Tumeric - Be Aware of Lead

Well great, another case of self induced poisoning via something that is supposed to be healthy. I have been putting tumeric, organic and "pure" from India, for a few years now as a daily regimen in my smoothie. Numerous people have been putting it in their coffee as well. Turmeric has great benefits * including anti-inflammatory properties, pain relief, improving liver function and some protection against cancer. Turmeric even touts ability to improve cognition. Great, right? Well sure if it is not laden with lead!

A yellow pigment used to enhance the bright colour of turmeric is posing a direct threat to public health, according to a new study. For years, it's been clear that lead exposure among women and children in rural Bangladesh is dangerously high. In some regions, up to half of all residents have shown elevated levels of this neurotoxin in their blood. Since 2014, researchers at Stanford University have been trying to figure out why; now, the team's newest findings suggest a shocking twist - the country's most popular spice is at least partly to blame. Analysing soil samples and gathering interviews with farmers and spice makers, researchers have found lead levels in turmeric that exceed national limits by up to 500 fold. "We went into this thinking that perhaps there's sources of lead in the environment. Maybe it's the soil or the water. Maybe from lead soldered pipes," explains Jenna Forsyth, who researches child health in low-income countries in a recent video from Stanford. "When you see that it's actually lead that's being added to the food. It's added directly to something that's being consumed. That was just shocking."

I thought that bright yellow color was natural. The yellow color is from curcumin added to turmeric and the curcumin absorbs the lead from the soil. Turmeric is more beneficial than curcumin comparatively, so try and find pure turmeric by itself. It is sad that most of the turmeric we consume comes from India. So heads up when buying tumeric. Seems Hawaii grows some good turmeric

To achieve this, the team from Stanford visited the top nine districts for turmeric production in Bangladesh, as well as two districts that produce relatively little of the spice. In each location, the researchers conducted interviews with people who produce, consume and regulate turmeric - a total of 154 conversations, right across the supply chain. What's more, the researchers also collected samples of turmeric, pigments, dust, and soil from both wholesale and retail markets. In 7 out of the 9 districts, the researchers found turmeric contaminated by lead-based yellow pigment. But the best evidence of contamination was their isotope analysis - which is sort-of like a chemical fingerprint. The lead isotope they discovered in turmeric matched the lead isotopes found in the people's bloodwork.

Source

a reply to: waftist

Yes, a number of plants sequester heavy metals quite readily, rice, horsetail, nettles, however depending on where theyre harvested/grown heavy meyals like lead are less than an Organic carrot in your grocery store.

There are excellent Trurmeric products available from many reputable companies, I recommend a little due dilligence, all CGMP supplemrnt companies mist micro test and test for heavies.

a reply to: waftist

Thanks for posting this info.
Am a consumer of turmeric supplements, and also a lot of powder in our meals.

There appears to be a bit of a contradiction later in the article, or perhaps it's just my misunderstanding:

First they say the contamined product is only distributed in Bangladesh:

For now, there's no evidence that adulterated turmeric is reaching consumers outside of Bangladesh, but it's also important to remember that humanity shares a global food supply.

Then they mention recalls of exported product recalls:

Since 2011, more than a dozen brands of this spice, exported by Bangladesh and India, have been recalled due excessive lead concentrations. The consequences of a contaminated batch slipping through the cracks could be serious.

a reply to: waftist

btw, curcumin is a constituent of Turmeric. Solvent extracts attemptingvto creat 95% curcumin to match recent studies is the problem, they concentrate curcumins and spike whole material...again only buy CGMP or Organic product...the audit trail is right there.

whole Turmeic is bright yellow wjen cross sectioned
The genus for turmeric= Curcuma Spcies: longa

a reply to: waftist

Fudge that then, did not like how it stained everything anyway,

Thanks for the heads up,

if i miss it, most likely it is easy to grow your own lead free tumerics.

a reply to: BlueJacket

Yea I was a bit confused on the distinction between the turmeric and curcumin, thx. I believe you can get turmeric without curcumin though. I was unaware of the CGMP process so thx again. I guess they can test for heavy metals. I just got back from health store and almost bought a bag red beet powder, USDA organic and it actually had a warning about trace amounts of lead. Man I have been consuming that daily for years also. Hell I better look into detoxing myself now, ha.

I assume lead is in most soil in general, to various degrees and I guess a little may be acceptable, but over a lifetime of fruit/vegetable consumption, it sounds dangerous. Here's a little info on that...pretty informative.

a reply to: Nothin

Hey Nothin, ye I saw that , and then it says this:

Since 2011, more than a dozen brands of this spice, exported by Bangladesh and India, have been recalled due excessive lead concentrations. The consequences of a contaminated batch slipping through the cracks could be serious.

I'm going to try the Hawaiian brand

a reply to: waftist

understood, but curcumanoids are the active compound in Turmeric, naturally, so no, all have it, but all do not have 95%.

Its a great herb, but theres a glut of unscrupulous companies nowadays.

Ive worked in alternative healthcare coming onc30 years, happy to answer whst I can.

a reply to: BlueJacket

Indeed a great herb, I think I may start growing it myself Along with red beets..
This is what I drink every other day, in hopes of optimizing my health.
I have added black seed and chicory root(good for gut biome) and Ashwagandha as well.

