What Are the Benefits of Taking Herbal Turmeric?

What Are the Benefits of Taking Herbal Turmeric?

According to ancient tradition the turmeric herb benefits the digestive system and can be used to treat ailments, such as ulcers, heartburn, colitis and inflammatory bowel disease. According to modern studies, it can be used for much more than that, but only if the problem of bioavailability is addressed.

Bioavailability is something that researchers must look at when they are investigating new drugs or making recommendations for nutrient supplementation. It’s kind of complicated, but here are the basics.

When a compound hits the stomach, it may be degraded by stomach acid. Some of it is likely to end up in the liver, where it would likely be discarded as a toxin or unusable substance. Much of it simply stays in the digestive system, where it would be discarded along with fiber and other non absorbable foodstuff.

If the compound makes it to the upper intestine and the molecules are small enough, it can pass through the intestinal wall and enter the bloodstream. The turmeric herb benefits have been questioned, except for those that have to do with digestive disorders, because it is rapidly degraded by stomach acid and very little ends up in the bloodstream. Researchers say that it has low bioavailability.

There are three ways to address the issue of low bioavailability. Supplement manufacturers can increase the dose, include piperine or add an enteric coating to the tablet. Most manufacturers choose to increase the dose, because that is the cheapest alternative, but it is not without side effects.

The most active component of turmeric is curcumin. Curcumin has anti coagulant and chelating activity. A chelating agent helps rid the body of toxic heavy metals, but at high doses can interfere with iron metabolism, which could cause anemia.

Acting as a chelating agent is one of the turmeric herb benefits, specifically related to the liver, but interfering with iron metabolism is not a good thing for anyone. As an anti coagulant, a high dose could cause intestinal bleeding and reduce the body’s ability to clot after surgery or injury. Obviously, increasing the dosage is not the best choice.

Adding piperine is a good idea, because it has been shown to increase bioavailability by 2000 . Piperine is a compound found in black pepper that has numerous health benefits of its own and has been shown to increase the bioavailability of a variety of other nutrients.

But, if you want the most turmeric herb benefits and the lowest possibility of adverse reactions, you will choose a supplement that includes piperine, along with an enteric coating. If you want even more, you will choose a multi nutritional supplement that includes the extract.

Our bodies need nutrients to survive. Research continues to show that a variety of nutrients and plant extracts improve the body’s ability to heal, resist infection and reduce the risk of degenerative and life threatening diseases. Taking the right supplement can reduce your risk of cancer, heart disease; Alzheimer’s and type II diabetes. Those are some of the possible turmeric herb benefits, as long as it can get to the bloodstream.

Author Resource:- Valerie Rosenbaum has spent several years researching every anti aging supplement she could find. As a result of that effort she has found what she believes to be the best anti-aging supplements available. Learn about what she discovered at her website http://www.NaturalBalanceSupplements.com
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Health Benefits of Herbal Tea

Health Benefits of Herbal Tea

Of all the uses that herbs have, the favorite use by most people is tea. The enjoyment of making the tea and drinking it seems relaxing in itself. Herbal teas have been used for decades as a medicinal treatment.

Creating a tea for medicinal purposes is basically the same as for culinary taste and enjoyment. The ritual that goes into preparing the tea is sometimes the best medicine of all. Slowing the body and mind down has great health benefits. My favorite tea is from China and as the dried tea leaves steep they open into beautiful petals. Perfect for slowing the mind down and mediating to. Holding the warm cup and inhaling the aroma is soothing and medicinal in nature.

The ritual or process of making tea for medicinal purposes are pretty much the same. Most herbalist will recommend that you use an ounce of herb to a pint of water and steep for 10 - 20 minutes. As a rule of thumb, if you are using fresh herbs verse dried herbs the amount of fresh herbs is double what the recipe calls for in dried herbs.

Depending on what part of the herb that is being used to make the tea will have more of a role in how the tea is prepared than the difference between culinary and medicinal. If you are using the flowers or leaves the procedure will be the same as they tend to hold the healing virtues as a tea. However, if the root or bark is being used, more than just steeping is needed. In most cases you need to actual boil the root or bark for three ot five minutes before steeping the normal 10 - 20 minutes. In either case, you will want to strain the tea before drinking it.

In preparing medicinal tea it is import to ensure that as much of the medicinal qualities are captured in the water as possible, therefore, most herbalist will recommend that you cover the tea as it steeps to capture any of the herbs benefits from being evaporated into the air.

Some of the more commonly known teas of today that are used for medicinal purposes are chamomile which is good for digestion and disposition, borage tea which is good for relieving stress, rosemary tea which relieves headaches and colds, sage tea helps with colds and fever, and catnip tea which can alleviate colic.

The medicinal tea's that can be used is as long as the history of tea itself.

