We look at whether golfers can benefit from taking turmeric supplements as part of their diet and look at some recipes to help easily incorporate turmeric into a balanced diet.
Can Golfers Benefit From Taking Turmeric?
Have you read anything recently or spoken to a friend who may have mentioned the word turmeric, the kind of orange looking spice? Chances are that if you enjoy a little bit of education on nutrition then you may have heard of this.
Recently, turmeric has entered the role of sports nutrition, but what is it and what does the current evidence say?
Curcumin is the main phenolic compound in turmeric. It has been investigated recently due to its numerous medicinal properties and health benefits. Is this important for golfers you may ask, and if so how and why?
In a recent review article, authors assessed the available evidence about the potential effects of curcumin supplementation on sport and physical exercise. Golf is a physical exercise and depending on the length of the round, how many hills and whether you have another round tomorrow, you may experience elements of muscle soreness or inflammation that you will want to ease as quickly as possible. Personally, for me, my knees experience a little bit of swelling after a long round of golf and I always feel this when I sit down in the clubhouse at the end of the day.
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Back to the research. The main take-homes from the review article were that most of the studies displayed positive effects of the curcumin supplementation for athletes and physical exercise. Even better, no side effects were reported from consuming turmeric.
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In particular, participants supplemented with curcumin displayed reduced inflammation and oxidative stress, decreased pain and muscle damage, superior recovery and muscle performance, better psychological and physiological responses (thermal and cardiovascular) during training and improved gastrointestinal function.
So, in summary, Curcumin supplementation appears to be safe and beneficial for sport and physical exercise in human beings and I would advise increasing intake for golfers.
How about a food first recipe to ramp up your turmeric and curcumin intake?
Golden Milk Latte
Ingredients:
1 cup almond milk
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
Pinch of cayenne
1/8 teaspoon cloves
Pinch of pepper
Small piece of peeled ginger (or 1/4 teaspoon dried ginger)
1/2–1 tablespoon honey
Even better and probably handier for the golfer on the course, small 60ml shot size turmeric drinks can be taken on the course in the golf bag or kept in the locker to be taken after the round. Either way, I would recommend consuming 1 of these turmeric shots per day to help with soreness and inflammation.