Turmeric

One of the reasons things have been so quiet on the blog recently is I have been sick with some sort of bacterial infection in my lungs.

An educated guess by my doctor pointed toward pertussis (whooping cough). Mostly I don't feel sick, but have a persistent, dry cough that's worrisome at best. (also, my blood pressure seems to be spiking and my heart rate as well)

I've already run a course of anti-biotics, which helped in the sort term, but since completing my "z pack", I've gone through a series of up's and down's with the cough getting better for awhile and then worse again.

A friend of mine recently reminded me that the wonder spice, turmeric has both anti-fungal and anti-bacterial properties. In fact, it works so well, that the University of Mississippi Medical Center actually tried to patent it's use! (The patent was eventually revoked due to a law suit brought by the government of India).

I had pretty much relegated turmeric to the "anti-inflammatory" category in my mind, but after being reminded of it's anti-fungal/microbial properties I decided to look into it some more.

Here's some of what I found.

One of the most amazing entries is on cancer.gov's entry on curcumin (the primary active component in turmeric);

Curcumin blocks the formation of reactive-oxygen species, possesses anti-inflammatory properties as a result of inhibition of cyclooxygenases (COX) and other enzymes involved in inflammation; and disrupts cell signal transduction by various mechanisms including inhibition of protein kinase C. These effects may play a role in the agent's observed antineoplastic properties, which include inhibition of tumor cell proliferation and suppression of chemically induced carcinogenesis and tumor growth in animal models of cancer.

Basically what it says is that curcumin blocks free radicals, acts in a manner similar to aspirin and ibuprofen in reducing inflammation, and it also acts to slow the growth of tumors in a way similar to chemotherapy.

So why is that so amazing? Well it's a .gov site, not an e-commerce site with the "worlds most potent turmeric product".

A study on rats and mice seemed to find that high levels of turmeric in the diet reduced body weight by up to 10% over the course of 2 years, but at the cost of increased incidents of stomach ulcers. These findings seem to jibe with previous findings that turmeric might aid in treating diabetes.

So far, beyond the initial article cited above, I've been unable to find any articles online that point to any direct anti-microbial action by turmeric alone, but this article on the BBC lists the positive benefits of curry (of which turmeric is one ingredient).

There was an article that ran (in print) in USA Weekend five or six years ago the cited the anti-microbial properties of turmeric (if I recall correctly), but so far I can't find any trace of it on . (Here's one that's similar, but not the one I recall)

Considering that inflammation appears more and more to be the driving force behind many disease processes, the anti-inflammatory effect alone should make turmeric worth supplementing with.

Anecdotally, what I can tell you is that 1/2tsp. of ginger, 1/2tsp. of turmeric and 1 Tbsp. of fish oil, taken together work as well at controlling my cough as a dose of the codeine containing prescription cough syrup my doctor gave me, without the side effects.