Not only does this spice add amazing flavor and coloring to any dish, but it also holds many nutritious benefits as well. Learn more about the benefits of including turmeric in your smoothies, salad dressings, soups, and more!
Typically associated with curries and golden milk lattes, turmeric is a powerful plant with unique medicinal properties. Turmeric has grown in popularity because of these benefits over the years despite dating back nearly 4000 years to the Vedic culture in India. This might not come as a surprise as indigenous peoples often used spices in sophisticated ways. In fact, over the last twenty-five years, about half of new drug discoveries have come from natural products.
A plant in the ginger family, turmeric is native to Southeast Asia and is used in Ayurveda and other traditional Indian medical systems, as well as traditional Chinese medicine. In India, it is traditionally used for disorders of the skin, upper respiratory tract, joints, and digestive system.
Enter Curcumin + Black Pepper
Black pepper has more of a supporting role in absorbing the nutrients from turmeric than one would think. It contains a compound called piperine, which accounts for black pepper’s pungent flavor and aroma but also acts as a potent inhibitor of drug metabolism. One of the ways the liver filters foreign substances is by making them water soluble so they can be expelled through the urinary system. Piperine inhibits this process, boosting blood levels of the medicinal compound found in turmeric, called curcumin.
Within an hour of eating turmeric, curcumin appears in the blood stream but only in small traces. This is because the liver is actively working to filter it out. This is when black pepper enters the stage. The addition of just a quarter teaspoon of black pepper when combined with turmeric increases the level of curcumin in the blood by 2,000 percent. Even the slightest pinch of black pepper can still significantly boost curcumin blood levels. For this reason we always try to pair these two together in our shots (like Glow!) and our meals that contain turmeric!
More Effective Exercise
One head-to-head study found that daily ingestion of curcumin can improve endothelial function, the key regulator of vascular homeostasis, just as well as up to an hour a day of aerobic exercise. Does that mean sprinkling turmeric and black pepper on curried potatoes permits a day of not exercising? No, we still need as much daily movement as possible, although the combination of curcumin and exercise appears to work even better than either option alone.
Whether your turmeric is fresh or dried and ground into a powder, you can reap the nutritious benefits either way. Cooked turmeric appears to offer better DNA protection, while raw turmeric may have greater anti-inflammatory effects. Fresh turmeric has a much more subtle flavor than dried, making it a better option for those who don’t find the taste of dried turmeric favorable. While turmeric has immense nutritional benefits and can be used to flavor (and color) a variety of different beverages and meals, be warned that it can also permanently color clothing and surfaces, leaving them stained a golden hue.
Turmeric and curcumin have a variety of interesting medicinal and biological properties — not to mention the unique flavor and vibrant color turmeric adds to any recipe. It’s no wonder this ingredient has been used as holistic remedy for many lifetimes. Whether fresh or powdered, reap the benefits of turmeric by incorporating it daily in foods like smoothies, salad dressings, roasted vegetables, soups, and anything deserving a golden touch.
Not only does this spice add amazing flavor and coloring to any dish, but it also holds many nutritious benefits as well. Learn more about the benefits of including turmeric in your smoothies, salad dressings, soups, and more!
Typically associated with curries and golden milk lattes, turmeric is a powerful plant with unique medicinal properties. Turmeric has grown in popularity because of these benefits over the years despite dating back nearly 4000 years to the Vedic culture in India. This might not come as a surprise as indigenous peoples often used spices in sophisticated ways. In fact, over the last twenty-five years, about half of new drug discoveries have come from natural products.
A plant in the ginger family, turmeric is native to Southeast Asia and is used in Ayurveda and other traditional Indian medical systems, as well as traditional Chinese medicine. In India, it is traditionally used for disorders of the skin, upper respiratory tract, joints, and digestive system.
Enter Curcumin + Black Pepper
Black pepper has more of a supporting role in absorbing the nutrients from turmeric than one would think. It contains a compound called piperine, which accounts for black pepper’s pungent flavor and aroma but also acts as a potent inhibitor of drug metabolism. One of the ways the liver filters foreign substances is by making them water soluble so they can be expelled through the urinary system. Piperine inhibits this process, boosting blood levels of the medicinal compound found in turmeric, called curcumin.
Within an hour of eating turmeric, curcumin appears in the blood stream but only in small traces. This is because the liver is actively working to filter it out. This is when black pepper enters the stage. The addition of just a quarter teaspoon of black pepper when combined with turmeric increases the level of curcumin in the blood by 2,000 percent. Even the slightest pinch of black pepper can still significantly boost curcumin blood levels. For this reason we always try to pair these two together in our shots (like Glow!) and our meals that contain turmeric!
More Effective Exercise
One head-to-head study found that daily ingestion of curcumin can improve endothelial function, the key regulator of vascular homeostasis, just as well as up to an hour a day of aerobic exercise. Does that mean sprinkling turmeric and black pepper on curried potatoes permits a day of not exercising? No, we still need as much daily movement as possible, although the combination of curcumin and exercise appears to work even better than either option alone.
Whether your turmeric is fresh or dried and ground into a powder, you can reap the nutritious benefits either way. Cooked turmeric appears to offer better DNA protection, while raw turmeric may have greater anti-inflammatory effects. Fresh turmeric has a much more subtle flavor than dried, making it a better option for those who don’t find the taste of dried turmeric favorable. While turmeric has immense nutritional benefits and can be used to flavor (and color) a variety of different beverages and meals, be warned that it can also permanently color clothing and surfaces, leaving them stained a golden hue.
Turmeric and curcumin have a variety of interesting medicinal and biological properties — not to mention the unique flavor and vibrant color turmeric adds to any recipe. It’s no wonder this ingredient has been used as holistic remedy for many lifetimes. Whether fresh or powdered, reap the benefits of turmeric by incorporating it daily in foods like smoothies, salad dressings, roasted vegetables, soups, and anything deserving a golden touch.
