I’ve praised Turmeric before, the sweet salve to an inflamed, autoimmune, gut-compromised soul. It’s been used for yonks in Chinese and Ayurvedic medicine for digestive issues, inflammation, joint pain and blood purification.
But with turmeric, it’s all about the curcumin…the bioactive ingredient in this golden root. And with curcumin, there are totally ineffective ways of eating it…and effective ones!
Always eat turmeric with fat
Curcumin is soluble in oil and insoluble in water. Got it? So, when eating turmeric, it must be eaten with good quality, saturated fat.
Eat turmeric with black pepper
Piperine, a key chemical in black pepper, is said to help with absorption, too. So we add pepper. And cumin. But, we can do even better…
Eat your turmeric fermented
Yep, this takes things further…and doesn’t have to be tricky. A study in the International Journal of Food Science and Technology found the bioavailability of curcumin increased when it was fermented. During digestion, curcumin transforms into different metabolites. It is these metabolites that can be easily absorbed by the body, rather than the whole curcumin molecule.
But what if your digestion is crap? Well, by fermenting