THE CURCUM

[maria angelica sassone]

Did You Know...

     ...that an inexpensive spice extract might be the secret to reducing obesity and metabolic diseases?

     Curcumin is a phytochemical extract of the turmeric root, a perennial herb prized in Ayurvedic medicine.  Turmeric powder is derived from the root of the Curcuma Longa plant, a member of the ginger family that grows in Southern Asia and the Himalayas.  Most Westerners know turmeric as the gold-colored Indian spice in curry and mustard.

     Although the words turmeric and curcumin are often used interchangeably, they're not the same thing.  The therapeutic properties of curcumin are much more potent in an extracted form than in substances made from the whole root.

     In March of 2011, Korean scientists reviewed articles published between 2000 and 2010 that addressed curcumin's role in reducing obesity.  The review produced exciting evidence for turmeric's effects against obesity.

     The researchers also highlighted curcumin's extremely low cost, saying it could be a cheaper, safer, and more effective alternative to any current anti-obesity drug treatment.

A "Spicy" Cure for Obesity?

     Curcumin's medicinal use dates back 6,000 years, when ancient Egyptian pharaohs and Ayurvedic medical practitioners in India first discovered its beneficial properties.  Today, researchers from many fields are eager to study curcumin's many effects.  Curcumin's actions in the body are:      Bharat B. Aggarwal, one of the authors of a high-profile study done at MD Anderson Cancer Center on curcumin's amazing benefits for treating and preventing cancer, published a second study on curcumin and weight loss.

     Aggarwal's in-depth study uncovered the effects of curcumin on obesity and metabolic diseases.  The MD Anderson Cancer center doesn't conduct "surface level" research.  The information in the study on curcumin is highly specific about precisely which molecular and genetic pathways curcumin targets.

     This research reveals at least 7 important ways that curcumin can help you shed pounds and prevent disease, including its powerful effects on 4 key functions:

     ==> Regulating key hormones
     ==> Improving organ function
     ==> Correcting inflammatory signaling
     ==> Optimizing metabolic functioning

     This new science also shows that curcumin can regulate the formation of fat cells and lower the production of leptin in fat cells.  This is exciting because 99.9% of overweight people produce way too much leptin due to their extra pounds of fat.  Unfortunately, excessive leptin is very destructive.  For example, too much leptin can cause your liver to accumulate fat cells, leading to "fatty liver" and liver malfunction (including type 2 diabetes).  Curcumin can protect your liver from leptin's negative effects.

     Advocates of this research point out that if any drug in existence could achieve even one of those results, the company selling it would stand to make billions.  So, it's no wonder the pharmaceutical industry is fighting to control curcumin and find a way to manufacture a synthetic version!

How Curcumin Can Break the Link Between Obesity and Food Sensitivities

     "An estimated 60 to 80 percent of people are sensitive to one or more foods," says Ann Louise Gittleman, Ph.D., CNS.  "Food sensitivities are also one of the most common causes of weight gain!"

     Fortunately, curcumin can help offset this problem.  To understand how, it is important to understand why food sensitivities and obesity go hand in hand ... how food sensitivities develop ... and how they affect your body.

     Researchers suspect that repetitive, monotonous eating habits may be to blame for rising rates of negative food reactions in developed countries.  If you eat a food to which your body is sensitive, a domino line of negative consequences can befall you:

 

How to Use Curcumin      Curcumin be found in health food stores, natural food stores, and from online retailers.  This herb is available in many forms, including root, powdered root, standardized powder (often as a capsule), tincture, and liquid extract.      Health practitioners use curcumin for a variety of conditions, and the doses they recommend also vary depending on your reason for taking curcumin.  For general use including weight loss, most practitioners recommend the following doses: Standardized curcumin powder: 400 to 600 mg 3 times daily Tincture (1:2): 15 to 30 drops up to 4 times daily Liquid extract (1:1): 30 to 90 drops daily      Paired with a healthy diet rich in fruits and veggies, 8 or more glasses of pure water a day, and adequate exercise, curcumin could be the key to a fitter, trimmer you.

