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By C. L. Lee
Across the East, from India to Thailand, curcuma longa — better known as turmeric — is used to treat or help prevent a number of conditions including rheumatoid arthritis, hepatitis, liver problems, menstrual disturbances, fibromylagia, Alzheimers disease, ringworm and bruising. Its long been used as a paste or poultice for the treatment of dry and flaking skin.
If curcuma longa is such a miracle cure, why is it not used more readily in the West? One reason may be that turmeric is naturally part of the diet in Asian countries. Its commonly used in curries, for example. Americans, who are less likely to keep turmeric in their spice cabinet, may also be less familiar with alternative treatments.
Its more likely that the West isnt as attuned to the healing potential of turmeric because our culture views medicine differently. Alternative or natural treatments are rarely recommended or encouraged by doctors or nurses. Western medicine takes a drug-centric approach, which requires scores of clinical trials, before receiving public approval. Subsequently, in the absence of numerous, documented scientific studies, the evidence is considered inconclusive. Since pharmaceutical companies fund many if not most, clinical trials with profits at stake, it stands to reason that basic botanical treatments are getting less financial support and therefore, less evidence considered conclusive by the medical community.
Nonetheless, curcuma longa (turmeric) is rapidly gaining attention and governmental support.
The National Institute of Healths National Center for Complementary Medicine
http://nccam.nih.gov/grants/CAMNP/priorities/
NIH NCCAM lists turmeric as a high priority topic for mechanistic research. The active component of turmeric, curcumin, is currently in clinical trials for a variety of applications including cancer, psoriasis, and Alzheimer’s disease.
The Journal of Family Medicine – March 2011 Vol. 60, No. 03: 155-156
http://www.jfponline.com/pages.asp?id=9403
Fast Track: Curcumin has shown some benefit for rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, and irritable bowel syndrome.
Will scientific evidence support the healthful benefits that Eastern medicine attributes to turmeric? Only time will tell, and studies will take years. But its worth noting that this basic spice, used commonly in cooking for hundreds, if not thousands of years, is at the point of discussion.
Skin care treatments, according to some opinions, have little basis for such rigorous trials because topical use poses little risk of drug interactions. For centuries, Asian men and women have mixed turmeric with water to create a bright yellow paste they applied to damaged skin. But this is a messy treatment, and in this form, turmeric colors everything around it.
LaCosta Siam is making it easy to seek the benefits of turmeric in topical applications by incorporating turmeric (curcuma longa) with other botanicals including ginger extract, cassumunar oil and pogostemon cablin in an all natural product, Thai Foot Relief. ( http://www.thaifootrelief.com/botanical-pleasures ). Superior to a foot cream (and equally suitable for use on scaly elbows, chapped fingers, and dry cuticles), it is rapidly absorbed, it does not leave a greasy residue and it is based on established alternative medicine.
The ability of turmeric to heal dry, damaged skin and other health care benefits are only now coming to light in the West. Its expected that topical turmeric remedies will become increasingly available as studies by the NIH and others affirm its effectiveness.
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