greybeard
Herd Master
It's always easy to 'claim' things. (like the 'grassfed' beef 'doesn't seem' to cause inflammation) claim.
Tumeric. I'm mostly ambivilent to it's properties and use. I do use it, as a spice/seasoning and quite a bit of it particularly in the meat rub I buy and make and in my chili recipe. With one exception, I do not take any kind of supplement, never have and never will, nor (with one exception) do I take any kind of pain medication. That exception is the 1 a day 81 mg aspirin as my sole blood thinner. The supplement that is the single exception is CoQ10 and it is by direction of my primary care physician tho I have serious doubts as to it's necessity or it's efficacy.
FDA has a designation for all things it considers a food or medicine. GRAS. Generally Accepted As Safe. Tumeric does have this designation as a spice and food additive, but FDA has been clear that it does not assign this designation to Tumeric as a health supplement. As a food additive for seasoning and flavor purposes it does give tumeric a GRAS designation but only to the limit of "up to 20mg/serving". (Pg 1629 of the paper linked to below)
20mg by the way= 0.00071oz or 0.004 teaspoons.
One supplement maker did request GRAS designation from FDA for Tumeric in it's supplement and FDA declined but simply said "We have no questions regarding Tumeric at this time" . Tumeric as a supplement ingredient is not on any readily accesible GRAS list.
There has not been (to my knowledge) a single accepted blind study upholding the claims of tumeric as any kind of health aid or preventative, much less a cure for anything. There have been many bogus 'studies' done and repeated publicly tho, the 1st being in 1937. Most by people with a financial incentive to laud tumeric's 'healing qualities'.
http://time.com/4633558/turmeric-curcumin-inflammation-spice/
The abstract of the study:
Curcumin is a constituent (up to ∼5%) of the traditional medicine known as turmeric. Interest in the therapeutic use of turmeric and the relative ease of isolation of curcuminoids has led to their extensive investigation. Curcumin has recently been classified as both a PAINS (pan-assay interference compounds) and an IMPS (invalid metabolic panaceas) candidate. The likely false activity of curcumin in vitro and in vivo has resulted in >120 clinical trials of curcuminoids against several diseases. No double-blinded, placebo controlled clinical trial of curcumin has been successful. This manuscript reviews the essential medicinal chemistry of curcumin and provides evidence that curcumin is an unstable, reactive, nonbioavailable compound and, therefore, a highly improbable lead. On the basis of this in-depth evaluation, potential new directions for research on curcuminoids are discussed.
The actual paper: (it is long..reference to the numeral 1 is tumeric, or more specifically, it's base compound curcumin.)
https://pubs.acs.org/doi/ipdf/10.1021/acs.jmedchem.6b00975
If you actually read thru this paper, you will find it is unbiased, neither supporting nor critical of Tumeric's use as a homeopathic supplement. It merely breaks down the chemical properties of the compounds and puts a brighter light on the studies that have been done, and actually explains their shortcomings and why they are at best incomplete and at worst misleading with not-nearly-enough basis in fact. It plainly states more real & independent study needs to be done to replace all the anecdotal claims that are out there.
Beginning on pg1629, the paper addresses the claims of tumeric/curcumin as a preventative or cure regarding 4 most commonly repeated claims. Dermatitis, colon cancer, Alzheimer and pancreatic cancer. The panacea claims go far beyond those 4 of course, as is usual with these type supplements.....and they always have going as far back as the traveling salesmen in horsedrawn buggies and wagons of the late 1800s. (not surprisingly, Tumeric is also claimed to be a cure for both hirsuteness and baldness all at the same time)
What a deal.........
FDA has historically had a 'hands off' policy toward holistic medicine and 'natural' supplements but that is probably about to change.
FDA in the last 18 months has announced it will revisit it's mostly neutral stance on holistic or alternative medicine supplements following the illness of an infant that was using a 'homeopathic all natural' teething pain product. The general consensus is that FDA will soon require more stringent labeling on all questionable homeopathic panacea supplements including something to the effect of:
"This product has not been proven to have any significant health or medicinal benefit, value or qualities".