Turmeric is a sulfur containing product. It can be used to chelate metals out of the body, sometimes to fast which causes complications. It also can uptake lead and mercury and some other metals from the soil it is grown in. Many sulfur foods seem to have that problem.

Because the sulfur is a chelator, it can also chelate metals into the plants from the soils or water used to irrigate them. Asparagus grown on land high in arsenic and rice grown in areas with arsenic have a similar property, they can suck up the arsenic. Rice does not contain much sulfur, but the plant can still do this and I have not researched why rice can do it. Maybe the plant itself has lots of sulfur, but that is a guess.

I do not use Turmeric much, I do have mustard on my sandwiches sometimes and keep turmeric in the cupboard. I personally think it is not that great of a chemistry. I would rather use onions and garlic to do what I need done. My ancestors used onions for many generations, Turmeric was not consumed except in mustard. Any food that is touted as a super food I avoid. Usually it is just a sales promotion when they do that.

Turmeric is a useful medicine, I will always have it in my cupboard for when I need it. I was aware that turmeric can be contaminated quite a few years ago, but I never considered lead as a problem, I figured mercury would be more of a problem. Here is an article that addresses chelation properties. Note that too much Turmeric too fast can make a person sick too, it frees too much heavy metals into the body from the cells if not feathered in properly. A person should slowly integrate theols and sulfur foods into the diet.

www.livingnetwork.co.za... A way to get the lead out.....note that molybdenum is listed on the end of the article, as it helps with detoxing other heavy metals out of the body via the sulfur pathways. Do not start a thiol chealation therapy too quickly, slow and increasing over months is best.

Turmeric is not the only way to lower inflammation.

a reply to: rickymouse

Interesting, thx for your input and the link

a reply to: waftist

Went to check my supplements.
Must have read it wrong in the pharmacy, because it says:
"Lead supplements. May contain curcuma".

Naaaaaaaaaaa!

originally posted by: Nothin
a reply to: waftist

Went to check my supplements.
Must have read it wrong in the pharmacy, because it says:
"Lead supplements. May contain curcuma".

Naaaaaaaaaaa!

.

Had to put a period in between the lols. One sentence posts aren't supposed to happen, that is two sentences.

You should not take turmeric on its own, anyway, because it does not have beneficial medical effects unless it is taken with black pepper (preferably with cooked food), which increases its anti-oxising potency by 2000%.

So is not buying products from india the best way to avoid this?

IMPORTANT NEW INFO

So I thought the added yellow color was curcumin, and the lead was from the soil, but apparently a lead based pigment(lead chromate), the same used to color toys, is the actual culprit. Yikes!

Demand for bright yellow curry led turmeric processors to add lead chromate an industrial yellow pigment commonly used to color toys and furniture—to their product. The practice continued as a cheap, fast way to produce a desirable color.

Source

Doing some research I found various brands that test for lead but the product is, to no surprise, expensive. Example. You can also put "lead tested turmeric" in Amazon search bar and find brands.
As a poster above mentioned the (C)GMP labels signify testing for heavy metals.

Supposedly you can test your own turmeric, to some degree by:

3. The water test: This is one of the easiest ways to look out for adulteration. Take some warm water in a glass and drop a teaspoon of turmeric on the surface. Do not stir or mix it. Leave it for about 20 minutes and then check again. If the sediments settle down at the bottom of the glass and clear water stays above, your turmeric powder is pure. But if the water turns cloudy, it is possibly adulterated.

I'm off to try this. I use Feel Good brand, from India..for now, but it says nothing about testing for lead.

a reply to: waftist

So, lead chromate is being added to enhance the color of turmeric sometimes? That means that contaminated soil is not the only reason for high lead. That die has not been legal to add to food for a very long time in many countries of the world.

I think there are some that have known of this going on for a very long time. But nothing has been said about it till they figured out exactly how lead was getting put into the turmeric. So much for trusting our food regulation organization to test things. I wonder if the FDA even has anyone testing anymore?

originally posted by: blueman12
So is not buying products from india the best way to avoid this?

Yes, even better grow your own ,it's very easy to grow.

agreed: don't know how anyone trusts a pound of yellow powder in a cheap bag with cheap label from whatever for whatever price as 100% pure haldi powder!

it takes longer than ginger to sprout and needs more warmth and nitrogen to get growing (does great with halg composted cow chicken or rabbit manure and other half composted kitchen/garden scraps) but once its takes off, its fun to finally pull a few roots at a time, wash, and throw in smoothie or cooking or just eat raw.

heard a dash of black/white pepper helps absorption?

a reply to: rickymouse

Yea man, that article was from 2 days ago and yes it probably is illegal to use that pigment ,but you know India, like China, utilizes subpar regulations and enforcement when it comes to health safety. I tell ya ricky, I'm a little tee'd off about the whole thing! Not only have I been poisoning myself consuming this stuff almost daily for 3 years now, but think of how many people globally consume it! Hell I have had muscle aches, foggy thinking and some fatigue the last year and I thought(and it may be) that I was just getting old, even though I run 25 miles a week, and have done so for 10 years. I don't know man, but I am going to schedule a doctor visit and have my lead levels checked real soon. I will report them here afterwards.

I did the water test with my brand(organic, non-gmo) and it remained cloudy yellow. I emailed the company to inquire about their testing for lead and I look forward to their reply. Their page, with all the high quality graphics and appealing literature mentions nothing about testing, I sent them a link to the phys.org article too.