Are you suffering from bone issues? In most subjects, bone health only becomes problematic when people evolve older. Taking care of the bones always puts last in a person’s priority except when a broken bone induces extreme pain that requires prompt alert and treatment. Routine exercise and calcium-rich nutrition are the most common advice to ensure healthy bones.
What drives turmeric so healing for bone health, and is turmeric good for fragile bones in post-menopausal women?
Turmeric and Bone Health
Turmeric comes from a plant associated with ginger, also known as the golden spice, because of its expressed orange-yellow color and miscellaneous therapeutic effects. Curcumin, one of turmeric’s principal features, has robust antioxidant and anti-inflammatory qualities. Besides, it is a mainstay of Indian and Asian cooking. It has been used for decades in Ayurvedic medicine to treat various ills, from wound healing to arthritis. Commercially grown turmeric is ingested as a spice and readily available as a dietary supplement. Besides diet and physical workouts, current studies establish the positive marks of turmeric on bones and joints. This potent spice has also revealed favorable results for bone recovery, protection from disorders, and building new bones.
What Is Osteoporosis?
Osteoporosis has been recognized as the ‘mum epidemic’ because symptoms usually do not show themselves until a fracture appears. The condition arises when there is increased reabsorption of old tissue, and new bone is not formed. Osteoporosis is a hereditary condition, which is its leading cause; nonetheless, it is also noticed significantly in post-menopausal women. This is because estrogen (a hormone in women that shields bones) declines sharply when females get menopause, which can yield bone loss.
Clinical Trials Evaluating Turmeric’s Capacity to Support Bones
A published study at the University of Arizona, College of Medicine contributes to the writings advocating the potential health benefits of the seasoning turmeric, offering that it may help prevent osteoporosis, bone loss, and significant trouble for post-menopausal women, among others. The study conclusions also suggest attributes of the turmeric experiment that may define its usefulness.
In earlier studies, researchers performed to estimate the anti-arthritic effects turmeric has. They found that it not only controlled arthritis but also discouraged the development of bone cells that stimulate bone resorption and bone collapse around the joint in a sample of rheumatoid arthritis.
While clinical data are lacking, the outcomes of this small-scale study are pressing, as they might help recognize better therapies for Osteoporosis.
The extracts in the trials included a mixture of three significant curcuminoids, a chemical substance known as polyphenols, that emerge in turmeric in altering ratios. One was a complex turmeric pinch having 41 percent of curcuminoids. The second, a curcuminoid-enriched turmeric pinch, had 94 percent of curcuminoids and was by far the more potential in controlling the loss of bone mineral density and trabecular bone, the sponging or porous bone seen in the spine and hip, the types of bone spots that are most prone to fracture in menopausal women.
Hormone Replacement Therapy for Bone Maintenance
“Some phytoestrogens estrogen-like chemicals that are seen in plants have been specified for evaluation as an option to hormonal replacement therapy for maintaining bone during menopause, but a botanical, nutritional supplement would support bone health without affecting estrogen-receptor routes, which could be a more safer alternative for patients.”
Research infers that the composition of turmeric dietary supplements and strict preclinical and clinical testing will be required to recognize turmeric’s role in forging reasonable bone-protective healing to stem metabolic bone ailments.
A grant from the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine and the Office of Dietary Supplements supported this study.
Turmeric’s Potential In Maintaining Bone Health
The bone disorder results in the decay of bones and thus augments the fracture risks. Nearly 75 percent of elderly people suffer from dropping bone density, which is responsible for around 65,000 potentially incurable fractures each year in the U.S. Bone is a living tissue continually restored in the body – in other words, your body replaces old tissue with new tissue. This method comprises the absorption of old tissue and the deposit of new bone tissue.
Here is what turmeric can do for your bone health maintenance;
Downsize the Rate of Bone Reabsorption
Contemporary research has revealed that taking a turmeric supplement enhanced bone density by up to 7 percent over six months. The functional compound in turmeric, curcumin, is understood to balance out cells that withdraw aging parts of bone before it is replaced.