Tumeric. I'm mostly ambivilent to it's properties and use. I do use it, as a spice/seasoning and quite a bit of it particularly in the meat rub I buy and make and in my chili recipe. With one exception, I do not take any kind of supplement, never have and never will, nor (with one exception) do I take any kind of pain medication. That exception is the 1 a day 81 mg aspirin as my sole blood thinner. The supplement that is the single exception is CoQ10 and it is by direction of my primary care physician tho I have serious doubts as to it's necessity or it's efficacy.
FDA has a designation for all things it considers a food or medicine. GRAS. Generally Accepted As Safe. Tumeric does have this designation as a spice and food additive, but FDA has been clear that it does not assign this designation to Tumeric as a health supplement. As a food additive for seasoning and flavor purposes it does give tumeric a GRAS designation but only to the limit of "up to 20mg/serving". (Pg 1629 of the paper linked to below)
20mg by the way= 0.00071oz or 0.004 teaspoons.
One supplement maker did request GRAS designation from FDA for Tumeric in it's supplement and FDA declined but simply said "We have no questions regarding Tumeric at this time" . Tumeric as a supplement ingredient is not on any readily accesible GRAS list.
There has not been (to my knowledge) a single accepted blind study upholding the claims of tumeric as any kind of health aid or preventative, much less a cure for anything. There have been many bogus 'studies' done and repeated publicly tho, the 1st being in 1937. Most by people with a financial incentive to laud tumeric's 'healing qualities'.
http://time.com/4633558/turmeric-curcumin-inflammation-spice/
The abstract of the study:
Curcumin is a constituent (up to ∼5%) of the traditional medicine known as turmeric. Interest in the therapeutic use of turmeric and the relative ease of isolation of curcuminoids has led to their extensive investigation. Curcumin has recently been classified as both a PAINS (pan-assay interference compounds) and an IMPS (invalid metabolic panaceas) candidate. The likely false activity of curcumin in vitro and in vivo has resulted in >120 clinical trials of curcuminoids against several diseases. No double-blinded, placebo controlled clinical trial of curcumin has been successful. This manuscript reviews the essential medicinal chemistry of curcumin and provides evidence that curcumin is an unstable, reactive, nonbioavailable compound and, therefore, a highly improbable lead. On the basis of this in-depth evaluation, potential new directions for research on curcuminoids are discussed.
The actual paper: (it is long..reference to the numeral 1 is tumeric, or more specifically, it's base compound curcumin.)
https://pubs.acs.org/doi/ipdf/10.1021/acs.jmedchem.6b00975
If you actually read thru this paper, you will find it is unbiased, neither supporting nor critical of Tumeric's use as a homeopathic supplement. It merely breaks down the chemical properties of the compounds and puts a brighter light on the studies that have been done, and actually explains their shortcomings and why they are at best incomplete and at worst misleading with not-nearly-enough basis in fact. It plainly states more real & independent study needs to be done to replace all the anecdotal claims that are out there.
Beginning on pg1629, the paper addresses the claims of tumeric/curcumin as a preventative or cure regarding 4 most commonly repeated claims. Dermatitis, colon cancer, Alzheimer and pancreatic cancer. The panacea claims go far beyond those 4 of course, as is usual with these type supplements.....and they always have going as far back as the traveling salesmen in horsedrawn buggies and wagons of the late 1800s. (not surprisingly, Tumeric is also claimed to be a cure for both hirsuteness and baldness all at the same time)
What a deal.........FDA has historically had a 'hands off' policy toward holistic medicine and 'natural' supplements but that is probably about to change.
FDA in the last 18 months has announced it will revisit it's mostly neutral stance on holistic or alternative medicine supplements following the illness of an infant that was using a 'homeopathic all natural' teething pain product. The general consensus is that FDA will soon require more stringent labeling on all questionable homeopathic panacea supplements including something to the effect of:
"This product has not been proven to have any significant health or medicinal benefit, value or qualities".
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And I HAVE tried them! (some) They just have not worked for me. 
Tough to move around when your knees and ankles won't really function to support you. 
