The Golden Cure

Ever wonder the health benefits of Curcumin pills? Or in actuality, what in the world is Curcumin?

Curcumin is found in Turmeric which is known as Nghe in Vietnamese and Huang Jiang in Chinese and is a natural extract from the spice turmeric, which makes curry yellow. Turmeric is derived from the plant Curcuma Longa. The use of Curcumin is predominant in India and Asia for centuries due to its many beneficial properties Curcumin has been used in eons long ago to treat disorder ranging from arthritis to indigestion.

“What makes Curcumin so special?” one might ask. Well “Curcumin is the phytochemical that gives a yellow color to turmeric and is now recognized as being responsible for most of the therapeutic effects.” Curcumin was first isolated from turmeric in 1815 by a group of Western scientist who marveled its therapeutic effects. What they concluded was that Curcumin was an antioxidant which inherently has many aspects beneficial to one’s health. Antioxidant is defined as a “substances that may protect your cells against the effects of free radicals.” Free radicals are chemicals generated by the body or by external forces (eg. air pollution) that are harmful to our body cells.

The usage of Curcumin has dated back long before anything about it was scientifically proven. The primary reason people used it because they believed that it benefitted an individual memory, but they didn’t know why. Scientist has recently determined that Curcumin may help prevent Alzheimer’s disease. A cause of Alzheimer’s disease is the accumulation of a protein in the brain, amyloid. And Curcumin may prevent Alzheimer’s disease by decreasing amyloid accumulation. However, once a person is already stricken with this plague there is NO CURE. Curcumin also assist those with osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis because it reduces the COX-2 enzyme in the body. By inhibiting the COX-2 enzyme, Curcumin decreases the pain and swelling in arthritis and in turn many stated that Curcumin has anti-inflammatory properties.

Perhaps the most extensive research currently done on the role of Curcumin is the prevention and treatment of cancer. Curcumin may prevent and treatcancer through several mechanisms. Firstly, it may hinder certain devastating chemicals cancer causing effect. Secondly, the antioxidant decreases the amount of blood vessels feeding the tumor and in turn inhibits further growth of tumor cells. Angiogenesis is the scientific terminology used to describe the process in which tumor uses blood vessels to continue its growth. And Curcumin negates this effect by affecting the enzymes used in the blood vessel formation. Finally, it is hypothesized that Curcumin can cause a cancer to splice itself, a process known as apoptosis. Apoptosis is the response our normal body gives when it senses abnormality in certain cells; however, in many cases, cancer cells can attempt to prevent apoptosis.

The knowledge of Curcumins benefits are only known to certain extent. In areas such as India and Asia, it was believed that Curcumin was the cure to many ailments. However in today’s view, the most promising health benefits that can be attributed to Curcumin is its ability to defend against free radicals within the body and decreasing amyloid accumulation. Curcumin can be found in a variety of forms: round pills, powder, and even face cream. So next time when you see a bottle such as the figure seen to the right, don’t be alarmed you know what it is and what it does

---

References:

www.charakinternational.com/pdfs/Aggarwal-Curcumin-Ch-1.pdf

http://news.softpedia.com/news/Curcumin-Efficient-Against-Colorectal-Cancer-36094.shtml

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/antioxidants.html

http://www.allthingsbeautiful.com/all_things_beautiful/images/metastasizing_cancer.jpg

http://www.camnangthuoc.vn/news/images/product/nghe-mat%20ong5.jpg