Several years ago I was asked to evaluate the safety of a natural yellow dye produced from the spice, turmeric. Since I have been researching antioxidants for more than 35 years, I was familiar with turmeric as a natural food antioxidant. I know that turmeric was indeed safe, but I wanted to show just how safe it was. Unlike many synthetic dyes, natural colorants such as carotenoids and bioflavonoids are safe as well as beautiful. When I investigated the published scientific literature regarding the safety of turmeric, I also took the time to look at the latest research on both turmeric and its unique compounds of interest, the curcuminoids.

My computer search in the National Library of Medicine's Medline yielded more than a hundred scientific articles about turmeric compounds. At this writing, Medline contains 193 articles on turmeric and curcuminoids, of which 42 are on safety and toxicity. Also of interest are 16 articles on these compounds as antioxidants, 34 reports on their role against cancer, 23 on their mechanism in reducing inflammation, five scientific articles on their potential to reduce heart disease and three studies on showing the progression of HIV infection to clinical AIDS. In addition to these published studies, there are many private studies such as the SABINSA studies reported in this book. Fortunately, you won't have to read all 142 studies referenced in this book, as the authors present the information clearly and succinctly so that the reader can understand the totality of the body of science that shows the health benefits of turmeric compounds.

Although I did not have the foresight to include turmeric compounds in my laboratory animal studies, I am extremely excited about the research that links modem science to ancient Ayurvedic medicine. Fortunately these compounds have been in my diet for many years, and I am looking forward to the availability of food supplements that can conveniently increase these quantities to enhance my antioxidant bioprotection.

The reader may ask, "why do we need another antioxidant? Aren't vitamins A, C and E enough?" The answer is simple. We can start with a comparison to vitamins. Where would we be if we stopped with vitamin A and vitamin B in 1915? Today we recognize 11 vitamins that are dietary essentials, and several more vitamin-like nutrients. For optimal health, we also need antioxidant nutrients and accessory factors such as carotenoids, bioflavonoids and lipoic acid. Foods contain thousands of beneficial compounds, and we should take advantage of those that will help us live better and longer.

There are three good reasons for having several antioxidant nutrients. Antioxidant nutrients work together synergistically. Many antioxidants recycle other antioxidant nutrients that have been oxidized or "spent" in sacrifice to free radicals. Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, individual antioxidant nutrients differ in their transport and storage. Some antioxidants act primarily in the aqueous portion of the blood stream, others within particles of lipoprotein in the blood, others on cell membranes, still others within cellular cytoplasm, and a few in cell nuclei. Antioxidants also vary in their efficiencies to quench various radicals and other reactive oxygen species. The antioxidant profile of vitamin E is different than that of vitamin C, and likewise, the antioxidant nutrients are partners. Just as we need to eat plenty of fruits and vegetables, we need to get optimal amounts of the major antioxidant nutrients, especially the curcuminoids.


Richard A. Passwater, Ph.D.
Berlin, Maryland
June,1995