Those who sit most of the day and are unable to use a standing or treadmill desk, or take frequent breaks from sitting, should consider the regular ingestion of the spice turmeric to protect endothelial function.
Turmeric Curcumin vs. Exercise for Artery Function
4.5/5 - (45 votes)
The average American spends most of their waking life sitting down, which is associated with an increased risk of death even among people who go to the gym after work and exercise regularly.
“Sedentary” comes from the Latin word meaning “to sit”, but just because you’re sitting doesn’t mean you’re sedentary. They aren’t sedentary, she isn’t sedentary; we’re talking about not just sitting, but sitting without doing much of anything. And doing lots of that may double our risk of diabetes and heart disease and significantly shorten our lifespan, even at the highest levels of physical activity. Sitting six or more hours a day may increase mortality rates even among those running or swimming an hour a day every day–seven days a week. Why though?
One factor may be endothelial dysfunction, the inability of the inner lining of our blood vessels to relax our arteries normally in response to blood flow. Just like our muscles atrophy if we don’t use them, when it comes to arterial function it may be use it or lose it as well. Increased blood flow promotes a healthy endothelium. The cells lining our arteries can actually sense the sheer force of blood flowing past. That flow is what maintains the stability and integrity of the inner lining of our arteries. Without that constant tugging flow, we may set ourselves up for heart disease.
What if sitting all day is part of our job, though? Well I’ve talked about using a standing or walking treadmill desk. We actually have some data now, suggesting that treadmill desks may improve the health of office workers without affecting work performance, and walking may be preferable to standing, in terms of clearing fat from our bloodstream, which may also play a role in arterial dysfunction.
What if our office can’t accommodate a standing or walking desk? Within an hour of sitting, blood starts pooling and blood flow starts to stagnate, so the more we can take breaks, where we take a stand for our health, join the wellness uprising, the better. Preliminary evidence from observational studies and interventional studies suggest that regular interruptions in sitting time can be beneficial. And it doesn’t have to be long. Breaks could be as short as one minute, and not necessarily entail “exercise,” just like taking out the trash during commercials or something may be beneficial.
What if we have a job where we’re sitting down and can’t take frequent breaks, like truck driving? Is there any way to improve our endothelial function sitting on our butts? Well, first we need to get rid of our butts. Smoking a single cigarette can significantly impair endothelial function. Lifestyle modification is a desirable way to prevent or treat endothelial dysfunction without the need for drugs.
I’ve talked about the effects of different kinds of foods on endothelial function, and certain foods in particular–nuts and green tea. Well, recently, researchers tried out curcumin, the yellow pigment in the spice turmeric.
They showed that regular ingestion of curcumin, or up to an hour a day of aerobic exercise training, significantly improved endothelial function. And the magnitude of improvement in endothelial function was the same. So does that mean we can just be a couch potato as long as we eat curried potatoes? No, the combination of curcumin and exercise both may work even better than either alone.
To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video. This is just an approximation of the audio contributed by Katie Schloer.
Please consider volunteering to help out on the site.
- N Akazawa, Y Choi, A Miyaki, Y Tanabe, J Sugawara, R Ajisaka, S Maeda. Curcumin ingestion and exercise training improve vascular endothelial function in postmenopausal women. Nutr Res. 2012 Oct;32(10):795-9.
- J Sugawara, N Akazawa, A Miyaki, Y Choi, Y Tanabe, T Imai, S Maeda. Effect of endurance exercise training and curcumin intake on central arterial hemodynamics in postmenopausal women: pilot study. Am J Hypertens. 2012 Jun;25(6):651-6.
- E Shvartz, J G Guame, R T White, R C Reibold. Hemodynamic responses during prolonged sitting. J Appl Physiol Respir Environ Exerc Physiol. 1983 Jun;54(6):1673-80.
- S S Thosar, B D Johnson, J D Johnston, J P Wallace. Sitting and endothelial dysfunction: the role of shear stress. Med Sci Monit. 2012 Dec;18(12):RA173-80.
- N Owen, G N Healy, C E Matthews, D W Dunstan. Too Much Sitting: The Population-Health Science of Sedentary Behavior. Exerc Sport Sci Rev. Jul 2010; 38(3): 105–113.
- M C Peddie, J L Bone, N J Rehrer, C M Skeaff, A R Gray, T L Perry. Breaking prolonged sitting reduces postprandial glycemia i n healthy, normal-weight adults: a randomized crossover trial. Am J Clin Nutr. 2013 Aug;98(2):358-66.
