Turmeric, also known as “The Queen of Spices” belongs to the ginger family. It is golden in color and has an earthy flavor. This spice is commonly used in Indian dishes. For centuries, Chinese and Ayurvedic medicine has used turmeric to treat various health problems including cancer and pain control. Incorporating milk and turmeric in your diet can help prevent diseases since these two ingredients have antibiotic properties.

Benefits of Turmeric Milk

 1. Relieve Menstrual Cramps

Women commonly experience menstrual cramps on the first day of their periods. You can also get menstrual cramps due to a delayed menstrual cycle. One way of enjoying turmeric milk benefits is by drinking it daily to ease menstrual cramps naturally.

2. Protect Against Hepatitis

One of the turmeric milk benefits comes from its antiviral action. Turmeric milk has curcumin that hinders the growth of viruses by preventing them from multiplying in the body. Apart from protecting the liver from viruses, it also boosts the immune system. As a result, you are protected from hepatitis.

3. Help with Arthritis

People with arthritis experience a lot of pain in the joints. Turmeric milk benefits include its anti-inflammatory properties that help strengthen the joints of arthritic patients. Additionally, it improves muscle flexibility, reduces pain and treats swelling caused by inflammation in people suffering from arthritis.

4. Provide Cough and Cold Relief

People suffering from cold and the flu normally experience a chronic cough and an irritated throat. Turmeric milk quickly relieves these symptoms. Milk provides a soothing effect that, combined with the astringent and antiseptic properties of turmeric, relieves respiratory problems.

5. Encourage a Good Night’s Sleep

Are you experiencing sleeping problems? A glass of warm turmeric milk taken one hour prior to going to bed will definitely help. Turmeric contains vital nutrients while milk contains melatonin and serotonin. These components combined help relieve stress and in turn induce sleep.

6. Purify Blood

One of the turmeric milk benefits utilized by Ayurvedic medicine is the ability to purify and cleanse blood. Milk contains a wide range of vital nutrients that boost blood circulation. Turmeric, on the other hand, contains antioxidants which cleanse the lymphatic system and enhance the purification process.

7. Ease Headaches

Turmeric milk acts as a natural painkiller and helps relieve pain and headaches. This owes to the fact that it is a great source of antioxidants and other essential nutrients. Take turmeric milk when you have a headache caused by a cold or nasal congestion. This drink will help you feel better.

8. Others Benefits

• Preventing cancer: Turmeric is rated as one of the top 14 foods that hinder cancer development. It helps maintain healthy cells by ridding the body of free radicals. Turmeric contains curcumin, which is known to block enzymes that promote the growth of cancerous cells.
• Preventing of Alzheimer’s: Turmeric helps improve the overall health of the brain, and is one of the top 5 foods known to delay dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. It removes the amyloid plaque buildup in the brain, which may slow down Alzheimer’s progression or prevent it altogether.
• Controlling diabetes: Turmeric prevents type II diabetes by reducing insulin resistance. It also improves blood sugar levels. However, turmeric should not be combined with strong medicines since the combination may cause a decrease in blood sugar levels.
• Application on wounds and small cuts: In addition to having antibacterial properties, it helps with blood clotting, heals wounds and prevents infection. Turmeric combined with milk can be used as a drink, lotion or face mask which helps reduce patches or skin redness.
• Improving skin condition: Skin conditioning is another one of the turmeric milk benefits. Turmeric and milk are both antioxidants. Turmeric helps rid the body of free radicals that damage the skin and lead to loss of its glow and elasticity. Apart from turmeric face masks that improve the skin, ingesting it also helps. When used as a lotion or mask, it helps reduce patches or skin redness.
• Helping weight loss: Turmeric helps break down fat by increasing bile flow.

Caution

As much as turmeric is a great ingredient with many benefits, it can be harmful if used in some cases which include:

• Pregnant women are discouraged from using turmeric since being an inflammatory agent, it can cause stomach ulcers.
• People planning to go for surgery are advised to stop taking turmeric in whatever form a few weeks before surgery. This is because it acts as a blood thinner.
• Turmeric is also known to react with antacids and diabetic medications.

The Golden Milk Recipe

After knowing the many turmeric milk benefits, now let’s learn how to make this beverage. This milk is made using ginger and turmeric. Ginger is added for flavor, masking the bitterness of turmeric as well as other health benefits. Use fresh ginger and turmeric if available.

Ingredients

• One half inch thinly sliced fresh turmeric or 1 teaspoon of dried turmeric
• 2 cups of milk or coconut milk
• One half inch diced fresh ginger
• Honey
• A pinch of black pepper

Instructions

1. Put the milk in a saucepan and place it over medium heat.
2. Add ginger, black pepper and turmeric.
3. Allow the milk to simmer. You can tell by small bubbles appearing on the sides of the saucepan. Stir.
4. Let the milk heat for an extra minute or 2. Be careful not to overheat. Continue stirring to distribute the heat evenly.
5. Turn off the heat, cover the milk and let it sit for about 10 minutes for better infusion.
6. In case you used fresh ginger and turmeric, pass the milk through a strainer.
7. Serve the milk warm.

Note:If the milk does not simmer long enough, the drink may become overly bitter. Boiled turmeric powder is actually less bitter. If you use dairy milk, just get it hot enough to remove the bitterness, but not too hot to burn.