#TURMERIC

[reasonsforhope]

"Lead is a neurotoxin; it causes premature deaths and lifelong negative effects. It’s said “there is no safe level of lead exposure” — as far as we know, any lead causes damage, and it just gets worse the more exposure there is.

After a 20-year, worldwide campaign, in 2021 Algeria became the final country to end leaded gasoline in cars — something the US phased out in 1996. That should make a huge difference to environmental lead levels. But lots of sources remain, from car batteries to ceramics...

Bangladesh phased out leaded gasoline in the 1990s. But high blood lead levels have remained. Why? When researchers Stephen Luby and Jenny Forsyth, doing work in rural Bangladesh, tried to isolate the source, it turned out to be a surprising one: lead-adulterated turmeric.

Turmeric, a spice in common use for cooking in South Asia and beyond, is yellow, and adding a pigment made of lead chromate makes for bright, vibrant colors — and better sales. Buyers of the adulterated turmeric were slowly being poisoned...

But there’s also good news: A recent paper studying lead in turmeric in Bangladesh found that researchers and the Bangladeshi government appear to have driven lead out of the turmeric business in Bangladesh.

How Bangladesh got serious about lead poisoning

The researchers who’d isolated turmeric as the primary cause of high blood lead levels —working for the nonprofit International Center for Diarrheal Disease Research, Bangladesh — went to meet with government officials. They collected samples nationwide and published a 2019 follow-up paper on the extent of the problem. Bangladesh’s Food Safety Authority got involved.

They settled on a two-part approach, starting with an education campaign to warn people about the dangers of lead. Once people had been warned that lead adulteration was illegal, they followed up with raids to analyze turmeric and fine sellers who were selling adulterated products.

They posted tens of thousands of fliers informing people about the risks of lead. They got coverage in the news. And then they swept through the markets with X-ray fluorescence analyzers, which detect lead. They seized contaminated products and fined sellers.

According to the study released earlier this month, this worked spectacularly well. “The proportion of market turmeric samples containing detectable lead decreased from 47 percent pre-intervention in 2019 to 0 percent in 2021,” the study found. And the vanishing of lead from turmeric had an immediate and dramatic effect on blood lead levels in the affected populations, too: “Blood lead levels dropped a median of 30 percent.”

The researchers who helped make that result happen are gearing up for similar campaigns in other areas where spices are adulterated.

The power of problem-solving

...When the Food Safety Authority showed up at the market and started issuing fines for lead adulteration, it stopped being a savvy business move to add lead. Purchasers who were accustomed to unnatural lead-colored turmeric learned how to recognize non-adulterated turmeric. And so lead went from ubiquitous to nearly nonexistent in the space of just a few years.

That’s a better world for everyone, from turmeric wholesalers to vulnerable kids — all purchased at a shockingly low price. The paper published this month concludes, “with credible information, appropriate technology, and good enough governance, the adulteration of spices can be stopped.”

There’s still a lot more to be done. India, like Bangladesh, has widespread adulteration of turmeric. And safety testing will have to remain vigilant to prevent lead in Bangladesh from creeping back into the spice supply.

But for all those caveats, it’s rare to see such fast, decisive action on a major health problem — and impressive to see it immediately rewarded with such a dramatic improvement in blood lead levels and health outcomes. It’s a reminder that things can change, and can change very quickly, as long as people care, and as long as they act."

-via Vox, September 20, 2023

[adashofginger]

"My blue dream baby, driving me crazy."

Blue Dream Baby | Fancy Hagood

Model: Matt Dubbe

[reality-detective]

Curious about the magic of turmeric and its healing properties?

Dive into the 13 health benefits of this tonic!

1. Anti-inflammatory

2. Antioxidant

3. Helps with depression and cancer

4. Helps also with dementia, arthritis, heart disease

5. Improves memory and brain function

6. Burns fat

7. Improves digestion

8. Lowers blood sugar

9. Clear congestion

10. Lowers blood sugar

11. Reduces insulin resistance

12. Boosts immunity

13. Supports heart health

Ingredients:

Green Tea

Cinnamon Stick

Cayenne Pepper

Black Pepper

Turmeric Powder

Orange Juice

3 tots of Apple Cider Vinegar (tot = 1.25–1.5 US fl oz (37–44 ml) or 1 shot glass.

- Health Care 🤔

[morethansalad]

Mini Vegan Lemon Tarts

[fattributes]

One Pot Turmeric Chicken and Rice

[mandragoraeart]

Tepetlisaurus Cocoa

Mmm… some cinnamon and turmeric hot cocoa sounds good right now…

[fullcravings]

Golden Glow Pineapple Turmeric Smoothie

[foodies-channel]

🍥 güzel ve tatlı

🍔YouTube || 🍟Reddit

[vegan-nom-noms]

Soy Free Vegan Scrambled Eggs

[shoebanfoo]

Hygieia, Greek goddess of good health and disease prevention.

Drawn as a commission.

[outdoormagic]

Turmeric blossoms

[adashofginger]

"Salt air, and the rust on your door, I never needed anything more."

august | Taylor Swift

Model: Matthew Dubbe

[allium-girl]

This fennel and leek soup also features apples, walnuts, and turmeric — easy to make, delicious, and golden in colour, too! The walnuts are blended directly into the soup to help give it a super creamy texture.

[morethansalad]

Vegan Gojeh Bademjaan (Persian Tomato & Eggplant Stew)