- E G Wilmot, CL Edwardson, F A Ahana, M J Davies, T Gorely, L J Gray, K Khunti, T Yates, S J Biddle. Sedentary time in adults and the association with diabetes, cardiovascular disease and death: systematic review and meta-analysis. Diabetologia. 2012 Nov;55(11):2895-905.
- A V Patel, L Bernstein, A Deka, H S Feigelson, P T Campbell, S M Gapstur, G A Colditz, M J Thun. Leisure time spent sitting in relation to total mortality in a prospective cohort of US adults. Am J Epidemiol. 2010 Aug 15;172(4):419-29.
- M Miyashita, J H Park, M Takahashi, K Suzuki, D Stensel, Y Nakamura. Postprandial lipaemia: effects of sitting, standing and walking in healthy normolipidaemic humans. Int J Sports Med. 2013 Jan;34(1):21-7.
- G A Koepp, C U Manohar, S K McCrady-Spitzer, A Ben-Ner, D J Harnann, C F Runge, J A Levine.. Treadmill desks: A 1-year prospective trial. Obesity (Silver Spring). 2013 Apr;21(4):705-11.
- G N Healy, C E Matthews, D W Dunstan, E A Winkler, N Owen. Sedentary time and cardio-metabolic biomarkers in US adults: NHANES 2003-06. Eur Heart J. 2011 Mar;32(5):590-7.
- G N Healy D W Dunstan, J Salmon, E Cerin, J E Shaw, P Z Zimmet, N Owen. Breaks in sedentary time: beneficial associations with metabolic risk. Diabetes Care. 2008 Apr;31(4):661-6.
- AM Esen, I Barutcu, M Acar, et al. Effect of smoking on endothelial function and wall thickness of brachial artery. Circ J. 2004 Dec;68(12):1123-6.
Images thanks to Ergotron via juststand.org and Mootown and Wielerpro.nl via Flickr.
The average American spends most of their waking life sitting down, which is associated with an increased risk of death even among people who go to the gym after work and exercise regularly.
“Sedentary” comes from the Latin word meaning “to sit”, but just because you’re sitting doesn’t mean you’re sedentary. They aren’t sedentary, she isn’t sedentary; we’re talking about not just sitting, but sitting without doing much of anything. And doing lots of that may double our risk of diabetes and heart disease and significantly shorten our lifespan, even at the highest levels of physical activity. Sitting six or more hours a day may increase mortality rates even among those running or swimming an hour a day every day–seven days a week. Why though?
One factor may be endothelial dysfunction, the inability of the inner lining of our blood vessels to relax our arteries normally in response to blood flow. Just like our muscles atrophy if we don’t use them, when it comes to arterial function it may be use it or lose it as well. Increased blood flow promotes a healthy endothelium. The cells lining our arteries can actually sense the sheer force of blood flowing past. That flow is what maintains the stability and integrity of the inner lining of our arteries. Without that constant tugging flow, we may set ourselves up for heart disease.
What if sitting all day is part of our job, though? Well I’ve talked about using a standing or walking treadmill desk. We actually have some data now, suggesting that treadmill desks may improve the health of office workers without affecting work performance, and walking may be preferable to standing, in terms of clearing fat from our bloodstream, which may also play a role in arterial dysfunction.
What if our office can’t accommodate a standing or walking desk? Within an hour of sitting, blood starts pooling and blood flow starts to stagnate, so the more we can take breaks, where we take a stand for our health, join the wellness uprising, the better. Preliminary evidence from observational studies and interventional studies suggest that regular interruptions in sitting time can be beneficial. And it doesn’t have to be long. Breaks could be as short as one minute, and not necessarily entail “exercise,” just like taking out the trash during commercials or something may be beneficial.
What if we have a job where we’re sitting down and can’t take frequent breaks, like truck driving? Is there any way to improve our endothelial function sitting on our butts? Well, first we need to get rid of our butts. Smoking a single cigarette can significantly impair endothelial function. Lifestyle modification is a desirable way to prevent or treat endothelial dysfunction without the need for drugs.
I’ve talked about the effects of different kinds of foods on endothelial function, and certain foods in particular–nuts and green tea. Well, recently, researchers tried out curcumin, the yellow pigment in the spice turmeric.
They showed that regular ingestion of curcumin, or up to an hour a day of aerobic exercise training, significantly improved endothelial function. And the magnitude of improvement in endothelial function was the same. So does that mean we can just be a couch potato as long as we eat curried potatoes? No, the combination of curcumin and exercise both may work even better than either alone.
To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video. This is just an approximation of the audio contributed by Katie Schloer.
Please consider volunteering to help out on the site.
