A doctor has recommended adding a common spice to your diet, as it has a number of impressive health benefits.
Turmeric is packed with a compound called curcumin, which has been described as a superfood thanks to its many advantages for your health. The spice is commonly used in South Asian and Middle Eastern cuisine and is a staple in many people’s cupboards.
Curcumin specifically is celebrated for its anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. “It has also been studied for things like depression, with mixed results. But fascinating and tantalising data coming out so far,” Dr Reza said in a TikTok video, stressing that more research was needed into turmeric’s potential health benefits.
Dr Reza also highlighted that some studies suggested curcumin could lower heart attack risk, relieve arthritis-related pain and inflammation, and act against certain types of tumours. “There was one case study where it actually had a 50% efficacy in colon cancer – really cool stuff,” he said
Despite these potentially exciting findings, the healthcare professional stressed “a lot more studies need to be done before this is recommended.” Cancer Research UK says there is no current solid human evidence to prove turmeric or curcumin can prevent or cure cancer.
However, taking to TikTok, another medical professional – Dr Arthur – shared the benefits of turmeric, emphasising that it must be consumed correctly to reap its benefits. “The reason that you’ve probably been taking it wrong is that it has terrible bio-availability which means it’s barely absorbed at all by the gut,” he said.
“However, when you take it with black pepper, the initial absorption which is very rubbish, should be increased by 2000%, meaning 20 times more of the turmeric is absorbed into the body so the benefits can actually benefit you.”