CHAPTER 11
ETHNOBOTANY OF TURMERIC AND ITS MEDICINAL IMPORTANCE
CONTENTS
11.4 Microscopical Characters of Turmeric Rhizome
11.7 Commercial Medicinal Preparations Containing Turmeric
ABSTRACT
Turmeric is one of the most important and valuable herb spices to humankind. It has been used traditionally, as food flavoring, as a dye, in folk medicine and for religious and ritual ceremonies. In addition to its use as a spice and pigment, turmeric has been used in India for various medicinal purposes for centuries. Turmeric has its origins in Southeast Asia and also can be found growing in India and Tropical Africa. India is the largest producer of turmeric commercially. This chapter includes the ethnobotany of turmeric, different species of the genus curcuma, microscopical characters, phytochemistry, medicinal uses and other various uses of turmeric.
11.1 INTRODUCTION
Turmeric belongs to the genus Curcuma and commonly known as haldi or holud. There are around 100-110 species of Curcuma, in which Curcuma longa is the most important economically, known as turmeric. This genus Curcuma belongs to Zingiberaceae family, originated from the Arabic word kurkum meaning “yellow,” refers to the deep yellow rhizome color of the true turmeric. In India, turmeric is one of the most important spices, which produces nearly the whole world’s crop and uses >80% of it. Ayurveda and Unani systems of medicines have used turmeric from time immemorial. In ancient Indian literature, turmeric is referred to as “Haridra” which is being used for cosmetic, coloring, flavoring, food preservative and digestive properties (Patel and Srinivasan, 2004). In India, turmeric is cultivated in the states of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Kerala, Tamilnadu and Orissa. It is also cultivated in Caribbean, Africa, Costa Rica, Australia, Japan, Haiti, Latin America-Jamaica, Peru and Brazil. Among all these turmeric cultivated countries, India is the largest producer, consumer and exporter (Sasikumar, 2005). For cultivation requires a hot and moist climate, a liberal supply of water and a well-drained soil.
According to the geographical origin of the production of turmeric it is graded in the international market. Alleppey, Madras and West Indian turmeric are the major types in the international trade. In Kerala, Alleppey turmeric comes from the region of Thodupuzha and Muvattupuzha taluks and is characterized by deep yellow to orange yellow in color which has high curcumin content up to 6.5%. Alleppey finger turmeric is preferred as food colorant especially in US (Kurian et al., 2004). The other popular Indian turmeric varieties in trade are Nizamabad turmeric from Telangana, Cuddappah and Duggirala turmeric from Andhra Pradesh, Erode and Salem turmeric from Tamilnadu and Sangli turmeric from Maharashtra. This chapter summarizes the ethnobotany, phytochemistry and uses of turmeric.
11.2 TAXONOMY
Kingdom: Plantae
Class: Liliospida
Sub class: Commelinids
Order: Zingiberales
Family: Zingiberaceae
Genus: Curcuma
Species: Curcuma longa
11.3 ETHNOBOTANY OF TURMERIC
India is the largest producer of turmeric in the world (93.7% of the total world production) and its cultivation is done in 150,000 hectares in India (Sasikumar, 2005). In India around 6% of the area is used for turmeric as a spice and 8% of the total production of turmeric is exported annually and the rest is consumed in the domestic purpose (Peter, 1997). Maximum area under turmeric is in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana followed by Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Orissa, Karnataka and Kerala. Its production was found throughout the South and South East Asia with a few species extending to China, Australia and South Pacific. In India and Thailand, the highest diversity was concentrated with at least 40 species in each area, followed by Myanmar, Bangladesh, Indonesia and Vietnam. The origin and spread of the Curcuma genus initially took place in the Indo-Malayan region.
Around eight tuber bearing, one stolon bearing and 16 non-tuberous species occur in the Western Ghats regions and hence considered as number one hot spot for the genus on par with North eastern region in India. Thus, South Western Peninsular region of India being a center of diversity for the genus in Asia. Turmeric is the main cash crop in the tribal dominated districts of Kandhamal, Gajapati, Ganjam, Mayurbhanj and Koraput of Orissa. In Kerala, turmeric powder, paste and guruthi is still used as offerings to the goddess in the temples and shows how turmeric evolved firstly as an inseparable and important substance of magic, secondly as an integral part of Sakthi worship in Southern India and in other parts of India (Velayudhan et al., 2012). Various names of turmeric in different languages are given in Table 11.1.
The genus Curcuma consists of above 100 species (Table 11.2) distributed chiefly in South and Southeast Asia.
