Do they open the chakta or purify the soul according to the dictates of Ayurvedic medicine? You do.
(by Nicola Simonetti) Concerning the beneficial effects on health, doubts and certainties are easily confused.
Spices and aromatic herbs, in general - it is known - have antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory properties and turmeric and ginger, thanks, respectively, to curcumin and gingerol, have shown, in experiments on animals and humans, to possess them properly in countering inflammatory processes by counteracting cyclooxygenase 2, the enzyme responsible for inflammation.
Recent studies on ginger have shown its ability to reduce too much cholesterol in the blood and intervene in some metabolic mechanisms and correct some degenerative phenomena related to obesity (but not the "cure") and diabetes and intervene in counteracting vomiting.
Ginger is considered, in Japan, as a food of longevity. But, so far, no credible evidence has shown it. However - says Corinne Cheval - it warms the body in the winter, reduces the nausea in the pregnant (effects on the fetus?).
Ginger and, above all, turmeric, are antioxidants and anti-inflammatories (arthritic forms) also reducing the related pain, facilitate digestion, strengthen the defense immune capabilities. Some boast the anti-cancer properties but there is no concrete evidence, unless they are laboratory animals treated with elephant doses. In man, the results are very mediocre (dr Bruno Raynard of the Institute Goustave Roussy di Vallejuif).
These are spices with interesting properties but not "miraculous" because some prodigies detected in the laboratory could hardly recur in the person: poor absorption by the body (the curcumin is better absorbed if accompanied by piperine black pepper) and effective doses are random, even with regard to the possible harmfulness of excess doses.
One hundred gr. of turmeric, known as "Indian saffron" or "poor man", being similar to this but with a lower cost, they give 354 calories and contain poly and monounsaturated fatty acids, mineral salts, sugars, vitamin C.
It is not enough to say turmeric. A teaspoon, two, a knife tip, a pinch a day? Nothing more uncertain. However, for the safety and the probability of therapeutic benefit, always take the titrated and standardized packs in which the quantities of principle are safe and always the same and do not overdo the doses (the medical advice becomes necessary). Better not to cook but consume raw (add at the end of cooking).
Those suffering from bilious calculosis or biliary tract problems abstain. So do those who have changes in blood coagulation or allergic reactions. Never pregnant or breastfeeding. If the spice can interfere with drugs in use, reducing the effect. Get yourself authorized by the doctor before taking it. Not recommended for those who are in radio or chemotherapy treatment (Annals of Oncology, 2018).
Anti-flu? Ambiguous effects.
Anti-inflammatory? No univocal scientific evidence in humans. It seems to help against the arthritis of the knee.
“To be used, however - warns prof. Simon Schraub (director of the Strasbourg cancer center) - with great caution and leave aside the sirens of internet advertising "
Possible side effects: ulcers, nausea, meteorism, dysentery with diarrhea, mucus and blood in the stool and strong spasms.
Turmeric is declined in many ways. From milk ("golden"), to face masks, to turmeric oil for hair, to herbal teas, decoctions, bath salts and anything else the imagination suggests. By the way, it is a basic ingredient for curry preparation.
"Slimming"? as much as it can make the ability to silence the sense of hunger, induce easy satiety, to burn (how many?) fats, to keep the blood sugar under control, avoiding the peaks, to facilitate the elimination of liquids.
"We intensify, study, confront ourselves with the laboratory and clinical reality but we avoid - advises Raynard - forward leaks that put the unintended consumer at risk".
On the same level, some examples of fashionable products such as green tea, an antioxidant that could slow down the march of cancerous cells of the breast, prostate and leukemia. "Everything at the conditional" (Schraub).
Spirulina, a small freshwater algae used by astronauts to preserve their muscle mass, is recommended as a dynamizing agent.