Dr. Deanna Minnick
Appearances
Dhru Purohit Show
12 Foods and Spices with Incredible Benefits and the Fascinating Research Behind Them
Sure. Most of the foods that we're cooking, especially under dry, hot heat, forms these damaging inflammatory compounds. And in fact, it's been shown that those compounds, which are called ages, advanced glycation end products, and even the acronym is AGE. So these things age you.
Dhru Purohit Show
12 Foods and Spices with Incredible Benefits and the Fascinating Research Behind Them
Studies are showing that spices can help to overturn those advanced glycation end products, that formation in foods when we're cooking them.
Dhru Purohit Show
12 Foods and Spices with Incredible Benefits and the Fascinating Research Behind Them
That's right. So heat... catalyzes that reaction. So if you have a food with carbohydrate and that food also has things like amino acids from the protein or fatty acids from the fat, in the presence of the heat, these things can come together in complex That is what is called the advanced glycation end product.
Dhru Purohit Show
12 Foods and Spices with Incredible Benefits and the Fascinating Research Behind Them
In the body, those damaged compounds go into the cell and basically upregulate inflammation. So spices block that connection between the carbohydrate and the fat and the protein. They prevent that complex from forming.
Dhru Purohit Show
12 Foods and Spices with Incredible Benefits and the Fascinating Research Behind Them
Well, I think spices can be used for so many reasons, right? I mean, yes, perhaps there was something that we just intuited about our food in the cooking process with the advent of fire and cooking food that we needed to bring in certain plants in order to protect us from that cooking process. I also think, Drew, though, I mean, spices just make food taste good. They just taste good. Come on.
Dhru Purohit Show
12 Foods and Spices with Incredible Benefits and the Fascinating Research Behind Them
I mean, you're the guy from India talking with me about spices. I mean, you know, one of the things about age is too that I want to mention is in functional medicine, we talk a lot about how inflammation is the foundation for so many chronic diseases. It's the foundation for accelerating the aging process.
Dhru Purohit Show
12 Foods and Spices with Incredible Benefits and the Fascinating Research Behind Them
Another interesting tidbit about these advanced glycation end products is that they may be implicated in food allergy. So your question about like, if we just go back in time, you know, did spices evolve like the whole spice trade? Because why were they so desirable? Yeah, they were precious in terms of being medicine and healing and good for foods and they smelled good, they tasted good.
Dhru Purohit Show
12 Foods and Spices with Incredible Benefits and the Fascinating Research Behind Them
But I'm wondering if Our use of spices now in modern day, if we need to ramp it up and amp it up because we are seeing increased food allergy, we are seeing increased inflammatory states. So I'm thinking, you know, back to what you're saying, if we look at history, when spices were traded and they were seen as like gems, they were desirable.
Dhru Purohit Show
12 Foods and Spices with Incredible Benefits and the Fascinating Research Behind Them
People would go and trade amongst different countries for these spices.
Dhru Purohit Show
12 Foods and Spices with Incredible Benefits and the Fascinating Research Behind Them
Wars were started.
Dhru Purohit Show
12 Foods and Spices with Incredible Benefits and the Fascinating Research Behind Them
I'm actually gonna give you five. Okay, great.
Dhru Purohit Show
12 Foods and Spices with Incredible Benefits and the Fascinating Research Behind Them
So there was a study, and this is on slide 37, where I actually detail the study. And there are a number of studies on this. So I'm just giving you one, and it's one of the most recent studies. In this study, they looked at 14 different spices to look at whether or not they helped to inhibit ages. And what they found was that there were basically these five.
Dhru Purohit Show
12 Foods and Spices with Incredible Benefits and the Fascinating Research Behind Them
They had star anise, cinnamon, allspice, cloves, and oregano. Now, some of these spices have actually been shown in other studies to be good for preventing ages. The one that was new, though, was star anise. Some people like to say star anise or, you know, you can say these spices in a variety of different ways. But actually, star anise was the top.
