I always thought that the spices known as "curry powder" and "turmeric" were basically interchangeable with respect to their health benefits, because curry powder usually has turmeric as one of the principle ingredients. But I found out recently that curry powder generally does not have much turmeric, and so it has a different health profile from turmeric.
Executive Summary:
* 1) The chemical called "curcumin" which is found in turmeric gives the spice its bright yellow color and also its many health benefits, which include: reduces inflammation, prevents and treats painful joint diseases, lowers cholesterol, prevents and treats cancer, prevents & treats Alzheimer's disease, treats cystic fibrosis, and improves the liver's ability to remove toxins. Turmeric has long been used in traditional Chinese and Indian medicine. [WHfoods.org]
* 2) Curry powder has much less curcumin than turmeric, because it simply does not have much turmeric.
* 3) On the other hand, curry powder may have other ingredients, which provide unique health benefits that turmeric does not provide. So, curry powder is still a healthy choice.
* 4) Turmeric quality (i.e., amount of curcumin) varies a lot by spice company, which means you need to choose your source carefully in order to maximize the health benefits.
* 5) Just 1/2 teaspoon per day of turmeric may be enough to provide health benefits.
* 6) Practical tips:
WHfoods.org - Turmeric
[Use turmeric] not just for delicious fish, meat or lentil curries, but to spice up sauteed onions, potatoes and/or cauliflower; or as the key flavoring for a creamy vegetable dip. Just mix plain yogurt with a little omega-3-rich mayonnaise and turmeric, salt and pepper to taste. Serve with raw cauliflower, celery, sweet pepper, jicama and broccoli florets. Be sure to choose turmeric rather than prepared curry blends. Recent research indicates the amount of turmeric (and therefore curcumin) in curry blends is often minimal. (Tayyem RF et al., Nutr Cancer)
At first, I was disappointed when I read the WHFoods quote above (i.e., "the amount of turmeric in curry blends is often minimal"), because I like to use curry powder on occasion for cooking and I misinterpreted the quote as indicating that curry powder is not as good for you as turmeric.
Yet, curry powder is a collection of spices, each with its own special, unique benefits. E.g., I have a bottle of curry powder which lists these ingredients: turmeric, coriander, cumin, cardamom, fenugreek, ginger, nutmeg, fennel, cinnamon, white pepper, Tellicherry black pepper, cloves, saffron, and cayenne pepper.
So, coriander is the second-most common ingredient in my bottle, and it has health benefits that include: reduces inflammation, prevents diabetes, lowers cholesterol, protects against salmonella infection, and is a good source of traditional nutrients such as fiber, iron, magnesium, and manganese. [WHFoods.org - Coriander]
Another good point to keep in mind is that just because some ingredient "XYZ" is first on the list of ingredients on the label, does not mean that the food is mostly composed of XYZ. It just means that there is more XYZ by weight than anything else. So, to go back to my bottle of curry powder, there are 14 total ingredients. So, even though turmeric is listed first, it may just be basically tied for first place, which means that the amount of turmeric in the bottle could be as low as 1/14 of the weight.
To get more information, I decided to go to the original source (i.e., Tayyem RF et al., Nutr Cancer) referenced by the above quote from WHFoods.org. This source is a paper titled "Curcumin Content of Turmeric and Curry Powders" that was published in the journal "Nutrition and Cancer". The paper described a study that was done on the amount of curcumin in commercially available curry powder and tumeric.
Notes about the spices used in the study:
* 1) The spices were purchased from various grocery stores in southern California, including many that catered to Middle Eastern and Asian Indian communities.
* 2) The spices came from the following countries: India, Pakistan, Japan, Taiwan, Jamaica, Sri Lanka, Canada, and the United States. But this country-of-origin is misleading, because they may have only been packed in that country with the actual, original source being some other country.
* 3) The spices included 9 bottles of turmeric and 21 bottles of curry powder.
