Turmeric and curcumin, are they really great for our health?
“Is turmeric really helpful to reduce inflammation?”
“Is it safe to use high doses of turmeric in supplement capsules?”
“Is it enough just to add turmeric to my diet? Will I get the anti-inflammatory benefits?”
I’ll answer these questions in this article.
First, let me explain that I am a physician and Ph.D. scientist, so I need to examine these claims very carefully. I have many patients who come to me asking these questions. I am a specialist in chronic pain, and there are many claims that turmeric has anti-inflammatory properties. So, here is what I found after I did some sort of scientific search of the medical literature.
Turmeric is a plant in the ginger family. The stems and roots are ground into a powder that is used in many Asian cooking, and it is the main ingredient in curry. I love cooking with turmeric, and my favourite dish is chicken masala.
Turmeric contains a yellow-coloured substance called curcumin, which can be used in cosmetics, pigmentation or foods. In about 1,000 mg of turmeric, there is about 30 to 50 mg of curcumin. There are many animal studies that show antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties of curcumin.
There have been various scientific studies showing that turmeric offers several health benefits, the main one is its anti-inflammatory properties. Inflammation is a reaction of the body to some injury, or when we need to heal a bone fracture or a tendon rupture. However, there are situations that the person’s own immune system will attack itself, we call this auto-immune disease. One of these diseases is rheumatoid arthritis.
Turmeric
Turmeric is a plant in the ginger family. The stems and roots are ground into a powder that is used in many Asian cooking, and it is the main ingredient in curry.
A meta-analysis of 8 randomized trials supports the benefits of turmeric at about 1,000 mg/day in the treatment of arthritis. The patients reported improvement in morning stiffness, walking tie and joint swelling after 3 months of treatment. It seems that the effects were similar to using non-prescription non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, or NSAIDs, like ibuprofen or diclofenac.
Now, read this carefully. Because turmeric has shown some effects for rheumatoid arthritis, there are a lot of claims that it can also be useful for other kinds of diseases where there is low-grade inflammation, like heart disease, diabetes, cancer and Alzheimer’s disease.
There has been some speculation from pre-clinical studies that turmeric, and the active substance curcumin, could reduce inflammation after major surgery. To look at this, a high-quality Canadian randomized trial published in 2018 by Dr. Garg and colleagues examined the effects of curcumin at high doses in the pre-operative of abdominal aortic aneurysm repair in Canadian hospitals. Patients received either 2000 mg twice a day for 4 days or placebo. They looked at four types of biomarkers of tissue inflammation in the hours and days after surgery. There was no difference between these two groups and the group that received curcumin had higher risks of postoperative kidney injury than the group that received placebo.
When you buy supplements, any type of supplements, remember that they are not regulated the same way that medicines are, so they may say that they contain certain quantities of substances but that is not accurate. Manufacturers of natural health products can sell a product and claim health benefits without having to obtain the same supporting evidence that would be needed if it were sold as a drug.
If the person decides to use turmeric supplements, it is important to check if they also contain piperine a substance found in black pepper which helps with the absorption of curcumin. But if the curcumin supplement that you buy does not have piperine, just add some black peppers to help in the absorption.
How about getting curcumin from a regular diet?
The amount of turmeric and curcumin in the diet varies depending on the products that are used. The average Indian diet contains around 2,000 mg of turmeric which provides around 60 mg of curcumin per day.
Are there any side effects of turmeric and curcumin?
The short answer is yes. In high doses or long-term use of turmeric may cause gastrointestinal problems, similar to NSAIDs. So, doses above 2,000 mg of turmeric per day are not recommended.
This article is not intended to give you medical advice. Please talk to your physician or healthcare professional if you have any health issues. If you leave a comment about your own medical condition, I will not be able to provide you medical advice. But, please, leave a comment if you feel that this article has helped you to learn something new.
This article is available as a YouTube video on my channel
