Is it more beneficial to take turmeric as a spice or supplement?

Do you have questions about nutrition? Send them to us at comer@lavanguardia.es, our nutritionist Aitor Sánchez will answer all your questions.

Thank you very much, Aitor, for all the contributions you make to us readers. My question is: what would be an ideal diet for a person with incipient atheromatous plaque in the carotid arteries. Thank you (María Isabel, reader)

Hello Maria Isabel,

For such an important risk, we would undoubtedly use what is known as a cardiovascular protective diet.

I am going to leave you here a summary material of this diet therapy approach and I will highlight some of its priorities.

One of the priorities of this eating model is to improve the lipid profile of the diet, that is, the quality of the fat we consume. It will, therefore, be essential to include extra virgin olive oil, the regular consumption of raw nuts and seeds. All of these foods are sources of healthy fatty acids that also meet the next of our concerns, which is the anti-inflammatory effect.

Unhealthy products such as pastries, cookies, alcoholic beverages, soft drinks… They are a risk factor for cardiovascular diseases, they will make blood cholesterol more dangerous, and they can also increase blood pressure. For this reason, the ideal would be to restrict them as much as possible, and instead include fruits or nuts in those moments of consumption (desserts, snacks, mid-morning…)

Finally, we cannot forget the antioxidant effect of many plant products. Especially those that we can find in raw fruits and vegetables, which play a fundamental role in preventing these episodes and vascular accidents.

Is turmeric more beneficial in supplement? Or better to take the spice directly? (Clara Jiménez, reader)

Hi Clara,

This is a very good question that you bring to the office. It is very common to find supplements that want to claim all the protective or functional potential of many spices, and for this reason it is important to analyze the concentrations and the type of use that is going to be made of that supplement.

In general terms we will always recommend the spice first, this is due to several reasons. The first of these is that spices are much more complex than a simple isolated nutrient, for example, curcumin in this case. In it, we find many bioactive and phytochemical compounds that have positive functions, not everything can be attributed to the most famous component of a spice.

We must also keep in mind that when we recommend taking spices we are going to include them in a cooking recipe, that is always a guarantee that you are eating in a much healthier way than taking an isolated supplement. It is also known that when we are consuming a supplement, we tend to eat worse and neglect our diet because we have that feeling of “I’m already treating it” or “I’m already taking care of myself.” You can’t imagine how many people stop eating well once they take Omega 3 or fiber supplements.

Finally, one of the reasons that also makes it desirable to take the whole spice is that its effects are increased when they coincide with oil or black pepper. Therefore, in recipe mode it is always better.