What are the health benefits of turmeric and curcumin?

Sometimes, getting up in the morning takes a while. The muscles are tense, the bones are creaking and the floors are uncomfortable to touch. Joint pain and fatigue occur more frequently as we age. Some may even experience this in our early thirties as bad posture, lack of exercise, and unhealthy eating habits become a part of our daily lives.

A number of us might even find it tough to do simple daily things – going up the stairs becomes a chore and playing with our children is not as easy anymore. Many of us participate in sports or workouts to stay fit. However, without proper maintenance, the wear and tear of our body from repeated use becomes an obstacle for a normal, worry-free lifestyle. 

Proper nutrition and diet are important for a healthy body – after all, we are what we eat.

Many health professionals have recommended adding antioxidants, probiotics, and digestive enzymes to our daily food intake for a more wholesome diet. In recent years, curcumin has become more popular due to its many scientifically-proven health benefits. 

What is curcumin? Where does it derive from?

Curcumin is the most active compound found in turmeric, which is a relative of ginger. Turmeric is most often found in Southeast Asia and Indian subcontinents. It is widely used in the cuisines of India, China and Thailand as well as Ayurvedic medicine. Turmeric can turn any dish into a vibrant yellow-orange shade and flavour-wise, it is earthy with a tinge of peppery spice. You will find this irreplaceable flavour in most curry powders. 

What are the benefits of curcumin?

For centuries, turmeric has been widely used in India and China for medical treatments of dermatologic diseases, infection, stress and depression.

In more recent scientific researches, curcumin is found to have many benefits, including antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer effects. 

Anti-cancer effect

Through various research conducted, curcumin’s anti-cancer effect includes preventing cancer growth, killing cancer cells, and alleviating treatment side effects. Lab studies have also shown that curcumin can help kill cancer cells and reduce the growth of new blood vessels in tumours.¹

Anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects

Acute and chronic inflammation underlies most chronic illnesses including cardiovascular, neurodegenerative, and metabolic diseases to obesity, type 2 diabetes, and cancer. Curcumin fights inflammation at molecular level, thus it helps in preventing and even treating these diseases.

Curcumin is a potent antioxidant that can block free radicals and stimulates your body’s own antioxidant defenses. Free radicals can cause deterioration to the eye lens, inflammation of the joints, damage to the nerve cells in the brain, accelerate the ageing process, and increase risk of coronary heart disease among others. 

Due to its anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects, curcumin can help prevent many types of illnesses including diabetus, obesity, neurodegenerative and cardiovascular diseases, skin diseases as well as allergies and asthma.

How does curcumin help with joint pain?

Joint pain is common even among young adults due to our living habits and many other factors. Inflammation of the joints is what causes pain as well as arthritis. Other than medication, food or supplements with anti-inflammatory and antioxidants can help with joint pain. 

While some may take pain medication for joint pain relief, long term usage can cause many undesirable side effects such as kidney damage and heart problems. Hence, many have sought for other types of treatment or supplements. 

With its strong anti-inflammatory and antioxidants traits, curcumin is a good alternative for joint pain relief. However, curcumin is poorly absorbed into the bloodstream and requires other substances like piperine (which can be found in black pepper) to enhance the absorption of curcumin in our bodies. 

Curcumin and black pepper are two of the main ingredients found in NeeFlex which can be taken daily to help deal with joint pain. Other ingredients in NeeFlex include collagen, moringa, cat’s claw, zinc-enriched yeast and vitamin C to help protect and rebuild joint cartilage while promoting healthy bones.

Improve your mornings and live your life healthily by adding turmeric into your diet or you can take it the easy way by drinking NeeFlex for lifelong benefits.

References:

Ravindran, Jayaraj, Sahdeo Prasad, and Bharat Aggarwal. “Curcumin and Cancer Cells: How Many Ways Can Curry Kill Tumor Cells Selectively?” The AAPS Journal  11, no. 3 (2009): 495-510. https://doi.org/10.1208/s122248-009-9128-x.

Betül Kocaadam & Nevin Şanlier (2017) Curcumin, an active component of turmeric (Curcumalonga), and its effects on health, Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition, 57:13, 2889-2895. https://doi.org/10.1080/10408398.2015.1077195