Turmeric is gaining in popularity and for very good reason!
The yellow pigment found in turmeric, which is also responsible for the majority ofits medicinal properties is called “curcumin.” Study abstracts from the National Library of Medicine’s bibliographic database known as MEDLINE show over 600 potential health benefits of turmeric, and/or its primary polyphenol known as curcumin. Curcumin is the active compound you want to absorb from eating turmeric. However, a big problem with turmeric is that curcumin isn’t easily absorbed.
Various animal and clinical studies reveal that the concentrations of curcumin in blood plasma, urine, and peripheral tissues, if detectable at all, are extremely low regardless of dosage. And low absorption rate will not give you the health benefits of this pack a punch medicinal food. While no food or herb is right for everyone, and every- thing has the potential for unintended, adverse side effects, turmeric is truly unique in its exceptionally high margin of safety vis-à-vis the drugs it has been compared with, e.g. hydrocortisone, ibuprofen, chemotherapy agents. Furthermore, nothing within the modern-day pharmaceutical armamentarium comes even remotely close to turmeric’s 6,000 year track record of safe use in Ayurvedic medicine.
Little Snippets of interest worth knowing!
Despite its vast potential for alleviating human suffering, turmeric will likely never receive the FDA stamp of approval, due to its lack of exclusivity, patentability and therefore profitability. Truth be told, the FDA’s “gold standard” for proving the value of a prospective medicinal substance betrays the age old aphorism: “he who owns the gold makes the rules,” and unless an investor is willing to risk losing the 800+ million dollars that must be spent up front, the FDA-required multi-phased double-blind, randomized clinical trials will not occur.
How To Skyrocket Turmeric’s Bioavailability there are simple kitchen strategies that you can use to boost turmeric’s bioavailability
Always Mix With Black Pepper
Black Pepper is a powerful medicine in its own right and a Potent Turmeric Adjuvant. “ If people are given a bunch of turmeric curcumin, within an hour there’s a little bump in the level in their blood stream. We don’t see a large increase because our liver is actively trying to get rid of it. But what if the process is suppressed by taking just a quarter teaspoon’s worth of black pepper? Then you see curcumin levels skyrocket. The same amount of curcumin consumed, but the bioavailability shoots up 2000%.
Even just a little pinch of pepper—1/20th of a teaspoon— can significantly boost levels. And guess what a common ingredient in curry powder is besides turmeric?
“Black pepper”
One Study entitled: Influence of piperine on the pharmacokinetics of curcumin in animals and human volunteers demonstrated that when piperine was co- administered with curcumin and given to human subjects the bioavailibity of curcumin increased 2000% .
Add a Healthy Fat to Turmeric
Since turmeric is fat-soluble, in order for your body to fully absorb it and experience its amazing health benefits, turmeric needs to be combined with a fat.
When eaten with healthy fats, such as coconut, ghee or olive oil, curcumin can be directly absorbed into the bloodstream through the lymphatic system thereby in part bypassing the liver. This is very important because less curcumin is exposed to metabolic enzymes and re- mains in a free form allowing it to stay in the body longer.
Heat Increases Turmeric’s Bioavalibility
“The potent ingredient in turmeric is curcumin, which, despite its power, is not easily absorbed by the body without assistance. This is where the sauté pan and a little warm oil or Gee come into play,” Dr. Saraswati Sukumar, a medical oncologist at Johns Hopkins. She not only commands research data on the root that grows abundantly in South Asia and is used extensively in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, she uses the spice liberally in her own kitchen, regularly flavouring sautés with turmeric.
While the simplest way to take curcumin may be to pop a supplement pill, says Dr. Sukumar, it’s not as effective as when consumed as a spice in foods. “The problem with the pill is that it is very insoluble in water,” she said. “The better way to take it is to use it in your cooking very extensively. If you have any sauté, just sprinkle it in. The moment you heat oil and add turmeric to it, it now becomes bio-available to you.”
