All of us are fully aware that nothing is as nearly as effective as physical activity. However, extract of turmeric is extremely good when it comes to providing some of the same benefits for overall cardiovascular health. This can especially refer to all women who are undergoing a certain age-related adverse changes in the arterial health.
Unfortunately, practitioners of conventional medical are not very interested in this subject and therefore they tend to neglect the role of turmeric when it comes to preventing heart disease and managing cardiovascular health.. On the other hand, numerous researches and studies, which fully support the turmeric’s amazing cardioprotective properties, are conducted. As a matter of fact, three dozen abstracts are available and involved in this topic and can be seen on the database about cardioprotective properties on turmeric.
According a study, which was published in the journal “American Journal of Cardiology”, extract of turmeric can lower post-bypass heart attack by whooping 56 percent. The article had been focusing on even more amazing study, which was published in 2012, in journal Nutrition Research. The primary polyphenol, consisted in turmeric, because of which the spice got its golden color, known as curcumin, is pretty much as effective for improving vascular function in women going through postmenopausal period as aerobic training regimen, according to the study.
This study has lasted for 8 weeks and it has included 32 postmenopausal women. Those women were divided in three groups: exercise, non-treatment control and curcumin. The researchers have evaluated health of the inner lining of those women`s blood vessels (also known as endothelium) by ultrasound for measuring flow-mediated arterial dilation, which is well-known indicator of the arterial elasticity and therefore the endothelial function. Any kind of disturbance of the blood vessels? inner lining is regarded as main cause for development of atherosclerosis. As a result of that, anything that can reverse, reduce or prevent the endothelial dysfunction might directly affect mortality linked to cardiovascular diseases.
Women, that were in the curcumin group, were given 150 grams of turmeric extract on a daily basis, for a period of 8 weeks, supplying 25 mg of the collodially dispersed nanoparticle curcumin. During the experiment they did not make any kind of changes in their daily diet or exercise habits.
Women in the exercise group were practicing aerobic exercise training for more than three days weekly. They had 2 to 3 supervised sessions and were also doing additional training at home. The exercise course involved cycling and walking, and the participants were also engaged in sessions lasting 30-60 minutes. The sessions were ranged in intensity of 60% of their determined maximal heart rate (individually) in the initial trial phase, to 70-75% of maximal heart rate in the second half.
After the study of 8-week, researchers have noted an increase in flow-mediated dilation in both exercise group and curcumin. They concluded the following:
The present study has showed that the regular ingestion of curcumin or regular exercise of aerobic training has significantly improved the endothelial function. The improvement magnitude in the endothelial function to the same extent is suggesting that curcumin might prevent age-associated decline in the endothelial function in women who go through postmenopausal period. In plain words cardiovascular health was improved.
DISCUSSION
Even though this study is promoting turmeric’s health benefits and it is stimulating people, who are already consuming turmeric and curcumin supplement as a part of their daily diet, it is also important to note that exercise will never be replaced with any kind of supplement. If one combines both regular culinary doses of turmeric and regular exercise, they will certainly provide and gain more health benefits than they could provide using one alone. In brief, the key hides in the combination of the two, besides the fact that the study dealt with them separately.
There is yet another pretty interesting study, which was published by those same researchers, back in 2012, in the journal American Journal of Hypertension. This study has investigated the combined effect gained of both curcumin and exercise in postmenopausal women when it comes to improving stress tolerance of the heart muscle. The study had found that ?regular endurance of exercises combined with consumption of curcumin on a daily basis might reduce left ventricular (LV) afterload to better extent than monotherapy?. Chronic heightened LV afterload can result in pathological hypertrophy. It is linked to elevated blood pressure as well as aortic valve disease. In other words, the study is suggesting that the combination of the two will most likely produces the biggest benefit.
The combination of exercise and turmeric is perfect remedy against both inflammation and pain caused by exercise. It is also found to relieve symptoms which are linked to osteoarthritis.
