Friday, November 10, 2017 - 01:43

November 10, 2017

Turmeric (Curcuma longa) is a culinary spice that spans cultures – it is a major ingredient in Indian curries, and makes American mustard yellow. But evidence is accumulating that this brightly colored relative of ginger is a promising disease-preventive agent as well, probably due largely to its anti inflammatory action. It’s a popular herb of Ayurvedic and Chinese traditional medicine, and its therapeutic uses date back thousands of years. According to numerous researches, turmeric root can have a significant positive effect on neurological, cardiovascular, metabolic, immune system, and cellular health. It may even help support your thyroid and promote longevity. The natural compound that gives turmeric its rich golden color is curcumin.

In spite of its amazing health benefits,there is on weakness in this golden spice. It has very low bioavailability. This means that your body can only use a very small portion of the turmeric you consume. Since the absorption levels of curcumin are very low, your body cannot utilize the full healing properties of the spice. But there is a simple way to enhance bioavailability. Just add black pepper to unlock the full potential of turmeric.
Dried ground pepper has been used since antiquity for both its flavour and as a traditional medicine. Black pepper (Piper nigrum) is the world's most traded spice. It is one of the most common spices added to cuisines around the world. The spiciness of black pepper is due to the chemical piperine. Black pepper is ubiquitous in the modern world as a seasoning and is often paired with salt.
Black pepper also has many health benefits of its own. It’s been used to relieve nausea, headaches, poor digestion, and sore throats. Much like how turmeric owes its healthy properties to curcumin, black pepper gets both its health benefits and its pungent flavor from a natural alkaloid compound called piperine.
Taking turmeric with black pepper may boost its bioavailability up to an astonishing 2000%. This is because piperine acts as an excellent bio-enhancer. Therefore, it can improve the bioavailability of other substances in the body. The portion to use should be very small. You only need a pinch of pepper to enhance the absorption of turmeric.
Whenever you take a nutrient, your digestive system absorbs only a certain part of it. The proportion of a nutrient that your body can digest, absorb, and utilize is its bioavailability..
In order to be absorbed into your body, a nutrient must pass through a membrane in your gut into your bloodstream. It is more difficult for large molecules to get through this barrier. Piperine may help relax your intestinal membrane, allowing larger particles, like turmeric, to pass through.
The effect of piperine on the liver may play another factor. As part of your normal metabolism, your liver releases a substance called UDP-glucuronic acid. In a process called glucuronidation, this acid bonds with other substances to make them more water-soluble, and thus more easily excreted.
When you take turmeric, this glucuronidation may work too quickly by eliminating the herb from your system before your body can make full use of it. According to resear ches, piperine lowers the blood levels of UDP-glucuronic acid, inhibiting glucuronidation. Therefore, it slows your liver metabolism of curcumin enough that your body can absorb the nutrient more effectively.
While turmeric and black pepper each have their own unique health properties, many of the properties are enhanced when you combine the two.

References

1. Prasad, Sahdeo, Amit K. Tyagi, and Bharat B. Aggarwal. "Recent Developments in Delivery, Bioavailability, Absorption and Metabolism of Curcumin: The Golden Pigment from Golden Spice." Cancer Research and Treatment : Official Journal of Korean Cancer Association 46.1 (2014): 2–18. PMC. Web. 28 Sept. 2017.
2. Kesarwani, Kritika, and Rajiv Gupta. "Bioavailability Enhancers of Herbal Origin: An Overview." Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Biomedicine 3.4 (2013): 253–266. PMC. Web. 28 Sept. 2017.
3. Singh, J., et al. "Piperine-mediated inhibition of glucuronidation activity in isolated epithelial cells of the guinea-pig small intestine: evidence that piperine lowers the endogeneous UDP-glucuronic acid content." J Pharmacol Exp Ther. 236.2 (1986) 488-93. Web. 28 Sept. 2017.
4. Lambert, JD., et al. "Piperine enhances the bioavailability of the tea polyphenol (-)-epigallocatechin-3-gallate in mice." J Nutr. 134.8 (2004) 1948-52.
5. McNamara, Fergal N., Andrew Randall, and Martin J. Gunthorpe. "Effects of Piperine, the Pungent Component of Black Pepper, at the Human Vanilloid Receptor (TRPV1)." British Journal of Pharmacology 144.6 (2005): 781–790. PMC. Web. 28 Sept. 2017.