Medical science in today’s era would seem like total wizardry to people from back in the days. Where there can possibly be twenty different cures to a particular health issue, just to throw in a number. And this has been an absolute blessing to us, humans.
Although this is very true that the science of curing diseases is more potent now than ever before. But to disregard the cures that our ancestors developed in their era would be absolute folly. Because the truth is that a lot of the cures that we found today have their origins from just that. A shining example of that is the ancient Indian Ayurvedic heritage.
Which has information in it, that is showing the way to the modern day research scientists in this field. And that brings us to one of the things mentioned in those texts, which is Curcumin, found in turmeric. A member of Zingiberaceae, the same taxonomic family as that of ginger.
Curcumin: A Few Words On It
Curcumin is the main chemical component found in turmeric, along with several other beneficial ones. All of these have immense health benefits, which we will get into soon.
As for Curcumin, you can get extracts of that in the form of a dietary supplement. A molecule of this compound has 21-atoms of carbon, 20-hydrogen, and 6-oxygen in it. It comes in the form of a powder, which is orangish-yellow in color. Just like the substance that it comes from.
Now, people usually consume turmeric as a spice in the everyday cooking that they do. And turmeric as a spice is an important part of cooking in South Asian cuisine. Also, people in the neighboring regions also use it in their cooking as well. And with that, they get their daily dose of Curcumin goodness.
Apart from the health benefits in terms of diet which is glaringly obvious. This thing has a lot of other useful properties, like the anti-bacterial and anti-fungal ones. And thus, you will be able to cure lots of things just with this thing.
And one of the most well-known effects of Curcumin is its ability to fight cancer cells. Although, research is still going on at this point for this. But we can safely consider this to be a great add on to our diets. As anti-cancer or not, this is a great substance to intake on a daily basis.
In this article, I have listed some of the benefits that you can get by supplementing your everyday diet with this. And these ones have modern medical literature to validate their positive effects. So, in case you are a skeptic, which a lot of us are. There are tangible research papers with all the necessary nitty-gritty in them.
The 6 Medically Proven Health Benefits of Curcumin
Now that we can agree that having a bit of Curcumin in your daily diet can do wonder for you. And as for the process of intake, it won’t matter how you do it for the most part. But, I would recommend a proper supplement as Curcumin is hard to absorb into the bloodstream.
You can either get yourself any one of the Curcumin supplementary products if you wish so. As when you go out in the market, you will get several different options in this. Or you can take the classic route of adding turmeric to your cooking, along with other spices. As a pro-tip, let me tell you that you can enhance the effects by adding a bit of black pepper. More on that later.
And now, it is time to get in deep with the details, with the what, the why and the how.
Preventing Heart Diseases
Heart diseases are among the most common ailments that people around the world suffer from today. There are a lot of different contributing factors to such ailments. A poor diet and a sedentary lifestyle being the primary causes of this.
Although, general advice would be to eat right and exercise, which I also recommend to you. As there are great day to day benefits as well as long term ones. But, let me go ahead and give you a bit more in terms of nutritional information. This will definitely make things much easier to deal with. And, it is to throw in some turmeric into your daily cooking.
When you start adding this to your diet. The first impact will be on the inner lining of the blood vessels throughout your body, the endothelium. The endothelium has a direct correlation with maintaining healthy blood pressure. And Curcumin will aid the proper function of this, thus preventing clots and other such issues.
Curcumin is a good thing for your heart health in general. As such, with this in your diet, it would be a well rounded preventative measure. Your heart will thank you, so to say.
So, with regular intake of Curcumin in your diet, along with optimal exercising. You can bid adieu to Lipitor if you are already taking it. But, don’t just chuck it away and consult your physician for that. Just get some of this substance.
Treating Chronic Inflammation
Chronic inflammation has become a problem for a lot of people in the modern world. And it has a lot to do with the kind of diet people have. One of the major contributors to this particular problem is sugar. This is in most of the foods that you can find on the supermarket shelves. And as such is very difficult to keep away from.
Also, there is gluten, found in many grains that contribute to the problem of chronic inflammation. Getting rid of these substances from your diet can be a solution. But to treat the inflammation would take more than that. Plus, it is not possible for everybody to switch to a completely organic diet. It can be very expensive.
Using a Curcumin supplement along with clean eating will solve your inflammation issues. And this substance has immense anti-inflammatory properties. In par with the different over the counter medications that you can get for this.
There is a molecule present within your physiological system, called the NF-kB. What this does is gets to the nucleus of the cell, and activate the inflammatory genes. Thus, causing a lot of issues, among which chronic inflammation is one.
Curcumin blocks this particular pathway of the NF-kB molecule. Hence, preventing those issues from coming up in the first place. So, having this substance in your diet will do wonders in terms of treating as well as preventing chronic inflammation. And it can also be a great supplement for you if you’re an athlete. As it will help you recover much better from all the intense workouts that you go through.
