WHAT IS TURMERIC?
It’s a kind of plant growing in the south tropical countries of Asia. Turmeric grows wild at places with the temperature between 20 to 30 degree Celsius and with the minimum amount of annual rain to thrive (as per Wikipedia).  Turmeric belongs to the ginger family. It has a little bit peppery flavor, and slightly bitter. It has a little of mustards smell.

 Most of the turmeric’s good uses are derived from its roots usually grinded into powder. It’s best for coloring and giving flavors to curry powder, cheese, mustards, and butters. Aside from the roots, the leaves are also very useful in wrapping and cooking some foods, but the best of it is the root used for medicinal purposes. What diseases can it cure?

Turmeric is best used for dyspepsia or what we commonly call “heartburn”. It’s also good for diarrhea including stomach pain and pain due to intestinal gas. It can increase appetite and cure stomach bloating, jaundice, and gallbladder and liver problems. It is widely known to be effective for bronchitis and other lung infections, headache, colds, leprosy, fibromyalgia, fever, cancer, and menstrual problems. There also proofs for turmeric’s effectiveness in curing Alzheimer’s disease, depression, worms, and kidney troubles. In some cases, turmeric is used by applying directly to the skin to cure pains and some skin diseases, including ringworm.  It’s also good for leech bites, bruises, soreness inside the mouth, eye infections, inflammations on the skin, and in healing some infected wounds. Another fantastic thing about turmeric is that it’s also used in making perfumes.

Scientific studies have proven the great effectiveness of turmeric.  Its active ingredient called “curcumin” enhances the power of cancer-fighting with TRAIL. TRAIL is an acronym for Tumor necrosis factor-Related Apoptosis-Inducing Ligand. It’s a molecule that occurs to help kill cancer cells. In one laboratory test once conducted for human prostate cancer cells, two to three times more cancer cells were killed better by the combination treatment. It gives much help for children with leukemia by inhibiting the increase of the leukemia cells. It also helps protect the body against the bad effects of preservatives from processed foods and against damage brought by cigarette smoking.

Geranylgeranoic acid (GGA) is known to be the most effective source of cancer cure. GGA could be taken from Turmeric, cinnamon, basil, rosehip, and others.  When GGA is orally taken, it appears in a tactful form absorbed from the intestinal mucosa. The Department of Experimental Therapeutics at the University of Texas is on the process of finding more proofs through comprehensive experiments in order to give a complete recommendation of Turmeric. 

Recently, there are some products introduced in the market containing turmeric components and are gaining the people’s confidence in curing those kinds of illnesses listed above. Emails of testimonies on how turmeric and some turmeric herbal products helped in curing diseases are dramatically increasing. The more people experience its usefulness, the more word of mouth does its great job, and the more people get help from turmeric’s health benefits.