Turmeric ~ A Natural Anti-inflammatory?

Everyday Wellness
Written By

Reviewed August 2026

Further investigation lead to the understanding that curcumin has both anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidative effects in the body. This produced great excitement as, while acute short-lived inflammation is a natural part of the healing process in the body, chronic low-grade inflammation has been identified as being a component of many chronic conditions and diseases.

There has been much inference and extrapolation of these findings to imply widespread benefits of taking turmeric supplements. This may be true, but more research needs to be done to confirm these claims.

Our local pharmacist, Mr Brad Price, appreciates curcumin as a tool which enables him to provide options for people who would otherwise have limited effective choices for their inflammatory conditions (for example, someone who was vulnerable to stomach ulcers and thus couldn't have nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs)). Mr Price went on to say,

"One of the properties I like the most about curcumin is it works on several stages of the inflammation pathway, meaning that it can be effective against a range of different inflammatory complaints. We have had success treating inflammation arising from such varied conditions as arthritis, gut inflammation and even symptoms brought on by brain inflammation associated with MS.

"It's safety profile is also a feature, as compared to the NSAID's there are far fewer contraindications and precautions, although it's worth noting that some people still need to be wary if they are taking other medications, particularly for blood-thinning.

"Selection of tumeric products is very important, as turmeric by nature is poorly absorbed in the GI tract. Also with the rapid growth in popularity of curcumin products we have seen a large increase in the number of turmeric products coming onto market and the quality of these products can vary greatly."

With respect to arthritis, being chiropractors we want to know how turmeric can help the joints. Research suggests that curcumin can do the following:

  • Osteoarthritis (OA, also known as "wear and tear in the joints") – reduce pain and improve function in people with knee OA; in some studies curcumin worked as well as ibuprofen to reduce OA pain (2) (and without the nasty NSAID side effects of damaging the gut).
  • Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) – can help with reducing pain, reducing morning stiffness, increasing walking time and reducing joint swelling; some research showed that curcumin reduced RA symptoms more than conventional medications, but more research needs to be done on this (2,3).

Other recent quality research shows that curcumin can increase blood flow to the brain resulting in better working memory (e.g. when you're learning a new PIN for a credit card) and improved mood whilst taking the curcumin supplement (1). This would support the observations that curcumin can help with disorders such as depression and dementia (1, 2, 3).

So, what's an effective dose? There's some important things to know about turmeric and curcumin:

  • The curcumin content of turmeric is not high – around 3% by weight, and this can vary from powder to powder.
  • Most studies use curcumin itself, with dosages at 1gram per day (or more). You can't get this using just turmeric in your food.
  • Curcumin is fat soluble and is thus poorly absorbed into your body from your diet. Two strategies to deal with this: eat with a fatty meal (good fats!!); eat black pepper with it, which contains piperine, a natural substance that increases absorption of curcumin by 2000% (3). The best curcumin supplements contain piperine which substantially increases their effectiveness.
  • Curcumin passes through your body quite quickly. You'd need to be having turmeric with both lunch and dinner to keep enough of it in your body to be absorbed at bioactive levels in order to achieve the kinds of changes described above (1). It would be nice to get the benefits of concentrated curcumin just with turmeric in our diet, but it seems a tailored supplement would be a more efficient way of doing it.

Any risks associated with taking turmeric/curcumin? Yes! Eating the herb turmeric should be safe. However, concentrated curcumin in supplement form can have a blood thinning effect. This is dangerous for people who are on anti-coagulant or anti-platelet drugs (such as aspirin, warfarin, ibuprofen, naproxen), for these people there is a risk of increased bleeding (1, 2). Please note, as a chiropractor, I am not a pharmacist, naturopath or Natural Health Specialist – you should speak with your own expert in this realm of knowledge to clarify any risks associated with adding curcumin to your health regime.

On a lighter note, I wanted to share Liz Moody's savoury "Anti-inflammatory Turmeric Sauce". It makes about ¾ cup and which is great on a green salad and on root vegies too!

Ingredients

  • ½ cup raw or roasted almond butter (look for a brand with no added sugar)
  • ½ tsp ground turmeric
  • ½ tsp ground ginger
  • 3 Medjool dates (or honey if you don't have a blender)
  • 3 cloves garlic (minced if you don't have a blender)
  • 1 tblsp white miso paste
  • Fine grained sea salt and fresh black pepper to taste

Method

Add all ingredients to blender and blend till smooth (or whisk in a bowl till well combined). Store in a tightly sealed container in the fridge for up to a week. Enjoy!

References
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