Turmeric is brilliant

Turmeric
This a flowering plant of the ginger  family, Zingiberaceae, the roots of which are used in cooking.
Although the precise origin of turmeric is not known, it appears to have originated from Southeast Asia, most probably from Vietnam, China, or Western India.Not found in the wild, turmeric is cultivated in Southeast Asia, Oceania, and some countries of western Africa.The world's largest producer, consumer, and exporter of turmeric is India.

Turmeric plant

HISTORY OF TURMERIC
Turmeric grows wild in the forests of South and Southeast Asia where it is collected for use in Indian traditional medicine (also called Siddha or Ayurved.
Turmeric Flower

In Eastern India, the plant is used as one of the nine components of navapatrika along with young plantain or banana plant, taro  leaves, barley (jayanti), wood apple (bilva), pomegranate (darimba), asoka, manaka or manakochu, and rice paddy. The Navapatrika worship is an important part of Durga festival rituals.

Haldi ceremony (called Gaye holud in Bengal) (literally "yellow on the body") is a ceremony observed during Hindu and South Asian Muslim wedding celebrations in many parts of India, including Bengal, Punjab, Maharashtra, and Gujarat, and in Pakistan.

In Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, as a part of the Tamil–Telugu marriage ritual, dried turmeric tuber tied with string is used to create a Thali necklace, the equivalent of marriage rings in western cultures. In western and coastal India, during weddings of the Marathi and Konkani people, Kannada Brahmins turmeric tubers are tied with strings by the couple to their wrists during a ceremony, Kankanabandhana.


Friedrich Ratzel reported in The History of Mankind during 1896, that in Micronesia, turmeric powder was applied for embellishment of body, clothing, utensils, and ceremonial uses.

HEALTH BENEFITS



The herb contains health benefiting essential oils such as turmerone, zingiberene, cineole, and p-cymene.

Curcumin, a polyphenolic compound in the root, is the primary pigment that imparts deep orange color to the turmeric. Many laboratory animal studies have suggested that the curcumin may have anti-tumor, antioxidant, anti-arthritic, anti-amyloid, anti-ischemic, and anti-inflammatory properties.

This traditional herb does not contain any cholesterol; however, it is rich in antioxidants and dietary fiber, which helps to control blood LDL or "bad cholesterol" levels.

It is very rich source of many essential vitamins such as pyridoxine (vitamin B6), choline, niacin, and riboflavin, etc. 100 g herb provides 1.80 mg or 138% of daily recommended levels of pyridoxine. Pyridoxine is employed in the treatment of homocystinuria, sideroblastic anemia, and radiation sickness. Niacin helps prevent "pellagra" or dermatitis.

The fresh root contains good levels of vitamin-C. 100 g compose of 23.9 mg of this vitamin. Vitamin-C is a water-soluble vitamin and a powerful natural antioxidant, which helps the body develop immunity against infectious agents, and remove harmful free oxygen radicals.

Turmeric contains good amounts of minerals like calcium, iron, potassium, manganese, copper, zinc, and magnesium. Potassium is an important component of cell and body fluids that helps in controlling heart rate and blood pressure. The human body utilizes manganese as a co-factor for the antioxidant enzyme, superoxide dismutase. Iron is an essential co-factor for cytochrome oxidase enzymes at cellular level metabolisms and required for red blood cell (RBC's) productions.


Turmeric is one of the readily available, cheap herbs that contain notable phytonutrients profile. At 1,59,277 µmol TE/100 g, its total-ORAC value or antioxidant strength is one of the highest among known herb and spice species.

Just a few grams of turmeric per day either in the form of powder, crushed root or fresh root can provide enough nutrients to help you keep away from anemia, neuritis, memory disorders and offer protection against cancers, infectious diseases, high blood pressure, and strokes.



Fact about Turmeric
The turmeric 100 g of turmeric provides 53% of dietary fiber, (% of Recommended Daily Allowance, RDA per 100 g)
138 % of vitamin B-6 (pyridoxine),
32% of niacin,
43 % of vitamin C,
21 % of vitamin E,
54 % of potassium,
517 % of iron,
340 %of manganese and
40 % of zinc.
but 0% cholesterol.



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