Study Finds That Turmeric Prevents Diabetes

(NaturalNews) Turmeric has a long history of use in a variety of traditional Asian medical systems for treating a wide variety of ailments. Now, Western scientists are increasingly finding that this culinary root and its active ingredients may be potent weapons in the fight against diabetes. Indeed, it has been shown to be effective at nearly every stage of diabetes and pre-diabetes.
 

Biochemical activity

One of the earlier studies on turmeric’s effectiveness in diabetes prevention was conducted by researchers from the National Centre for Cell Science in India and published in the European Journal of Pharmacology in 2007. Researchers exposed pancreatic cells from mice to a stressor after first incubating some of them in a solution of curcumin for 24 hours.

Curcumin is the active ingredient that gives turmeric its orange-yellow color. Along with related chemicals, it comprises the family of curcuminoids.

The researchers found that curcumin-treated cells were significantly less damaged by free radicals and suffered significantly less damage than untreated cells. This has implications for diabetes because damage to the pancreas can interfere with its ability to produce healthy levels of insulin.

“We show here for the first time, that prophylactic use of curcumin may effectively rescue islets from damage without affecting the normal function of these cellular structures,” the researchers wrote.

Another study, published in the journal Nutrition in 2011, found that when people ate a meal high in turmeric and other spices, their blood levels of triglycerides and insulin decreased significantly, even when that meal was high in fat. Antioxidant activity in the body was also increased.

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