Turmeric: Good for Your Heart as Exercise
This is really it! Turmeric, which is gaining popularity in the medical community, does not only hold promise against Alzheimer’s disease, dementia, and cancer. It can also protect us from autoimmune disease and heart disease, which happens to be the world’s number one killer.
Scientific evidences on the healing power of turmeric are on the rise. In 2011, researchers at Niigata University of Pharmacy and Applied Life Sciences in Japan found that just three weeks of curcumin supplementation (a compound present in turmeric) can significantly improve the cardiovascular health of male rats that were given an injection to induce an autoimmune disease of the heart known as myocarditis. Not only that. The compound also reduced the area of the heart covered by inflammatory lesions, as well as the heart-to-body-weight ratio. This groundbreaking study was published in the Biological and Pharmaceutical Bulletin journal.
World’s Healthiest Food
Who would have thought that a spice commonly used in Asia could turn into one of the world’s best food supplements? Turmeric has shown a great deal of benefits in the treatment of health problems that have no known cure until today, just like dementia. Its benefits have been well studied by western scientists, who attribute much of its healing effects to the naturally occurring yellow-orange chemicals called curcuminoids, most commonly known as curcumin. Turmeric has long been known as a powerful anti-inflammatory which makes it a potential drug for a wide range of diseases, including cancer. And since heart disease is often caused by inflammation, scientists have also focused on the role of turmeric supplementation in halting, if not preventing the disease.
In a 2012 study published in the Artery Research and Nutrition Research, scientists at the University of Tsukuba in Japan suggest that turmeric provides benefits that are as good as exercise! They found that curcumin supplementation lead to as much as significant improvement in two measures of heart health: vascular endothelial function and arterial compliance, as aerobic exercise. Greater benefits were seen in study participants who exercised and at the same time, took curcumin.
In another paper reported in the American Journal of Hypertension, researchers found that an exercise programme coupled with curcumin supplementation slowed age-related heart health degeneration.
Potent Drug for Autoimmune Disease
Due to its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, numerous studies have been conducted to see whether turmeric can be effective in reducing the severity of autoimmune diseases, such as type 1 diabetes, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, myocarditis, and systemic lupus. It is estimated that 5 per cent of the world’s population suffer from autoimmune diseases.
In a study review published in the Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, curcumin supplementation has been found to reduce symptoms of inflammatory bowel disease, rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, inflammatory bowel disease, and other inflammation-based autoimmune diseases.
Experts note that the body absorbs curcumin most effectively from the turmeric root rather than from supplements, and is best taken in low doses for a long period of time.
Source of this article:
Two more reasons to take turmeric: It protects your heart, fights autoimmune disease
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