Regarding turmeric,
(1) Turmeric can be used safely as a spices unless it is adulterated with lead chromate.
Adulterated turmeric can cause Lead poisoning
(2) Yes, turmeric is a strong anti oxidant, strong blood thinner, strong this and strong that but there is no authentic clinical data to prove that any of these properties can be put to some medicinal use. In fact, the blood thinning abilities of Turmeric has caused serious internal bleeding issues in some people.
(3) Turmeric is also toxic to liver and the only reason it is not killing people is because of its poor oral absorption rate and low quantity used in kitchen. But turmeric supplements contain black pepper, which increases the absorption rate of turmeric thus causing liver damage.
In short,
Turmeric has a poor oral absorption rate so
can be safely consumed in curries and there is no need to stop using it, just make sure it is not adulterated. Adulterated turmeric can be very risky because it can cause lead positioning so
avoid turmeric milk to drastically minimize risks.
Turmeric has no medicinal property and it can cause serious liver damage if ingested in capsules form containing black pepper or with any other substance which can increase its absorption.
Regarding liver doc, Cyriac Abby Philips aka Theliverdoc is an Indian Hepatologist and he treats Indian patients with critical liver damage. He is the one among very few people who discovered that ayurvedic and homeopathic medicines are killing people and causing severe liver damage which is equivalent to an alcoholic liver. This is not some blind western fantasy of Indian hate but data from real patients gathered over a long period of time. His team arrived on the conclusion after doing biopsy of liver and when the liver injury pattern was entirely different from Alcohol, paracetamol and other well known liver injury patterns. Only difference is, alcohol induced liver damage occurs mostly in men while Ayurveda, homeopathy and other herbs are causing liver damage in children and women.
Most of the links given in this thread are done on cell cultures, animals or assumptions such as turmeric has anti-inflammatory property so it should help cancer patients. Where is the actual clinical data to prove it ? I have found a few papers in the references of the citations but those are not
randomised controlled trial.
Check this double blinded, randomized-controlled trial on 200 individuals.
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00296-023-05417-z
The study found that using turmeric is as good as a placebo.
Also, check the following data on actual patients.
Drug-Induced Liver Injury Secondary to Turmeric Use
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37205206/
Liver Injury Associated with Turmeric-A Growing Problem: Ten Cases from the Drug-Induced Liver Injury Network [DILIN]
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36252717/
Acute liver injury following turmeric use in Tuscany: An analysis of the Italian Phytovigilance database and systematic review of case reports
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32656820/
Turmeric-Associated Drug-Induced Liver Injury
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36600786/
Turmeric Induced Liver Injury: A Report of Two Cases
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31214366/
Turmeric-Associated Liver Injury: A Rare Case of Drug-Induced Liver Injury
https://ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10149439/…
Turmeric-Induced Hepatotoxicity: Report of 2 Cases
https://ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8711139/…
Turmeric Induced Liver Injury: A Report of Two Cases
https://ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6535872/…
Turmeric-Associated Liver Injury
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31283536/
Autoimmune Hepatitis Associated With Turmeric Consumption
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32337301/
A rare case of turmeric-induced hepatotoxicity
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32037709/
Turmeric supplement induced hepatotoxicity: a rare complication of a poorly regulated substance
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31271321/
Drug Induced Liver Injury Attributed to a Curcumin Supplement
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31781418/
Regarding paracetimol poisning. It is extremely difficult to get poisoned by paracetamol unless one is exceeding the dose. Paracetamol damage on liver is well documented and there is an antitode to that. Herbs on the other hand seems to be 10 times more dangerous than alcohol and a ticket to liver transplant.
Most turmeric supplements are safe (safe not useful) because of its poor absorption rate. But if turmeric is mixed with black pepper than you are doomed. Just because turmeric is safe that doesn't mean it has any benefit. There is no benefit of eating turmeric in capsule form or supplementing it. Just because it has anti inflammation property that doesn't mean it can decrease inflammation in cancer patients as many low quality studies are pointing out.
Kitchen is not a pharmacy and spices should be used as spices not as medicines or supplements.
It is upto us if we want to believe actual scientific evidence and data from real patients who has suffered liver injuries or random poor studies available on google. The answer is obvious. I will trust experts who are treating critical liver patients. I don't want to be their patient.