Binomial name: Curcuma longa
Common name : Turmeric (incorrect spelling is Tumeric)
It is native to tropical South Asia and needs temperatures of 20-30*C to thrive and dies back in winter here. Although it does not like waterlogging, it seems be growing ok in the gravel grow bed of one of my aquaponics systems. It is such a well known cooking herb that I will omit any further details and focus on the multitude of medical and scientific information available about it.
The compound of interest in Turmeric is called Curcumin.
Here are some results from Pubmed. There is a large number of studies on this plant available also in Scirus
search term : turmeric joint pain
abstract 1: A 2009 randomised controlled study ( this is a good level study) of 107 patients with primary osteoarthritis of the knee with a pain scale of 5 or more out of 10. It was compared with Ibuprofen ( = Nurofen, Brufen, Advil). Over a period of 6 weeks both groups improved as measured by pain scale, time to walk 100m and time to walk up and down a flight of stairs. The conclusion was that Turmeric ( amount was 2gm) was as effective as Ibuprofen.
search term : turmeric osteoarthritis
abstract 2: This one is a bit more technical but illustrates how our food can fundamentally interact with our cells at the level of the genes. This study found that Curcumin and resveratrol ( found in eg red wine, tea) suppresses inflammation in cartilage cells by targeting the NF-kappaB regulated gene products.
abstract 13: Human cartilage cells were treated with inflammatory agents for 3 days. Those treated also with curcumin showed down regulation of NF-kappaB and thus down regulation of 2 inflammatory pathways ( COX2 - blocked medically by celebrex and mobic, and MMP3 - blocked medically by tetracyclines)
search term : turmeric cancer
abstract 1: Curcumin induced human lung cancer cell apoptosis ( death) by down regulation of micro RNA ( micro RNA are growth regulators in our cells)
abstract 6: Curcumin significantly inhibited migration and invasion in vitro (test-tube) and in vivo (live) in head and neck squamous cell cancers.
abstract 8 : A mouse experiment of 2 groups given a diet that induced an inflammatory bowel condition and eventually bowel cancer. The mice also given Turmeric had statistically less colitis ( bowel inflammation) , no macroscopic tumours and only minor precancerous lesions.
Following up on these abstracts I checked up on the incidence of Cancer in the Indian population
(ref: Cancer Incidence rate among South Asians in four Geographic regions : Rastogi,T Devesa, S et al : International Journal of Epidemiology vol:37 no:1 pp 147-160)
The rate in India was the lowest at 111 (males) 116 (females) /100,000
The rate in the US was the highest 362 (males) 296 (females)/100,000
for colon, prostate, thyroid , lung and pancreas
but: India had the highest rate for mouth, oesophagus, larynx and cervix
Generally it is considered that mouth/throat and certainly cervical cancers are viral in origin (certain strains of herpes especially). It would thus seem that Curcumin does not protect against such virally induced cancers
I also looked up the incidence of osteoarthritis in the Indian population to see if Turmeric had a noticeable population effect. Satisfactory comparable figures were a bit hard to obtain but it seems as if the prevalence of osteoarthritis in Australia is 15% and India 22-39%.
So it seems that Australians have less primary osteoarthritis than the Indian population, so maybe eating Turmeric does not have a protective effect on our joints in spite of its anti-inflammatory activity.
Overall though it really is an excellent plant to include regularly in your diet.
No comments:
Post a Comment