Turmeric with botanical name Curcuma longa is a member of the ginger family, Zingiberaceae, a flowering plant made of about fifty genera and over one thousand six hundred aromatic spices in perennial herbs. It is usually creeping horizontal or tuberous rhizomes in appearance. This flowering plant is found in the Tropics of Africa, Asia and America.

This plant is one of the major ingredients in many Asian foods and mostly used as one of the spices in curry making. It has a warm, pungent and slightly nasty taste, and mostly used in adding flavor or color to curry powder, butter, mustard. Turmeric is typically used for savory dishes and also its leaf is used in sweet dishes like patoleo, cake sfouf as seen in India dishes.

A yellow chemical–curcumin is major component of turmeric, found to be about three to eight percent weight in the turmeric plant and used in the coloring of food and cosmetics.  Curcumin is the key and active ingredient in Turmeric. Turmeric is commonly known as Indian saffron in many places due to its yellow color.

Turmeric is an herb that has gotten a lot of recognition in the cycle of health and human wellness. Record has it that it has so many health benefits in cases of arthritis and it protects the brain while one ages. Studies have also shown that turmeric curcumin were used to effectively cure and manage conditions such as sugar levels in blood, cholesterol levels, fungal and bacterial infections.

Turmeric has many health benefits that are not associated with curcumin but generally, turmeric and curcumin have almost the same health benefits. Nevertheless, since turmeric is known to exit alongside the presence of curcumin, it is hard to say for sure if turmeric is of greater health benefits than curcumin.

Some researchers however, have begun isolating curcumin from turmeric to check for the health benefits and compare it with the health benefits found in turmeric. Due to the general use of this plant in traditional medicine, there has been a huge raise of interest to its health benefits and a lot of ongoing researches to discover more of its uses in the treatment of some other health conditions besides the ones already known.

This article will address the difference between turmeric and curcumin, the facts about them, their health benefits, side effects, the appropriate dosage required for some major health conditions and occasions to avoid the usage of these supplements.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN TUMERIC AND CURCUMIN

People often get confused on what turmeric and or curcumin really are and how they are related. To clarify this issue, turmeric is the yellow spiece found in the root of the turmeric plant and used in making curry while curcumin is a natural occurring chemical in turmeric that gives it its yellow color.

The botanical name of turmeric, curcuma longa, is actually where the natural chemical, curcumin got its name from. While curcumin is a chemical that can be readily extracted from turmeric, turmeric on the other hand cannot exist without curcumin. Again, although the turmeric spice has other seven chemical components in it, it is the curcumin that is the key component of turmeric.

FACTS ABOUT TURMERIC

Turmeric has its main ingredient as curcumin which has been found to be a very strong anti-inflammatory agent with powerful antioxidant effects. The content of curcumin in turmeric is however not very high; it is about three to eight percent by weight.

The presence of curcumin in turmeric however, has made it a herb with bioactive components and having high medicinal properties beneficial to health.

Due to the anti-oxidative strength of this herb, turmeric has been discovered to successfully fight aging and many other diseases in the body. During oxidation, free radicals with unpaired electrons reacts with significant organs in the body like proteins or DNA, and fatty acids and ends up damaging them; but with the presence of an anti-oxidant like turmeric, the body is protected from these free radicals.

Curcumin has been found to affect the growth of cancer, the spread and the development of cancer cells on a molecular level. Studies found curcumin very effective in the death of cancerous cells, reduction of growth in the blood tissues and spread of cancer. On further research, turmeric may be exposed as an effective cure for cancer in the future.

Piperine, a natural substance that encourages the absorption of curcumin into the bloodstream by two thousand percent is always necessary to be present while taking curcumin supplement since it is poorly absorbed into the bloodstream when taken alone.

HEALTH BENEFITS

Curcumin and turmeric supplement were found very effective for itching when it was taken three times daily for about eight weeks. It also reduced symptoms of hay fever such as sneezing, runny nose, and congestion. Turmeric has been known to reduce cholesterol very well, however, there are many types of turmeric supplement available and no knowledge of which does the magic yet.