From India around 40 Curcuma species are reported (Table 11.3). In addition to C. longa, the genus includes other economically important species such as C. aromatica, used in medicine and in toiletry articles; C. kwangsiensis, C. ochrorhiza, C. pierreana, C. zedoaria, C. caesia, etc., used in folk medicines ofthe Southeast Asian nations; C. alismatifolia, C. roscoeana, etc., having floricultural importance; C. amada, used as a vegetable in a variety of culinary preparations, pickles and salads; and C. zedoaria, C. malabarica, C. pseudomontana, C. montana, C. decipiens, C. angustifolia, C. aeruginosa, etc., used in the production of arrow root powder (Ravindran et al., 2006).
TABLE 11.1 Various Names of Turmeric in Different Languages
TABLE 11.2 Distribution of the Curcuma Species
(Reprinted from 74. Ravindran, P. N, Nirmal Babu, K., & Shiva, K. N. (2007). Botany and crop improvement of turmeric. In: P N. Ravindran, K. Nirmal Babu and K. Sivaraman (eds) Turmeric: The Genus Curcuma. CRC Press, Taylor & Francis Group. New York. Vol. 45; pp. 31. Used with permission of CRC Press/Taylor & Francis.)
TABLE 11.3 Curcuma Species Occurring in India and Their Distribution
(Reprinted from 74. Ravindran, P. N, Nirmal Babu, K., & Shiva, K. N. (2007). Botany and crop improvement of turmeric. In: P N. Ravindran, K. Nirmal Babu and K. Sivaraman (eds) Turmeric: The Genus Curcuma. CRC Press, Taylor & Francis Group. New York. Vol. 45; pp. 31. Used with permission of CRC Press/Taylor & Francis.)
11.4 MICROSCOPICAL CHARACTERS OF TURMERIC RHIZOME
The transverse section of cured and uncured turmeric rhizome shows almost similar characters but differing only in the nature of starch. Independent starch grains are present in the uncured rhizome, whereas in the cured rhizome, gelatinized lumps of starch are present. Rhizome consists of an outer zone of cork, followed by a wide zone of cortex, and an endodermoid ring closely covering a discontinuous ring of vascular bundles. A large number of vascular bundles are scattered throughout the section. The parenchyma, cortex and the pith are full of starch grains, the yellow pigment being present at some places only. In the uncured rhizome, the cork is intact throughout, while in the cured rhizome, it is broken at several places. The rhizome cortex is demarcated into two zones. The outer cortex contains a few layers of irregular-shaped to rounded parenchyma with a few starch grains, while the inner cortex, which is large, has parenchyma full of starch grains. In the cured rhizome, these starch grains get gelatinized due to the boiling process and form a compact mass in each of the cells.
The vascular bundles present in the cortex have been called cortical vascular bundles, leaf trace bundles, or cortical meristeles. These bundles are closed types, consisting of phloem and xylem only. These vascular bundles measure 80 to 115 to 124 pm along their major axis. The vascular bundles found towards the outside are smaller, having three to seven xylem elements, while those present towards the inside are bigger, having up to 12 elements. Vascular bundles are arranged as a circle below the endodermoid ring. In unstained sections, a large number of cells having curcumin deposit are found throughout (Ravindran et al., 2007). Comparative rhizome anatomy of different species of Curcuma is depicted in Table 11.4.
11.5 PHYTOCHEMISTRY
Rhizomes of turmeric contain pigments that contribute the color, along with the essential and fixed oils, flavonoids, bitter principles, carbohydrates, protein, minerals and vitamins. Different composition of chemicals in turmeric rhizome is presented in Table 11.5.
Curcuminoids are the important compounds found in turmeric, in which curcumin (Curcumin I) is the active constituent and the other curcuminoids in turmeric include demethoxycurcumin (Curcumin II) and bisdemethoxycurcumin (Curcumin III). Curcuma species contains various types of plant secondary metabolites, including diphenylheptanoids, monoterpenes and sesquiterpenes, etc. But medicinally important compounds are curcuminoids and its structural analogs, which were found in C. longa species. Three major classes of compounds isolated from Curcuma species, are diphenylalkanoids, phenylpropene derivatives of cinnamic acid type and terpenoids (Table 11.6).
There are other few types of compounds such as flavonol compound (malvidin-3-rutinoside), acetophenone derivatives (phloracetophenone and myrciaphenone), simple aromatic compounds (3,7dimethyl-5indane carboxylic acid, eugenol, vanillic acid and syringic acid) which are also isolated from the different Curcuma species (Nakayama et al., 2000; Piyachaturawat et al., 2002).
