From the desk of our Good Health Naturopath: Turmeric as a functional food

Inflammation:

As a natural anti-inflammatory, Turmeric is really beneficial for keeping inflammation at bay. Why do we need to stress the importance of inflammation? To put it simply, wherever there is inflammation there is pain. 

Vanessa often recommends Turmeric for pain and discomfort because it works on all the inflammatory pathways, unlike pharmaceutical anti-inflammatories that usually target one pathway.

So why does Turmeric excel where modern medicine might not?
According to Vanessa, “Turmeric is able to help reduce inflammation, whether it is in the gut, muscles, or joints because it works on the big chief at the top of the inflammatory cascade. In technical terms this is known as Nf-kB. I like to refer to this as the big boss of a company who signals to many other inflammatory pathways in the body, much like a CEO providing direction to their workers. In my view, this is the reason that Turmeric works so well for chronic pain and discomfort because they all share one common denominator – inflammation.” 

Liver function and digestion:

As one of the largest and most important organs inside your body, the health of your liver is certainly one to look after. It is responsible for converting food to energy, cleaning toxins from your blood and producing bile to aid digestion, all of which are benefited by eating Turmeric.

“The liver has a couple of detoxification pathways that are really important to our overall health. The body’s natural liver detoxification process involves two steps. Step one either directly neutralises a toxin or changes the toxic chemical to form a less harmful substance that is further neutralised by one of the pathways in step two. Turmeric also aids in enhancing the function of our liver and gallbladder, helping with bile production. Bile is what our liver produces and the gallbladder then stores and releases when we eat. We need to keep our digestion healthy because when we eat a meal, bile is what helps to break it down so we can absorb the nutrients faster” says Vanessa.

Antioxidant:

Another major benefit Vanessa has seen with Turmeric is that it’s a great antioxidant. Vanessa tells us, “Turmeric helps in reducing damage to cells in our body, as well as protecting them from free radical damage. If antioxidants are lacking and toxin exposure is high, we are more vulnerable to an attack from these free radicals, which is how many diseases and accelerated aging begins”. There have also been numerous studies supporting the amazing properties of Turmeric.

Good Health Naturopath, Vanessa Vujcich.

If you’ve got more of a sensitive pallet, don’t worry, you don’t have to miss out as Good Health Turmeric 15800 Complex has all the benefits too. If you do like it on the hot side Vanessa is a fan of opening the capsules and seasoning her meals with them as they taste just like Turmeric and black pepper.

The bottom line is, the health benefits Turmeric offers shouldn’t be ignored. So however you choose to take it, adding this powerful plant to your diet is one of the best things you can do for your overall health and wellbeing.