Turmeric: 6 Health Benefits of an Ancient Spice

Turmeric is an ancient spice valued for both its medicinal and culinary properties.

It can possibility benefit your health if you supplement with turmeric beyond your basic bowl of curry.

Turmeric and its active ingredients have the potential to may help reduce inflammation, may boost your skin health, provide antioxidants, may improve brain function, may help fight depression symptoms, and promote healthy aging.

What Is Turmeric?

Turmeric is an ancient spice from the turmeric root.

This distinct yellow powder has been used throughout Asia for centuries. Its valued for both its medicinal and culinary properties, being a main ingredient in curries (1).

Curcumin is the main active component in turmeric, providing many of its medicinal benefits associated with inflammation and antioxidants (1).

Benefits of Turmeric

Turmeric provides host of health benefits.

Including – boosting skin health, having antioxidant power, improving brain function, and promoting healthy aging.

Has Antioxidant Power

Turmeric and curcumin not only provide antioxidant power to the body and cells, but also boost the body’s antioxidant capacity and activating your natural antioxidant enzymes (2).

Improving your body’s antioxidants is important because it assists with fighting oxidative damage caused by free radicals – common particles that cause damage to your cells.

Boosts Skin Health

Turmeric also provides cosmetic benefits to the skin.

It improves the healing of wounds and acne scars and boosts the skin’s natural glow (3).

These benefits are brought primarily by and its ability to boost healing with its antioxidant power (3).

Improves Brain Function

Curcumin can boost the brain’s ability to function by increasing levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (2). This hormone is responsible for improving how neurons in the brain grow, multiply, and connect – all important functions of a healthy brain.

This compound assists the brain in continuing to produce ample brain-derived neurotrophic factor, which has been linked to a boost in brain function (2).

Promotes Healthy Aging

Turmeric is a very popular anti-aging supplement due to all the benefits listed above.

It keeps the brain health, can help prevent aging of the skin, and can assist with staving off diseases linked to chronic inflammation and free radical oxidation (2).

Dosage of Turmeric and Curcumin

There is currently no exact dosage recommendations of turmeric, both for powdered and extract forms.

The typical dosage of turmeric per day is between 500 - 2,000 mg; which is a wide range (4).

Certain health issues have more specific recommendations, including (4):

Osteoarthritis: 500 mg turmeric extract, twice per day
Itchy, irritated skin: 500 mg turmeric extract, three times per day

In turmeric powders and extract is where curcumin is contained. In the range of 500 - 2,000 mg turmeric per day, 3% of this total dosage in turmeric is curcumin in powders. In turmeric extract, curcumin content can be up to 95% (4).

However, high doses of turmeric and curcumin is not recommended. Studies have concluded high, long-term use to be unsafe (4).

Risks and Potential Side Effects

Like any supplement, turmeric also comes with its potential risks and side effects.

Though this spice is well tolerated and believed safe for most individuals, there are some with certain conditions who should avoid supplementing with turmeric and curcumin. These include (4):