While you might know turmeric as a gingery spice with a strong yellow color, it has more health benefits than you can imagine.
Turmeric, or tumeric as it is also known, comes from a rhizomatous herbaceous perennial plant of the ginger family, Zingiberaceae, with the same name. It is widely used for coloring and as a condiment in Indian, Iranian, and Pakistani cuisine, but you should learn to use it a lot more.
First of all, you should know that it has very powerful anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. These come from something named curcumin, which is the main active ingredient in the plant.
However, curcumin is unfortunately poorly absorbed into the bloodstream, so to help you body suck it all up, you should have it with peppercorns or fatty foods, since it is fat soluble.
And who doesn’t want to look younger, right? Well, while oxidative damage is believed to be a main contributor to quick aging and many diseases, turmeric’s antioxidant properties help eradicate free radicals from your system. And not only will curcumin neutralize radicals in your body, it will help boost the activity of your body’s very own antioxidant enzymes as well.
As you might already know, the human brain has a hard time creating new cells. However, curcumin happens to have certain properties that boost the brain’s BDNF levels, a hormone, that will stimulate growth of new neurons and fights various degenerative processes.
It has also been known to both prevent, and in some cases be helpful against or even help fight, heart disease, cancer, arthritis and alzheimer’s.
Even if your food doesn’t need to be yellow, find a way to include turmeric in your diet. It will detox and protect your body in ways few foods can.