* 4) The 21 bottles of curry powder generally listed other spices before turmeric in their ingredients. In fact, only one bottle listed turmeric as the first ingredient.
* 5) None of the spices were labelled as "organic".
Findings from the study:
* 1) Just between the 9 bottles of turmeric, there was much variation found in the amount of curcumin, even though the only ingredient was turmeric. The highest had 3.14% curcumin (from the U.S. company "Tone's"), whereas the lowest had only 0.58% curcumin (from the Pakistani company "AHMED"). In other words, the highest had 5 times as much curcumin as the lowest.
* 2) Between the 21 bottles of curry powder, the amount of curcumin was generally low, with the highest being 0.58%. It is interesting to note that the U.S. company "Tone's" (which had 3.14% curcumin in their turmeric as described in the paragraph above), had only 0.49% curcumin in their curry powder. This is probably because their powder did not have much turmeric, as turmeric was not even listed as their first ingredient.
I made the following observation from the study:
* 1) It looks like the companies that specialized in spices had the healthiest spices. E.g., I went to the website of "Tone's" (which had the most curcumin at 3.14%) and I found that their website sells only spices. Also, the company with the second-most curcumin (at 2.46%) was the U.S. company "McCormick", which also focuses on spices. By the way, the other U.S. companies scored low on the curcumin, but I don't think those companies specialized in spices. Also, it doesn't look like any of the foreign companies in the study specialized in spices.
Notes from the shopping that I did recently:
* 1) My local health food store has a bulk section, where you can buy as little or as much of any spice you want. All the spices are organic. The cost is low too: just $13.50/pound for turmeric.
* 2) I went to a Kroger's grocery store to price compare and found out that the "McCormick" brand of bottled turmeric was being sold at a price of $33.52/pound. And this was not even organic. (By the way, the price was listed as $4.19 / 2 ounces, which works out to be $33.52/pound.)
So, based on my shopping experience, it seems like buying spices from the bulk section will save you money (over buying spices in bottles).
Here is some other advice (from the book "The World's Healthiest Foods"):
* 1) Buy spices from the bulk sections at stores, because ...
** 1a) you can check the aroma. The stronger the aroma, the greater the health benefits.
** 1b) you can buy just a little at a time. Ideally, you should only buy the amount you will need over the next month, in order to ensure that the spice will be fresh when you use it.
* 2) Buy organic, whenever possible.
* 3) Use spices regularly, because they are healthy, affordable, and they make meals taste great too. E.g., just 1.5 grams of turmeric a day is thought to be the typical consumption level of certain South Asian communities, which has been suggested as possibly explaining their lower cancer rates [Tayyem RF et al., Nutr Cancer]. This is about 1/2 teaspoon/day, about 4 calories/day, and about $16/year (if purchased at a price of $13.50/pound).
* 4) Add the spices near the beginning of cooking, since it takes a while for their flavor to infuse throughout the recipe.
* 5) Store your spices in a cool, dark, and dry place.
Here is some advice on buying high quality spices: Spices 101: What You Need to Know About Buying Spices.
Just as another note, I wanted to mention that in my spice cupboard, I have a small bottle of turmeric (given to me as a gift awhile ago), which is from the U.S. company Penzeys Spices. I just looked at the ingredients list today and I happened to notice that it stated the following: "5% curcumin level". So, apparently, the company actually measured the level of curcumin in the spice, and this level is higher than any of the spices in the study described above. I calculated that the cost is currently $45.22/pound if you buy the small 0.9 ounce bottle, but it is only $9.40/pound if you buy the 1 pound bag. Yet, it could take one person almost a year to go through a whole pound.
Here is my chain of research. WHfoods.org led me to Tayyem RF et al., Nutr Cancer: Curcumin Content of Turmeric and Curry Powder, which led me to Curcumin: The story so far, which led me to Food as Medicine ... Diet in Nepal.
And now for your quiz, please answer the poll question.
(By the way, I will be out for a few hours.)