Monday Post

There is not much happening in the political scenario, except last full week parliament was disrupted by the opposition on the issue of Pegasus.The second news which lifted the spirits of Indians was Mira Bai winning a silver medal in Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Hats off to her for showing guts and determination after her pathetic display in the last Olympics, and clinching the silver medal in weight lifting.
I am turning to another topic, which is on health:

HEALTH BENEFITS OF TURMERIC (HALDI)

We Indians are used to having turmeric or Haldi, in most of our dishes. Turmeric is also used to make poultices (a paste made of flour, herbs, etc) for various skin issues or wounds. Many Indian cultures follow the ‘haldi’ tradition in their pre-wedding rituals as a cleansing bath given to the bride and groom.

So, Haldi or turmeric is part and parcel of our lives. But, perhaps, it is only now that we realize its importance as a superfood, and understanding that there must have been a significant amount of wisdom applied by our ancestors, to make it an everyday affair in our lives. So, why is it being dubbed as the superfood now by the Western world?

Anti-inflammatory

Turmeric has anti-inflammatory properties, which is an important one, in keeping is healthy as well as healing us, when we fall ill due to some infections and resulting inflammations. It helps our body to fight foreign particles and also helps repair it as well. Many common diseases like cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer’s, and certain other degenerative conditions have been linked to chronic inflammations.

Turmeric contains, curcumin, a powerful medicinal compound, which is highly anti-oxidant and has anti-inflammatory properties. This is what makes turmeric a much-coveted medicinal spice, dubbed as a superfood. Curcumin fights inflammation in your body at the molecular level, and that makes it highly effective.

Antioxidant

Turmeric, as mentioned above, is also having high antioxidant properties, that help it to fight the damage in our body. The various pollutants that we are exposed to cause free radicals to occur in our bodies, and these are highly damaging. Antioxidants protect our bodies from these free radicals, and that is why people are urged to eat foods rich in anti-oxidants. The curcumins in turmeric help neutralize the free radicals as well as boosts the antioxidant enzyme activities present in our own bodies. Thus, it works in two ways to help fight and prevent free radicals.

Lowers risk of brain diseases

An essential factor of aging happens to be memory loss, Alzheimer’s disease, etc. Many of these brain disorders have been linked to reduced levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), a type of growth hormone in the brain. The curcumin present in the turmeric can help increase the levels of BDNF in the brain, which, in turn, indicates that it can help prevent such brain disorders

Prevents or lower the risk of heart diseases

The curcumin factor of turmeric can help you keep heart diseases at bay. There is also evidence that suggests that curcumin helps improve the functioning of endothelium, the lining of the blood vessels. And this directly benefits your heart; malfunctioning of the endothelium results in blood clotting, irregular blood pressures, and many other issues that wreak havoc with your heart.

Anticancer

One of the most popular benefits of curcumin that has been talked about a lot recently happens to be its anti-cancer properties. Studies have shown that curcumin has restricted certain tumor growths, cause the death of cancer cells, and also prevent it from spreading, as it works at the molecular levels. It can even prevent certain cancers from occurring as well.

Hope this information will be useful.

Waiting for your views and comments.

Anil Malik