?Does turmeric raise blood pressure
Turmeric is one of the most widely used spices in international kitchens, as well as being rich in antioxidants. And while the number of people with high blood pressure in the world more than one in five adults, which causes about half of all deaths from strokes and heart disease, the need for accurate answers increases about the impact of diet and its components on blood pressure, does turmeric raise pressure? What are the main benefits of turmeric?
What is turmeric?
Like many spices, turmeric has a long history of use in traditional medicine. Turmeric is extracted mainly from the roots of a flowering plant, spread in India and Indonesia and scientifically known as Curcuma longa. Turmeric consists mainly of carbohydrates, mostly starch and fiber. In addition, like all spices, turmeric contains many plant compounds and nutrients, and these powders are rich in curcuminoids, the compounds responsible for turmeric's distinctive yellowish-orange color.
Turmeric is a key ingredient in Indian curries, and its taste is described as spicy and slightly bitter. One of the most widely studied curcuminoids is curcumin, which may make up about 3% of turmeric. In addition, commercial turmeric or curcumin powders usually contain additives. These include silicon dioxide, an anti-caking agent that prevents caking. Turmeric granules together.
What is curcumin?
Curcumin is the main active ingredient in turmeric, which gives the spice its distinctive yellow or orange colour. In fact, you can count on curcumin as the compound responsible for most of turmeric's potential health benefits. Curcumin is a natural antioxidant that has anti-inflammatory benefits, in addition to potential benefits related to slowing the aging process, preventing Alzheimer's disease, and potentially developing depression.
?Does turmeric raise blood pressure
High blood pressure is closely related to endothelial function, which controls the contraction and relaxation of blood vessels and the heart, and studies have shown that antioxidants such as curcumin are able to restore endothelial balance. For example, a study on diabetes reported that those who took 150 mg of curcumin twice daily for 8 weeks found curcumin to reduce the presence of inflammatory cytokines and reduce oxidative stress. Blood pressure in postmenopausal women, and even healthy adults showed improvement in endothelial function when taking 200 mg of curcumin per day. There are also many studies confirming the benefits of turmeric for treating high blood pressure, as the doses used in the studies ranged from 66 mg of curcumin per day to 2,000 mg per day, and all of them were beneficial.
turmeric benefits
Although turmeric is used as a flavoring and food dye, adding flavor and color to food and spices, it has also been consumed for its health benefits, all of which are attributed to curcumin, that main active ingredient.
reduced inflammation
Curcumin is a powerful anti-inflammatory, and in fact, it is so powerful that it rivals the effectiveness of some anti-inflammatory drugs without the side effects, as it blocks NF-kB, a molecule that travels to the nuclei of cells and binds to genes associated with inflammation. It plays a major role in many diseases. Without going into details, research has shown that curcumin is a bioactive substance that fights inflammation at the molecular level.
Enhanced Antioxidants
Oxidative damage is believed to be one of the mechanisms behind aging and many diseases. The main reason antioxidants are beneficial is that they protect your body from free radicals. Curcumin is a powerful antioxidant that can neutralize free radicals due to its chemical structure. Additionally, curcumin enhances the activity of the body's antioxidant enzymes, and in this way, curcumin delivers one or two punches against free radicals, as it directly blocks them, then stimulates the body's antioxidant defenses.
Improving vascular function
Studies show that curcumin supplements may promote dilation of blood vessels, increase blood flow and reduce blood pressure.
Reduce the risk of heart attacks
Curcuminoids may also reduce the risk of heart attacks, possibly through their anti-inflammatory effects.
Symptoms of overuse of turmeric
Despite the great health benefits of turmeric, with its excessive use in large quantities, a small percentage of people may experience some mild side effects, and these effects may include:
Digestive problems
People may experience mild digestive issues such as bloating, acid reflux, flatulence, and diarrhea if turmeric is consumed in daily doses of more than 1,000 mg.
Headache and nausea
Doses of 450 mg of turmeric or more may cause headaches and nausea in a small number of people.
Skin rash
Many people have reported a rash after taking a dose of 8000 mg of curcumin or more, but this effect appears to be one of the very rare.
What is the right amount to take turmeric?
There are no official recommendations for turmeric, and the maximum allowable limit has not been established. However, as a general rule, you should not exceed the dosage recommendations that you find on spice labels. On the other hand, there are some official guidelines for the intake of curcumin. The Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) has defined the acceptable dietary intake of turmeric as 3 mg per kilogram of body weight per day, for a man of normal weight. 80 kg, this translates to 240 mg of turmeric per day.
Does turmeric lower blood sugar?
