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FEBRUARY/MARCH 2002 Turmeric- Cucuma longa
Keeping the Plants Alive is written by Isla Burgess, pictures are by WhaleGrave Photos.
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The Old Ways
Ancient spice and modern medicine
The following is a conversation with Menaka Desikachar from Chenai, India, in my kitchen, Gisborne, New Zealand.
Q. Other than in cooking how else do you use Turmeric in India?
A. Turmeric plays an important part in many rituals concerning purification. For example, when we move into a new home, turmeric is placed in the corners. When we buy a new sari, a dot of turmeric is placed in each corner.
Q. Is it used in other ways?
A. Yes in the past when women were menstruating they would remove themselves from the family and before they returned they would apply turmeric paste to their skin as a purification. They also apply it to the skin to remove unwanted hair.
Q. How would they do that?
A. They would make a paste with the powder and a little water and rub it into the area then wash it off. It does take a long time to remove the hair with daily applications.
Q. Does it have other traditional medicinal uses?
A. Yes it is used on the skin for many conditions including infections.
P.V. Sharma in Classical Uses of Medicinal Plants, lists many uses of ‘Haridra' - Turmeric in Ayurveda, including applying a paste to piles, burning and inhaling for people with bronchial asthma, jaundice, anemia, colic and the oil for alleviating the diseases of vata. 1
The New Ways
Best known in the west and used widely as an ingredient of curry powder there is also a surprising number of therapeutic actions for this brightly coloured - orange/yellow/red tuber - an effect on the immune system/digestive system/blood if we apply ‘colours' to ‘charkas'? (See my book on ‘Weed's Heal', for more on colours and plants.) 2
It is used as a aromatic or warming digestive stimulant, an antiinflammatory , antibacterial and antifungal.
There are also claims that it will inhibit cancer growths in particular bowel cancer - see Recent Research Reviews.
A review in 1997 in Fitotherapia also listed increased bile flow, regression of gall stones, liver protection, reduced blood sugar levels and antiallergic as its properties.3
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What Plant?
A member of the Zingiberaceae family this perennial plant looks and grows like ginger, loving the same warm and wet conditions. It has a short, thick rhizome with knobbly branches. The leaves are long, thin and a flower stalk opens at the tip to produce a sheaf of yellow-white flowers.
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What plant and when to harvest
The rhizome is dug, cleaned, dried for a week or so, polished then ground into a powder.
How to Use
The powder provides the most complete range of constituents, and is often mixed with honey or sugar (jaggery), or cooked in ghee in India.1
A paste can be made with a little water for topical treatments.
A 1:1 liquid extract in 45% alcohol is also made but will contain little of the volatile oil needed for the anti-inflammatory effects.
Therapeutically I think of using Turmeric for the person who has poor digestive function, a white coating to the tongue, often with accompanying fatigue.
As a digestive aid, it is used to treat dyspepsia and peptic ulcers.
As an antiinflammatory for use with people with both rheumatoid and osteoarthritis, inflamed skin conditions and asthma.
As an anti-microbial for skin and Gastro-intestinal infections. 5
How to Prepare
It is difficult to make a 1:1 preparation at home and why would you want to if the powder is the better medicine? See reflections for how to use the powder.
Turmeric oil
This is worth making by covering the powder with a good quality oil, mixing well and adding more oil to cover with a depth of 3 cms. Shake daily for 10 days and strain well.
How much to use?
2-4gm of powder 1-3 times daily is a good guide.
If the alcohol extract is made then a rather large daily dose of 10 mls in divided doses is the average amount a herbalist would use.
For topical applications of oil or paste, apply several times daily.
Safety
There is no known adverse effects from taking turmeric in the dose range given.
High doses should not be used with people on anticoagulant drugs.
Research Review
Until 1999 the clinical research focuses on the antiinflammatory effects of cucumin, blood lipid levels, anti-oxidant activity, digestive function (dyspepsia) and its use as a anticancer agent. 5
Since then a study on 45 people with symptoms indicating peptic ulceration were successfully treated with Turmeric. 6
Its antioxidant activity confirmed (7), in theory at least, some oestrogen and progesterone binding capacity (8) and protection against skin damage (9).
The most interesting recent research focuses on its use in the prevention of bowel cancer.
“We found that in human colon epithelial cells, curcumin inhibits COX2 induction by the colon tumour promoters… tumour necrosis factor.
This property, together with a long history of consumption without adverse health effects, makes curcumin an important candidate for consideration in colon cancer prevention.”10
“… data suggest that a nontoxic concentration of curcumin has a significant effect on the in vitro growth of HT-29 cells, specifically inhibits COX-2 expression, and may have value as a safe chemopreventive agent for colon cancer.11
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References
1. Sharma PV Classical Uses of Medicinal Plants, Chaukhambha Bharati Academy, Varanasi, 1996.
2. Burgess IM Weeds Heal. A Working Herbal. Viriditas Publishing.NZ 1998.
3. Srimal RC Turmeric: a brief review of medicinal properties. Fitotherapie LXV111;6:483-493
4. Swahn JO The Lore of Spices Nordbok, 1991.
5. Mills S. Bone K. The Principles and Practice of Phytotherapy. Churchill Livingston 2000.
6. Prucksun and C, Indrasukhsri B, Leethochawalit M, Hungspreugs K.
Phase II clinical trial on effect of the long turmeric (Curcuma longa Linn) on healing of peptic ulcer. Southeast Asian J Trop Med Public Health 2001 Mar;32(1):208-15
7. Osawa T, Sugiyama Y, Inayoshi M, Kawakishi S.
Antioxidative activity of tetrahydrocurcuminoids. Biosci Biotechnol Biochem 1995 Sep;59(9):1609-12
8.Zava DT, Dollbaum CM, Blen M.
Estrogen and progestin bioactivity of foods, herbs, and spices.: Proc Soc Exp Biol Med 1998 Mar;217(3):369-78
9.Phan TT, See P, Lee ST, Chan SY. Protective effects of curcumin against oxidative damage on skin cells in vitro: its implication for wound healing.J Trauma 2001 Nov;51(5):927-31
10. Goel A, Boland CR, Chauhan DP.
Specific inhibition of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) expression by
dietary curcumin in HT-29 human colon cancer cells. Cancer Lett 2001 Oct 30;172(2):111-8
11. Plummer SM, Holloway KA, Manson MM, Munks RJ, Kaptein A,
Farrow S, Howells L. Inhibition of cyclo-oxygenase 2 expression in colon cells by the chemopreventive agent curcumin involves inhibition of NFkappaB activation via the NIK/IKK signalling complex. Oncogene 1999 Oct 28;18(44):6013-20
Reflections
As this is such an accessible and obviously beneficial medicinal plant requiring little in the way of preparation, what might affect the therapeutic activity?
1. Storage
Turmeric should be kept in the dark to prevent decomposition of the constituent cucumin.
2. Source of supply
How do we ensure that it is good quality?
3. When it was harvested?
The levels of cucumin could vary with age as well as the loss of volatile oils.
Ideas for taking the powder.
1. Mix with a little Manuka honey - especially for those with peptic ulcers.
2. Mix with yoghurt or salad dressing and add to diced cooked potatoes.
3. Mix with butter or ghee for general use.
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