By Ghanim al-Sulaiti
There’s genuine food ‘magic’ that can be achieved with the right combination of certain ingredients. While many of you are aware of which foods complement each other as a food pairing…what I want to discuss with you this week is slightly different, a little more specific…but incredibly powerful.
It starts with turmeric. Turmeric has long been used in ayurvedic and Asian traditional medicines due to its many health benefits, and numerous modern studies have shown that turmeric root can have a positive effect on disorders that affect the neurological, metabolic, cardiovascular, cellular, and immune systems.
Turmeric contains a compound called curcumin (which is what gives it the golden colour) and is also the part that promotes health.
The one problem that we have with turmeric is that our bodies can only use a very small amount of the turmeric we consume. Absorption levels of curcumin are very low, so our bodies struggle to actually get all of the benefits turmeric can give us.
There is a very simple way to unlock the health-boosting properties of turmeric…and that’s by adding black pepper.
The compound in black pepper responsible for this is called piperine. If you take turmeric with black pepper, the piperine can boost absorption by 2000%. This is because piperine is good at improving the bioavailablility of other substances in the body, and you only need a pinch of pepper with your turmeric. Combining the two you get double the antioxidants, boosts the bioavailablility of glutathione (which protects the liver on a cellular level), and has been found to enhance the activity of digestive enzymes.
We’re still in the middle of a global pandemic, and turmeric contains lipopolysaccharide, which is a substance that works to boost your immune system. With black pepper being successful at drawing out the benefits, the compound also has antibacterial, antifungal and antiviral effects.
A Harvard endorsed study confirmed that the piperine found in black pepper enhances curcumin absorption, making it more readily available to be used by your body — so get combining, and as always, let me know your thoughts/feedback/ideas via social media.
* The author is an expert in vegan wellbeing and health. Instagram handle: @Ghanim92
If you take turmeric with black pepper, the piperine can boost absorption by 2000%.