Research showed that depressed people using antidepressant were totally healed when they started taking curcumin supplement. Turmeric supplement when combined with some herbal ingredients reduced knee pains caused by osteoarthritis considerably.

The supplements of curcumin and turmeric were however not very effective in cases such as stomach ulcers and skin conditions related to radiation in cancer treatments. People that suffered from these health conditions were administered these supplements and report showed they were not really affected by curcumin and turmeric supplements.

There were reports of turmeric supplement handling cases like Alzheimer’s disease, eye inflammation (anterior uveitis), skin rashes (Lichen planus), tuberculosis, skin cancer, acne, jaundice, hepatitis, headache, ringworm, fibromyalgia, ulcerative colitis (a type of inflammatory bowel disease), rheumatoid arthritis (RA), inflammation in the mouth and/or esophagus from radiation treatment, prostate cancer, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), joint pain, stomach upset, stomach ulcers caused by Helicobacter pylori (H pylori) infection; but there are no subsidiary evidences to support these claims.

SIDE EFFECTS

A report showed that when turmeric supplement was taken over 1500 mg twice daily an unusual heart rate was experienced. There was however no solid proof as to whether the abnormal rate was due to the intake of turmeric supplement.

Turmeric used in cooking does not have the same weight in grams as those taken in medicinal quantities, therefore, their effects are quite negligible and not noticed.

Some side effects that were encountered during the use of turmeric and curcumin supplements in medicinal quantity were stomach upset, queasiness, lightheadedness, or diarrhea.

APPROPRIATE DOSAGE

To efficiently get the maximum health benefits of turmeric curcumin supplements, the following dosage for some listed health conditions is advised by an official report. In hayfever condition, 500 mg of curcumin supplement should be taken orally daily for 2 months.

In the treatment of high cholesterol, 1.4 grams of turmeric supplement should be divided into two doses and consumed within three months.

In the cases of depression, 500 mg of turmeric curcumin supplement should be taken twice daily. It can be taken alone or along with 20 mg of fluoxetine daily, for six to eight weeks.

Itching problems could be medically handled using 1500 mg of turmeric supplement. This turmeric powder or supplement should be divided into three doses and given daily for eight weeks.

In children with high cholesterol, 1.4 grams of turmeric extract powder should be divided into two doses and administered daily for three months to children from the ages of fifteen years and upward.

Note however, that turmeric has the ability to slow clotting and in turn enhance bleeding in bruises. So, in cases of surgery and bruises, contact your health care provider for the right dosage.

OCCASSIONS TO AVOID TURMERIC AND CURCUMIN

Turmeric is mostly safe to take when found in little quantity in food since the weight usually used in food is almost negligible. However, it is advised to avoid the use of turmeric or curcumin supplement in medicinal amount during pregnancy or while breast feeding. Turmeric slows down blood clotting and can cause bleeding or miscarriage during pregnancy when taken in medicinal quantity.

The herb should be avoided in health conditions such as gall bladder problems, bleeding problems, diabetes, gastroesophageal reflux disease, breast cancer, uterine cancer, uterine fibroid and ovarian cancer, iron deficiency, surgery, infertility. High intake of turmeric can lower testosterone, reduce the movement of sperm, slow down blood clotting and also cause shortage of iron in the blood.

CONCLUSION

Turmeric supplement has for thousands of years been effective in the treatment of inflammations, digestive problems and bacterial infections. Even with the special attention given to curcumin, there is no official agreement on the best supplement to take between curcumin and turmeric. Studies were extensively made using extracted turmeric with curcumin in high concentration and also with curcumin alone and it was discovered that both almost did the same work health wise.

Series of research carried out on turmeric shows that it has key benefits for the body and the brain and it is about the most efficient natural supplement in the existence of man.