Q. After reading about turmeric in your column, I started using one teaspoon in my scrambled eggs each morning. My arthritis has greatly improved, and I have far less pain when I walk.
I work in my yard every few weeks, weeding, hoeing, mowing and pruning. Usually I am sore for days after this work. But this last time, since I started taking turmeric, I had no soreness the next day.
My doctor is quite skeptical. He has suggested that I would feel just as good without the turmeric. What do you think?
A. Turmeric is the yellow spice in mustard and curry. The active ingredient in turmeric is curcumin. If your physician searched PubMed, he would find over a thousand research publications in the National Medical Library.
There is active research into curcumin’s anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant activity. Investigators are studying a potential role against cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, psoriasis and cystic fibrosis.
Putting turmeric powder on cereal (as one reader did) or in scrambled eggs might taste a tad strange. One woman told us that she takes turmeric pills instead and they relieved her arthritis pain. When she stopped temporarily, the pain returned. She resumed taking turmeric pills and the pain disappeared.
The People's Perspective on Medicine