It’s been reported that there are specific spices that fight inflammation in the body. Check out the latest reports about these below.
Spices can fight inflammation
A group of researchers at the University of Florida-Gainesville and Penn State conducted an experiment to determine if spices such as cloves, ginger, rosemary, and turmeric have anti-inflammatory properties when consumed by humans.
While we know that herbs and spices are rich in antioxidants, it is unclear whether these beneficial compounds can be absorbed by the body.
This study aimed to address this gap in knowledge. The researchers found that consuming these spices did indeed increase anti-inflammatory activity in the blood, indicating their potential health benefits.
This groundbreaking study sheds light on the importance of including herbs and spices in our diet for optimal health.
The researchers could have taken the easy path and simply measured the change in antioxidant levels in the blood after consuming herbs and spices.
However, relying solely on the appearance of antioxidant activity in the blood is not a reliable indicator of bioavailability.
There is a possibility that more compounds could be absorbed than detected by the antioxidant tests because they may be bound to proteins or cells. Instead, the researchers attempted to measure physiological changes in the blood to determine the effectiveness of herb and spice consumption.
Their goal was to determine whether the absorbed compounds could protect white blood cells from oxidative or inflammatory injury, and whether they could prevent strands of DNA from breaking when exposed to free radicals.
Additionally, the researchers also wanted to investigate if consuming herbs and spices could alter the cellular inflammatory response in the presence of a physiologically relevant inflammatory insult. In simpler terms, they wanted to understand whether and how consuming herbs and spices could provide health benefits.
During the study, the oregano group was given a practical quantity of ½ teaspoon per day, which is an amount people might consume occasionally.
After a week, the researchers drew blood from the group of people who were adding black pepper to their diets that week.
They then compared the effects on their blood to the effects of the blood of those taking cayenne, cinnamon, cloves, or cumin. There were about 10 different groups of people eating about 10 different spices.
TNF is a powerful inflammatory cytokine that is infamous for the role it plays in autoimmune attacks in conditions like inflammatory bowel disease.
The researchers compared the blood of those who ate no spices for a week to the blood of those eating black pepper, to see if it was able to significantly dampen the inflammatory response.
However, the results showed that black pepper did not have any significant effect. On the other hand, cloves, ginger, rosemary, and turmeric were able to significantly stifle the inflammatory response.
