Turmeric has proven itself more to be more than just effective in cooking, but as a natural pain reliever as well! Turmeric has been proven recently in a study to beat ibuprofen for arthritis of the knee!
An extremely exciting clinical trial published recently in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine has revealed that an effective natural alternative to the popular painkiller ibuprofen exists for the treatment of knee Osteoarthritis, and it comes in the form of a kitchen spice. The spice has proven itself to be far more superior in safety and the number of side effects. It is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug. The polyphenol in turmeric known as curcumin has been studied to have over 600 health benefits.
In a Lancet review last year, ibuprofen was found to be as toxic to the heart as the banned anti-inflammatory drug Vioxx, it has likely contributed to tens and thousands of deaths from cardiovascular disease each year. This is an important factor to why evidence-based natural alternatives are extremely important, especially when they involve culinary spices that are already known to be safe, affordable, accessible, and time-tested.
A study titled efficiency and safety of curcuma domestic extracts in patients with knee Osteoarthritis. TH atrial was conducted with 109 patients diagnosed with knee osteoarthritis who were randomized to receive 800mg a day of ibuprofen or 2,000 mg of turmeric per day, for a period of six weeks.
The researchers measured pain, on walking, stairs and basic functions of the knee assessed by time spent during 100-m walk and going up and down a flight of stairs, as the primary outcomes.
After six weeks, significant improvements were observed in both groups, with all primary outcomes similar, except the turmeric group showed slightly better performance on the 100-m walk and less self-reported pain going up an down a flight of stairs, Also, the turmeric group showed less adverse events. The subjects rated themselves to have higher satisfaction with the treatment results in the turmeric group versus the ibuprofen group.
It should also be noted that patients in the ibuprofen group rated themselves as having little or no satisfaction, but not even one person in the turmeric group rated themselves as anything other than satisfied.
Lastly, they observed a distinct trend toward a greater effect in the patients receiving turmeric than the ibuprofen.
Dried rhizomes of C. domestica were grounded into powder. The turmeric powder was extracted with ethanol and then evaporated at low pressure to obtain ethanolic extracts containing oil and curcuminoids. The oil part was then removed in order to have curcuminoids extracts. Each capsule of C. domestica extracts contained 250 mg of curcuminoids.
Written for a now defucnt website, but thankfully caught and published by Healthy Holistic Living.
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