Turmeric is a spice that has grabbed a lot of press lately. Specifically you may have seen it on the coffee menu at your favourite hipster cafe, as a fancy, new, expensive latte ingredient. Sure it tastes pretty good, but is it really worth the extra money?
Figure 1. Turmeric milk latte
Turmeric’s history is lengthy, with mention of its medicinal use dating back almost 4000 years1. Turmeric was used in religious ceremonies, as a treatment for wound healing, and was often used to treat various digestive disorders all over Asia1. These days researchers are trying to unpack turmeric to figure out how it can be used in modern medicine, however, it’s not as easy as it looks.
The active component of turmeric is called curcumin, and although the scientific community is still figuring this molecule out, thoughts are that it could be useful for things like:
- Anti-inflammation2
- Anti-microbial2
- Anti tumor2
- Antioxidant2
What scientists have discovered is that turmeric really struggles to get into the bloodstream if consumed orally3. In order to combat this problem researchers have developed specialized methods for increasing the bioavailability of curcumin3. Currently, the best method for getting the benefits of turmeric is to make the molecules incredibly small, called ‘nanoparticles’, or to cover it in a special fatty coating, called a lipophilic matrix3. Only then is it possible to see the active ingredient, curcumin, working its magic in the body.
So the question remains; is the turmeric milk latte really worth the extra cash? The answer might lie with your choice on who you trust more. Do you trust ancient civilizations who have been using this spice throughout their history in the whole, unprocessed form? Or do you trust the scientists of today who believe that it’s full potential is lost until the spice has been made into tiny particles that your body can absorb?
Personally, I believe that the whole spice must be active in your body to a certain degree, but I will probably stick to a regular latte and save a few dollars.
References
1Prasad, S.; Aggarwal, BB. Turmeric, the golden Spice: From Traditional Medicine to Modern Medicine. In: Benzie IFF, Wachtel-Galor S, editors. Herbal Medicine: Biomolecular and Clinical Aspects. 2nd edition. Boca Raton (FL): CRC Press/Taylor & Francis; 2011. Chapter 13.
2National Center for Biotechnology Information. PubChem Database. Curcumin, CID=969516, https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/Curcumin (accessed on Jan. 22, 2020).
3Jager, R.; Lowery, R.; Calvanese, A.; Joy, J. Comparative absorption of curcumin formulations. Nutr J. 2014;13:11. Published 2014 Jan 24. doi:10.1186/1475-2891-13-11 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3918227/#__ffn_sectitle (accessed Jan 22, 2020).
Figure 1 Source: https://www.pxfuel.com/en/free-photo-qpxbl (accessed Feb 12, 2020). Creative Commons Zero - CC0
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