What Spices Help Your Body?

Worth their weight in gold for centuries, spices have driven trade, exploration and wars. Only now, with modern agriculture and trade have prices come down to where most people can afford the benefits of spices. Throughout history, man has used spices for preserving foods, for their rich medicinal properties and in flavoring foods. In certain times and cultures, spices were used in embalming the dead, as offerings to the gods as perfumes and incense, for paying taxes and tribute and in curing many ailments and diseases.

Cinnamon

• Cinnamon lowers blood sugar in type II diabetes.

  Cinnamon derives from the inner bark of a tropical evergreen tree in Southeast Asia. Besides its use in preserving and flavoring foods, people have used cinnamon in treating diseases as far back as Egypt. Cinnamon aids in digestion as a carminative, and lowers blood sugar, triglycerides and cholesterol. The University of Peshawar, Pakistan, studied 60 people with Type II diabetes and the effect of cinnamon on their serum glucose levels. The study, Cinnamon Improves Glucose and Lipids of People with Type II Diabetes, reported in "Diabetes Care" in 2003 reported that 30 of the patients were given cinnamon pills in various amounts and 30 were given placebos. The people taking the cinnamon lowered their blood-sugar levels from 18 to 29 percent in 40 days.

Cayenne

• Cayenne's heat, capsaicin, is beneficial in lowering pain and inflammation.

  Cayenne's heat comes from its capsaicin, which has been proven to kill cancer cells, prevent sinus infections, act as an anti-inflammatory and provide relief to ulcer sufferers. Used daily, cayenne can help treat asthma, relieve pain and lower body fat. In 2007, more than 200 placebo-controlled studies were undertaken, showing strong scientific interest in cayenne's properties. While the study of capsaicin will continue, cayenne already has proven direct health benefits.

Cloves

• Cloves add rich flavor to foods but can also relieve a toothache.

  Toothache sufferers have been using clove oil for centuries. Chinese physicians used cloves to treat diarrhea, hernias and ringworm as well as other fungal infections. Cloves can kill intestinal parasites and have broad anti-microbial properties in counteracting fungi and bacteria. An infusion of cloves relieves nausea and a few drops of clove oil in water is said to stop vomiting. Cloves have long been used in aiding digestion complaints. Like many other spices, cloves have anti-oxidant properties.

Ginger

• Ginger tea is known for its use in treating nausea and morning sickness.

  Another product of southeast Asia, ginger has been praised for centuries for its beneficial effects on nausea and morning sickness. By increasing production of digestive fluids and salvia, ginger aids in relieving indigestion, gas pains, diarrhea and stomach cramps. As a diaphoretic, ginger makes one sweat, making it useful in treating fevers and removing toxins from the blood. Ginger can stimulate circulation of the blood and help loosen phlegm from the lungs in treating asthma and bronchitis. Ginger, as with many other spices, makes a pleasant and tasty tea.

Tumeric

• Tumeric, an essential ingredient in Indian curries, is a natural detoxifier.

  Curcumin is the active ingredient in tumeric, a yellow rhizome of a relative of the ginger plant. Tumeric is ancient, having been used for thousands of years as a medicine, flavoring and dye. Tumeric is antiseptic and antibacterial, useful on cuts and wounds. Curcumin has potent anti-cancer actions for many types of cancer. It is a natural liver detoxifier, with anti-inflammatory properties useful in treating arthritis. When cancer spreads, new blood vessels grow to feed the tumor, which curcumin counteracts.