Turmeric

Turmeric was originally found in human history in tropical regions in India and nearby zones, and was used in mid-evil times as a substitute for ’saffron’ which was much more expensive at the time. The largest majority of turmeric in the world is grown and produced in India and Pakistan, it is also grown in parts of Africa, China, and Latin America.

Ginger is a close relative to turmeric, and shares similar applications to it such as anti-inflammation or blood thinning.. During a study, turmeric was found to be as effective as ibuprofen at pain relief for chronic arthritis.. Well not actually, it was curcumin (the main phenolic acid in turmeric) being tested, but curcumin yields much higher bio-availability when consumed from turmeric raw or cooked. Our medical scientific community has been trying desperately to isolate how to make curcumin bypass the BBB in humans without acids found in turmeric, their attempts have been widely disputed and ill effective.

This plant was used in ancient Indian (the country, not native Americans) medicine (the equivalent of America’s folk medicine) for a large array if illnesses, such as cancer-arthritis-psoriasis-mental illnesses (huntingtons, alzheimers, parkinsons). Current medical science reaffirms historical data from Indian medicine, and has shown that turmeric has antiamyloid-antioxidant-antiarthritic-antiinflammatory effects.

Similarly to the effects of ginger, turmeric has blood thinning abilities and is a weak stimulant, when given to college students before a test, turmeric significantly improved mental performance and scores when compared to placebo.. This had little to do with the scent of turmeric, different to the application of mint or cinnamon scents to improve test scores found in unrelated studies.

Different isolated cultures in India were compared in a study to examine the long-term effects of turmeric consumption on memory retention and recollection, cultures which used turmeric in their cuisine showed a vast increase in cognitive memory function.. So for anyone taking fish oils for memory function, you may want to add turmeric to that regime.

When applying antibiotics to an agar sample infected with staph bacteria in conjunction with turmeric, it was found to vastly decrease the perimeter of the bacterial growth, in an Iranian study. (an agar is a solution of pure sugar that is used to grow bacteria on a sealed container, the larger the dot grows when you apply antibacterial agents the less effective they are) This study would promote the idea of using turmeric when taking an antibiotic course for any serious or mild infection, when anti-inflammatory or anti-clotting medicines aren’t involved as turmeric is hazardous to take with these medicines.

So here’s the summary of medicinal effects.. Can be used to increase effectiveness of antibiotics, can be used to prevent/treat arthritis and brain disorders, and can be used to focus or concentrate better in the short or long-term.

As mentioned earlier in the article, curcumin isn’t really going to pass the BBB without turmeric, so don’t take supplements of it if the brain benefits are what you’re looking for.

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