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Personal anecdote: was born and brought up in south India and my grandma used to make me drink turmeric + ground black pepper milk every night. It was a standar

Personal anecdote: was born and brought up in south India and my grandma used to make me drink turmeric + ground black pepper milk every night. It was a standard practice to serve it with black pepper, even though I’m sure they didn’t really know about bioavailability. Kids were forced to drink it when they have the flu. Used to hate it as a kid, but of late I’ve been looking to replace one coffee/tea with turmeric milk.

Florin_Andrei 9y ago
Just curious: what's the amount of each ingredient that goes in one drink?
- moab 9y ago
  About a half-teaspoon or so of turmeric, and about a teaspoon of black pepper. A teaspoon of black pepper might be a bit aggressive, so adjust it to suit your taste, but my mom seems to think lots of pepper is necessary to reduce coughing/phlegm when you're down with a cold.
- Karupan 9y ago
  200ml of hot (not boiling) milk 1 tsp of ground turmeric powder A pinch or two ground black pepper If you’re not used to turmeric, I’d suggest starting with half tsp as it’s got quite a strong flavour (especially when not cooked with other spices)
  - gopalv 9y ago
    > 200ml of hot (not boiling) milk If you're lactose intolerant, you can do this with yoghurt with a little water & salt instead. Since this usually happens when I do have a cold, my laziness translates into a coffee cup of yoghurt + water + 1 minute in a microwave to zap all the bacteria out of it.
    - contingencies 9y ago
      There is a school of thought that the worst thing to consume in case of a cold is dairy.
      - nathan_f77 9y ago
        I think that's an old wives' tale. There's probably a better article somewhere, but I found this one: http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20170421-should-you-avoid-ice-cream-when-you-have-a-cold http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20170421-should-you-avoid-ic...
        carlmr 9y ago
        Turmeric is an Indian old wives' tale apparently.
  - Florin_Andrei 9y ago
    Speaking as an European not used to very spicy food, it's not the turmeric I'm worried about, it's the black pepper. But a pinch or two seems fine. I'll give it a try. If my mouth catches on fire, I know who to blame. :)
gopalv 9y ago
> was born and brought up in south India and my grandma used to make me drink turmeric + ground black pepper milk every night I grew up in a part of South India with a fairly high natural background radiation (thorium, mostly) and I did wonder if the practice boosted survival via accidental cancer protection from an alpha decay environment. Natural selection is weird because the goal of taking turmeric might have nothing to do with the survival advantages.
- luka-birsa 9y ago
  Not sure if high natural background radiation really means more cancer. I tried searching but I cant find a study where apartment builings in Japan were inadvertently built using steel laced with radioactive elements. People (10000) were living in them for decades. Statistical analysis on them showed lower affinity for cancer related deaseses.
  - gopalv 9y ago
    > inadvertently built using steel laced with radioactive elements. > Statistical analysis on them showed lower affinity for cancer Radiation Hormesis might be real (I hope so), but if it gets through drywall, it would be a different form of radioactivity to the one I grew up around. Alpha decay needs just a simple sheet of paper (or dead skin cells) to stop the radiation, but it messes with DNA if you happen to eat it or breathe it. That's the one from Th-232, in comparison bananas are also naturally radioactive, but the K-40 emits beta particles, which doesn't cause as much damage. Alpha decay is what a cup of Polonium tea would have (from the infamous assassination).
    - luka-birsa 9y ago
      Found the study - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2477708/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2477708/ It wasn't Japan, but Taiwan.
deleted 9y ago
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Florin_Andrei 9y ago

Just curious: what's the amount of each ingredient that goes in one drink?

moab 9y ago
About a half-teaspoon or so of turmeric, and about a teaspoon of black pepper. A teaspoon of black pepper might be a bit aggressive, so adjust it to suit your taste, but my mom seems to think lots of pepper is necessary to reduce coughing/phlegm when you're down with a cold.
Karupan 9y ago
200ml of hot (not boiling) milk 1 tsp of ground turmeric powder A pinch or two ground black pepper If you’re not used to turmeric, I’d suggest starting with half tsp as it’s got quite a strong flavour (especially when not cooked with other spices)
- gopalv 9y ago
  > 200ml of hot (not boiling) milk If you're lactose intolerant, you can do this with yoghurt with a little water & salt instead. Since this usually happens when I do have a cold, my laziness translates into a coffee cup of yoghurt + water + 1 minute in a microwave to zap all the bacteria out of it.
  - contingencies 9y ago
    There is a school of thought that the worst thing to consume in case of a cold is dairy.
    - nathan_f77 9y ago
      I think that's an old wives' tale. There's probably a better article somewhere, but I found this one: http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20170421-should-you-avoid-ice-cream-when-you-have-a-cold http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20170421-should-you-avoid-ic...
      - carlmr 9y ago
        Turmeric is an Indian old wives' tale apparently.
- Florin_Andrei 9y ago
  Speaking as an European not used to very spicy food, it's not the turmeric I'm worried about, it's the black pepper. But a pinch or two seems fine. I'll give it a try. If my mouth catches on fire, I know who to blame. :)

gopalv 9y ago

> was born and brought up in south India and my grandma used to make me drink turmeric + ground black pepper milk every night I grew up in a part of South India with a fairly high natural background radiation (thorium, mostly) and I did wonder if the practice boosted survival via accidental cancer protection from an alpha decay environment. Natural selection is weird because the goal of taking turmeric might have nothing to do with the survival advantages.

luka-birsa 9y ago
Not sure if high natural background radiation really means more cancer. I tried searching but I cant find a study where apartment builings in Japan were inadvertently built using steel laced with radioactive elements. People (10000) were living in them for decades. Statistical analysis on them showed lower affinity for cancer related deaseses.
- gopalv 9y ago
  > inadvertently built using steel laced with radioactive elements. > Statistical analysis on them showed lower affinity for cancer Radiation Hormesis might be real (I hope so), but if it gets through drywall, it would be a different form of radioactivity to the one I grew up around. Alpha decay needs just a simple sheet of paper (or dead skin cells) to stop the radiation, but it messes with DNA if you happen to eat it or breathe it. That's the one from Th-232, in comparison bananas are also naturally radioactive, but the K-40 emits beta particles, which doesn't cause as much damage. Alpha decay is what a cup of Polonium tea would have (from the infamous assassination).
  - luka-birsa 9y ago
    Found the study - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2477708/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2477708/ It wasn't Japan, but Taiwan.

deleted 9y ago

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