Countering the Effects of Aging
This might sound a little bombastic, that how can just a dietary supplement counter aging. But it is true, and Curcumin does it best. With strong antioxidant properties, this will help you deal with one of the major causes of aging. The oxidative damage mechanisms.
One term that you must have heard of is ‘free radicals’. This is a result of the ever-increasing stress that we face. What happens is reactive oxygen accumulates in the body at a faster rate than the detoxification processes. And this, in turn, creates the harmful free radicals which interfere with lots of the important physiological processes.
And this has a spillover effect over time, where it just keeps getting worse. The antioxidants like catalase and other peroxide groups of enzymes that your body synthesizes fall short. That is where Curcumin, with its antioxidant properties, can help contain and thus, cure it. It also stimulates the antioxidant creation processes in your body.
So, with proper supplementation of your diet with Curcumin. You will be able to counter the process of aging and just stay healthy in general. And that would be all that you’d need to maintain for healthy skin care, naturally. This would be a two-pronged solution for treating free radicals. As this substance will not only take care of the free radicals. But also, enhance your body’s ability to deal with these.
Countering the Neurodegenerative Diseases
Norman Doidge, with his work, proved that the brain has the capability to heal itself and improve. Scientists and physicians before considered this to be an important phenomenon. But now, we know that it is possible. There are things that we can do to take advantage of this fully.
This kind of neuro-regenerative happenings is mainly due to a protein, that works in the brain. It is called the brain-derived nootropic factor, more commonly BDNF. This helps in forming all the new neuronal connections that improve your brain. And it is an important factor for the overall wellness of your brain.
There are many different ways to make your brain synthesize more of this BDNF. And Curcumin happens to be one of those substances that helps with this. It plays a significant role in increasing the BDNF levels within your brain. And as a direct consequence of that, it improves cognitive functions and mood.
So, daily supplementation of your diet with a Curcumin supplement will not only keep your brain healthy. But, it will also add to your day to day mood, keeping it stable. In case, you are someone who suffers from depression. Then, this can help you get through that from the physiological standpoint.
In the way that Curcumin works to maintain and improve the condition of your brain. This can be somewhat of a cure for Alzheimer’s disease and a definite preventive measure for it. I would recommend you incorporate a Curcumin supplement into your diet. And especially so for students and working professionals for the cognitive benefits of it.
Cure for Infections
Curcumin has fantastic anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties as I have already mentioned. And as such, this can be a fantastic solution for infections which all of us have faced or can face. Also, keep in mind that more than 90% of all infections has behind it, bad bacteria and fungi.
First of all, these pathogens are almost everywhere you can think of. As such contamination is a common occurrence, and that is where it starts out. And conditions to favor their growth, like dark and moist places in not that difficult to come across. Put all of that together and give it some time, and you have an annoying case of infection.
To treat these, using some medication with Curcumin in it would be the way to go. As unlike with synthetic chemicals, you won’t have to worry about side effects. Or any kind of unnecessary damages to your skin. This is especially the case for infections that you might have on your face like acne. As the skin on your face is more sensitive than anywhere else on your body. And there are right ways to be using this, which you might need to find out.
This compound has some of the best curing properties for infections of this sort. And it will also be very soothing to the skin. Curcumin works by treating the problem at its root, by killing the infection-causing bacteria. I rupture the cell wall, and thus neutralizes the ill effects it has completed. And thus, this will be a much more effective solution.
Keeping Cancer at Bay
Let me explain this in detail, as I can’t say for sure that this is a proper treatment for cancer. As there is no concrete proof for this yet. But the thing that medical literature has backed is that Curcumin has an effect on cancer cell growth too. And it can definitely help you bring down the reins on the cancer cells spreading any further.
Basically, this compound has shown significant effects in reducing the growth of cancer cells. This isn’t by any means showing signs of becoming a complete cancer treatment in the near future. But is definitely a great add on in your diet or as a supplement to prevent a lot of it. And there is empirical evidence that has proven this.
In a scientific study, just an addition of 4 grams of Curcumin to the daily diet had a 40% curing effect. So, a daily intake of this compound will keep you safe from this a lot than if you don’t. So, I recommend, you definitely get a supplement of this. And also maybe use it in some of the dishes that you cook.
In Conclusion…
This is, in my opinion, a magical compound with myriads of benefits that you can enjoy. Also, if you use it in your cooking in the form of turmeric spice. Your dishes will have a cool golden yellow color like you can see with the curry recipes. But, if you will be using turmeric, the dose of Curcumin itself will be quite low.
That is what you will be able to cover up for, by using a supplement. Because in a supplement there will be all those other things that would help in proper absorption of this. Like piperine, which you can get from black pepper which enhances the function of curcumin. It does that by improving the absorption rate in the bloodstream.
Also, since Curcumin is fat soluble, it will be best if you ingest it with a meal rich in fat. But in any case, if you want to avoid any kind of dietary fats, then again a supplement might help. So, figure out what you like and what you can easily incorporate into your diet. And go for it, keeping your body and mind healthy.