Dhru Purohit Show
12 Foods and Spices with Incredible Benefits and the Fascinating Research Behind Them
So it helped to prevent these ages from forming by 88%. Then if you look at some of the other ones, cinnamon, 85%, allspice, 81%, and cloves, 79%. Oregano was good for preventing a certain kind of age and forming, one that corresponded to more sugar, like glucose. So it's kind of interesting to see these top five. So this is... Again, very new research.
Dhru Purohit Show
12 Foods and Spices with Incredible Benefits and the Fascinating Research Behind Them
If we look at the study, you know, it's newer research. There are other studies looking at where you take a spice blend, you put that in hamburger meat before you cook, then you subject it to the heat and you start to see this reduction in ages and a number of other compounds that form.
Dhru Purohit Show
12 Foods and Spices with Incredible Benefits and the Fascinating Research Behind Them
You know, I don't know if we know that for sure, but I'm going to postulate what I think it is. Please. Because I think you and I are thinking the same thing right now. It might be the presence of these polyphenols. Polyphenols are a very specific category of phytochemicals. They're actually the largest category of phytochemicals. About 8,000 different polyphenols are known to exist.
Dhru Purohit Show
12 Foods and Spices with Incredible Benefits and the Fascinating Research Behind Them
And spices are very concentrated in polyphenols. In fact, if you took a fresh herb and compared it against a dry spice, you would find that there are many more times in the way of polyphenols in the dried spice because it's so concentrated. So I think that the polyphenols are probably blocking that inflammatory reaction. But in terms of the exact mechanism, I don't know if we know that exactly.
Dhru Purohit Show
12 Foods and Spices with Incredible Benefits and the Fascinating Research Behind Them
It could also be just a general antioxidant effect, looking at reducing oxidative stress. So I think that the polyphenols might be the secret sauce here, but it'd be nice to have some science to back that up.
Dhru Purohit Show
12 Foods and Spices with Incredible Benefits and the Fascinating Research Behind Them
Well, the gut microorganisms love to feed on polyphenols. And so 90 to 95% of these polyphenols don't get absorbed. They actually hang around in the gut. They make their way into the colon and then the colonic bacteria start to metabolize those polyphenols.
Dhru Purohit Show
12 Foods and Spices with Incredible Benefits and the Fascinating Research Behind Them
And the end results of those metabolites, sometimes they get absorbed and they start to have that gut brain connection and they start to have their neuroprotective type of properties. So we see far-reaching effects of these polyphenols, even if they're in the gut and not being absorbed systemically.
Dhru Purohit Show
12 Foods and Spices with Incredible Benefits and the Fascinating Research Behind Them
There are very simple polyphenols, like we might find in a cup of coffee or in a cup of tea, and there are more complex polyphenols that we might find in something like pomegranate or walnuts, or even some of these spices.
Dhru Purohit Show
12 Foods and Spices with Incredible Benefits and the Fascinating Research Behind Them
So I think that the polyphenols are one category, but as we would see with turmeric, with turmeric, what we actually see is we have curcuminoids, which could play very nicely with polyphenols. And we know that those curcuminoids don't tend to be absorbed just like the polyphenols. So I think you're right, Drew.
Dhru Purohit Show
12 Foods and Spices with Incredible Benefits and the Fascinating Research Behind Them
A lot of these effects are actually experienced at the level of the gut, and not everything that we take in needs to be absorbed to have an effect. Sometimes it's the metabolism of what we take in, like these spices, that can ultimately be signaling throughout the body.
Dhru Purohit Show
12 Foods and Spices with Incredible Benefits and the Fascinating Research Behind Them
It is a fair statement. In fact, there's been a study looking at people following a low polyphenol diet and they see differences in their gut microbiome. So they see lower bifidobacteria and bifidobacteria are associated with things like immune health, mental health, just establishing a better gut milieu. So I think that what we're seeing is that because of this lack of diversity in feeding at a
Dhru Purohit Show
12 Foods and Spices with Incredible Benefits and the Fascinating Research Behind Them
at this gut terrain level, all of these microorganisms with things like spices, which would be heavy hitters in the way of these polyphenols, that we're starting to see changes in the gut microbiome. So we can help to undo. It's not like you can undo a bad diet or a highly... well, very processed, ultra-processed diet.