TABLE 11.4 Comparative Rhizome Anatomy of Some of the Curcuma Species (Remashree et al., 2006)
(Reprinted from 74. Ravindran, P. N, Nirmal Babu, K., & Shiva, K. N. (2007). Botany and crop improvement of turmeric. In: P N. Ravindran, K. Nirmal Babu and K. Sivaraman (eds) Turmeric: The Genus Curcuma. CRC Press, Taylor & Francis Group. New York. Vol. 45; pp. 31. Used with permission of CRC Press/Taylor & Francis.)
11.6 USES OF TURMERIC
Turmeric and its active constituent’s curcuminoids have diverse applications, which can be used as a spice, food colorant and cosmetic and as a drug. Turmeric, which can be used traditionally, medicinally and in preparation of cosmetics.
TABLE 11.5 Different Chemical Composition of Turmeric
(Reprinted from Balakrishanan, K. V. (2007). Postharvest technology and processing of turmeric. In: P N. Ravindran, K. Nirmal Babu, & K. Sivaraman (eds.) Turmeric: The Genus Curcuma. CRC Press, Taylor & Francis Group. New York. Vol. 45; pp. 198. Used with permission from CRC Press/Taylor & Francis.)
TABLE 11.6 Compounds Isolated from Various Species of the Genus Curcuma
11.6.1 TRADITIONAL USES
Traditionally since 600 B.C. onwards turmeric has been used as a spice, aromatic, stimulant, yellow dye, flavoring agent and medicine. In fact, turmeric has been a traditional remedy in Asian folk medicines for the last 2000 years. In Ayurveda and Chinese medicinal system it has been used as an anti-inflammatory agent. Internally it has been used to treat allergies, diarrhea, fevers, heart burn, stomach problems, chronic cough, wind, colic, bloating, flatulence, bronchial asthma, jaundice (other liver ailments) and externally it has been used for reducing inflammation, swelling due to sprains, cuts and bruises throughout Asia (Khanna, 1999). Traditionally it has been used as cosmetic to impart golden glow to the complexion. The fresh plant juice or a paste is used to treat leprosy and snakebites (Shah, 1997). Turmeric juice with a pinch of salt taken just before breakfast, is believed to be an effective remedy for expelling worms. A teaspoon of raw turmeric juice mixed with honey can be effective in the treatment of anemia. Turmeric with caraway seeds used for the treatment of cold in infants. Turmeric is effective in the treatment of measles and skin diseases. It is also used in traditional medicine as a household remedy for various diseases, including small pox, chicken pox, diabetic wounds, cough, biliary disorders, dyspepsia, rheumatism, conjunctivitis, anorexia, hepatic disorders, elephantiasis, diarrhea, gonorrhea and sinusitis (Chattopadhyay et al., 2004). The people of Ngada have used turmeric for wound healing property (Sachs et al., 2002).
Other uses of turmeric in traditional system are
- Before using gum resin of Commiphora mukul (Guggul) in Ayurvedic formulations, it should be purified by using turmeric.
- Turmeric powder coated over the surgical thread by mixing with the latex of Snuhi (Euphorbia nerifolia) plant. This thread is known as Ksharasoothra, which is tied on piles and fistula to cure them effectively.
- In veterinary medicine, turmeric is used to heal wounds or ulcers in animals.
- In “leech therapy,” turmeric powder is sprinkled over the leech to detach it from the biting site.
- Turmeric powder is used as an insect and ant repellent and sprinkled around the vessels to be protected.
- Turmeric is included in the group of yellow substances (Peethavarga) in Rasasastra (Alchemy), used in the processing of Mercury (Shrishail et al., 2013).
11.6.2 SOCIO CULTURAL USES
Turmeric is an auspicious article in all religions of Hindu households and temples. The people in South and Southeast Asia, especially in Bangladesh, India and Indonesia, use turmeric to dye their bodies as part of their wedding rituals. In Bali, rice cooked with turmeric, coconut milk, Indonesian bay leaves, lemongrass and pandanus leaves is considered a “cultic dish” in Hindu culture and sacrificed to the gods (Remadevi and Ravindran, 2005).
