In Asian countries herbal remedies are highly respected; they are often the only medicine people can afford. Indonesia’s tradition of jamu has never wavered, and one of its most enduring concoctions is a sunny drink of turmeric (curcuma longa), honey and lime juice. This is a powerful tonic indeed, a liver cleanser and excellent for hangovers. You either love the taste or hate it. I’ve been a regular consumer of turmeric for about a decade now, as my yellow-stained fingers will attest. There’s something about its earthy taste and pungent aroma that make me feel good clear through.
Mahidol University in Bangkok has a faculty which has been conducting research on traditional Thai herbal medicines for some time. One of its findings was that the pungent yellow root of the turmeric plant contains a potent antibacterial and antibiotic. It’s so effective that one American drug company tried to patent it, which would of course have driven all of us covert turmeric growers underground. Fortunately the insanity of this idea was apparent even to the evil empire that can morally justify patenting food plants and natural medicines.
Turmeric is indeed a powerful healer. When I lived in Singapore I would sometimes hear a scratching sound on the lower part of my front door on Sunday mornings, and a weak voice pleading, “Jamu, jamu!” On opening the door I would find a neighbour who was much given to partying, curled up on the doormat with his hands over his eyes, whimpering pathetically. After a stiff dose of jamu, however, he’d quickly perk up and soon be jogging home for breakfast.
I rub a piece of cut turmeric on scratches, cuts and insect bites to prevent infection, drink jamu when I’m sick or run down and as to my morning juice. Turmeric has been used in India as a medicine for thousands of years as well as adding colour and flavour to curries. It grows easily from a root bought at the market; as soon as it begins to sprout, put it to bed in a sunny part of the garden. The leaves are used in cooking rendang and other dishes and the flowers are both edible and attractive.
A close relation is kencur, which grows flat against the ground and has a pretty mauve and white flower. Ground up with rice, it’s used as a poultice for everything from sprains to fever. It feels cool going on, then heats up amazingly. Ginger root, another cousin, is used internally. Taken as a tea it settles nausea and promotes digestion. This is a great remedy for morning sickness and also assists in the discomfort of eating too many beans. But turmeric is the mellow yellow root I can’t imagine living without. Turmeric extract contains powerful antioxidants which can help boost the body’s immune system and protect against all kinds of illness and disease. Wherever turmeric grows, local wisdom honours it as a potent medicine that strengthens the liver, purifies the blood and improves circulation, aids digestion, protects the body against intestinal parasites and acts as a general tonic.
One of the rhizome’s active ingredients is curcumin, and research in both the East and West strongly suggests that it could be beneficial in connection with symptoms associated with a variety of health conditions due to its antioxidant, anti-tumor, anti-inflammatory and antibacterial properties. Curcumin is believed to act as an anti-inflammatory by lowering histamine levels, which may relieve the aches and pains associated with arthritis. The herb’s volatile oil functions as an external antibiotic, preventing bacterial infection in wounds. Animal studies lead researchers to believe that ethanol extracts of turmeric may protect the gastric lining against injury caused by drugs such as indomethacin and reserpine.
Studies have shown that turmeric may lowers levels of LDL cholesterol, which are responsible for the buildup of plaque in the arteries that could lead to heart disease. One clinical study at UCLA revealed that curcumin may help slow the progression of Alzheimer’s disease by reducing the buildup of amyloid protein ‘plaques’ in the brain of rats. Amyloid protein plaque buildup is one of the primary factors that characterizes Alzheimer’s disease. Ongoing research indicates that cultures such as India which use a lot of curcumin in their cooking have a much lower incidence of Alzheimer’s disease than the Western world. Also worth noting is research in the UK that suggests the occurrence of colon cancer seems to be much lower in populations that consume a lot of turmeric. Cancer specialists in the UK are testing oral turmeric capsules to be taken by colon cancer patients.
Turmeric has been shown to improve blood flow as well as strengthen blood vessels. Other benefits include protecting and strengthening the liver and aiding in digestion. German health authorities have officially declared turmeric tea as a remedy for diarrhea. Curcumin may provide an inexpensive, well-tolerated, and effective treatment for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) such as Crohn’s and ulcerative colitis, recent research suggests. In one study, mice given an inflammatory agent that normally induces colitis were protected when curcumin was added to their diet five days beforehand. The mice receiving curcumin not only lost much less weight than the control animals, but when researchers checked their intestinal cell function, all the signs typical of colitis were much reduced. While the researchers are not yet sure exactly how curcumin achieves its protective effects, they think its benefits are the result of not only antioxidant activity, but also inhibition of a major cellular inflammatory agent called NF kappa-B. Although curcumin has been found to be safe at very large doses, this component of turmeric was effective at a concentration as low as 0.25 per cent, an amount easily supplied by simply enjoying turmeric in flavorful curries.
Some interesting research suggests that turmeric may have a place in cancer prevention and treatment, both by enhancing liver function and in other ways. Curcumin has been shown to decrease symptoms of skin cancers and reduced the incidence of chemically caused breast cancer in lab animals. When combined with certain vegetables, turmeric may hold good potential in treating and preventing prostate cancer. Scientists in New Jersey have shown that turmeric, along with a substance found in vegetables like broccoli, kale, turnips and cabbage, may protect against this disease. Epidemiological studies have linked the frequent use of turmeric to lower rates of breast, prostate, lung and colon cancer. Laboratory experiments have shown that curcumin can prevent tumors from forming and research conducted at the University of Texas suggests that even when breast cancer is already present, curcumin can help slow the spread of breast cancer cells to the lungs in mice.
In another laboratory study of human non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma cells published in Biochemical Pharmacology (September 2005), University of Texas researchers showed that curcumin inhibits the activation of NF-kappaB, a regulatory molecule that signals genes to produce a slew of inflammatory molecules (including TNF, COX-2 and IL-6) that promote cancer cell growth and colitis. In addition, curcumin was found to suppress cancer cell proliferation and to induce cell cycle arrest and apoptosis (cell suicide) in lung cancer cells. Early phase I clinical trials at the University of Texas are now also looking into curcumin’s chemopreventive and therapeutic properties against multiple myeloma and pancreatic cancer, and other research groups are investigating curcumin’s ability to prevent oral cancer in smokers.
This is all just a tip of the iceberg of research being done on the benefits of turmeric. So reach for the earthy yellow root more often and find innovative ways to add it to your diet.
