Video: How To Make Anti-Inflammatory Golden Milk

If you’re aiming to boost your intake of anti-inflammatory foods to foster a healthy lifestyle and healthy aging process, starting with this Golden Milk recipe is a flavorful choice. Anti-Inflammatory Golden Milk, also known as turmeric milk and celebrated as “liquid gold” across Asia, enriches your diet with its anti-aging benefits. Similar to Turmeric Tea, Golden Milk provides a creamier texture with coconut milk and enhances its anti-inflammatory advantages with ginger, making it a delightful addition to a healthy lifestyle.

The health benefits of our Golden Milk recipe come primarily from three ingredients: turmeric, ginger, and black peppercorns.

What Is Turmeric?

Turmeric (Curcuma longa) is a culinary spice – and a relative of ginger – that is a featured ingredient in Indian curry dishes. It is also what makes American mustard’s color a distinctive bright yellow. Turmeric has been used in medicinal and culinary settings for centuries and is prized for its anti-inflammatory properties. The chief active component of turmeric is curcumin, which is usually taken as a supplement.

Turmeric tea is the traditional favorite drink in Okinawa, and may be linked to the long life span of the residents there – some of the longest-living people on the planet.

Turmeric Health Benefits

Numerous studies have shown the anti-inflammatory effects turmeric and curcumin provide, including:

Liver Health: Curcumin may help to delay liver damage that in some instances could lead to cirrhosis.
Cancer Prevention: Turmeric reduces – by up to 40 percent – the levels of carcinogenic compounds called heterocyclic amines (HCAs). These form when meats are barbecued, boiled, or fried, and evidence links increased consumption of foods with HCAs to stomach, colorectal, pancreatic, and breast cancers.
Preventing Alzheimer’s Disease: As mentioned above, turmeric is part of the curries that are eaten daily in India. This may help explain the low Alzheimer’s disease rates in that country – it is less than one-fourth the rate of Alzheimer’s disease in the US in people aged 70 to 79.
Preventing Skin Cancer: Curcumin has been shown to inhibit the growth of melanoma, the most serious and potentially dangerous form of skin cancer.
Relieving Arthritis Pain: Turmeric contains more than two dozen anti-inflammatory compounds, and studies of the efficacy of curcumin have shown positive changes in arthritic symptoms.

Turmeric may also be useful as an anti-depressant.

Learn more – see Dr. Weil talk about the health benefits of turmeric.

Why Is Ginger Good For You?

Ginger is a root of the Zingiber officinale plant. A natural anti-inflammatory agent prized for its ability to address nausea and digestive issues, medicinally ginger has been used to relieve symptoms associated with motion sickness, arthritis, bursitis, and more. As a culinary spice ginger is popular in Asian and Eastern dishes, and adds a zesty, spicy flavor profile to foods.

Watch Dr. Weil discuss the health benefits of ginger.

The Health Benefits of Black Pepper

Black pepper (Piper nigrum) is native to Asia and is the most popular spice in the world. Black pepper is the whole, partially ripened fruit of the pepper plant, and offers up a variety of health benefits: not only is it a proven antibacterial agent, but it has the potential to protect against cancer, as the compounds in this spice help protect the integrity of DNA.

Getting The Health Benefits Of Turmeric

Turmeric and curcumin are poorly absorbed from the G.I. tract, but taking turmeric along with piperine enhances absorption. Piperine is a constituent of black pepper, and Indian cuisine often uses turmeric and pepper together. This Golden Milk recipe includes black pepper, to enhance the health benefits of turmeric.

More information:

Anti-Inflammatory Golden Milk

Turmeric Tea Benefits

Cooking With Spices: Ginger

Cooking With Spices: Black Pepper

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