With an ancient history of use in traditional Indian cooking and medicinal remedies, the use of Turmeric as a digestive aid, pain reliever and tonic for purifying the blood, has been documented back beyond 600BC. Due to its action as an anti-rheumatic (by relieving joint pain associated with arthritis) and anti-inflammatory remedy, when taken medicinally, the actions of Turmeric are shown to be most effective when the whole herb is taken at a very high dose.

Turmeric's Active ingredient – Curcumin

Although well tolerated by the body, one must traditionally take a lot of Turmeric to receive a small, therapeutic dose of Curcumin, the active ingredient responsible for the majority of its healing actions. On the back of this, the traditional use of Turmeric has extended into the medical sphere on the back of new, emerging research into Curcumin, and how its action in the body can be improved. In order to optimise its benefits, one such extract (formulated using phytosome technology) allows Curcumin greater access to the cell in order to improve its benefit at a much lower dose than standard Turmeric.

Joint Pain relief

The role of Curcumin in joint pain relief has to do with its role as an anti-inflammatory affecting COX2 inhibition. This common anti-inflammatory effect is shared with many mainstream, pharmaceutical anti-inflammatory medications. Interestingly though, Curcumin is free of gastric side effects such as high acidity and gastric erosion, side effects that are commonly caused by pharmaceutical anti-inflammatories. In fact, Curcumin has been extensively studied in its role of reducing the pain and inflammation associated with conditions that affect the digestive system, such as Irritable Bowel Syndrome.

Relief of IBS

Beneficial for a reduction in the pain and inflammation associated with medically diagnosed Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Curcumin works by providing a reduction in symptoms such as abdominal discomfort, and is beneficial for conditions such as Crohn’s disease and Ulcerative colitis.