Turmeric
Curcuma longa
AKA Haridra, Jiang Huang
Cholesterol Normalizing
Anti-inflammatory
Astringent
Tissue Healing
Turmeric Key Properties
Anti-Inflammatory
Consuming turmeric can help reduce inflammation throughout the body.
Astringent
Turmeric has astringent properties, which helps draw tissues together and eliminate excess water.
Cholesterol Normalizing
Many compounds found in turmeric have been studied and found to have cholesterol normalizing effects.
Medicinal Uses of Turmeric Root
Turmeric is a root that grows natively in Southeast Asia. It prefers humid and warm climates with longer growing seasons. Turmeric is in the same family as ginger and has a warming and pungent taste that can be found in many Asian and Indian dishes.
Turmeric contains thousands of compounds that work synergistically to support the whole body. From its culinary uses to supporting the cardiovascular system, to reducing risk of cancers, and lowering inflammation, turmeric is one of the most widely used herbs around the world.
Curcumin
Some of the compounds within turmeric have been isolated and studied by the modern scientific community with great results. Curcumin is one of the more popular ones, which makes up around 7% of turmeric.
Curcumin, specifically is known to help reduce and remove accumulations of cholesterol in the liver. Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease affects 20-30% of adults in western societies today and occurs when the liver becomes overburdened with cholesterol.
Turmeric Dose
Because turmeric is a relatively mild herb, medicinal uses for this plant are often in higher volume doses ranging from 5g to 1oz per day. This is not medical advice. Please consult with an experienced herbalist for proper dosing.
Black Pepper (Piper nigrum)
Turmeric has been in thousands of studies in recent years to define the benefits of each of its constituents. Several studies have paired turmeric with black pepper and found that people that took these two herbs together experienced much greater absorption than just taking turmeric by itself. “… piperine is the major active component of black pepper and, when combined in a complex with curcumin, has been shown to increase bioavailability by 2000%” (Hewlings)
Biomedical Actions of Turmeric Root
Turmeric Constituents
Curcumin - Makes up ~7% of turmeric
"Understanding the Burden of Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease." Diabetes Spectrum, vol. 37, no. 1, 2024, pp. 9-20. Available at: Diabetes Spectrum (Diabetes Journals).
Sources + Further Reading:
Zhang Y, Henning SM, Lee RP, Huang J, Zerlin A, Li Z, Heber D. Turmeric and black pepper spices decrease lipid peroxidation in meat patties during cooking. Int J Food Sci Nutr. 2015 May;66(3):260-5. doi: 10.3109/09637486.2014.1000837. Epub 2015 Jan 13. PMID: 25582173; PMCID: PMC4487614.
Hewlings SJ, Kalman DS. Curcumin: A Review of Its Effects on Human Health. Foods. 2017 Oct 22;6(10):92. doi: 10.3390/foods6100092. PMID: 29065496; PMCID: PMC5664031.