How: always with some fat or oil as it is lipophilic (oil soluble). I use coconut oil.
How much: For adults the official recommendation is up to 1.5 g. daily which will be about one very slightly rounded teaspoon which can be divided over two to three doses daily. Therapeutic doses are considered to be 2-3 g. See cautions below. Not recommended for small children under two. For older children and those over 65, start with a low dose. There are varying opinions as to the dosage and confusion between the active ingredient coumarin and turmeric doses.
Tea: I don’t recommend taking turmeric as a tea. It will stain everything. Some people like to take it in warm milk or hot cocoa.
Capsules: Curcumin (the active ingredient in Turmeric) is available in capsule form. Personally, I am not a fan of taking herbs (or spices) in such a concentrated active-ingredient-only-form. This is not what nature intended nor herbal medicine traditions which understood the importance of the synergy of the whole plant matter, be it seeds, leaf, bark or root. However, for some therapeutic short term uses as a massive dosing therapy, it may be quite helpful. ‘Short term’ is the key word. See cautions below.
Food: A great way to take it, a curry is perhaps the best food method. However, I have added turmeric throughout the day in my yoghurt, muesli, some soups, salad dressings and other dishes. It gets a bit ‘old’ after a while and invariably I return to my favourite way.
Fat/oil: This is my modus operandi and part of my morning routine. Two teaspoons of coconut oil (turns solid in winter so I warm it a little) to one teaspoon of turmeric which will equal the recommended dose of 1g daily. Sometimes I add an eighth of a teaspoon of cayenne and a dash of cumin…simply because I like the flavours.
Caution regarding therapeutic doses:
- Turmeric is used to lower blood sugar and may be problematic for diabetics taking diabetic medicines and hypoglycemics.
- Turmeric also lowers blood pressure in high doses. Do not take with herbs that have similar effect nor with chemical drugs such as antihypertensives that artificially lower the blood pressure.
- It lowers the LDL (‘bad cholesterol) and raises the HDL (‘good cholesterol) and will boost the effect of chemical cholesterol lowering drugs. Not a good idea.
- It is a blood thinner and not to be taken in conjunction with such chemical blood thinners such as warfarin, coumadin, clopidogrel, or even aspirin, do not ingest turmeric in any form in more than low doses.
- Therapeutic doses of turmeric taken with moderate to high doses of Ginko biloboa or garlic, all of which have blood thinning properties, should not be taken at the same time.
- If you do take high doses of turmeric, stop at least a week prior to surgery (because it is a blood thinner).
- May cause nausea if taken on an empty stomach.
- People having problems with the gall bladder or gall stones should avoid therapeutic doses of turmeric as it increases the bile production.
- High doses may stimulate uterine contractions and menstrual flow.
Warning! Super food turmeric may seriously improve your health. Read more about turmeric benefits – Spice: Turmeric – Beyond Curry
Be sure to purchase your herb and spices from non-irradiated, organic and reliable sources for the full health benefit. Grocery store herbs are good enough for seasoning but most likely have been radiated.
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Therapeutic doses of most any herbal preparation is seldom intended for long term use and were never intended to be used in that way. Obviously, long term chemical ‘solutions’ have also negative effects. Many herbalists and Naturopathic practitioners recommend taking breaks of a few weeks from any long term herb use. However, some people eventually ease themselves off of pharmaceuticals and are happy with the results using natural methods and just as importantly, a healthier lifestyle. Your health practioner (read my interpretation of that and my disclaimer here) should be consulted.
{ 35 comments… read them below or add one }
hiya, informative stuff…thanks!
i’m wondering, are you yourself taking this therapeutic dose of one rounded teaspoon per day? and i assume you mean dried…any idea what the difference might be with fresh in terms of strength and dosage? just thought i’d ask…..
Daily…no. I probably average 1/2 tsp. but I follow the practice of abstaining for a week or more from anything I take. I could not tell you about strength between fresh or powdered. Powdered is the usual way one finds it…unless you are in the Asian part of the world or from an Asian food market. Me…I am here in Spain!
Turmeric is a part of my diet as I add it to my food for flavour and colour. I have recently started Statins and Rampiril.
Can I still continue with adding turmeric to my food.
Regards
Naaz
Glad you use turmeric. I can not give you medical advice…however I can suggest you do an online search for statins +turmeric and rampiril +turmeric and make your decisions based on what you find and talk over with your health provider.
Be really careful with the statins. Besides an increased risk of muscle aches and joint pain (and liver damage), it can also cause memory problems, depression, sleep problems, increased levels of anger and hostility, and a lot of other problems, though some people are more susceptible to these than other people. The FDA finally admitted to the memory problems just this past spring. There is a long-term study called the ‘Statin Effects Study’ that has been done at the University of California at San DIego under the leadership of Dr. Beatrice Golomb where you can find more information. Some statins, such as simvastatin (generic form of Zocor) are more lipophilic than others and can mess up the brain more easily. Again, be very careful with the statins.
