If you want to spice up your life and improve your health, check out the health benefits of turmeric. Turmeric, the spice that is traditionally in curry dishes, contains a vast array of health benefits too.

Like most herbs, this potent spice has antioxidants, but also has an ingredient powerful in fighting a great many different diseases, including cancer. The powerful cancer fighting property in turmeric comes from curcumin. Curcumin also fights Alzheimer's disease. There are clinical trials now taking place at UCLA involving curcumin as a treatment for Alzheimer's. Alzheimer's disease in India is very low compared to those of the United States, this lead to a studies on the effect of turmeric in mice. The studies indicate that it slows the progression of the disease.

Scientists started looking at turmeric when they noted that the rate of colon cancer, prostate cancer, breast cancer and lung cancer is 10 times lower in India where they regularly add turmeric to dishes. Prostate cancer is rare in that country. It contains antioxidants but also has the anti-carcinogenic curcumin. In lab studies with animals, it shows that it inhibited the growth of tumors, their start, invasion and the ability for them to metastasize by destroying the mutated cancer cells. Studies with mice showed that it slowed breast cancer from spreading to the lungs.

Other studies on smokers showed that turmeric lowered the excretion of cancer indicators. Another health benefit of turmeric is its improvement to the immune system. Another study done on patients with skin cancer who were no longer able to receive help from traditional medicine like chemo and radiation, showed that turmeric actually helped not only relieve the symptoms of skin cancer like itching and pain, it also even effected the size of the growths. While some believe that the curcumin inhibited the growth of the cancer cell, it also could be the activation of the immune system.

Turmeric has more health benefits than just fighting cancer and Alzheimer's, as though that isn't enough. It also boosts the action of the liver. The liver cleanses the blood by breaking up toxic materials and participates in metabolizing vitamins, minerals, fat, carbohydrates, proteins and hormone delivery. One of those hormones is insulin. The insulin reaches the liver in high concentrations, over three times higher than any other tissue, and then the liver participates in regulating the blood sugar. For this reason, scientists believe that turmeric's action to boost the liver might help in type 2 diabetes. Sometimes stress, poor diet and allergens reduces the effectiveness of the liver. Turmeric shines by increasing the enzymes that detoxify the blood.

There are also other health benefits now studied. Turmeric may aid cystic fibrosis patients, those with Crohn's disease, psoriasis, cataracts, rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease and aid in muscle regeneration.

There is also a blocking compound, which slows the progression of MS. Because it has the capability to increase the flow of bile and help the body digest fats, the inclusion of turmeric in the diet may aid with gallstones.

The addition of turmeric to the diet adds extra vitamins and minerals to the food that you eat, without adding additional bulk or a lot of calories. Just 2 teaspoons of turmeric adds 10 percent of your daily iron, almost 20 percent of your daily requirement for manganese, and 3 to 5 percent of vitamin B6, potassium and daily fiber. It acts as an anti-inflammatory to relieve pain as much as both prescription and over the counter drugs, as found by numerous studies. The anti-inflammatory action also takes place in the colon for irritable bowel disease and Crohn's patients and it does all this without any toxic effects.

This great little spice adds flavor to your food but the health benefits of turmeric are so numerous, it's more than just flavor you'll find when you use it as a boost to the body.