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Turmeric has been used for centuries in India as a traditional medicine to cure infections. Studies have shown that a chemical in turmeric stops the growth of melanoma. More research is needed to find out the mode of action of turmeric’s immune-boosting, anti-cancer and antibiotic properties as a potential natural remedy.
The
author, having spent his childhood years in rural India and later becoming
immersed in his career in Western-style medicine and surgery, gives a
first-hand perspective on the use of turmeric as traditional folk medicine in
India.
Misery
never comes alone. In hospital emergency room services it is commonly believed
that trauma, serious cases, come in threes. So used to be the case of very hot
summers in Northern
India where I grew
up as a child. As if the temperatures over 130 F by 11 AM were not enough, the scalding hot days were coupled with
severe, epidemic proportions of itching skin infections, cholera, smallpox and
eye infections.
The
pink eye was a common visitor each summer. The eyes caught the infection; they
itched and were producing white, foul-smelling, thick, and cottage cheese-like
discharge faster than the production line of stamp-canceling machines in the
post offices.
Rural
areas in our part of India had no doctors. There were no
known antibiotic ointments available to cure this contagious eye disease. The
simple task of opening the eyes brought excruciating pain, as if someone put a
handful of sand on the eyeball and started grinding it. If we did fall asleep
in spite of this pain, within hours the pain used to wake us up, usually with
our eyes glued shut with the discharge in the eyes.
The
only folk remedy was washing the infected eyes with the milk from new mother’s
breasts, squirted directly in the eyes. It probably washed away the offending
bugs and brought some relief. Occasionally, the village elders used to go out
and bring a weed growing commonly in the area. Application of the milk or the
juice from this weed used to provide some relief.
The
most effective treatment and prevention used universally
was haldi, a root-type of tuber commonly called “turmeric” in English.
We all used handkerchiefs soaked in fresh ground turmeric to wipe our eyes, and
a poultice of turmeric paste was applied on the eyelids.
The
botanical name for turmeric is Curcuma longa. Ayurveda, the ancient
Indian medical system, has used turmeric for centuries to cure various
infections and to boost the immune system. A poultice of freshly-made turmeric
paste is applied to cuts, abrasions and infected areas. The post-partum ladies,
for a couple of weeks after delivering their babies, always get a fresh paste
of turmeric with powder of dried ginger roots, and honey if available, mixed in
a glass of hot milk twice a day to drink. The villagers do not know why it is
healthy, but every new mother gets this tonic drink in our area. The poultice
of turmeric is also applied to the perineum, which helps the healing of any
lacerations in the birth canal.
There
is a common folklore in our area that withholding turmeric from the daily diet
makes people get
infections that might kill them. Turmeric is a major
ingredient in Indian cooking. Recent studies have shown that curcumin, the
chemical responsible for turmeric’s yellow color, stops the growth of the
deadliest form of skin cancer, melanoma (Siwak, D., Curcumin-induced
antiproliferative and proapoptotic effects in melanoma cells are associated
with suppression of IkappaB kinase and nuclear factor kappaB activity and are independent of
the B-Raf/mitogen-activated/extracellular signal-regulated protein kinase
pathway and the Akt pathway, Cancer, August 15, 2005, Volume 104).
More
research is needed to find out the mode of action of turmeric in its immune
boosting property, its anti-cancer and antibiotic properties. There is also a
need to educate the public and find ways to include turmeric in our daily diet.
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