New study shows how turmeric's curative element works

Washington, March 9:Adding more to the previous studies that have poured health benefits of Turmeric, an essential spice in Indian cuisine that also has long been known for its medicinal properties, a new study has revealed that this herb with a slew of medicinal qualities can spur human cell membranes behave for better health.

Turmeric is a yellow-coloured rhizome thought to have many medicinal properties including anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and anti-cancerdefine agents. In India, it is being added to every vegetable and pulses dish cooked in kitchen. Indians also use this yellow Indian spice which belongs to ginger family Zingiberaceae as a readily available antiseptic for cuts, burns and bruises.

Also known as the Indian Saffron, Turmeric was always considered a magical herb in India, and has been used by traditional medicine systems like Ayurveda, Unani, and Siddha for treating wounds and infections. It has also been used in cosmetic preparations.

And, now a team of science experts in the United States have discovered what makes this herbal blood purifier and antiseptic "holy powder", revealing that curcumin is the its main curative ingredient responsible for the magic healing power of Turmeric.

The scientists’ team at Michigan University, led by Indian-origin researcher Ayyalusamy Ramamoorthy, who is a Professor of Biophysics at the University of Michigan (U-M), has claimed that curcumin fights infection and promotes good health by inserting itself into cell membranes and making them more orderly. By entering blood cells, it helps improve cells' resistance to infection and malignancy.

"The membrane goes from being crazy and floppy to being more disciplined and ordered, so that information flow through it can be controlled," says Prof Ramamoorthy.

So far, scientists were not fully aware about how exactly curcumin works inside the body. In the latest research Prof Ramamoorthy and colleagues looked at how curcumin works to increase the body's resistance to disease.

To probe the link between curcumin and membrane, the team used a technique called solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. The researchers found that curcumin actually regulates the action of membrane proteins "indirectly", by altering the physical properties of the membrane.

"Probing high-resolution intermolecular interactions in the messy membrane environment has been a major challenge to commonly used biophysical techniques," Ramamoorthy said.

Prof. Ramamoorthy said his team is now planning to find out if other plant compounds interact with cells the same way as curcumin.

If in the other comparative studies curcumin gives desired results, then it could lead to the development of potent compounds to treat infection and other diseases, explains Ramamoorthy.

"We want to see how these various derivatives interact with the membrane, to see if the interactions are the same as observed. Such a study could lead to development of compounds to treat infection and other diseases," he said.

Prof. Ramamoorthy’s findings is published online in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.