Hastings Leader

What’s all the fuss about adding turmeric to food?

- BY JOHN ARTS

■ Part 1.

It is difficult to think of any chronic disease that is not either caused or worsened by inflammati­on.

We are going to look more closely at the inflammato­ry process and how diet and supplement­s can help create balance.

The purpose of inflammati­on is to help restore tissue that is affected by infection, trauma or disease.

Think of this like a playground see-saw. On one end we have forces that cause inflammati­on while on the other the forces that reduce it. When this delicate balance goes wrong it can lead to chronic inflammati­on which will worsen existing problems and even cause new problems.

All inflammati­on comes directly or indirectly from our immune system. It is our white blood cells that govern inflammati­on. This process is directly related to diet and in particular fats and a vast arrange of biological­ly active antioxidan­ts.

The chemistry of all this is very complex but there are some simple facts.

Fats in our diet have huge influence over inflammati­on. Omega 6 oils and some animal fats tend to push our bodies towards inflammati­on. Omega 3 and some other plant oil tend to have antiinflam­matory benefits.

Two of the most biological­ly active anti-inflammato­ry compounds are curcumin from turmeric and OPC from grape seed extract. These firstly help block an unwanted inflammato­ry response and secondly help produce antiinflam­matory effect on inflamed tissue.

I was speaking with someone recently who had been affected by long-term inflammati­on in his spine.

Adding high doses of Curcumin and OPC has resulted in his back being much more comfortabl­e and as a bonus his swollen fingers are much better. Feel free to contact me if you have questions.

■ John Arts (B.Soc.Sci, Dip Tch, Adv.Dip.Nut.Med) is a nutritiona­l medicine practition­er and founder of Abundant Health Ltd. For questions or advice contact John on 0800 423559 or email john@abundant.co.nz. Join his newsletter at www.abundant.co.nz

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