Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I was hesitant to order this product because of several negative reviews, but I've received a fresh fragrant spice with an expiration date of 2017 (4 years to expiration). It is almost impossible to find organic turmeric or decent sized spice where I live, so I was really glad to find this huge 16 oz product, much bigger in volume than what you'd anticipate compared to 16 oz liquid in size. My mother recently underwent both breast and lung cancer surgeries along with radiation therapy, so I have her taking turmeric tea to help prevent the cancer from coming back amongst other daily protocols. The following is the recipe I use - 10 oz boiling water (big mug size) 1 tsp turmeric powder 1/4 tsp black pepper Cover and steep for 10 minutes. Add some coconut oil or flax oil for improved absorbency. You may find this too spicy as mother did, so you can lower the strength or increase the water content while keeping the turmeric/black pepper ratio at around 4:1. You can add lemon or honey if you feel the need to improve the taste, but I personally believe it's best to avoid any form of sugar since it's inflammatory and cancer cells LOVE sugar. The curcumin in turmeric gets absorbed best when combined with piperine in black pepper. Taking a spoonful of coconut oil or flax oil along with the tea will increase the absorbancy further since curcumin is fat-soluble. I personally add a spoonful of coconut oil at the end of 10 min steeping. Adding oil to the tea may sound odd, but this makes the tea more like a comforting soup broth which can be quite enjoyable with coconut fragrance rounding down the spice. You can visually confirm the fat-solubility of curcumin this way, since there will be much less of the spice leftover sitting at the bottom of the cup. Take at least 2 tsp of turmeric a day for its anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory benefits. For cancer prevention, dosage should be increased to 400-500mg of curcumin a day, which equals to about 2 tablespoons of dried turmeric powder (1 tablespoon contains to about 230 mg of curcumin). I drink the tea several times a day instead of using the spice to cook since my husband isn't too fond of the taste of turmeric, and you can only have so much of foods flavored with turmeric on daily basis. The tea may require getting used to, but I hope you can eventually enjoy it as well since curcumin is so beneficial for your body. Dr. Andrew Weil, one of the most respected in holistic health, believes that whole turmeric is more effective than isolated curcumin for inflammatory disorders, and I try to keep my supplements as natural and unadulterated as possible. Addendum: If you experience unexplained headache after drinking the tea recipe above, you should first try lowering the amount of oil being added to the tea. If you consume too much fat for your gallbladder to handle, this can cause headaches for many people unbeknownst to them. This is also the reason why you may even experience migraine, right neck/shoulder pain or sometimes pain directly on the upper right abdomen (directly below the rib cage, about an inch off the center) when you eat lots of nuts, seeds or other fatty/rich foods that put strain on the gallbladder. This organ stress causes referred pain up through the spinal cord via the right phrenic nerve that materialize as seemingly irrelevant pains, such as headache or tight painful right shoulder. In addition, while turmeric itself is known to help bile production, you could inadvertently worsen problem if you happened to have bile duct obstruction with inadequate room for the bile excretion. Excess turmeric intake is also observed to aggravate liver and gallbladder that can lead to inflammation (Cholecystitis). Bottom line--please start slowly and see how your body responds.