Bright blessings,
Ashira
http://www.ashira.ws
ashira@ashira.ws
Ashira is a Practicing Pagan for over 15 years. Currently she is a featured columnist at http://Asknow.com
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Bacon Bits Author
FFWA Member
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Benefits of Herbal Vinegars For Your Health

Benefits of Herbal Vinegars For Your Health

Herbal vinegars are loaded with super nutrition to prevent and even reverse many ailments. Apple cider vinegar promotes health and well-being. When you infuse herbs in the vinegar for long periods of time, you get more of the minerals from that herb than you normally would otherwise. These are not the culinary vinegars with a few sprigs of herbs. These are herbal vinegars that are made with a jar packed full of the herb and vinegar and usually allowed to infuse for 6 weeks or more.

The way vinegar benefits our health is that it pulls vitamins and minerals out of the herbs and other vegetables like greens and broccoli, so your body can utilize it more easily. In fact, when you splash a tablespoon of vinegar on your greens, the calcium is increased by one-third! One tablespoon of vinegar has the same amount of calcium as a glass of milk. So you can take a daily dose of vinegar as a bone builder!

Apple cider vinegar improves blood pressure, prevents and reverses osteoporosis, normalizes thyroid, improves digestion and gets rid of gray hair and wrinkles. When you infuse the herb in the vinegar you get all the minerals of that herb ready to assimilate in your diet. In fact, when you use herbal vinegars every day, you will no longer need to take vitamin and mineral supplements, which can be difficult to assimilate.

Common herbs used to infuse vinegar are apple mint, burdock, catnip, chives, chicory, dandelion, dill, fennel, garlic, ginger, lavender, mugwort, peppermint, rosemary, spearmint, thyme and yarrow.

To use these herbal vinegars you can add them to soups, beans, grains, salad dressings, vegetables, sliced cucumbers, potato salad, greens, tomato sauce and stir fry dishes. You can also marinate meat and fish in herbal vinegars or just sprinkle some on the meat while it is cooking or grilling. Just use herbal vinegar in any recipe you would use regular vinegar.

Want to know more about how to boost your immune system? Traditional diets and how to prepare them, healthy fats, herbal remedies and debunking health myths are some of the subjects covered in The Natural Living Site Newsletter at http://thenaturallivingsite.com.

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Health Benefits of Herbal Medicine

Health Benefits of Herbal Medicine

Herbal medicines are increasingly becoming the choice of most patients nowadays. The promise of preserving the natural qualities that promote a healthier method of healing different ailments contributed to the popularity of these medicines. Moreover, as these types of medicines are grown wild or can be tendered at one's home backyard, it is cheaper as compared to manufactured medicines.

What really are herbal medicines and how do we benefit from them?

Herbal medicine is the alternative for commercially manufactured medicines, which are already made available in the market. The herbal medicine differs from modern medicines as it is produced with 100% content of natural plant extract believed to have medicinal values as effective as the modern drugs less the side effects and less the cost. There are popular herbal plants in the Philippines widely used today to treat various illnesses, which includes ampalaya, bayabas, sambong, banaba, luyang dilaw and others. These are among the approved and recommended herbal medicines of the Department of Health. Given this, there are benefits that can already be identified affirming the belief of the DOH on the effectiveness of these medicines as follows:

· All-Natural Qualities. At this point, when many of commercially available products have adverse effects to the very health that we are trying to protect, the safest bet would be the products that come and are processed the natural way. In choosing these products, we lessen the risk and our exposure to these negative effects.

· Easily Available. In tropical countries like the Philippines, we have an abundance of these plants and herbs. We have access to the raw materials that we need for the preparations and concoctions required for the herbal preparation. For instance, bayabas, ampalaya, luya, and malunggay are considered as backyard plants. They are home-grown plants and do not require much attention. Thus, they are readily available and cheap. It is only necessary to educate the Filipino families which herbal plants to prepare for which ailment, so that every Filipino family can enjoy the benefits of natural remedy.

· Effective. Herbal plants are scientifically studied to support the benefits claimed to contain in each plant. These studies are recognized and acknowledged by the medical community to have proven effectiveness recommended to treat multitude of illnesses. Ampalaya, for example, is known to contain elements for anti-diabetes. This claim for the effectiveness of ampalaya as an aid to treat diabetes had been clinically proven by several researches that have identified ampalaya to contain plant insulin that lowers the patient's blood sugar and, also normalizes the production of insulin in the body.

· Easy to prepare. Many of the herbal medicines that are recommended and are known to have medicinal values are very easy to prepare. Bayabas and lagundi, for example, have uses that merely require the direct application of the leaves to the affected area. Also, decoctions usually require mere boiling of the plants' leaves and roots. These processes evidently show that we do not really have to be dependent on commercially-manufactured medicines, because preparing herbal treatments really do not take much trouble.

· Practical and cost-effective. Aside from all the benefits that have been identified herein, there is one more advantage for using and patronizing herbal medicines - it is cost-effective thereby, it is a practical option. These preparations are considerably cheaper than those chemically manufactured drugs, and more importantly, the results are the same as these modern medicines. It had been discussed that these plants, may be homegrown, or found in the wild abundantly. Therefore, it is much cheaper than the modern medicines manufactured by giant pharmaceuticals, and sold at pharmacies.

Arnold A. Alvarez is the webmaster and author of Philippine Herbal Medicine Site and other reference Philippine Websites.

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