The study concerned both men and women with an average age of over 70 suffering from falling bone density but otherwise fit. Ultrasound scanning evaluated bone density in the jaw, heels, and fingers at the onset of the study and again six months later.
The effects indicated that taking a daily turmeric supplement raised their bone density by 7 percent.
Bone density is sustained by holding the proper balance of bone-building cells known as “osteoclasts” in the body. Osteoclasts act to ‘mop up’ aging cells that need replacement. In older people, osteoclast action may overshadow the bone replacement rate, suggesting insufficient new tissue is deposited; hence, bones become more breakable.
The results of this study consent to the previous animal-based study, which has recommended that curcumin has bone-building features by working to lower the rate of bone reabsorption.
Turmeric – A bone healer & Analgesics
Bone ruptures can push severe pain and limited motion. Traditionally, turmeric milk for bones is stated to support healing bone fractures. Curcumin is also shown to control the growth of osteoclasts or cells that enthrall old bones, but it does not block the building of new bones. These cell activities are necessary for the bone healing process. Turmeric can exclusively hasten the healing function, but you should visit medical experts for bone fractures. Apart from recovery, turmeric oil is a natural and securer alternative to painkiller drugs to encounter knee and other joint aches. Turmeric curcumin supplementation can downsize inflammation and pain in athletes with knee pain after extreme workouts. You can also try including turmeric in your diet regimen to notice how it benefits you.
Potentially Anti-inflammatory & Anti-arthritic
Turmeric helps lower pain and stiffness due to bone conditions. It is a realistic therapy alternative to medications for those who want to try natural options to address inflammation. Turmeric is also anti-arthritic since it prevents inflammation of the affected joints. It is also effective when it is incorporated with analgesics (painkillers) to relieve pain due to arthritis.
Recedes the risk of Osteoporosis
As you grow older, your bones begin to weaken and relinquish vital minerals. Osteoporosis influences bone health by making them fragile that are more prone to breaking. This bone disorder provokes pain and occasionally makes the individual shorter. Turmeric supports bone health by preventing the loss of bone minerals and maintaining bone density. Curcumin in turmeric benefits the activity of bone-producing cells and those that engross old ones.
Antioxidant fights free radicals that cause bone aging
Bone aging can make you too helpless. Turmeric’s antioxidant effects help battle oxidative stress that results in bone aging, which can further cause the decline of joint tissues. Turmeric’s robust compounds enable the body to fight free radicals, defends it from various severe ailments, and help subside inflammation, pain, and bone aging.
How to Use Turmeric for Bone Health?
Turmeric supplements are more efficiently absorbed than turmeric powder form.
While these effects are favorable, the professionals have pointedly cautioned that the good impact is unlikely to be noticed if you eat organic turmeric powder or fresh turmeric as it’s challenging to obtain the needed dose and is less readily absorbed by your body. Therefore a daily turmeric supplement (i.e., capsule or gummies) is recommended. As supplements include black pepper and ginger, which help absorb curcumin more effectively.
The effects are also good news for those that may have been suggested to take bisphosphonate drugs; these drugs preserve bone density by lessening the rate of cell breakdown, but if consumed for long times, they may induce bone ‘microcracks.’
Turmeric Milk is a good way to go!
The other way to support your bone health is to consume Turmeric milk, aka Golden Milk. It provides additional benefits to bone sustainability.
ENDING NOTE
Consume turmeric supplements to strengthen your immune system and look after your bone health. Most of you will start noticing the health benefits of turmeric within 4-8 weeks, particularly for those in pain caused by inflammation. You can also enjoy turmeric milk fortifying bones or using turmeric to make broth, tea, smoothies, soaps, and even face masks! Which form of turmeric would you like to try first?
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CITATIONS
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Taiba Tariq
Taiba Tariq is a healthcare nutrition hobbyist, enthusiastic about researching healthcare & skincare news while analyzing the latest and science-backed evidence about nutrition, skin care, and supplements. She wants to help people regain their beauty, health, and well-being through natural means.
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