Turmeric: Too Good to Be True?

Turmeric is supposed to help a range of ailments from arthritis to Alzheimer's. But is this spice the real deal or just fool's gold?

By Liz Garton

If you google 'health benefits of turmeric' you're going to come up with hundreds of articles proclaiming the spice as a new wonder drug.

But that 'cure-all' tag should be a red-flag, according to food and nutrition writer Niki Bezzant.

Bezzant told Healthy or Hoax host Stacey Morrison that in the case of turmeric's health benefits "it's a case of the marketing getting way ahead of the research."

She said there's ancient wisdom applying to this ingredient, it's been used in Ayurvedic Indian medicine and Chinese medicine for centuries.

"It's got a lot of history behind it," she said, "But there hasn't been any good, really good evidence come to light to show that it's truly beneficial."

"Yet. That doesn't mean it won't."

Food and Nutrition writer Niki Bezzant told Stacey Morrison there's a lot of ancient wisdom attached to turmeric

Turmeric lattes are particularly fashionable. Hannah Sutherland, owner of No Grainer in Mt Albert, describes the taste as: "like a sort of a spicy cinnamonny sweet drink more than a turmeric flavor. But it's kind of got memories of Christmas or something."

"It's very popular because we get people who are on the wellness journey," said Sutherland, "So people like the blend we do and we get dedicated customers to the turmeric latte."

Sutherland makes her turmeric latte paste from ground up turmeric, cinnamon, ginger and a little bit of black pepper for the curcumin absorption and it's the curcumin that's thought to be the active compound in turmeric.

Hannah Sutherland said she has customers dedicated to her turmeric latte.

Keith Singletary, Professor Emeritus of Nutrition from the University of Illinois, reviewed the findings from some of the more recent studies into turmeric's health benefits.

His review was funded by McCormick, a US spice retailer, but he said it's 'debatable' that the science backs up claims turmeric is good for us.

Singletary said pre-clinical studies - so that's in tissue or cell culture or animal models - over the last two or three decades turmeric has been shown to have a positive impact on oxidative stress and inflamed inflammatory response, which contribute to heart disease, diabetes, cancer and neurological disorders, like Alzheimer's.

The problem, he said, is that we just don't take up the compound very well…

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details