When I scroll through Instagram or TikTok, I have a major sense of FOMO. People have wonderful travel visuals with perfect glassy skin all the while having their finances in order. However, to me, nothing seems as important as the absolute urge to get my particular skincare routine right this very instant. Browsing the internet has convinced me that I am not the only one trying out a plethora of new skincare methods. There is a boom of almost everyone using expensive superfoods and esoteric vitamin supplements suggested to combat skin problems like acne, hyperpigmentation, and many other things. But when I was discussing this with my mother, she pointed out that her mother or grandmother never had to resort to an expensive hyaluronic acid serum or a vitamin C supplement to have the glowy skin they did. There are a myriad of ingredients in our food that can be applied on my skin or even eaten, without breaking the bank. None seemed more important than turmeric though.
My family's homemade recipes ranged from making a brightening and hydrating face mask by mixing turmeric with a little bit of honey, to eating it in the morning to “cleanse†the system. But the question remains, does it actually work? And if so, where, and how?
Tradition
Turmeric is a widely used food colorant and condiment all over the world. It is considered to be sacred and auspicious. Turmeric paste has also been historically used in homemade traditional medicines for at least 6000 years in East and Southeast Asia to heal wounds, treat skin diseases, and gastrointestinal problems to name a few. Eating it on a winter morning every day has been the norm in many South-Asian households. But does modern science support these anecdotal pieces of evidence?
Background
Turmeric's active compound is curcumin. Eating raw turmeric is generally safe up to 8 grams a day as evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. It is not acutely toxic and studies have shown that it does not degrade in our body into a dangerous chemical. The compound is not easily bioavailable because it is very easily metabolized in our bodies and there has been extensive work to increase curcumin's availability in our bodies. Despite these shortcomings, studies have shown its utility in skincare and gut care, including but not limited to wound care, skin aging, skin cancer, and skin infections.
Science and Caution
Curcumin does have widely known anti-inflammatory properties. It can inhibit the proliferation of cancer-causing cells and cause the death of mouse and human melanoma cells. To actually implement the compound in drugs is still a long way off since more rigor is needed.
Curcumin also helps in inhibiting enzymes resulting in accelerated wound healing in rats. Its magic extends to killing off damaged cells like the skin cells damaged by extended sun exposure, and that's why maybe my mother is so insistent on applying a turmeric paste after I am severely sunburnt.
When the scientific support for turmeric's role in skin conditions is concerned, the benefits are not applicable for all skin conditions. Turmeric/Curcumin has been proposed to be effective against microbes and inflammation and when treated against acne. In other skin conditions like eczema or facial photoaging, the study was not well-controlled. The creams had multiple other active ingredients which made understanding the effects of curcumin hard and they also lacked a control group. Scientists saw success in the clinical trials of patients with pruritus where there was a marked decrease in the disease as compared to the control group. Psoriasis patients given the topical gel containing active curcumin had an improved resolution of the disease as well. However, the study was limited by the small number of participants and the lack of comparison to the control group. To fully implement a curcumin drug in skincare is a long way off. More clinical trials of a curcumin-based pill/topical cream need to be tested on a wider group of people alongside a control group, to determine how much it actually improves a skin condition before releasing it to the consumers.
The Future
All in all, this spice lends curries a gorgeous yellow color and is considered sacred for various religious ceremonies in South Asia. It has, also for a long time, been considered a panacea for general health and specific facial glow. The various scientific studies I covered here lend the beginnings of credibility to the centuries-old anecdotal evidence and the science has just started. While it’s not harmful, it definitely is not the panacea our mothers and grandmothers would have us believe because there needs to be more extensive and rigorous research to supplement that tall claim. So, I can make a turmeric paste and drink a turmeric latte all I want, but a visit to a dermatologist is in order to achieve my future smooth glassy skin.
Featured Image: “Turmeric: The Yellow Root” by Carlos Lorenzo is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.
About the Author
Sayani is a PhD student in the Department of Chemistry, University of Georgia. She loves working with chemicals and is studying Metal-Organic Frameworks that might one day be a safe alternative to carrying a wide variety of drugs. Outside of her habitat in the lab, she loves reading crime, learning obsessively about psychology, fiddling with art or dance and any excuse to go on a trip. She can be reached at sr77673@uga.edu.
