to the disease. It is useful to consume turmeric supplements under the supervision of a doctor, especially if you are taking medication or have a chronic disease.