- N Akazawa, Y Choi, A Miyaki, Y Tanabe, J Sugawara, R Ajisaka, S Maeda. Curcumin ingestion and exercise training improve vascular endothelial function in postmenopausal women. Nutr Res. 2012 Oct;32(10):795-9.
- J Sugawara, N Akazawa, A Miyaki, Y Choi, Y Tanabe, T Imai, S Maeda. Effect of endurance exercise training and curcumin intake on central arterial hemodynamics in postmenopausal women: pilot study. Am J Hypertens. 2012 Jun;25(6):651-6.
- E Shvartz, J G Guame, R T White, R C Reibold. Hemodynamic responses during prolonged sitting. J Appl Physiol Respir Environ Exerc Physiol. 1983 Jun;54(6):1673-80.
- S S Thosar, B D Johnson, J D Johnston, J P Wallace. Sitting and endothelial dysfunction: the role of shear stress. Med Sci Monit. 2012 Dec;18(12):RA173-80.
- N Owen, G N Healy, C E Matthews, D W Dunstan. Too Much Sitting: The Population-Health Science of Sedentary Behavior. Exerc Sport Sci Rev. Jul 2010; 38(3): 105–113.
- M C Peddie, J L Bone, N J Rehrer, C M Skeaff, A R Gray, T L Perry. Breaking prolonged sitting reduces postprandial glycemia i n healthy, normal-weight adults: a randomized crossover trial. Am J Clin Nutr. 2013 Aug;98(2):358-66.
- E G Wilmot, CL Edwardson, F A Ahana, M J Davies, T Gorely, L J Gray, K Khunti, T Yates, S J Biddle. Sedentary time in adults and the association with diabetes, cardiovascular disease and death: systematic review and meta-analysis. Diabetologia. 2012 Nov;55(11):2895-905.
- A V Patel, L Bernstein, A Deka, H S Feigelson, P T Campbell, S M Gapstur, G A Colditz, M J Thun. Leisure time spent sitting in relation to total mortality in a prospective cohort of US adults. Am J Epidemiol. 2010 Aug 15;172(4):419-29.
- M Miyashita, J H Park, M Takahashi, K Suzuki, D Stensel, Y Nakamura. Postprandial lipaemia: effects of sitting, standing and walking in healthy normolipidaemic humans. Int J Sports Med. 2013 Jan;34(1):21-7.
- G A Koepp, C U Manohar, S K McCrady-Spitzer, A Ben-Ner, D J Harnann, C F Runge, J A Levine.. Treadmill desks: A 1-year prospective trial. Obesity (Silver Spring). 2013 Apr;21(4):705-11.
- G N Healy, C E Matthews, D W Dunstan, E A Winkler, N Owen. Sedentary time and cardio-metabolic biomarkers in US adults: NHANES 2003-06. Eur Heart J. 2011 Mar;32(5):590-7.
- G N Healy D W Dunstan, J Salmon, E Cerin, J E Shaw, P Z Zimmet, N Owen. Breaks in sedentary time: beneficial associations with metabolic risk. Diabetes Care. 2008 Apr;31(4):661-6.
- AM Esen, I Barutcu, M Acar, et al. Effect of smoking on endothelial function and wall thickness of brachial artery. Circ J. 2004 Dec;68(12):1123-6.
Images thanks to Ergotron via juststand.org and Mootown and Wielerpro.nl via Flickr.
Republishing "Turmeric Curcumin vs. Exercise for Artery Function"
Terms
You may republish this material online or in print under our Creative Commons licence. You must attribute the article to NutritionFacts.org with a link back to our website in your republication.
If any changes are made to the original text or video, you must indicate, reasonably, what has changed about the article or video.
You may not use our material for commercial purposes.
You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that restrict others from doing anything permitted here.
If you have any questions, please Contact Us
Title
Turmeric Curcumin vs. Exercise for Artery Function
LicenseCreative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)
Content URLDoctor's Note
I just burned out my second treadmill motor. This last one lasted 7,000 miles though. Could have walked back and forth across the country! Was up to 17 miles a day before the poor thing died. New motor on its way though!
Background on treadmill desks in Standing Up for Your Health.
Amazing how much beneficial just simple walking can be: Longer Life Within Walking Distance
More exercise versus diet comparisons in Is it the Diet, the Exercise, or Both? and How Much Exercise to Sustain Weight Loss
Who Shouldn’t Consume Curcumin or Turmeric? See the video!
If you haven't yet, you can subscribe to our free newsletter. With your subscription, you'll also get notifications for just-released blogs and videos. Check out our information page about our translated resources.
Previous Video
Next Video
