Turmeric is one of the easily available and most used spices in our homes. You must have heard from your grandparents or even parents to use turmeric whenever you had common cold or were bruised or even when you had fever. But is turmeric really that healthy?
One of the most abundant and active component in turmeric is curcumin and there are a number of health claims about it but are those all real? So, we here try to explain what does science have to say about these benefits and if they really exist, what does research suggest?
So here are 10 benefits of turmeric proved by the scientists for you.
1. Curcumin is an Anti-inflammatory
A number of people claim that turmeric can be used to fight inflammation and this credit can be given to curcumin. Research suggests that turmeric actually has more anti-inflammatory powers than medicines like ibuprofen and Aspirin.
2. As an Anti-oxidant
Oxidative reaction is always coupled with aging processes and many other diseases. It involves free radicals, some highly reactive materials, that react with important substances in body and cause damage. Curcumin neutralizes the free radicals and doesn’t let them react with our bodily substances, hence acting as an anti-oxidant.
3. Protects Against Heart Disease
A study shows that curcumin may help in endothelial function which is a thin membrane that covers the inside of heart and blood vessels and plays a major role in regulating blood pressure. The turmeric helps the endothelial membrane to do its work efficiently.
4. Lowers the Risk of Brain Disease
Curcumin is known to boost the level of brain hormone BDNF whose main function is to increase the growth of new neutrons and fight the degenerative processes in the brain. The common disorders linked to decreased levels of this hormone are depression, Alzheimer’s disease, etc.
5. May Prevent Cancer
Tumor growth happens because of inflammation and as we mentioned earlier, turmeric has anti-inflammatory properties which can play a major role in preventing and maybe even treating the carcinogenic properties.
6. May Help in Arthritis
There are different types of Arthritis and major ones include inflammation in the joints. Again, given that turmeric possesses anti-inflammatory compounds, it surely makes sense that it will help in Arthritis.
7. May Help Prevent or Treat Diabetes
A number of studies done on animals have shown that curcumin lowers the sugar levels in them. Which can prove that turmeric can help in prevent and even treat diabetes.
8. Improves Skin Health
Because of number of properties like anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial and antioxidant, turmeric can help in improving a number of skin conditions like acne, eczema, photoaging, psoriasis, etc.
9. Can Function as an Anti-aging
Aging occurs mostly because of oxidation process in the body and as we have mentioned earlier about the anti-oxidant properties of the turmeric, it can surely help in anti-aging. Although proper research backup is still lacking.
10. May Prevent Eye Degeneration
Glaucoma is one of the leading causes of blindness in old-age and once this degeneration begins, it cannot be restored. In a study done on rats, it was found that curcumin helped preventing the loss of sight and this could actually be useful for humans too.
Ayurvedic Immunity Boosting / Promoting Measures By ayush.gov.in
Golden Milk- Half tea spoon Haldi (turmeric) powder in 150 ml hot milk – once or twice a day.
