Question Turmeric

[Perry]

G'day,
My wife has a sore Knee. At times it keeps her awake at night. She does not like taking prescription drugs. A friend suggested that she takes Turmeric Tablets. I have read that if you add fresh Turmeric to your food you will have to eat allot to be equivalent to one tablet. I would appreciate some advice on Turmeric. Which tablets are good? What you should be aware off etc.
Cheers Perry

 

[DarrenP]

Hi Perry,
Like all non-pharmaceutical products, there are mixed reviews on turmeric. You can only try the tablets and see. I've never taken any, so can't help with brands. We put turmeric into a lot of our cooking, even a pinch in my breakfast smoothies.
Has your wife tried fish oil or shark cartilage? I take fish oil every day to minimise aches and pains, mostly from repetitive work. I think it works. Shark cartilage is supposed to be good for joints.

 

[Perry]

G'day Darren,
Thank you for your reply. My wife does take Fish Oil but never Shark Cartilage. Do you grow your Turmeric or purchase it as a powder?
Cheers Perry

 

[DarrenP]

We've always just bought the powder. As far as I know, it's more suited to growing in your type of climate. If you plan to get powder, it's much cheaper to buy a larger pack at an Indian or Middle Eastern supermarket, if you have one near you.

 

[ClissAT]

I wanted desperately for it to work for me but no joy there.
I got heartily sick of the same taste day after day eating turmeric in almost everything.
I made golden paste but after a week I couldn't face another glass of the stuff.
To help quell the arthritic pain in my shoulders, I ended up using a topical application gel form of pharmaceutical pain relief.
I would never consume shark cartilage products for ethical reasons.
But many aren't actually true shark cartilage, rather prawn shells, etc.
What Darren says re buying turmeric in bulk is very valid so long as you do consume it within a reasonable time frame. It does loose potency rather quickly.
GYO turmeric seems easy enough but the drying & grinding process is tedious & an electric energy hog.

One thing I would offer is to think about your current diet. I find most tomatoes give me a form of gout which in me causes inflammation in all my joints. Because I already have quite bad arthritis, this extra burden of the red from the tomatoes, is too much & sets off some swelling & heaps of joint pain.
Not all tomatoes do it, however. I discovered a strain of toms that didn't affect me so I saved seed & always grew those few unnamed varieties & didn't have any problems.
Recently, having not had any tomatoes for many months due to the critters eating all I produced, I gave in & bought a truss of hydroponic toms grown in SA. Well.... the pain started within 2hrs & got worse over the next few days. Such a bad reaction.
Some fruits such as stone & berry fruits or fruits with dark red or purple skins will do it. Processed tomato products like bbq or tomato sauce, the 'marinade' on prepacked chicken, snags or chops, tomato content in pies, tinned tomatoes all give me instant or almost instant gout.
So check your diet & maybe eliminate some foods to see if that might also help reduce pain & discomfort in joints.

 

[DarrenP]

Had a look at the vitamin section in Priceline the other day, while the wife was getting something. There are several brands of turmeric products, including one from Bioglan that had both turmeric and shark cartilage.

 

[Mark]

Do you grow your Turmeric or purchase it as a powder?

You should be able to grow it easily where you are Perry.

Grow it at home and you'll always have it fresh, which is the best way to consume it. Here's a video I made of a few ways to preserve turmeric - it's very easy.

 

[Janine]

Hi Perry
It seems we have a somewhat similar video watching regime (ginger yesterday)
Anyway turmeric research I have done recently was on powder not capsules
I add about a small teaspoon to a drink (smoothie, shake, milkshake, green healthy, juice etc) about once a day. Twice Ii I can stomach the taste when it was chocolate or strawberry I was anticipating. So I hope the following words are helpful

https://buyturmerix.com/au/?utm_sou...IQRHTY8u7inGlI6OR_pOk1nTH-fotdNxoCF5AQAvD_BwE
According to the medical community, about 2,000mg is the maximumamount of standardized turmeric curcumin you should take per day. When cooking with ground turmericpowder, the University of Maryland recommends 1 to 3 grams per day. One gram of ground turmeric powder is about ½ teaspoon.

https://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/vegetable-month-rhizomes-gingerroot-galangal-tumeric

 

[OskarDoLittle]

There's certainly been a lot of debate about the benefits of turmeric. There's a great American govt site (NCCIH) which provides up-to-date evidence-based information on complementary medicines. Unfortunately, many complementary/alternative medicines are not regulated by the same rules that apply to pharmaceuticals. Hence they're able to get away with claims such as "may reduce inflammation" "may improve skin appearance" when in actual fact...they probably don't.
Perry you may be pleased to know that turmeric "may reduce knee pain from osteoarthritis as much as ibuprofen" in some studies. There's almost no evidence that it reduces inflammation generically however. Despite this, I'm a big fan of "if it works for you, do it" so long as it does no harm. You should also be aware that large amounts of turmeric, or long term turmeric use can cause GI irritation.

 

[OskarDoLittle]

Oh and of course your wife should also have that knee checked by a good GP or physio to differentiate between say osteoarthritis (OA) or a mechanical/alternate cause to tailor treatment for her. Glucosamine and chondroitin are 2 other supplements touted as helpful in OA - research among the medical fraternity swings toward the "no benefit"...research among the alternative medical community suggests a benefit. It's reasonable to trial them for 6 weeks - if no benefit try a different brand...if still no benefit stop 'em!! Some people swear by them, and that's fine - like i say, if it works for you do it...but dont waste your money if you see no benefit.

 

[Mark]

I have several joint and injury-related problems - I used to take fish oil, and other tablets that were supposed to reduce inflammation etc but now I don't take any and have found personally eating fresh herbs and spices such as turmeric, ginger, galangal regularly seems to help reduce the pain from all my ailments.

I'm a big believer in consuming vitamins and other important micronutrients via natural foods rather than in a tablet form because I think it is utilised by the body better - I don't have any proof of this but I do recall a recent report that backed up this theory by stating much of the vitamin tablets people take are simply peed out and not absorbed.

 

[Letsgokate]

When it comes to Tumeric tablets I’d talk to your local health food store. They will ask questions like what medications your wife is on and any other ailments. I’ve tried tumeric tablets and they didn’t agree with my gut. There are several different strengths and combinations I was limited on what I could try due to gut issues.

I know people that include tumeric in every meal, their plates are always yellow. You have to take a bucket load of it to get any health benefits. Personally I don’t like the taste.

As Mark has eluded to, a good balanced high nutrient diet is the first port of call.

A lot of studies have been done on fish oil and has been proven to help with Arthritis. You do have to take 9 1000g tablets a day. So I buy triple strengths so I only have to take 3 and these help.

I had a lot of issues with my knees, I found manganese helped and is often in the forumulas that have condrotine and glucosamine In them.

I have also found Elmore Oil to help, whether it’s the oil or just rubbing it in that helps, who knows.

A heat pillow is also great when the ache starts.

Unfortunately it’s not a case of one thing helps all and it’s all trial and error. I wish your wife the best, it’s not nice to have that ache in the middle of the night keeping you awake. A pillow between the knees or resting the knee on it can help too.

 

[Kasalia]

I might add that wheat can also play a part in inflammation, especially as we age and a wheat intolerace seeps in. Eliminating it for a week or more and other gluten products, is worth testing. There is a book Wheatbelly, that is worth a read.

Being overweight also doesn't help our poor knees.