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Featured Topic:

A Scientifically Validated Substance that
"Turns Back Time?" Experts agree.
This is one of the decade's most astonishing
anti-aging breakthroughs.

A natural substance found in every tissue of the body has a youth-preserving power that cannot be underestimated, says natural health expert Dr. Gina Nick.

     Dr. Nick is president emeritus of the California Naturopathic Doctors Association and a featured expert on Fine Living Network (HGTV) and PBS.

     The substance she credits with paramount anti-aging importance is a natural acid that experts call "your body's moisture machine."  It's the component that holds moisture within skin cells and boosts the skin's reconstruction process.

     Anti-aging physicians and renowned aestheticians have hailed this acid—both the oral supplement and the topical serum—as one of the decade's most astonishing anti-aging breakthroughs.

     A host of publications including Muscle & Body and Good Housekeeping have done the same.

     This remarkable substance is known as hyaluronic acid or HA.  Most people have heard about HA, and may have even used products that contain HA, but startling new facts about it have surfaced, as well as a warning that must be heeded.

How Does Hyaluronic Acid Work

     HA occurs naturally in the human body, and in youth it is plentiful in all of our soft tissues.  "It's the thing that holds the water in place," explains Cathleen London, M.D., clinical instructor at the schools of medicine at Boston University and Tufts University.  "It gives you that plumpness you see in young skin."

     In fact, almost 50% of the body's total HA is found in the skin.  Young skin is smooth and elastic because it contains large amounts of moisture-carrying HA, which binds up to 1,000 times its own weight in water.

     HA's natural occurrence in skin and its ability to deeply penetrate the skin's layers are two reasons why, when applied topically, HA can produce astonishing benefits.  The skin is able to more deeply absorb HA than most other substances, including topical collagen.

     For this reason, HA serves as an efficient "carrier" of other anti-aging ingredients, transporting those substances through the layers of skin straight to the cells.  As a result, the benefits of each ingredient increase exponentially.

Live 100 Years Without Growing Old

     "HA has been nicknamed by the press as the 'key to the fountain of youth,'" Dr. Nick says, "because ... some people who ingest a lot of it in their diets tend to live to ripe old ages."  Dr. Nick refers to an ABC News report called "The Village of Long Life" about the locals of Yuzurihara, Japan.

     In Yuzurihara, residents routinely live well into their 80s and beyond while maintaining smooth, wrinkle-free skin and diseases like cancer or Alzheimer's are almost unknown.  Researchers credit this phenomenon to a diet high in HA.

     Longevity and nutrition expert Bill Sardi conducted research in Yuzurihara that resulted in the first laymen's book on HA, Live 100 Years Without Growing Old.  Like others who've observed the Yuzuriharans firsthand, Sardi was incredulous at the youthfulness of men and women in their 90s and older.

Increasingly, HA has clinical evidence as well as anecdotal reports for its effects:      A recent unpublished double-blind, placebo-controlled study followed 20 women ages 40 to 65 with mild to moderate periorbital wrinkles (crow's feet) for 16 weeks.  Women who used a combination of oral and topical HA twice a day experienced a greater improvement in the appearance of crow's feet and skin elasticity than those using a placebo combination.  The women using HA also reported greater improvements in dryness, sagging, and puffiness.

HA Fraud: Not Enough, Not the Right Kind

     HA's benefits are well proven, but when it comes to purchasing topical HA products, the rule is ... buyer beware.  According to dermatologist Jeannette Graf, most topical HA products don't contain enough of it to be effective over the long-term.

     Manufacturing matters, too.  Graf spoke to a reporter from Allure magazine, saying that the best HA formulas use HA in microsphere form, which improves penetration into the skin.

