It seems everyone is either drinking turmeric lattes by the Venti or incorporating it into their everyday meals. Can it actually help our bad health? Platinum investigates.
Promoted as a way to ease pain relief or fast-track weight loss, boosting your immune health and mood, it was bound to be that turmeric was too good to be true. Some background for those not yet in the know: the medicinal power of turmeric comes from curcurmin, a natural chemical found in the spice. Curcurmin has a whole load of healing properties, from being anti-inflammatory to antimicrobial and pain-relieving.
But here is the sad fact — to have turmeric benefit your health, you would need a lot more than you could get in a golden milk turmeric latte.
In fact, you would need to consume more like 500 to 1,000mg of turmeric every.single.day to get the benefits. That is roughly two-and-a-half to five teaspoons. Plus, within this spice, to get the gold dust of curcurmin, it’s normally making up a maximum of five per cent in the spice.
Curcurmin is also poorly absorbed in the spice, making it weak and highly likely to be more ineffective when ingested with turmeric.
Furthermore, studies done on the benefits of this spice have been scant on human beings and more have been done on animals, like mice. Of the studies done, it was found that humans would have to eat an incredibly high amount of the spice to see any or all medical effect, like we said.
This means there have been no scientific discoveries to date on turmeric having the abilities to cure your arthritis or relieve any pain, and if it did, it is more likely to be a placebo effect.
For now — ditch the turmeric, unless you really enjoy those lattes. And always speak to a doctor about any health issues you may be experiencing.
Turmeric drinks aren’t the only diet fad we address here at Platinum. Try our dieting and exercise feature to find out why doing both at the same time could negatively impact your bone health.
