Does mixing turmeric with black pepper help reduce bad cholesterol, prevent heart attack risk?

As we all know, antioxidants play a significant role in preventing long-term cellular damage within your body. Curcumin neutralises free radicals, which react negatively with important organic substances like fatty acids, proteins and even DNA, preventing cellular damage and degeneration. It simply binds with them and removes them from the system for good. As a result, it can boost your body’s own production of antioxidant enzymes.

Turmeric is linked to reducing oxidative stress on vascular tissues that can increase the risk of chronic diseases. And as a shield for heart health, curcumin may stall the onset of heart disease by improving the function of the lining of your blood vessels. This further helps regulate your blood pressure. Also, it stops platelets from clumping together and prevents blood clots from building up along the walls of arteries. Several studies have established the science of curcumin. In one of them, healthy middle-aged and older adults, who took curcumin supplements for 12 weeks, resisted artery endothelial production. This plays a significant role in high blood pressure.

Another study followed 121 people who had coronary artery bypass surgery. A few days before and after the surgery, the group that took 4 grams of curcumin a day saw a 65 per cent decreased risk of having a heart attack in the hospital. Research shows that curcumin is safe and may protect those at risk for heart disease by lowering certain levels of cholesterol, though more study is needed to look at how much and what type is effective. In animal studies, an extract of turmeric lowered cholesterol levels and kept LDL (bad) cholesterol from building up in blood vessels.

IMPACT ON DIABETES

Considering that heart health gets affected by one’s diabetes status, studies have shown that curcumin is anti-diabetic too due to its capacity to suppress oxidative stress and inflammatory processes. Also, it significantly reduces fasting blood glucose, glycated haemoglobin and body mass index. An earlier study had found that people with prediabetes, who took curcumin for nine months, were less likely to develop Type 2 diabetes than those taking a placebo. The authors also noted that curcumin appeared to improve the function of the beta cells that make insulin in the pancreas.

HOW MUCH OF CURCUMIN DOES YOUR BODY REQUIRE?

A classic mistake people make is to boil raw turmeric in water. But it will not release the curcumin it contains until and unless you add crushed peppercorn to it. This alone can bring out the curcumin in the water. Besides, it is very difficult to quantify and qualify the curcumin in turmeric root, which comes in several varieties. That’s why it is much better to have a dose of curcumin extract, which is much higher than that available in naturally occuring foods, to supplement insufficient dietary intake. Any piece of raw turmeric, weighing between 3 gm to 5 gm can give you 200 mg to 500 mg of curcumin. And all studies taken together have set the range of anything between 500-2,000 mg of turmeric per day.

WHAT ARE CONTRAINDICATIONS?

Turmeric supplements are safe for most people. But if you’re taking anticoagulants or blood thinners, please check with your doctor before you buy supplements. High doses of turmeric could have a blood-thinning effect and if prescribed with anticoagulants, which anyway do that job, it could complicate bleeding problems. People with liver or bile duct problems should not take turmeric supplements, as they can increase bile production. Cooking with turmeric shouldn’t cause problems. And do not fall for fad concoctions like turmeric lattes, which use turmeric as a selling point. They often come with added ingredients like saturated fat or added sugars.