Statins were nominated as one of the worst drugs of the century…and one of the biggest money makers for the pharma industry. Oh, don’t get me started :>(
HEY I LIKED YOUR STUFF. I LIKE THE IDEA OF TAKING IT WITH COCONUT OIL OF WHICH I AM A FAN. IF THESE THINGS ARE SO GOOD WHY ARE THE PEOPLE TAKING THEM FOR AGES NOT REALLY SUPER HEALTHY ? MAYBE THATS NOT RELEVANT. MAYBE PEOPLE WHO NEED THEM ARE MADE SO MUCH HEALTHIER.
JOHN..
“IF THESE THINGS ARE SO GOOD WHY ARE THE PEOPLE TAKING THEM FOR AGES NOT REALLY SUPER HEALTHY”
…and what state would they be in if they didn’t. Your question is relevant, but it is like asking ‘how long is a string?’ . Our lifestyle changes/improvements, conscientious eating, stress management all contribute to the optimum health we can achieve at any given period of time in our life.
We all know the stories about someone, someone knew who was a vegetarian, non-smoker, non-drinker, who died of cancer or just dropped dead. How do we know what possible inner turmoil they may have had or if they possibly lived in a constant state of stress? Then there are the ones who did everything ‘wrong’ and lived to 101 years. We always remember the rare exceptions…but this does not represent the mainstream. People use them to justify whatever point they want to make.
Our thoughts, our inner world has the greatest influence on every cell in our body. It is up to us to seek solutions to stress, past traumas big and small and in a way that dissolves them…not just pushes them under the carpet.
Doing that plus good nutrition and a good lifestyle will help anyone live to their personal best.
EFT and Matrix Reimprinting is an excellent method to dis-solve issues and manage stress. I personally have richly benefited from it.
Where to purchase organic turmeric? Is the organic powder effective?
Hello Pmr,
As far as I know – except in specialty Asian food shops – turmeric is always sold as a powder. As far as where to purchase it, I would suggest a local online search for the city and country you are living in. Just can not help you there (I live in Spain)!
Stops Ants Also….I purchased tumeric at the local Indian grocery store (Phoenix, AZ) and it cost less than $3.00 for a large bag of powder, as directed by one of my co-workers from India. It seems that ants won’t cross a line of tumeric, which helped with my ant infestation at my house. I looked on-line for any research related to insects and found none. But with all the great health benefits I discovered from my insect research, I am now taking it daily and putting the rest of my remaining bag to use. One note…it will turn your dog yellow if they come in contact with it, but easily washes off.
Raw Turmerik powder contain 2% to 5% active ingredient CURCUMIN. Considerng a teaspoon volume 5 ml or milliliters than you can get about 5 grams raw turmerik you can get ((5*3.5)/100) =0.175 gr curcumin per serving. This is to low. To get any benefit you have to cosume at least 2 tablespoons of raw turmerik per day, or three times a day of 500mg ie 0.5gr curcumin and peper capsules. All the time before you buy powder turmerik ask for concentration of curcium. Most have 3.75% but in some 2% only.
I do not agree with you on a few counts. Many, many people do have benefits from taking turmeric in normal doses not as high as you suggest.
I also do not always agree with the scientific opinion that only the so called ‘active’ ingredient, as isolated in the lab is the only important factor. In traditional medicine, the synergistic effect of all properties of a plant was the natural method of ingesting them. The other properties, the ones that science feels are ‘inactive’ and therefore ineffective, balance, buffer and may serve to enhance the ‘active’ part.
I have mentioned before in other posts and articles that taking only the active ingredient of a plant source and also in an unnatural form, ie. capsules may be asking for serious problems later when taken long term.
Obviously you have never taken high doses of turmeric…let alone curcumin. I have as an experiment. One day of 2 tablespoons spread throughout the day seriously upset my stomach and intestines…to put it delicately. For me, it was too much.
i have started taking tumric 1\2 tea spoon 2 times a day for my artherits for the last 3 days and feel way better iconsume it with a little water is it ok as i cannot stand coconut oil taste now what is the duration should i continue before i give it a break and should i re start it
Hello Jerry,
Glad you are feeling better. What is important when taking turmeric in any form is that some form of fat/oil must be present. You can be creative about this. Some people like to take it in full fat yoghurt as an example. Or in porridge (hot oatmeal) with a little butter in it and cinnamon. I have heard from someone else that they put it on buttered toast, fold the toast and eat it. Less chance to stain. Just taking it with water is not helpful.
