Turmeric Resources

Golden-yellow turmeric has been the subject of frequent articles in recent years, which examine the ability of this South Asian member of the ginger family to reduce inflammation. In areas of the world where it is commonly used in cooking, like India and China, research suggests there are lower rates of inflammatory diseases like arthritis, metabolic diseases like diabetes, and lower rates of Alzheimer's than found in the West.

Origins

• Turmeric has been used since ancient times in South Asia, initially as a dye for textiles. Later it was used as a spice for foods, a natural medicine, and an ingredient in cosmetics. India, where it is a staple ingredient in curries, produces most of the world's turmeric and is the also the world's largest consumer of the spice. It is also grown in China and Indonesia. The spice is produced by harvesting the fingerlings or small roots that grow out of the tap root of the Curcuma longa parent plant. These are boiled and steamed, then dried and later ground into a finely textured, yellow-gold powder.

Natural Medicine Uses

• Turmeric has been used since ancient times as a natural anti-inflammatory, both internally and externally.

  Turmeric has been used for centuries as a natural anti-inflammatory agent to dress wounds and speed the healing of skin eruptions like acne, chicken pox and smallpox. It also has been used in combination with other plants to treat tonsillitis, bug bites, stings and as a bug repellent, as well as a poultice when combined with salt and lime juice, for sprains and fractured bones. When drank as a tea, it is said to encourage digestion and soothe stomach ulcers, reduce lactation in women who are weaning breast-fed babies, and help regulate sugar and fat metabolism.

Pharmeceutical Applications

• In recent decades, more than 1,300 research studies in the West have examined pharmaceutical applications for turmeric because of its laundry list of beneficial effects, among them its antibacterial, antifungal, anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory and insecticidal properties. Some medical research focuses on turmeric's potential therapeutic use in treating Alzheimer's disease, citing the relatively low rate of 2.4 percent of the disease in the general Indian population as compared to 5 to 17 percent in the U.S. Other medical studies have found that turmeric helps rid the body of toxins that cause cancer, and stops the growth of new blood vessels in existing tumors, preventing them from growing and spreading throughout the body.

Non-medicinal Applications

• In addition to its many health benefits, turmeric has non-medicinal applications. It is used as coloring in processed foods, confections and sauces, as a dye in textiles, as a flavoring in mustards, relishes and pickles and as a soothing ingredient in cosmetics. As a paste, turmeric is used by Indian women to remove excess hair and as a home remedy for sunburn. It also is effective in solution as a bug repellent.