What is Turmeric?

Turmeric is a spice produced by turmeric plant that has a bitter taste. The plant grows more in Asia and Central America. Turmeric contains an active ingredient called curcumin which is yellow in color and sometimes used to flavor or color foods. The big thing about turmeric is that the curcumin content has strong anti-inflammatory, antimutagenic, antimicrobial, anticancer, and antioxidant properties. These medicinal properties can be useful in managing many diseases such as:

Pain and inflammation as in osteoarthritis, hay fever, depression, high cholesterol, heart burn, itching, inflammatory bowel disease, stress, Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes, prediabetes, prostate cancer, tuberculosis, and cancer prevention. But how can one product treat all these medical conditions? That’s a good and important question many people are asking. The answer lies in the strong anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties of turmeric. These properties boost and activate your natural immune system.

How to get Turmeric: You can obtain turmeric from herbal supplement suppliers and food stores as well as from various online stores since it is not FDA regulated and no prescription is required. You need to be very careful because the lack of FDA regulation means there are no standardized products so the turmeric from different supplies do not have the same quality and quantity. You should get it from a reliable source to avoid getting fake or contaminated product. Since it does not have FDA approval it should not replace your doctor’s medical advice and recommended prescribed medicine.

Caution: If you are taking turmeric make sure to notify your doctor, Pharmacist or any healthcare provider to avoid complicating your treatment.

Female Pregnant and breast-feeding patient should not be taking turmeric because of its blood-thinning effects making it easier to bleed. It can also stimulate contractions.

Turmeric can lower testosterone levels and sperm motility in men and affect your fertility and ability to have children.

If you’re scheduled for surgery, dental procedure or any medical invasive procedure you should stop taking turmeric at least two weeks before the procedure.

Some people need to be on iron supplement, they should also avoid turmeric because it reduces the absorption of iron.

Because turmeric has blood-thinning effect and can affect blood-clothing it makes sense not to take it when you are on any blood-thinning medicine like Coumadin. The same problem with drugs or supplements that lowers blood sugar because turmeric lowers blood sugar.


                                     Turmeric Roots and Powder

References:

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  • 7. Multum, Cerner. Turmeric medical review, Drugs.com, Dec 6, 2019

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