As far as how long to take it, this is very individual. You can take a break every few weeks for a week and observe how you feel. You may eventually try to lower the dosage and see how you are on that.
I take 1 teaspoon every morning with ginger, fresh sq lemon, and stevia in a hot tea form in large mason jar. Now I read you are suggesting to take turmeric with fat or oil. I will incorporate a teaspoon of olive oil on the side. Can you explain why one needs oil/fat present.
My wife has two stents in here jugular veins and is taking a low dose aspirin daily and we are trying to find out how much and what foods to eat regularly so she can stop the aspirin. We see cinnamon, turmeric, garlic, broccoli etc. Are good alternatives, we are trying to figure the comparison to 82mg aspirin to turmeric and cinnamon for example. Any suggestions would be helpful, thanks.
My wife wants to stop aspirin immediately but we need to find a comparative alternative I think before doing this.
I’ve contacted you by email.
I am thinking of adding coconut oil to my turmeric drink for the fat/oil. what do you think?
Perfect solution, do it!
I like your information. I also feel that taking turmeric as a whole is better than curcumin alone and that is what nature intended to give us.
I wonder what the industry does with the turmeric after removing the “active ingredient – curcumin? Do they sell it as turmeric? will its color still be yellow?
Thank you for your kind words. I am with you about taking turmeric as a whole rather than the active ingredient. I believe in and respect the synergy of nature and her intent. Some of the ‘warnings’ and dis-information put out by the pharma industry against natural herbal use is very often because of the use of the isolated active ingredient. This means a far more concentrated product without any buffer or synergy from the whole plant.
Curcumin is what makes curcuma/turmeric that yellow/orange. Good question though :>).
I was born in Tehran, live in The U SA for the past 44 years. We use turmeric in all cooking and lately I add to my rice. I am 64 with good heart, less problem with arthritis and high level of good cholesterol . Don’t take turmeric in capsule form , but in food. I walk over one mile every day .
Love turmeric cooked in all my dishes! A definite fan!
Do I have to take it raw in a capsule ?
Thank you
It sounds to me like you are doing well with what you are doing. If you wish to increase the turmeric, try mixed in with yoghurt…plain, FULL fat…perhaps a little honey, a few walnuts (just my personal favourite way to take it).
Is it safe to drop a dab of 100%pure essential tumeric therapy oil from ede ns garden in water and drink it? I have done this, and it made me feel great.
Personally, I am very cautious about ingesting essential oils and frankly, I am not so certain that the process needed to make turmeric EO extracts the same properties that one has with the powder.
There is a protocol for cancer which uses Turmeric and Honey mixed together. The honey is supposed to cause the cancer cells to adsorb the curcumin. I noticed that you recommend mixing the turmeric into some form of fat. (coconut oil) Honey contains no fat. So in your opinion will the tumeric, (curcumin) be absorbed when combined with honey, or would it be better to put it into a fat substance as you suggest, or even both? And if both, in what order?
Also, are you familiar with liposomal encapsulation, where they use lecithin to encapsulate the substance? From what I have heard it causes it to bypass the stomach and go directly into the blood stream and cells.
I missed your comment, sorry! Yes, I would mix a little healthy fat with the honey and turmeric – one cannot get around that. Turmeric needs some sort of fat to be bio-available which is why I like using the coconut oil or yoghurt trick. Yes, I am familiar with liposomal encapsulation, but frankly am not aware if turmeric is sold that way. I use the powder.
Hello,
thanks for your informative article on tumeric. I moved to SE-Asia a couple of years ago and trying to implement some of the incredible spices to my food. I get tumeric at a local Indian shop. I was not aware of the blood thinning effect, so thanks a lot for the warning not to take with Apirin. I tried the tumeric tea with milk, but really not my favorite. I will give the coconut oil mix a try today.
Greetings to Spain!
Thank you for the kind words! You can also try turmeric mixed in a little yoghurt. The whole fat in the yoghurt will be enough to make it bio-available to the body.
Another really good method for administering spices,especially difficult tasting ones,is by mixing it and taking it with half a tsp of good honey..As well as sweetening the taste of even the most bitter of spices,honey also acts as a very good carrier to deeper tissues in the body,and is used for such in ayurveda.
Good idea, thanks!
My boyfriend is taking heart meds and a baby aspirin daily. He is also taking statins for his cholesterol. We believe, due to the statins, he has been afflicted with alot of hip pain (arthritis). Our question is, can he take turmeric while taking a daily baby aspirin?
Hello Diane,
Sorry I missed your post. I can only comment on what I would do and that is not to mix the two. Statins are suggested to be one of the most dangerous drugs released on the market with the long term negative effects not justifying their use. I will contact you by email.
Love your pantry list…quite similar to mine!
;>D thanks!
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