Turmeric: warming spice or miracle cure?

While chatting with a friend in her kitchen, she took a tall carafe of dubious-looking liquid from the fridge and said, “Look! You’ll be proud of me. I drink a glass of this every morning.” I reluctantly asked what was in it. Despite the bilious colour, the ingredients were just water, turmeric, lemon juice, ginger, and black pepper. “It’s to reduce inflammation,” she asserted.

Turmeric smoothies and lattes pop up everywhere, with claims on social media that it will detox your system and cure all inflammation. The usual advice is to take it with black pepper to promote absorption into the bloodstream. Even respected sources recommend it.

The above claims are based on the following proven facts:

Chronic systemic inflammation (i.e. inflammation that is ongoing and throughout our whole body) is a problem for most of us in the Western world because of our diet and lifestyle, and can lead to serious health problems
 The active ingredient in turmeric, curcumin, is a powerful anti-inflammatory

Piperine in black pepper does change the way curcumin is processed in the liver

Do those 3 facts prove turmeric is a miracle cure to modern-living?

Before you reach for your turmeric stash, let’s consider how much you need to consume to have an impact on chronic inflammation. Depending on when it’s harvested, turmeric contains around 3-8% curcumin, of which you need 6-8g per day to match the amount used in clinical trials. To put that in context, it would take an average of 52 teaspoons of turmeric in your smoothie or latte to get enough curcumin. Yuk.

That’s not all. Once consumed, your body won’t want to absorb turmeric's active ingredient. Curcumin is hydrophobic, which means it isn’t easily digested in our small intestine. In addition, our liver is very good at breaking it down and eliminating it from our body. Even in high doses, ingesting turmeric has very little effect on us whatsoever (except for possibly tingeing our waste products yellow; apologies for that visual).

What about adding black pepper? Well, it is true that piperine found in black pepper does slow down absorption of curcumin in the liver, but we’re talking about minutes here. The half life of curcumin (how long it’s in your body before it reaches half concentration) is 1 minute, with piperine it’s 6 minutes.

It’s also important to note that piperine is a “non-specific inhibitor of drug metabolism”. That basically means that piperine doesn’t choose what it keeps in your liver. Any toxins that your liver is processing at the same time: alcohol, pesticides, chemicals etc, will also be inhibited and stay in your liver for longer. DrugBank lists 282 interactions between piperine and medicinal drugs, as it affects drug absorption potentially resulting in serious consequences.

Black pepper is definitely not the answer.

So, should we just dump our turmeric hoard into the nearest food waste bin?

Turmeric has a wonderfully earthy flavour, delicious in spiced meat dishes or mixed with honey and drizzled over apricots before oven-baking. As a spice, turmeric is fragrant, earthy, warming, and gives a brilliant colour to every dish - I love it in scrambled eggs. Like cinnamon, saffron and other spices, it’s part of the medley of flavours that enchant our palate and contribute to a healthy and varied diet (it counts towards our 30-plants-a-week intake). So, please don’t throw the turmeric jar in the bin, use it liberally and often in your cooking adventures.

But what about inflammation? It is true that ongoing inflammation is linked to many conditions, including depression, cancer and autoimmune conditions. Various clinical trials have shown that supplementing curcumin in liposomal forms (encased in fat) can really help reduce inflammation and provide health benefits, including reducing the risk of heart disease .

Let’s not get too carried away over inflammation though. In the right circumstances, inflammation is useful and helpful. It plays a critical role in regeneration and repair, sending messages and getting our immune cells into the right place when needed (very important when you hit your thumb with a hammer). It’s chronic inflammation that we get from eating too much sugar, being under stress, or over-consuming alcohol that’s the issue. Most of us don’t need supplements to reduce inflammation, paying attention to how we eat, sleep, and move will help the most. We all have the power to positively change our future health with just a few adjustments:

Reduce your sugar intake
 Sugar basically equals inflammation in our body. If you want something sweet, have it immediately after a high protein lunch as this will minimise sugar’s impact on your body. 


Limit alcohol 
Alcohol suppresses our immune system and increases oxidative stress (unstable molecules that zip around the body causing havoc, like Evil Minions). Keep it to a moderate amount with a meal or if there’s any history of breast cancer, cut it out completely.


Maintain a healthy weight
 Excess fat in our body tissues release inflammatory mediators, basically putting our body into a pro-inflammatory state all the time, increasing the risk of serious health conditions. Yikes!


Eat a Mediterranean diet Sadly, that doesn’t mean Aperol Spritz every night and tiramisu for breakfast. Put simply, a Mediterranean diet is wholegrains, fruit and vegetables, beans and pulses, nuts and seeds, olive oil, fish, and can include good quality meat in small quantities. There’s an emphasis on home-cooking rather than ultra processed foods. It is also about how you eat, savouring and enjoying your food, not stuffing down a sandwich while you run for a train.


Manage stress 
Simple things make a big difference: taking a few minutes each day to actively slow down our breathing reduces blood pressure and cortisol (the stress hormone) levels


Have a brain clean (also known as sleep) 
Lots of happy things happen in our body when we sleep. Our blood pressure drops, the vessels relax, and our brain has a clean (yes, literally: fluid from our spine washes away beta-amyloid proteins that can build up during the day and damage brain cells). On the other hand, sleep deprivation is associated with an increase in inflammation. A good sleep-hygiene routine helps: no blue screens for an hour or two before bed, mobiles out of the bedroom, and have a small protein snack before retiring (e.g. an oatcake with peanut butter) so you’re not woken by a drop in blood sugar.

Move moderately 
Sitting all day, unsurprisingly, isn’t good for us, but actually neither is prolonged high intensity training. Studies show that moderate activity helps reduce chronic inflammation and improve our immune system, but prolonged high intensity activity can actually make inflammation worse. Moderate exercise, or intense exercise in short bursts with rest in between, is the best option. Even a brisk walk works, so try to keep active each day.

So, is turmeric a warming spice or a miracle cure? Use the spice to create delicious food. Curcumin in liposomal form as a supplement is not a miracle, but studies show it can reduce inflammation and even prevent heart disease. Best of all, follow the 7 simple steps above to set yourself up for a healthier and longer life (and not a turmeric smoothie in sight).