THE turmeric is a spice that looks a bit like ginger, but stands out for its orange-yellow color. It is widely used in oriental cuisine.
In recent years, turmeric has gained a reputation as a super food. Its consumption is said to help prevent cancer, fight acne or even treat depression. What is valid and what is not?
Turmeric and depression
Turmeric contains ingredients that are extremely beneficial for the health of the body. The most famous is the curcumin. Researchers report that curcumin helps treat depression and enhances the action of antidepressants. This, however, is not widely accepted by the scientific community and more investigation is needed to reach a safe conclusion.
Does turmeric help prevent diabetes?
Curcumin fights inflammation and keeps sugar levels stable, with the result that turmeric is considered a potential “ally” in the prevention or treatment of type 2 diabetes. Research involving 240 adults with a predisposition to diabetes who took a supplement turmeric for nine months, reduced their chances of developing diabetes.
Fight viruses with turmeric
Turmeric fights infections because of this and turmeric teas are very popular during viral season. Curcumin helps fight viruses, herpes and infections in general.
Recent research involving women for three consecutive months has shown that curcumin supplementation helps with PMS symptoms.
Turmeric and cholesterol
The opinions of experts differ on this particular subject. Some claim that turmeric can lower bad cholesterol levels, while others claim that it has no effect.
Turmeric relieves the symptoms of arthritis
Turmeric relieves joint pain, stiffness and inflammation. However, more research needs to be done before turmeric can be used as a treatment for arthritis.
Turmeric and irritable bowel syndrome
Some early research looks promising for the use of turmeric in relieving symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome such as abdominal pain.
Like ginger, turmeric is considered to help treat headaches and especially migraines. Although many have turned to turmeric drinks for headache relief, the scientific data on turmeric’s effect on headaches is scant.
Do turmeric products help fight acne?
Turmeric seems to have beneficial properties in the treatment of acne, however, the scientific data that confirms this is currently very little.
Turmeric and cancer
Research conducted on animals showed that turmeric stopped the growth of cancer cells, helped detoxifying enzymes work better, etc. This finding, however, is not enough to safely conclude that turmeric helps prevent or treat cancer. In fact, some argue that it may also interfere with the action of chemotherapy.
With information from webmd.com