     HA's effects also depend on it being of "high molecular weight," says Dr. Chris Meletis, N.D., executive director of the Institute for Healthy Aging and co-author of The Hyaluronic Acid Miracle.

     Dr. Meletis explains the molecular weight issue this way: "Whether it is topical or orally, I see great results with high molecular weight HA.  It is key that it is high molecular weight, for it is this form that is bioidentical to the form in our bodies."

Dangerous "Filler" Ingredients Take Away the Benefits

     Whether or not they contain the right amount or form of HA, most over-the-counter skin care products contain ingredients that damage your skin, sometimes permanently.  Department stores claim HA's "fountain of youth" benefits, but most contain chemicals that can actually harm your DNA and prevent it from repairing itself.

     Furthermore, hundreds of additives in skin creams also cause various kinds of damage.  For example, propylene glycol, fragrance, and parabens have all been shown to produce adverse skin reactions, which don't often appear immediately, but begin to surface years down the road as a result of chemical build up.

World Renowned Anti-Aging Pioneer's "Adventure Novel" Discovery

     Anti-aging expert Dr. Al Sears is uncompromising when it comes to pure, natural ingredients.  Dr. Sears speaks regularly at conferences sponsored by the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine, the American College for the Advancement of Medicine, and the Age Management Medicine Group.  The story of how Dr. Sears discovered the effects of HA sounds like an adventure novel.

     As a passionate researcher, Dr. Sears travels the globe in search of undiscovered natural treatments.  During a trip to Peru, wherein his intention was to scour the rainforest for healing herbs, he "accidentally" discovered a natural skin beautifier rich in HA that made the Amazonian women of Peru look a decade or two younger than Americans their age!  The remarkable story of his discovery can be found by clicking here.

     Once back in the U.S., Dr. Sears worked with his team to develop an all-natural formula utilizing the HA-rich ingredient he had found in Peru.  The result was an anti-aging product that contains: a sufficient amount of HA that delivers long-term anti-aging effects ... a high molecular weight serum using microsphere technology (ensuring maximum absorption) ... and absolutely no harmful filler ingredients like those in department store products.

     Dr. Sears's formula was first made available only to his own patients in his thriving Boca Raton, Florida clinic, and the results were so spectacular he couldn't keep up with demand.  Only recently has his Peruvian source been able to supply more of the HA-rich ingredient to Dr. Sears, and this enabled him to make the formula available to more people.  Discover how you can enable your skin to "rebuild itself" faster and more effectively—and cause it to look and act like much younger skin.  By clicking here, you can find out for yourself how Dr. Sears's formula can help smooth away fine lines and wrinkles, plump up your skin cells ... and rejuvenate your appearance the way it's done for his in-clinic patients.

 

• Anti-inflammatory
• Antioxidant
• Anti-arthritic
• Anti-tumor

• The body retains water in an effort to flush out the reactive food
• Blood vessels expand and contract, resulting in inflammation and swelling
• Addictive cravings for the foods you're sensitive to
• Metabolic disruptions and discomfort

     Over time, such unpleasant consequences can also lead to stubborn weight gain.

     Curcumin can help halt this process and prevent you from putting on pounds.  One way it does this is by fighting inflammation, which decreases or even prevents the symptoms of food allergies and sensitivities.

     Curcumin's anti-inflammatory properties can also help relieve allergic symptoms, which are more severe than sensitivity reactions.  Curcumin has been used as an allergy cure in alternative medical systems like Ayurveda, Unani, and naturopathy for ages.

     According to clinical research published in Molecular Nutrition and Food Research in 2008, curcumin "blocks mast cells ... from releasing histamine, thereby preventing allergic reactions."  Curcumin also increases the body's natural defenses against allergens by increasing antibody response and protecting the immune system.

[Myriel RAouine]

Thank you, dear si-star, for all this important information on Curcuma which has reminded me of what 'I read a year or two ago about its anti-cancerous effects!

 

Love and LIGHT,

 

Sonja Myriel