Sitting is the new smoking and how a curry after your workout may help
I’be always admired doctors and anybody in the medical profession who’d give credit to the medical properties of herbs and spices, as they don’t get the credit they deserve.
What’s the issue?
We long seem to have forgotten what our ancestors knew about using herbs and plants to heal ailments. The idea that food is our medicine is as old as time; yet with the introduction of modern medicines, and the growth of the pharmaceutical lobby we are putting our health in the hands of a commoditized business.
The stigmatization of “natural” remedies paired with insufficient understanding of the mechanisms of natural plant products or plant based agents have withheld the medical community from its clinical uses, although their use has been shown to be effective in treating chronic conditions including IBD, Alzheimer’s disease, rheumatoid arthritis, and cancer – to name a few.
A bright orange coloured solution that has been around for thousands of years
For many years the “curry spice” curcumin, the principle component of tumeric, has been used in Asia for treating medical conditions like respiratory illness, liver disorders, arthritis, heartburn, stomach pain, diarrhea, intestinal gas, stomach bloating, and loss of appetite, and it has been used in topical treatments for issues like skin inflammation, sprains, swelling, and infected wounds.
Treatment of all types of human disease, whether chronic, acute, or malignant, has evolved over time.
Curcumin though is unique for medical treatments as it has multiple targets and mechanisms of action. It has been confirmed by scientific research to be antimicrobial, anticarcinogenic, cardioprotective, thrombosuppresive, and hepatoprotective.
Curcumin can be found worldwide not just as a medical treatment in the form of capsules and tablets, but as well as a supplement in ointments, energy drinks, soaps, and cosmetics.
What remains to be difficult is to achieve optimum therapeutic concentrations due to low solubility and poor bioavailability of curcumin. Curcumin is rapidly metabolized and conjugated in the liver, and then excreted with limited systemic bioavailability.
So – Don’t forget to spice it up!
The most common method to increase the bioavailability of curcumin is to combine its intake with black pepper (Piper nigrum) or long pepper (Piper longa).
Care instructions
Although no significant toxicities of curcumin reported from almost 40 clinical trials involving over 800 participants, most adverse events with daily curcumin intake occur at amounts greater than 4 g a day.
Further, curcumin should be taken with caution by those with marginally low iron stores or other diseases associated with iron such as anemia of chronic disease.
Doses of 2–4 g per day are considered safe and tolerable under its intended use.
The idea that medical conditions can be treated with or supplemented with a traditional kitchen spice is exciting; however, many more large-scale clinical trials to demonstrate the efficacy and safety of curcumin for the treatment of a multitude of human diseases are needed in addition to the current toxologic and pharmacologic trials.
Disclaimer:
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