Turmeric for Arthritis Does it Really Work?

Thesis Statement: 

Turmeric has long been used as a medicinal herb. Due to its anti-inflammatory properties, people have been using it in their diets for centuries. In fact, turmeric is a potent ingredient of Ayurveda. Even now, scientific research is backing the miraculous properties of turmeric.

Arthritis is a common inflammatory ailment in which the patient's joint swells, causing a lot of pain and discomfort while moving. However, many people claim that they were able to subside their arthritis symptoms after taking turmeric. Therefore, in this article, we're going to talk about the benefits of using turmeric for arthritis. Read on to know all about it!

Turmeric has many health benefits, for which many people use it. Turmeric has been used for ages because of its medicinal and herbal advantages. People include it in their daily diet since it helps avoid various heart diseases, brain damage, and other health problems.

There are many health benefits of turmeric since it contains a compound called curcumin. It acts as an anti-inflammatory and an anti-oxidant as well. In addition, it helps in reducing arthritis pain and joint inflammation.

About Osteoarthritis

The most prevalent type of arthritis is osteoarthritis, a chronic joint condition. It usually affects persons in their seventies and eighties. However, it can significantly start in mid-thirties or even earlier if the joint has been injured.

While several therapies are available, such as exercise, splints or crutches, weight loss, various pain relievers, and anti-inflammatory medications. Unfortunately, there's no guarantee to be helpful. They often do not work or just help a little. It is also possible to experiment with injected stimulants or synthetic lubricants. Arthroplasty can be pretty beneficial when all else fails. In fact, in the United States, about a million knee transplants are done each year.

It is no surprise, however, that people suffering from osteoarthritis would try anything that appears to be somewhat safe to find relief. As a result, many patients inquire about anti-inflammatory diets, anti-oxidants, and other dietary topics. Unfortunately, most of these nutritional strategies have minimal evidence of success. Because of this reason, most arthritis patients turn to take the best turmeric supplement for inflammation in order to reduce their joint inflammation and swelling. 

Turmeric for Osteoarthritis

Studies show that turmeric is quite beneficial for curing osteoarthritis. Turmeric has a compound "Curcumin," which has an anti-inflammatory effect. Due to this, it can help in curing many inflammatory diseases like arthritis, joint inflammation, and swelling. Therefore, many doctors recommend using turmeric for the treatment of these ailments.

There are many pieces of research on the effect of turmeric in curing osteoarthritis. Different studies on a group of people having osteoarthritis show the following findings. Half of them were treated with a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) called diclofenac twice a day, and the other half were treated with curcumin thrice a day. 

Study finds that both NSAID and curcumin are effective by up to 50% in treating osteoarthritis. The patients, which were taking curcumin as a drug, had no side effects like stomach disturbance. However, 28% of patients treated with NSAIDs had stomach disturbance. Therefore, this further proves that curcumin had no side effects.

Turmeric for Rheumatoid Arthritis

Turmeric is an effective natural treatment for rheumatoid arthritis. Rheumatoid Arthritis is an autoimmune disease that affects the joints, eyes, skin, heart, lungs, and blood vessels. In addition to joint inflammation and bone degradation, rheumatoid arthritis can cause various physical abnormalities. Similarly, turmeric shows to be helpful in preventing rheumatoid arthritis by lowering swelling and relieving joint discomfort in trials. Turmeric also has no adverse effects and is perfectly safe to use.

Benefits of Turmeric/Curcumin

• Curcumin appears to reduce the body's response to tumor necrosis factor (TNF). It is an immune system molecule that produces inflammation in rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, psoriatic arthritis, and other arthritic disorders. Curcumin's effect on TNF inhibition is still unknown. However, we need more study in this regard.

• On the other hand, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) function by inhibiting both COX-1 and COX-2 enzymes. COX-1 enzymes affect blood coagulation and gut health, while COX-2 enzymes affect inflammation, which can contribute to discomfort. Research also diascovers that curcumin has the chemical qualities of a COX inhibitor and provide temporary pain relief. However, experts have yet to discover a technique to use curcumin's COX-inhibiting capabilities to treat effectively moderate to severe arthritis pain.

• According to researchers, free radicals in the body are thought to be the origin of some or all severe arthritic inflammation. Free radicals, which are unstable molecules or atoms missing an electron, are present in the body naturally. Still, too many of them create oxidative stress, which connects to inflammation. Anti-oxidant foods like turmeric neutralize free radicals. This is just one of the benefits of curcumin that helps in reducing your pains.

The Way Forward

Turmeric has proved as effective as a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) in treating arthritis because of curcumin. In addition, curcumin showed no side effects like stomach disturbance. Therefore, some people also use turmeric supplements to get its advantages. It is also used for treating many types of arthritis due to its anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant effects. However, the doctor's recommendation is necessary for its dosage and to avoid any severe condition.