11.6.3 MEDICINAL USES
Turmeric has been extensively used in medicine throughout Asia. In Ayurveda, turmeric is administered internally as a tonic, stomachic, blood purifier and topically in the prevention and treatment of skin diseases. The juice of fresh turmeric rhizome is used as an antiparasitic for many skin infections and turmeric with warm milk used in treatment of common cold. Powdered rhizome paste along with lime is used as a remedy for inflamed joints. Traditional healers of India and China used it as a remedy for varied conditions from eye infections to intestinal worms to leprosy. It is reported to be cholagogue, hemostatic, alterative, antiperiodic, depurative, aperient, detergent, astringent, carminative, cordial, diuretic, emmenagogue, maturant and stimulant. In folk medicine, turmeric is used in the treatment of diarrhea, dysmenorrhea, abdominal pain, epistasis, chest pains, flatulence, colic, fever, hematuria, hematemesis and in urinary problems; jaundice, hepatitis and other infections of the liver. It is applied externally for inflammation, itch, indolent ulcers, ringworm, sores, boils, bruises, elephantiasis, leucoderma, scabies, smallpox, snakebite, leech bite and swellings. Turmeric and its active components exhibit a broad spectrum of biological activities viz. antioxidant (Balasubramanyam et al., 2003), antibacterial, antifungal, antiparasitic, antimutagen, anti-inflammatory, hypolipidemic, hepatoprotective, lipoxygenase, cyclooxygenase and protease-inhibitory. Kuttan et al. (1987) reported that an ethanolic extract of turmeric or a curcumin ointment provided symptomatic relief in patients with cancers of oral cavity, breast and skin. Turmeric, curcumin and curcumin analogs are also used in the treatment of patients with HIV infection (Sui et al., 1993; Mazumder, 1997) Hair tonics that retard hair loss and having antidandruff effects have been developed with curcuminoids as the active components. Herbal mixtures containing turmeric as one of the main ingredients are reported to provide therapeutic weight loss and lipid reduction (Ramirez-Tortosa et al., 1999; Wei and Xu, 2003). Turmeric oil is a powerful anti-inflammatory agent. Both leaf and rhizome oil possesses excellent antimicrobial/antibacterial activity (Iyengar et al., 1995; Singh et al., 2003) and fungicidal activity (Apisariyakul et al., 1995; Jayaprakasha et al., 2001). Turmeric oil given by vapor inhalation is found to have significant effect in removing sputum, relieving coughs and preventing asthma; it is effective for the treatment of respiratory diseases (Ram et al., 2003).
A number of patents have been granted for formulations containing curcumin for human health (Oei, 1992; Ammon et al., 1995; Aggarwal, 1999; Majeed et al., 1999; Santhanam et al., 2001; Graus and Smit, 2002; Saito, 2002; Newmark, 2002; Phan, 2003; Lee et al., 2004; Arbiser, 2004).
Extensive investigation over the last five decades has indicated that curcumin reduces blood cholesterol (Asai and Miyazawa, 2001) prevents LDL oxidation (Naidu and Thippeswamy, 2002), inhibits platelet aggregation (Srivastava et al., 1995), suppresses thrombosis (Srivastava et al., 1985) and myocardial infarction (Venkatesan, 1998), suppresses the symptoms associated with type II diabetes (Arun and Nalini, 2002), rheumatoid arthritis (Deodhar et al., 1980), multiple sclerosis (Natarajan and Bright, 2002), Alzheimer’s disease (Lim et al., 2001), inhibits human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) replication (Barthelemy et al., 1998), enhances wound healing (Phan et al., 2001), protects from liver injury (Morikawa et al., 2002), increases bile secretion (Ramprasad and Sirsi, 1956), protects from cataract formation (Awasthi et al., 1996), protects from pulmonary toxicity and fibrosis (Punithavathi et al., 2003), is an antileishmaniasis (Saleheen et al., 2002) and an antiatherosclerotic (Chen and Huang, 1998).
11.6.4 FOOD APPLICATIONS
Turmeric is used in coloring butter, cheese and vanaspati (Kapur et al., 1960). It is also an essential ingredient in curry and curry powders, chutneys and pickles, where it imparts characteristic peppery taste and yellow color. Yellow rice, the sacred dish popular in the eastern islands of Indonesia, derives its color from fresh or dried turmeric. It is used in fish curry, possibly to mask the fishy odor. Fresh turmeric leaves are used in some regions of Indonesia as flavoring purpose. In Thailand, the fresh rhizome is used as one of the ingredient for the popular yellow curry paste. Turmeric has found application in canned beverages, dairy products, yogurts, baked products, popcorn color, yellow cakes, sauces, biscuits, sweets, cereals, gelatins and in direct compression tablets, etc. Water soluble turmeric can be used to color the dairy foods. For the color shades, combination of turmeric with other natural colorants are used (Freund, 1985). Turmeric is sometimes added to oils as a preservative. In South India, it is added to about every dish, and it is an essential ingredient in all curry masala mixtures. Turmeric is common with baked or fried items especially in the case of deep fried banana chips.
