Antimicrobial Effects of Turmeric (Haldi)

“Hey, put some turmeric on your wound”, is something you get to hear from your elders when ever you get a cut or a wound. As, it is believed that turmeric has a healing power.

Here you are going to find about the antimicrobial effect of turmeric as well as how it really works.

What is an antimicrobial agent?

The word antimicrobial means an agent that kills microorganisms (mainly includes bacteria, viruses & fungi). Term antibiotic is specifically used for bacteria, antifungal/antimycotic for fungi and agents protecting you from viruses are simply known as antiviral agents. 

Surprisingly, turmeric has been found to have activity against all these microorganisms thus it is referred as an “antimicrobial” agent.  

Antibacterial Activity

Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) are bacteria normally found in/on human body. Although, these bacteria act in favor of humans but they are known as opportunist pathogens. As soon as they get an opportunity to harm human body, they do. From insignificant skin infections like pimples to life-threatening diseases like pneumonia and meningitis are caused by S. aureus. An observational study published in 2015, showed that turmeric inhibits the growth of S. aureus and E. coli.

Antiviral Activity

Lack of effective medication against viruses keep them an important topic for researchers. Who are trying every possible way to look for effective ways to stop viral infections. Plant extracts keeps the scientists interested as these extracts are found to have several biological activities. An article from the Journal of BioMed Research International shows inhibitory activities of turmeric and its different biological conjugates against viruses (including Herpes and influenza virus).

Antifungal Activity

Similar to bacteria and viruses, scientists had work on the part of controlling fungal pathogens as well. Candida albicans is a fungus commonly found in gut and mouth of 40-60% of healthy humans. Being an opportunistic pathogen, it can cause variety of infection including vulvovaginal candidiasis. An article published in the Journal of Food Science and Technology mentions that the turmeric extracts resulted in suppression of several fungal pathogenic species including Candida albicans. 

Generations after generations, people have believed in the healing power of turmeric. Apart from just the spice used in cooking, it has been linked to healing as well as an important part of beauty and skin products.

But have you ever wondered how turmeric actually works?

Turmeric is a beautiful, yellow-orange spice that belongs to ginger family. The health benefits of turmeric come from its bioactive component called as curcumin. Degradation of curcumin results in variety of stable products that are involved in various effects. This bioactive component comes with an antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties that aids in healing the wound.

All this concludes that its not a myth that “Turmeric has an antimicrobial property” rather it’s a scientifically proven fact. Nature never stops surprising us, and this indeed is something quite interesting. Just a minor plant extract brings a lot of advantages for human beings.