Dhru Purohit Show
12 Foods and Spices with Incredible Benefits and the Fascinating Research Behind Them
Although some of the studies would suggest that by adding in even small amounts of spices that you can help to reestablish the gut microbiome in as little as two days. So there can be very acute effects of spices on the gut microbiome.
Dhru Purohit Show
12 Foods and Spices with Incredible Benefits and the Fascinating Research Behind Them
I think that if you were just to say, Deanna, what are the most well-studied spices, and I want the biggest bang for my buck, I'm actually going to tell you it's turmeric.
Dhru Purohit Show
12 Foods and Spices with Incredible Benefits and the Fascinating Research Behind Them
Yes.
Dhru Purohit Show
12 Foods and Spices with Incredible Benefits and the Fascinating Research Behind Them
Yeah, let's talk about it so that it does fit.
Dhru Purohit Show
12 Foods and Spices with Incredible Benefits and the Fascinating Research Behind Them
Yeah, I do.
Dhru Purohit Show
12 Foods and Spices with Incredible Benefits and the Fascinating Research Behind Them
Turmeric is a root. And the thing with turmeric is that So I get all these interesting questions about, you know, it can come as a dietary supplement. Should you take the skin off? Should you have it as the root? Should you have it as the whole food in a smoothie? I would say to diversify even how you use turmeric. Use it as the root, as the whole food form.
Dhru Purohit Show
12 Foods and Spices with Incredible Benefits and the Fascinating Research Behind Them
And I like it with the skin on so that I'm getting those additional phytochemicals and fiber. And I also like it as a spice. It's pretty concentrated in the curcuminoid family. It is, I would say, the most well-studied spice. I don't know why that is. It doesn't mean that the others are insignificant.
Dhru Purohit Show
12 Foods and Spices with Incredible Benefits and the Fascinating Research Behind Them
But I think because there's been interest in looking at cultures that live the longest, and India has... definitely held that longevity status for some time. So I think that there was speculation, is it because of the turmeric? And you're going to find turmeric in curry powder.
Dhru Purohit Show
12 Foods and Spices with Incredible Benefits and the Fascinating Research Behind Them
And what's really interesting, because I love diversity and bringing in the blends, which are oftentimes complimentary in their activity, curry powder tends to have about five different spices. but I have found one at the store. I actually read the label because I want the most amount in my curry powder. So I have found one with turmeric, of course, but then 11 total spices in my curry powder.
Dhru Purohit Show
12 Foods and Spices with Incredible Benefits and the Fascinating Research Behind Them
So I like that because I think turmeric plays well with other spices, especially black pepper. I mean, there is kind of like this brother sister relationship between those two. One is helping the other. So the black pepper, just a little bit, and the ratio between black pepper to turmeric is like 20 milligrams of black pepper as that powder. and about 2000 milligrams of turmeric powder.
Dhru Purohit Show
12 Foods and Spices with Incredible Benefits and the Fascinating Research Behind Them
So then you enhance bioavailability. And we can talk later about how that happens, but essentially turmeric and black pepper work well together. So when you're using turmeric, there's a hack. The hack is the black pepper, which contains piperine, which slows the metabolism of turmeric in the body. The other hack is bringing in oil.
Dhru Purohit Show
12 Foods and Spices with Incredible Benefits and the Fascinating Research Behind Them
And you would know this from Indian cooking of, you know, first having turmeric and a lot of the spices that are introduced early on in the meal with oil. So, right, you get kind of this toasting or this, I would call it more of like a flavor enhancement effect. Because, you know, people ask, you know, when do you add turmeric? When do you add spices?
