Turmeric & Curcumin

Curcumin is a powerful anti-inflammatory and antioxidant agent with many beneficial effects. Curcumin is an ingredient of turmeric which is a bright yellow spice used to add color and flavor to curry and other Indian dishes, mustard and more. Researchers have been looking at curcumin for some time, but because it only makes up about 2-5% of turmeric some researchers have been looking at the other components of turmeric.

Vision health. A 2016 study found that curcumin stops blood vessel leakage.¹ It has anti-inflammatory² and antioxidant properties.³ It has been shown to help protect retinal pigment epithelial cells against oxidative stress, which can be increased by chronic inflammation.

General health. Curcumin has been found to have blood-sugar-lowering properties related to diabetes⁵ and supports pancreatic function by encouraging pancreatic islet health.⁴ Animal research has found that combined with resveratrol curcumin may be helpful in fighting lung cancer.⁶ It has the potential to also combat depression, and neurodegenerative disease and is also used in detecting Alzheimers because it becomes fluorescent when in contact with beta-amyloid.

Turmeric has a number of traditional uses for conditions such as digestion, blood disorders, infections, gynecological problems, and may be helpful for joint arthritis.⁷

Important Note:  Before taking turmeric supplements check with your doctor if you are taking a blood thinner.  While adding a bit of turmeric to your cooking is usually ok, more concentrated forms have a lot of punch.  Curcumin, the active ingredient of turmeric is a blood thinner.

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Footnotes

1.Li, J., Wang, P., Ying, J., Chen, Z., Yu, S. (2016). Curcumin Attenuates Retinal Vascular Leakage by Inhibiting Calcium/Calmodulin-Dependent Protein Kinase II Activity in Streptozotocin-Induced Diabetes. Cell Physiol Biochem, 39(3):1196-208.
2. Srimal, R.C., Dhawan, B.N. (1972). Pharmacology of diferuloyl methane (curcumin), a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory agent. J Pharm Pharmacol, Jun; 25(6):447-52.
3. Sharma, O.P. (1976). Antioxidant activity of curcumin and related compounds. Biochem Pharmaco, Aug 1; 25(15):1811-2.
4. Woo, J.M., Shin, D.Y., Lee, S.J., Joe, Y., Zheng, M., et al. (2012). Curcumin protects retinal pigment epithelial cells against oxidative stress via induction of heme oxygenase-1 expression and reduction of reactive oxygen. Mol Vis, 18: 901–908.
5. Srinivasan, M. (1972). Effect of curcumin on blood sugar as seen in a diabetic subject. Indian J Med Sci, Apr; 26(4):269-70.
6. Liu D, He B, Lin L, Malhotra A, Yuan N. (2019). Potential of curcumin and resveratrol as biochemical and biophysical modulators during lung cancer in rats. Drug Chem Toxicol. May;42(3):328-334.
7. Daily JW, Yang M, Park S. (2018). Efficacy of Turmeric Extracts and Curcumin for Alleviating the Symptoms of Joint Arthritis - A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Clinical Trials. J Med Food. Aug;19(8):717-29.