By Adam
In the pantheon of supplements, none is more in demand than turmeric.
And while that comes with some serious downsides, which we’ll discuss later, there are also some serious upsides to the prolific use of turmeric.
In fact, a newly discovered use for turmeric could help end the antibiotic apocalypse.
Antibiotics are undoubtedly the leading medical invention for prolonging the lifespan of the modern human.
Antibiotics: A Blessing That May Not Bless Any Longer
Less than 100 years ago, a minor infection could easily have spelled the end of a person’s life.
Since the discovery of penicillin, along with additional antibiotics, an estimated 200 million people were rescued from the brink of an infection-related death.
While antibiotics have been critically important for extending lifespan, their overuse has created some serious problems.
Namely that many bacterial infections that used to be easily treated with antibiotics are becoming resistant to their effects.
This has led some health professionals to conclude that we may have reached an antibiotic apocalypse in which antibiotics will no longer work to stave off deadly infections.
Fortunately, researchers are attempting to divert the impending disaster by working on various natural treatments to kill bacterial infections.
And new research on turmeric has led scientists to believe there’s a chance that turmeric might help assist in helping to treat serious infections.
How Turmeric Could Help to End the Antibiotic Apocalypse
For thousands of years, the ancient civilizations of China and India have used turmeric for treating a variety of conditions.
While they didn’t know what mechanisms caused turmeric to improve health, they knew turmeric helped make people feel better.
Recently, researchers in England tested how turmeric could help to fight one of the most common (and most problematic bacteria) in the world.
The overabundance of the H. pylori bacteria causes innumerable diseases that reduce the quality of life in countries all over the world.
It’s so common that it’s believed to be present in more than 70% of people’s bodies.
Antibiotics don’t work very well to kill H. pylori, either, as it typically resides under layers of mucus in the gut that antibiotics cannot penetrate effectively.
Not only does this prevent antibiotics from working, but it can also cause resistant strains of other bacteria to form.
The good news is the scientists at universities at Leeds in the UK, and Münster and Erlangen in Germany realized that when nanocapsules of turmeric’s primary nutrients (called curcumin) were introduced into the gut where H. pylori bacteria resides, the bacteria would stop sticking to the stomach cells which helped antibiotics to kill H. pylori instead of passing the bacteria over entirely.
One of the co-authors of the study, Francisco Goycoolea of the School of Food Science and Nutrition in Leeds in the UK said that he’s confident “this novel formulation, consisting of small capsules made of natural ingredients, could offer a new means to deter a globally-spread ‘superbug’ pathogen.”
This is why some researchers plan to use turmeric to help increase antibiotic effectiveness.
Now here’s the issue with taking too much turmeric.
Studies done by the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment, California, reveal that turmeric coming from Bangladesh could contain high levels of a toxin known as lead chromate.
Apparently, some manufacturers add lead chromate to turmeric supplements to give it a brighter color.
The addition of lead chromate could cause additional health problems, so it’s essential to make sure any turmeric you purchase has been tested to be lead-free.
