Turmeric Prevent Recurrence of Heart Attack

Turmeric, which is known as a spice in cooking appeared to have health benefits, especially for heart patients. A recent study in Thailand showed that the extract of the spice turmeric, is known as an antioxidant and anti-inflammatory, can help prevent heart attacks in those who had undergone bypass surgery.

During bypass surgery, heart muscle can be damaged by lack of blood supply thereby increasing the risk of getting heart attack patients. However, new findings, published in the American Journal of Cardiology, indicate that curcumin - a yellow pigment in turmeric - may alleviate this risk when added to traditional therapies.

Wanwarang Wongcharoen, leader of the study from Chiang Mai University, said the findings are still done on a small scale and should be confirmed in larger studies.

As is known, turmeric extract has long been used in traditional medicine of China and India. Research suggests inflammation plays an important role in the development of various diseases, including heart disease.
"And curcumin can inhibit the inflammation process," says Bharat Aggarwal, who studied the use of curcumin in cancer therapy at the MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas.

"These findings are very encouraging," he added, are not involved in such research.
In his study, researchers studied 121 patients who were not in post-emergency bypass surgery at the hospital between 2009 and 2011.


Half of the patients were given one gram of curcumin capsules four times a day. They are enriched curcumin capsules three days before surgery and continuing for five days after the operation. The other half ate the same amount of placebo capsules.

The results showed, after bypass surgery, as many as 13 percent of participants who had been taking curcumin had a heart attack. While the participants who took placebo, 30 percent have a heart attack (much larger).

Before the participants underwent heart surgery, Wongcharoen and colleagues also found that participants who received curcumin had 65 percent lower risk of heart attack. Wongcharoen opinion, and anti-inflammatory antioxidants contained in the curcumin may have helped prevent heart damage in patients.

"Curcumin has long been believed to have the ability to reduce inflammation and reduce oxygen toxicity or damage caused by free radicals in a number of studies," continued Jawahar Mehta, a cardiologist from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock, who was not involved in this study .

"But that does not mean that turmeric can be a substitute for treatment," he added.

According to Mehta, several types of drugs such as aspirin, statins, and beta blockers have been shown to help heart patients and even the participants involved in this study have also been used.

"Getting the right amount of curcumin with such as might be quite useful in cooking. But I do not advise you to go to a health food store and started taking four grams of curcumin a day, as is done in this study," explains Mehta.