How about a hot cup of cinnamon, ginger, turmeric and black pepper?
Drinking hot water with cinnamon, ginger, turmeric and peppercorns sounds like your pantry ran out of fun and you can’t be bothered to schlep to the store for some real tea. But then you might run into a gentleman at the sample station at Trader Joe’s and he tells you an anecdote about how he has Crohn’s disease (an inflammatory bowel disease) and rather than taking pharmaceutical drugs to keep his symptoms at bay, he prefers to drink this spiced beverage, and to avoid food preservatives.
This gentleman started the conversion with the fact that Denny’s offers a free breakfast after the Super Bowl. (Hot tip!) But somehow the chat turned to the benefits of cinnamon, ginger, turmeric and peppercorns, which, according to our friendly TJ’s sampler, rid his body of impurities, and on the rare occasion he now indulges in foods with preservatives he can actually feel them traveling through his body.
Although this is an anecdote from one individual, and it’s not advisable to assume these results are universal, let’s take a look at the science and history behind why these four spices in particular often get brought up in conversations about health benefits.
Cinnamon
When it comes to cinnamon there are two types: Cassia, which originates from China and Indonesia, and is most commonly sold in the US. The second type is called Ceylon, originating from Sri Lanka, the Seychelles, and Madagascar. When it comes to using cinnamon for health benefits it’s best to look for Ceylon cinnamon, which is generally marked as such, whereas Cassia cinnamon will only be marked as ‘Cinnamon’. The notable difference between these types is in the levels of a chemical called coumarin they contain. High doses of coumarin can cause or worsen liver disease. A German study published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry found levels of coumarin in cassia powder to be on average 63 times higher than in Ceylon, although differences in the amounts of coumarin were observed from tree to tree, (cinnamon is the bark of the cinnamon tree).
In Ayurvedic and Chinese medicine the tasty and fragrant spice that is cinnamon has been prescribed for ailments including improved circulation, joint health, kidney function, headaches and digestive and respiratory conditions for the past 3000 years. Western studies have shown cinnamon to improve the condition of people with a metabolic syndrome, which consists of insulin resistance, inflammation, increased blood pressure, high blood sugar, excess body fat around the waist, and abnormal cholesterol levels that occur together and increase the risk of heart disease, stroke and diabetes. People with a metabolic syndrome have enough insulin, the hormone which regulates the amount of sugar in blood, but their bodies are not able to efficiently utilize it, thereby fooling the body into thinking it is in an insulin deficient state, which causes a form of diabetes. It has been shown that components in cinnamon make the use of insulin more efficient, and help improve the state of all variables related to a metabolic syndrome.
Ginger Ginger is a powerhouse spice that has been used to treat nausea and digestion issues for thousands of years. It has been studied relatively extensively for a spice, and today it can be found on store shelfs as fresh or dried root, tablets, capsules, liquid extracts, teas and candies etc. Even the US government agency National Center for Complementary and Integrative health (NIH) verifies the benefits of the use of ginger for reducing pregnancy related nausea and vomiting and chemotherapy related nausea (when used with pharmaceutical drugs). When it comes to fighting inflammatory diseases like that of our Trader Joe’s friend, or inflammation caused by processed foods for example, numerous studies back up the anti-oxidative and anti-inflammatory properties of this plant root. Like this one, or this one.
Turmeric The stunning bright orange color is what distinguishes turmeric from it’s relative, ginger. Similar to ginger, turmeric’s anti-inflammatory benefits are well documented. A study from 2012 even concluded that the curcuminoids in turmeric can decrease the risk of a heart attack for bypass patients after surgery, suggesting that the plant’s benefits may be able to protect the heart. Another study found 6.0 g of curcumin daily during radiotherapy to reduce the severity of radiation dermatitis in breast cancer patients. Basically turmeric has the makings of a Superwoman of spice with the ability to fight inflammation anytime, anywhere in the body.
Black Peppercorns For our sample gentleman, the science suggests it’s very clever to combine black peppercorns with turmeric in his beverage as the piperine compound in black pepper aids in the absorption and bioavailability of curcumin.
A study by the Food Science Institute at the University of Kansas found that black pepper has anti-carcinogenic properties that reverse the production of carcinogenic Heterocyclic amines (HCAs) that form in meat when it is browned at high temperatures, known as the Maillard reaction.
And there you have it! Numerous studies support the use of these mighty tasty spices, so go ahead and sprinkle some extra Ceylon cinnamon on your oatmeal, or mix up some golden turmeric rice, it’ll look pretty and has the potential for a serious payout.