11.6.5 COSMETIC USES
In preparation of cosmetics like lotions, shampoos and sprays, turmeric extract is used as an antibacterial and anti-inflammatory natural dye (Chauhan et al., 2003). To enhance the fairness and complexion of women in India turmeric paste was applied on the face and body. Balms containing turmeric powder or extract are effective in treating acne, rashes, eczema and pimples. Turmeric is said to discourage the growth of facial hair. Hair dye compositions containing turmeric extract are reported to impart golden color to light chestnut hair (Manier and Lutz, 1985).
11.6.6 MISCELLANEOUS USES
Turmeric extract can be used to color the outer coating of pharmaceutical tablets (Woznicki et al., 1984) and also in acrylic dental filling composition (Kemper, 1981). Turmeric produces a yellow dye for fabrics and is used for dyeing wool, silk and cotton. Turmeric is sometimes used in combination with other natural dyes like indigo and safflower to impart different shades (Agrawal et al., 1992). Curcumin can offer protection to photolabile drugs in soft gelatin capsules, thereby replacing synthetic dyes or pigments frequently used (Schranz, 1983). Curcumin is employed for the purpose of detecting and warning the presence of cyanide in food, drug or oral compositions. Turmeric paper can be used to test the alkalinity and in detection of boric acid. In brown and yellow solutions diluted tincture of turmeric is used as a fluorescence indicator.
11.7 COMMERCIAL MEDICINAL PREPARATIONS CONTAINING TURMERIC
Medicinally turmeric is available in the form of creams, ointments, tinctures, capsules containing powder or extracts. In Malaysia turmeric containing ointment is used as an antiseptic and also in Indian antiseptic creams, an extract of turmeric is used as major ingredient. Ophthacare®, a commercially available eye preparation in India, contains Carum copticum, Terminalia bellirica, Emblica officinalis, Curcuma longa, Ocimum sanctum, Cinnamomum camphora and Rosa damascena (Biswas et al., 2001). “RA-11 (ARTREX, MENDAR),” a standardized multi plant herbal drug, composed of Withania somnífera, Boswellia serrata, Zingiber officinale and Curcuma longa extracts and is used in the treatment of arthritis. “Smoke Shield,” a formulation composed of the extracts of Curcuma longa and green tea, has long been in the market to reduce smoke-related mutagenicity and toxicity in the population. “Hyponidd” is a herbomineral formulation composed of the extracts ofMomordica charantia, Melia azadirachta, Pterocarpus marsupium, Tinospora cordifolia, Gymnema sylvestre, Enicostemma littorale, Emblica officinalis, Eugenia jambolana, Cassia auriculata and Curcuma longa. Some of the commercially available medicinal preparations of turmeric or curcumin are presented in Table 11.7.
11.8 TOXICITY
Turmeric and its active ingredients curcuminoids are considered as safe when taken at the recommended doses. Excessive use of pure curcumin may produce stomach upset and in extreme cases produces ulcers (Ammon and Wahl, 1991). Safety evaluation studies have indicated that both turmeric and curcumin are well tolerated at a very high dose without any toxic effects (Chattopadhyay et al., 2004). Human clinical trials with curcumin indicated that there was no dose limiting toxicity when administered at doses up to 10 g/d (Aggarwal et al., 2003).
TABLE 11.7 Commercially Available Medicinal Preparations of Turmeric or Curcumin
On the basis of the pharmacological and toxicological studies on possible interactions of turmeric or curcumin with other herbs or medicines carried out to date, it can be advised that turmeric or curcumin in medicinal forms should not be used in the following circumstances without prior consultation with a qualified medical practitioner:
- People who are on blood thinning medications, e.g., warfarin, aspirin, etc.
- People who People using non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, e.g., indomethacin, ibuprofen, etc.
- are using hypotensive drug, i.e., reserpine.
- People who are using antidiabetic drugs, e.g., glimepiride and pioglitazone.
In conclusion, the turmeric is an important medicinal plant with a biological diversity of activities
KEYWORDS
- Ethnobotany
- Medicinal uses
- Phytochemistry
- Turmeric
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