Benefits of Turmeric?

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Carolyn8505
Carolyn8505 Posts: 18 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I have been seeing a lot on turmeric in both spice and supplement form. I have also heard it has a bunch of benefits from aiding in weight loss to helping with anxiety and depression. Does anyone have any experiences with either form?

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  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,395 MFP Moderator
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    It won't help weight loss. And even if there is a thermal effect to it, it's only going to be a few calories. I couldn't find any studies on it and don't have experience in anxiety/depression. But before you go down that route, you should speak with a doctor.
  • Carolyn8505
    Carolyn8505 Posts: 18 Member
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    Thank you for the response I read so many reviews and "studies" online and its hard to tell if any of them are true
  • abigalemkenzie77
    abigalemkenzie77 Posts: 5 Member
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    Along with its anti-inflammatory agents, I've been feeding it to my english bulldogs to prevent and fight cancer cells. Kale and tumeric are both great for fighting cancer cells in dogs and i would imagine for people too.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,387 Member
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    +1 to the "tastes good" camp. Personally, if something might be good for me, and is extremely unlikely to be bad for me, plus tastes good & fits well nutritionally/calorically into my way of eating, I'm inclined to eat it.

    I like it in home-made salad dressing, in egg dishes, mixed with cottage cheese (plus cumin & hot sauce & veggies - yum!).
  • NaturalNancy
    NaturalNancy Posts: 1,093 Member
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    I love it with my tofu scramble, and in my fried rice, gives it a bright yellow color, mixed w cumin its really good.
    Not sure about the health benefits but I hear it is an anti inflammatory.
  • lemmie177
    lemmie177 Posts: 479 Member
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    I've also heard about it being anti-inflammatory, but haven't paid enough attention to notice any effects from it. Supposedly, it absorbs better with black pepper. I eat it quite often with other spices on my roasted veggies.

    Its a great for color too! I actually put a tiny bit in my macarons when I want yellow shells.
  • Vegplotter
    Vegplotter Posts: 265 Member
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    Good nutrition is the way to guard against depression when you are dieting. Just watch the balance of carb, protein and fat as well as the vits and mins. If there is something useful in turmeric it's unlikely to have enough of anything useful in it to help. But if you like the taste then go for it.
  • cerise_noir
    cerise_noir Posts: 5,468 Member
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    It tastes delicious in golden milk!!
  • tlblake84
    tlblake84 Posts: 48 Member
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    toe1226 wrote: »
    turmeric's active ingredient is circumin, which is an anti-inflammatory. I use it instead of ibuprofen and it helps with inflammation and injuries that I tend to get from my workout regimen. If you have any back/joint/inflammation issues i'd recommend it.

    Agreed. I recently purchased it to replace ibuprofen. Taking it tonight as I went a little hard on the workout and expect swelling in my knees.
  • enterdanger
    enterdanger Posts: 2,447 Member
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    I can't make chicken satay without it. That's good enough for me.

    Seriously I've heard the inflammation thing before, but have no personal experience with its medicinal properties
  • Strawblackcat
    Strawblackcat Posts: 944 Member
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    It doesn't really have any weight loss benefits, if that's what you're wondering. That said, turmeric (especially when it's standardized for curcumin and paired together with some sort of black pepper or black pepper extract,) is a wonderful anti-inflammatory. It's good for stomach issues as well, as it is considered a "warming" spice in Ayurvedic medicine, and can help in stimulating digestion.
  • KarenMoeller2
    KarenMoeller2 Posts: 25 Member
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    Please be careful all tumeric users. There is currently a recall going on due to lead being found in the tumeric! Here is an article from the FDA - http://www.fda.gov/Safety/Recalls/ucm515328.htm
  • leanjogreen18
    leanjogreen18 Posts: 2,492 Member
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    I use turmeric from Organic India for joint pain. It really helps and it been studied a ton.
  • caradack1985
    caradack1985 Posts: 254 Member
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    It's used a lot in homemade beauty products of Indian origin. Probably due to its anti inflammatory properties. I didn't find it was anything special but I like the taste and colour in my food.
  • BinaryPulsar
    BinaryPulsar Posts: 8,927 Member
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    I wouldn't personally bother with supplements because they might not be effective. But, a quarter teaspoon is good on food. It's good on scrambled eggs and also with black pepper. It has antioxidants. But, mostly it's anti-inflammatory. And supposedly the anti-inflammatory benefit increases if you cook it, especially with fat (coconut oil for example), and combine with black pepper (tasty combo). It's generally a healthy addition to a diet and tastes good.
  • RuNaRoUnDaFiEld
    RuNaRoUnDaFiEld Posts: 5,864 Member
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    I love roasting cauliflower with it on. I also take it in capsule form when I get pain.
  • Alluminati
    Alluminati Posts: 6,208 Member
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    In the islands its mixed in coconut oil and used on the skin, as it's thought to make it smooth and supple. It also turns you the color of jaundice if you have light skin so, heads up :#

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