Turmeric is an essential element in Eastern cuisine. It might just be considered the king of all spices. People in the east use it for several purposes, including medicinal use and cooking. For thousands of years, turmeric has been instrumental in the cuisine of many people because of its treasure trove of beneficial properties.

The main reason turmeric has found its fame is through its active compound called curcumin.

It is the star of turmeric as it has various beneficial properties that help keeps you secure from several diseases such as chronic inflammatory conditions. A powdered root form of turmeric or curcumin is used as one of the main ingredients in supplements as well as ointments. While there is still a lot of research in progress on the benefits of turmeric, some evidence already supports its usefulness in treating various skin diseases like psoriasis.

Psoriasis attacks your entire body. So even though the legions might show up on specific parts of your body, your entire system is under attack. Research has been conducted on the uses of turmeric, introduced topically or orally to your body.

It takes into consideration how well curcumin works of reducing the symptoms of psoriasis and treat it.

Researchers conducted a study to observe the benefits of curcumin on people suffering from plaque psoriasis due to its beneficial effect on the production of skin cells. They typically applied a cream that had an extract of curcumin on the subjects of the study. The study consisted of 34 subjects who tried out this concoction and apply it for nine weeks. The study concluded with a lot of improvement observed in the legions of psoriasis of the subject’s bodies. It also helped in improving the wellbeing of the patients.

Another study was later conducted, this time with even more subjects than the previous one. 647 subjects with psoriasis legions were rounded up and asked to apply curcumin gel to their lesions. The duration of this trial was 16 weeks. At the end of it, they observed a steep fall in the symptoms of the patients. Approximately 72.2 per cent of the subjects had their symptoms vanish altogether. The reason behind this is how curcumin affects phosphorylase kinase (PhK). It is a protein that causes skin cells to overproduce and result in psoriasis.

A study conducted on mouse concluded in distinct improvements observed in the lymph node weight, ear redness and several other features. This resulted in the conclusion that there was a high possibility of curcumin being able to treat psoriasis as well.During another study, eight subjects took 4.5 gms of curcumin tablets per day for 12 weeks. Dietary supplements, however, were found to have meagre benefits in treating psoriasis. Curcumin supplements were assumed to provide benefits based solely on the placebo effect. The limited number of participants also made the study inconclusive.

Curcumin has anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, anti-carcinogenic and antimicrobial benefits that made it extremely appealing for practitioners of traditional medicine. Several factors can help reduce psoriasis symptoms and provide you with some well-deserved relief.

(a) Anti-Inflammatory : curcumin prohibits substances like cytokines from being produced. Cytokines and other such materials usually cause inflammation. Tumour necrosis factor (TNF), interleukin 17 and interleukin 6, might be considered a part of this.

(b) antioxidant : curcumin is known to reduce oxidative stress, which might be involved in the appearance of skin lesions.

(c) Enhancement of the skin barrier function : this is accomplished by substances included in this process like involucrin and filaggrin.Curcumin is also known to bring down the levels of PhK, which is observed to be high in people who develop psoriasis.

Turmeric is a substance that has very few side effects. It is considered utterly safe for most people around the world. However, it is still in your best interest to be cautious.

Diarrhoea, nausea and indigestion can be caused by ingesting turmeric for an extended period. It can also cause your blood to become thin. Due to this, you should not take it with drugs, or if you have had surgery. If you have a bleeding disorder like haemophilia or any other risks of bleeding, you need to be careful. In case you are pregnant or have your gallbladder removed, you might want to consult your doctor before you take turmeric in any form. So if you are planning on taking supplements or applying turmeric topically, you might want to talk to your healthcare professional. He can give you the go-ahead after ensuring that it will not interfere with any other medication you might be taking.

Scaly patches can appear on any part of your body courtesy of psoriasis. It is an inflammatory disorder that is chronic. While it affects your entire body, the main symptoms of psoriasis appear in the form of scales on the skin and inflammation. It does attack your entire system, though. The affected areas are prone to pain, heat as well as swelling. This can throw a wrench in your ability to perform typical day to day tasks.

When your immune system is accidentally triggered, it results in psoriasis. Immense inflammation and your skin cells being overproduced results in the lesions and plaques on your body. A condition such as psoriasis arthritis can also be caused due to inflammation in your joints.

The number of symptoms and their intensity varies from individual to individual. There could be times when your symptoms worsen, and times when they seem to disappear entirely for a while.

Conventional treatments include topical creams, ointments, and moisturisers. Light therapy, systemic medications, and biologics (a relatively new class of drugs) are also the prescribed methods of treatment for psoriasis. All of these treatments try to prevent or reduce inflammation. They also attempt to slow down (if not entirely stop) the rate at which the cells turnover.