Health Benefits of Turmeric

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Turmeric has several potential health benefits, including anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects, brain and digestive health, and potentially reducing the risk of chronic diseases. Here’s everything you need to know about this amazing spice.

TLDR

There are likely a lot of significant health benefits that are yet to be proven, and there are a lot of studies that suggest the benefit. It can’t hurt you in typical doses unless you are taking certain medications. It’s a delicious flavor, so why not go ahead and incorporate it into your diet?

What is Turmeric?

Turmeric is a food spice and is a traditional agent in Chinese and Ayurvedic medicine for nearly 4000 years. It’s from the root of a native Asian plant, Curcuma longa, related to ginger. It’s what gives mustard and curry the bright yellow color. Warning, it can stain so be careful.

Turmeric is safe and there does not seem to be a toxic dose. Typical doses range anywhere from 500 mg up to 2000 mg, it seemed that you can take up to 8000 mg safely, but it can interfere with certain medications so be sure to discuss this with your doctor. Most people take between 500-2,000 mg daily. Curcumin may interfere with chemotherapy agents, the blood thinner warfarin, and the immune suppressant drug called tacrolimus. Curcumin is the main active ingredient in turmeric making up 5% of turmeric. Turmeric/curcumin is not very “bioavailable”, meaning it’s hard to absorb from the G.I. tract. Believe it or not, black pepper increases its absorption by up to 2000% due to a substance in black pepper called piperine. Some supplements come pre-mixed with black pepper already. There may be some increased absorption when taking heart-healthy fats like oils, avocados, nuts, and seeds.

What is a Superfood?

Turmeric is hyped as a superfood. It might help to know what exactly is a superfood. It’s mainly a marketing term but in general, refers to a food that is rich in phytonutrients. Turmeric does contain potassium, vitamin C, iron, and manganese. There is no single food that gives you everything you need. Popular superfoods include avocado, berries, kale and spinach, pomegranate, broccoli, salmon, garlic, and sweet potatoes. If you eat a lousy diet, turmeric/curcumin is not going to save you.

There are all kinds of health benefits mainly involving its anti-inflammation and antioxidant properties. It may benefit PMS, cancer, Chronic pain, headaches, depression, heart disease, Alzheimer’s disease, chronic inflammation such as arthritis, Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, etc. Studies show benefits in these conditions, unfortunately, many studies are very small and there are few randomized double-blind controlled trials on the benefits of turmeric/curcumin. But on the whole, it does seem to have a fair amount of benefit.

How to use Turmeric?

Turmeric can add delicious flavoring to many recipes, even coffee and tea. 1 teaspoon of ground turmeric for cooking is equivalent to about 150 mg. Combined with other anti-inflammatory foods such as poultry, fish, fruits, vegetables, whole grains, seeds, nuts and nut butter, legumes, and plant-based oils, turmeric can really boost your anti-inflammatory effect.

Turmeric has a low amount of curcumin so using it just as a spice in your food may not give you a whole lot of the active ingredient. Therefore, it’s more efficient to get it as a supplement because the curcumin has been concentrated. Keep in mind the FDA does not regulate supplement companies and so claims of curcumin purity cannot be verified.

In 2017 there was an article in the Journal of Medical Chemistry that greatly downplayed any benefit of curcuminoid compounds.

What’s the Bottom Line on Turmeric?

There are likely a lot of significant health benefits that are yet to be proven, and there are a lot of studies that suggest the benefit. It can’t hurt you in typical doses unless you are taking certain medications. It’s a delicious flavor, so why not go ahead and incorporate it into your diet? For the sake of transparency, you should know that I take turmeric 1000 mg in combination with resveratrol myself. But after writing this I think I’m going to add some black pepper to it. I do not get any financial considerations for that.

To your good, flavorful health,

Kevin W McCurry, MD