The Power of Turmeric: A Guide to Fighting Inflammation and Ageing Naturally

Let's talk about inflammation! There’s a lot of chatter about it in the wellness world right now -and for good reason- but what’s it all about?  

Inflammation is a normal physiological response, an important and necessary process mediated by the immune system to help fight illness or injury. However being in a state of chronic inflammation is associated with an increased risk of several diseases. 

In addition to being one of the main drivers of many chronic illnesses, increased inflammation also has a profound effect on how we function and can even contribute to premature ageing. 

So it’s important to keep inflammation levels low; our food and lifestyle choices can significantly contribute toward the levels of inflammation in our body. 

Alongside inflammation, oxidative damage is considered to be one of the driving forces behind ageing and many diseases.

Much like inflammation, lifestyle and dietary choices affect how much oxidative damage our body is subject to, due to being exposed to free radicals. Free radicals are molecules that can cause damage on a cellular level. However, antioxidants can neutralise free radicals and minimise their damaging effects. 

One of the most positive ways to reduce inflammation and oxidative damage is by eating more anti-inflammatory and antioxidant foods. At the end of this blog, I have given you a list of my favourites, but there is a very special one I’d like to focus on – Turmeric. 

Gram for gram, turmeric is one of the most powerful anti-inflammatory foods thanks to a compound it contains called curcumin. It's been known for millennia that turmeric has potent health benefits, and in more recent years, science has confirmed that it has powerful anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. 

Turmeric is one of the few health foods that truly deserves its superfood reputation because it can reduce inflammation and oxidative damage in the body. 

I recommend incorporating it into your diet as often as possible; in curries, scrambled eggs, porridge, smoothies, in tea; ideally daily. To increase its bioavailability -how much of it the body absorbs- it's best to consume it with black pepper. Black pepper contains an extract called piperine which enhances the absorption of curcumin. Curcumin is also fat soluble, which means it breaks down and dissolves in fat, so to further enhance its health benefits, incorporate a little healthy fat when consuming turmeric. 

It is important to note that many studies demonstrating the impressive health benefits of turmeric use dosages usually exceeding 1 gram (g) per day; an amount which may be difficult to incorporate just by using turmeric as a spice. Although we know that we should aim to get as much turmeric into our diet as possible from food, the reality is that it's not always easy to eat this superfood every day. And that’s where a quality supplement comes in. To get the full benefit and absorption, it should include black pepper extract, which of course the Nutriburst Turmeric does. I also recommend that you take your Turmeric supplement with a meal containing a healthy fat like olive oil, or avocado, nuts and seeds. Turmeric is fat soluble so this is important for optimal absorption. 

Make turmeric one of your healthy habits and feel the difference in your health. 

Some other anti-inflammatory foods I love (and some tips) include: 

• Ginger: Add it to your cooking, grate it into salad dressings, have it as a tea, and add it to your water. Make ginger ice cubes by peeling, slicing, and freeing ginger in water in ice cube trays. Then, pop one out whenever you want to flavour your water or add it to boiling water for a delicious tea.
• Omega 3: Get it from walnuts, hemp seeds, and oily fish. Aim to have one source of Omega three daily. 
• Garlic: Grate 10 minutes before cooking and set aside, to activate the compounds in garlic.
• Olive oil: Olive oil is great to cook with but reserve the best quality extra virgin olive oil to drizzle over salads.
• Berries: These delicious fruits are not only high in fibre and low in sugar, but they also contain powerful compounds called anthocyanins. Have them as often as you like, and frozen are just as nutritious as fresh.
• Tomatoes: A rich source of lycopene, blending or cooking your tomatoes helps break down the cell matrix and makes the lycopene more bioavailable.