Dhru Purohit Show
12 Foods and Spices with Incredible Benefits and the Fascinating Research Behind Them
And I would say every stretch of the way, especially to help with those advanced glycation end products. Most importantly is to bring turmeric, especially into things like hamburger meat before it has been cooked. So that is most important is before you actually apply the heat to make sure that you've got those spices in your meal. And for some of them,
Dhru Purohit Show
12 Foods and Spices with Incredible Benefits and the Fascinating Research Behind Them
Toasting can bring out the aromatic properties. And just even smelling spices is actually going to help our digestion because we're going to start to salivate. We're going to start to release those digestive secretions. So just even smelling the spices in the cooking process is going to be helpful.
Dhru Purohit Show
12 Foods and Spices with Incredible Benefits and the Fascinating Research Behind Them
Well, that would be a double whammy right there, like an immune enhancing combination, having turmeric with honey, because honey has so many different immune active agents and turmeric is so anti-inflammatory and it's been proposed that it has like something like 50 different healing actions in the body. So that makes sense that your family would be doing that, actually.
Dhru Purohit Show
12 Foods and Spices with Incredible Benefits and the Fascinating Research Behind Them
There's definitely literature on that, looking at rates of dementia, looking at India, and looking at that association. between curry powder consumption or even turmeric and those rates. And it makes sense because essentially what we're doing is, again, reducing a lot of inflammatory cytokines that would be implicated in neuroinflammation.
Dhru Purohit Show
12 Foods and Spices with Incredible Benefits and the Fascinating Research Behind Them
So I would say if you wanna protect your brain to be taking in turmeric, to take in turmeric powder with some regularity. Now, the thing with turmeric powder that I do wanna caution people with, because now we're making it sound like, wow, it's this wonder, almost like a medicinal spice, but it's almost sounding like too good to be true. And there are some things that we need to be aware of.
Dhru Purohit Show
12 Foods and Spices with Incredible Benefits and the Fascinating Research Behind Them
So with turmeric and with a number of these different spices, because they can be very potent, even in small amounts. So when we're talking amounts, let's just delve into that for a second. In India, the amounts of spice use ranges between like seven and a half to 10 grams a day. For most people, the benefits could be reached between one and six grams. Now that seems like a small amount.
Dhru Purohit Show
12 Foods and Spices with Incredible Benefits and the Fascinating Research Behind Them
That's about a teaspoon of a spice spread out throughout a day. That doesn't seem like a lot, but because they're very impactful, they can actually change up how we metabolize medications. So if people are on things that would change their blood clotting or their blood pressure, they may actually start to need less of those medications.
Dhru Purohit Show
12 Foods and Spices with Incredible Benefits and the Fascinating Research Behind Them
So they need to be aware if they start to just get just all enamored with spices after this podcast, just to kind of dive right in and start trying these things out in the kitchen, that there needs to be some up-leveling in terms of smaller amounts you use, especially if you do have a lot of these medications that you're taking.
Dhru Purohit Show
12 Foods and Spices with Incredible Benefits and the Fascinating Research Behind Them
The other thing with turmeric that I want to mention by way of this is that it can tend to be high in oxalates. So even at that teaspoon level, there can be certain amounts of types of oxalates, the more soluble oxalates that could get into the body. So for people with things like
Dhru Purohit Show
12 Foods and Spices with Incredible Benefits and the Fascinating Research Behind Them
a greater risk of renal stones or kidney issues or just, there are some people who are hyper oxalate absorbers and they're hyper stone formers. It's just something to think about. I'm not saying that we need to not, I feel like I'm taking your beautiful message and now saying like, yes, but because these spices are powerful, we just have to look at all sides of them.
Dhru Purohit Show
12 Foods and Spices with Incredible Benefits and the Fascinating Research Behind Them
That is correct. And again, if we just go back to thinking in our mind's eye of a teaspoon, what does a teaspoon look like? You know, it's not a lot. It's about four to five grams. So just a little bit. And this is why I like spice blends. You know, you can make your own spice blends at home where you take turmeric and you put it together with ginger or maybe some black pepper.
Dhru Purohit Show
12 Foods and Spices with Incredible Benefits and the Fascinating Research Behind Them
So you don't have this high concentration of turmeric, but you're actually potentiating the turmeric by including some of those other spices.