Saturday, September 19, 2009

Medicinal Benefits of Tumeric

Beautiful Saturday so far. After a nice morning bike ride and a breakfast out at High Park, reading the papers, I've settled in, leafing through the September fall issue of InStyle.

While paging through I noticed a new product featured because of its odd ingredient - tumeric! DDF has a new cream that has tumeric, as it is currently being touted as having anti-aging benefits.

Old news to me! Tumeric is something I get all my cancer patients to take either in food/spice form or supplement form. Tumeric is something I remember painstakingly learning about in Year 2 Botanical Medicine. Curcumin is actually the part that gives the herb its therapeutic benefits. Its a powerful antioxidant, fighting free radicals and having strong anti-inflammatory benefits as well as being anticarcinogenic. A study in UCLA has even seen how tumeric may benefit those with Alzheimers, by reducing the build-up of protein plaques in the brain.

Sprinkle a little tumeric in your next stir-fry, in a smoothie, or on your quinoa!

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