That's right, turmeric actually lowers sugar. Scientists and researchers have found a large number of benefits of turmeric, including that turmeric lowers blood sugar. High blood sugar is one of the direct consequences of diabetes of all kinds. This is in addition to a number of other long-term complications.
Turmeric is considered a promising medicinal plant, and the use of turmeric for medicinal purposes is not limited to traditional medicine alone. Many scientific studies have been conducted aimed at discovering the importance and medicinal benefits of turmeric, in order to benefit from it in the scope of modern medicine, and it has been found that turmeric has a range of positive effects with regard to diabetes, among which is that turmeric lowers blood sugar, but it is not the benefit. The only thing that turmeric can offer to diabetics.
Scientists have conducted a review of a group of studies that dealt with turmeric and the results of those studies, with the aim of linking them, and clarifying the effect of turmeric on diabetes in particular. The following is a summary of the most important findings of the scientists through that review:
Turmeric lowers sugar: High blood sugar is the main consequence of diabetes if the disease is not under control. Mainly, hyperglycemia occurs if the body's production of insulin is insufficient, or if there is enough insulin but the body is unable to use it properly. The results of the above-mentioned study indicate that turmeric lowers sugar, although there is still a need to conduct more studies and research in this area.
Turmeric lowers lipids: High blood lipids is one of the medical conditions associated with diabetes. People with diabetes are more likely to develop hyperlipidemia. It is known that high blood fat, in turn, is linked to a number of serious diseases such as cardiovascular disease and stroke. It has been shown that turmeric can lower blood fats.
Turmeric Fights Insulin Resistance: The term insulin resistance refers to a condition closely related to diabetes as well as high blood sugar. What happens with insulin resistance is that the pancreas is actually doing its job, which is to produce insulin, but the cells are unable to use that insulin in order to convert the glucose in the blood into energy. It has been shown that turmeric lowers blood sugar and combats insulin resistance, which means that turmeric can be used to control diabetes and its complications.
In addition to the above, turmeric can give positive results for controlling a number of other complications of diabetes that can occur in the long term, such as nephropathy as well as diabetic retinopathy, a disease of the retina that results from diabetes.
Turmeric and pressure
There is a strong link between turmeric and stress that has been proven through a number of researches and studies that dealt with turmeric, in order to discover its therapeutic properties, as well as to prove the validity of the medicinal benefits of turmeric, which made it one of the important plants in folk medicine or alternative medicine. In fact, the link between turmeric and stress should be carefully considered. Considering turmeric just as a plant can lower blood pressure and therefore excessive consumption of it can have a number of side effects that vary in severity, especially for people with high blood pressure.
The relationship between turmeric and stress can be summed up in the fact that turmeric can lower blood pressure, specifically systolic blood pressure. It is the top number when writing blood pressure in numerator and denominator form, which has a normal mean value of 120 mm Hg. This is a scientific fact reached by a group of research, and a scientific and analytical review of the results of eleven studies on turmeric and pressure was conducted, and the authors of that review concluded that turmeric can actually lower systolic blood pressure. However, there are some observations about the possibility and how to use turmeric for high pressure.
How can turmeric be used for high blood pressure?
One of the most important observations that have been made about the possibility of using turmeric for high blood pressure is the fact that the bioavailability index of turmeric is considered to be relatively low. Oral bioavailability is a term in pharmacology and pharmaceutical manufacturing that expresses the actual amount of a drug dose that reaches the target organ for treatment, and thus actually benefits the patient. In other words, the amount that the body actually benefits from when taking turmeric for high blood pressure is a fraction of the amount of turmeric taken. This poses an obstacle for pharmaceutical companies to manufacture turmeric as a drug for high blood pressure.
In addition to the above, there are some warnings about the use of turmeric for high pressure, whether in its natural form, or in the form of a powder added to food as a type of spice, or even in the form of food supplements. Among these warnings:
Turmeric can lower blood pressure, and it can also lower blood sugar, which means that patients who take blood pressure or diabetes medications, should deal with turmeric with caution, and consult a doctor before using turmeric for high pressure. This is to avoid interference between the effect of turmeric and the effect of the medications that were prescribed to them by the doctor.
Turmeric can affect the process of blood clotting, so it is also recommended to consult a doctor before using turmeric for high blood pressure if the patient is going to undergo surgery soon.
Turmeric can affect the way some medications work in the body, especially blood pressure medications, of course, and this effect may lead to an increase in the concentration of active substances in blood pressure medications, which increases the likelihood of side effects caused by medication.
Despite the medical benefits of turmeric, especially for high pressure, and the positive results of the studies that dealt with it, it is necessary to consult a doctor before using turmeric for high pressure and adhere to what he recommends, whether using it in a small amount or refraining from using it completely and only the prescribed medications.
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