Author: Riley Pearce
Director of Social Media
Although modern medicine is certainly one of the greatest achievements of the 20th and 21st century, humans were still finding ways to medicate themselves long before vaccines and advil were invented.
We were clever enough to find plants in nature that offered natural remedies, and even believed that some of these could help with women’s fertility, or give men super healing strength.
Although the science is still not concrete if any of these natural remedies and elixirs work as they were thought to, there are a few herbs and spices today that we can say with some certainty that they offer additional health benefits when consumed on a regular basis.Turmeric is one of the best examples of this. Curcumin, or the major polyphenol compound in turmeric that gives it the orange-yellow colour, has been shown to have several health benefits.
Curcumin has been observed in several studies to help with inflammation, metabolic syndrome, pain, anxiety, and hyperlipidemia. Its ability to improve these conditions is mostly due to its ability to interact with inflammatory and antioxidant cellular functions.
Within the body there are several triggers and compounds that cause the body to go into oxidative stress, or produce inflammation. Oxidative stress and inflammation are actually linked functions within the body, so the fact that curcumin can positively influence both of these processes makes perfect sense.
One inflammatory pathway that is linked to cancer, Alzheimers disease, MS, parkinsons, psoriasis, obesity, and depression is the Tumour necrosis factor ɑ. There is some complicated science that explains how this TNF-ɑ is regulated and therefore expressed in the body, but what you need to know is that curcumin has been found to inhibit the expression of this.
For those of us who live an active lifestyle and push our bodies to the limits, curcumin can be an excellent addition to our healthy lifestyle. It has been observed to reduce post-exercise inflammation, and therefore help manage post-exercise soreness. This means that we can recover much faster from our workouts, and be ready to go for another workout much faster than we may have been without the curcumin.
One of the issues with curcumin is its bioavailability. If you want the full benefits of this anti-inflammatory powerhouse then you will have to take it with something to increase its bioavailability.
You don’t have to go too far to find the perfect pairing for your curcumin though because peperine, which can be found in standard black pepper, increases the bioavailability of curcumin by 2000%!
Curcumin can be bought in supplement form if you aren’t a fan of the taste of turmeric, but of course, consuming turmeric either in powder form, or straight from the turmeric root is also a great option.
If inflammation is something you recognize could be a risk to your health, then try adding a little turmeric into your life and see how it helps. Free Form Fitness recognizes that it is not a medical institution and the information in this article is purely for your information and education. We are not advising to use turmeric instead of any medical treatments that you may already be taking for a condition. We simply want to educate our readers.
