Turmeric, this amazingly yellow spice, the golden and glorious. How can you incorporate it into your daily diet? The possibilities are endless! You can add it to your morning smoothie, sprinkle it over scrambled eggs, I sprinkle it on sugar-free yogurt. I make turmeric tea, I add ginger, lemon, and a pinch of black pepper, just a little pinch to increase turmeric’s bioavailability and give it a kick. I also add it to chicken with my main meal. I treat it like salt, really, this is how much I use it, and it doesn’t change the taste of chicken at all; it only gives it a bit of a glow. I consume roughly 6 grams a day. I remember I was once brave and chewed the root itself. Not recommended, an arduous job and it will make your teeth yellow.
Have you ever wondered why this humble spice has been hailed as a miracle spice for centuries? It’s effect on reducing inflammation is unreliable. So, what exactly is inflammation? In simple terms, it's our body's natural response to injury or illness. Think of it as your body's alarm system, signalling the immune system to take action. While inflammation is an essential part of the healing process, chronic inflammation is a different story because it can lead to various health issues, from joint pain to heart diseases.
This is where our star ingredient, turmeric, comes into play. We have generous doses of turmeric in our glucosamine and chondroitin complex, our collagen & biotin complex, our apple cider vinegar with vitamins and our apple cider vinegar with berries. All these supplements are enriched with superfood and botanicals that fight inflammation.
Now, how can turmeric alleviate inflammation? I've been adding turmeric to my daily routine for a few months now and it has amazingly helped ease the aches of osteoarthritis in my toes. I also manage osteoarthritis in different ways, I take our glucosamine and chondroitin supplement.
The active compound responsible for turmeric’s health benefits is called curcumin. This bright yellow substance is what gives turmeric its distinctive colour and most of its medicinal properties. That’s the good stuff that we need.
Curcumin has brilliant anti-inflammatory effects because it inhibits molecules that play a direct role in inflammation. It also stimulates the activity of antioxidant enzymes in the body, which promotes the body's natural defence mechanisms against oxidative stress. These antioxidant properties neutralise harmful free radicals in your body. We know that free radicals are very bad stuff, they can lead to inflammation, and antioxidants successfully counteract their effects. Now let’s learn more about turmeric and inflammation.
We talked about turmeric and how it helps reduce inflammation in video Part 1. Check it out above if you missed that. More about turmeric & inflammation in this video. The active compound responsible for turmeric’s health benefits is called curcumin. Curcumin interferes with inflammatory signalling pathways involved in inflammation, and by doing so, it can suppress the production of pro-inflammatory molecules and promote an anti-inflammatory environment in your body. It may also downregulate the activity of something called nuclear factor-kappa B which is a key player in many inflammatory processes. Now, what’s the story with that nuclear factor-kappa B. It’s a fancy name, isn’t it?! And the word nuclear is so ominous! Nuclear factor-kappa B is a group of proteins that mainly control cell growth and survival. Those proteins also control the body’s immune and inflammatory responses. BUT… like all things, they have to be balanced because high levels or overactivity of these proteins may lead to inflammatory disorders, we’re talking asthma and autoimmune disorders, such as rheumatoid arthritis, and that’s where curcumin comes in to downregulate their activity.
Curcumin may also downregulate the expression of genes involved in inflammation. It also inhibits the activity of some inflammatory cytokines. In simpler terms, it's like a fire extinguisher, calming down the inflammation flames within your body. Now, cytokines are a type of protein that is made by certain immune and non-immune cells and has an effect on the immune system. Some cytokines stimulate the immune system, others slow it down, the opposite process.
Another point, curcumin can modulate the immune system's response by influencing the activity of immune cells such as what we call, the T cells, and the B cells. This modulation regulates the inflammatory responses and prevents excessive inflammation.
Here's a pro tip: always pair turmeric with a pinch of black pepper. Why? The bioavailability of curcumin is relatively low. Black pepper contains piperine, which enhances the absorption of curcumin by up to 2000%. That’s a huge number. That means more of the good stuff gets into your bloodstream. Now, we have generous doses of turmeric in our glucosamine and chondroitin complex, our collagen & biotin complex, our apple cider vinegar with vitamins and our apple cider vinegar with berries. All these supplements are enriched with superfood and botanicals that fight inflammation.
-- Written by Hala, founder of Dietapplements
