Time for turmeric
Golden spice stirs up functional food frenzy
She is a golden goddess, a brightly hued star of Ayurvedic medicine for millenniums, a favourite with naturopathic doctors and suddenly a craze with the functional food set. Meet turmeric.
Long mouldering jars of powdered turmeric are being dusted off in kitchens across the country for use in curries and tea. Fresh turmeric roots are a common sight in grocery stores, if you are willing to risk permanently staining your counters and clothes. Health food shops sell turmeric capsules and a local company is selling wild turmeric paste for, well, whatever people can think of.
Smoothies? Sure. Facials. Umm, all right.
Turmeric — specifically its derivative curcumin — is a powerful antioxidant, a position shared by Health Canada. But these bitter, earthy roots are also touted as a cure for everything from arthritis to Alzheimer’s and bowel cancer, notions that are unproven.
Sue McGarvie chops up turmeric into her ginger tea. The family therapist and broadcaster drinks two pots a day to stabilize her blood sugar.
“I get my blood work done every four months,” she said. “It’s the one change I’ve made and I’ve noticed a significant difference.”
Elise Gee takes turmeric pills every day to protect her liver, noting that turmeric-laced canned beverages are widely sold in Japan to be consumed before a night of drinking.
“One of my sake sensei who is a Type One diabetic told me when he started taking turmeric pills, his liver function improved by 30 per cent. It made me a believer.”
Nareena Switlo has been using turmeric cures her whole life and her mother has, too. “My mother’s family is from Uganda and of Indian ancestry, so growing up we ate curries with turmeric and that’s in our DNA,” said Nareena, co-founder of Naledo, manufacturers of Truly Turmeric paste. “My grandmother made a lot of home remedies from turmeric, like a salve for a swollen ankle or mixing turmeric with honey for chest colds.”
Truly Turmeric buys and processes a particular strain of turmeric that grows wild and under cultivation in Belize. “My mom Umeeda went to volunteer in Belize, working with the government to help solve some of their issues with youth unemployment,” she said. “While she was there she noticed wild turmeric growing wild all around her and no one was really doing anything with it.”
That has changed. More than 350 growers and foragers supplement their income to supply Switlo’s fledgling business.
They might just have the right product at the right time, especially for consumers hoping to reap health benefits.
“This is the first wild crafted turmeric paste in the world,” said Switlo. “We had our turmeric tested at UBC and compared with varieties from India and Hawaii and found that our roots have three times the curcumin.”
Naledo customers fall into two main categories: “hipsters,” young socially conscious people attracted by the values of the business, and “health foodies,” mainly women in their 40s or 50s who are looking for ways to add nutritional benefits to their diet.
Those expectations of health benefits place turmeric in the so-called functional food category, products that people buy because of their real and perceived effects on the body.
The richly coloured powder is widely used in Asia as a spice and in the practice of traditional medicine, such as the Ayurvedic and Siddha traditions. It is believed to detoxify the liver, boost immunity, balance cholesterol and aid digestion.
Turmeric in the diet has been nominated as a potential factor in the low incidence of cancers of the gastrointestinal system in India and Southeast Asia by population-based studies. No causal link has been found.
The active ingredient, curcumin has also been investigated by western science as a cancer-fighting agent.
“I’ve seen intravenous infusions of curcumin used in Germany on cancer patients,” said naturopathic doctor Rigobert Kefferputz. The infusions are used in addition to conventional chemotherapy, not to replace them.
“Studies have shown that curcumin is an anti-cancer agent and an anti-inflammatory,” he said. “It inhibits an enzyme called COX-2 that is activated in various inflammation cascades. It works similarly to (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs).”
Kefferputz draws a sharp distinction between curcumin — a phytochemical he prescribes in reliable, medicinal doses — and turmeric, which may contain any amount of curcumin.
What you find in your household cupboard, the cooking spice, may not contain curcumin in a form that your body can use.
“Taking a lot of turmeric doesn’t necessarily increase its potential benefit,” he said. “It may actually be dangerous.” Turmeric is high in oxalates that bind with calcium and, when eaten in excessive amounts, could increase the risk of kidney stones. It gets worse. A 30-year-old San Diego woman died in March after being given an intravenous solution of curcumin by her naturopath as a treatment for eczema, an inflammatory skin condition. She lost consciousness just 5 ml into a 250-ml infusion.
According to the autopsy report, she was diagnosed with “severe anoxic brain injury secondary to cardiopulmonary arrest, most likely due to turmeric infusion.”
The death was ruled accidental and may have resulted from anaphylactic shock, an allergic reaction.
“Before you start consuming any remedy, you should consult a health-care professional,” said Kefferputz, who does not prescribe curcumin intravenously in his practice. “People need to be cognizant about why they are taking a remedy. If you are not taking steps to address the root cause of your illness, you are missing the bigger picture.”