Turmeric has become quite popular and is taking over the health supplements market. You might see those beautiful yellow turmeric lattes being prepared in coffee shops, restaurants preparing turmeric poached eggs for breakfast/brunch and turmeric being added in smoothies and chocolate bars.
It is obvious that Turmeric’s bright yellow hue looks good. Now is the time to have a look at what makes it so good.
Turmeric and its history
Turmeric is an herbal plant often considered as a spice. It is found mainly in the Indian subcontinent and in Central America. The yellow herb is renowned for its widespread use in Indian cuisine, particularly in lentil-based dishes.
Those who are eating turmeric can find the root in the produce aisle at most grocery stores and supermarkets. It resembles ginger in many ways. It can also be purchased as a grounded spice, sold as both turmerics and as a spice blend, preferably curry powder.
In Ayurvedic medicine, Turmeric has a long and storied history where it helped treat health issues like fatigue and pain. It has also been used as a culinary spice and in religious ceremonies held in Southeast Asia for nearly 4000 years.
Given its latest superfood status, people have been using turmeric as a modern-day natural medicine for cutting down inflammation and treating a variety of ailments.
The nutritional aspects and facts of Turmeric – What’s in it?
Turmeric comprises of 100 compounds. The one which is most talked about is curcumin. It is an active compound credited with most of turmeric’s health benefits. Though turmeric gets its bright yellow hue from curcumin, this compound makes up only 5 percent of this beautiful spice.
In terms of nutrition, 1 teaspoon of this ground spice has around 9 calories. A more surprising fact about it is that it offers 0.3 grams of protein, 0.7 grams of fiber. It is impressive given how much is present in a small amount.
It also contains 1.65 milligrams of iron which is around 23% of the daily value of iron men need whereas women require 18 mg of iron daily. Hence, 1 teaspoon of turmeric supplies 9 percent of their quota. That being said, most people are eating 1 teaspoon of it at either lunch or dinner. Hence, a teaspoon of it will spruce up a whole recipe.
The proposed health benefits of Turmeric
Turmeric is often considered as a superfood item considering the considerable concentration of curcumin it has. Curcumin is a polyphenol (an antioxidant plant compound) that has anti-inflammatory properties.
For this reason, Turmeric has been credited with helping reduce harmful inflammation, particularly in arthritic conditions like rheumatoid arthritis (RA). It also helps manage metabolic syndrome (through improving insulin sensitivity and reducing both inflammation & blood pressure).
This helps improve cholesterol levels, reducing anxiety and lightening post-exercise muscle soreness. Indigestion, peptic ulcers, and digestive regulation are also regulated by turmeric.
A study published in the book Herbal Medicine: Biomolecular and Clinical Aspects (2nd Edition) found out that taking turmeric extract for 8 weeks has been shown to reduce the pain’s severity and abdominal discomfort due to irritable bowel syndrome.
Research published in the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry (March 2018) showed that a small amount of curcumin (at around 90 mg) taken in the form of a supplement can improve cognitive health in healthy adults.
Can Turmeric help people lose weight?
Turmeric can help in weight loss. Unfortunately, lack of research has made it a bit unclear but some research on it is quite promising. A study published in November 2015 in the European Review for Medical and Pharmacological Sciences, had a look at overweight people with metabolic syndrome who had already lost about 2 percent of their body weight.
Taking a curcumin supplement (Turmeric Curcumin for weight loss) for 30 days was found to enhance weight loss. It had helped them lose a total of almost 5 percent of their body weight and reduce their body fat by 8 percent.
Turmeric Curcumin for weight loss is a specially formulated weight loss and curcumin supplement. It is made in a way to help it get absorbed in an improved way by the human body, indicating that it is way different than eating turmeric alone.