How much turmeric to use is a good question that has an easy answer.

It's a good question because so much is now being said by health researchers and scientists about the powerful effects of turmeric on many aspects of health.

In fact it seems like we are all encouraged to rush out and start putting turmeric into our diets, because the humble plant contains the antioxidant curcumin which effectively fights cancer and inflammation -- to name just two ailments we are all vitally interested in.

Caution is healthy, so we are quite rightly brought to our question, how much turmeric to use in my diet and as a medical supplement?

But our question how much turmeric to use is also easy to answer. Let me explain why with an example.

A team of researchers at a center in India gave 500 mg of curcumin to 10 healthy volunteers each day for a week. These subjects showed no signs of ill health. But an astonishing thing happened to their cholesterol. Their total cholesterol levels dropped by 12 percent and a 33 percent drop in lipid peroxides. As I said, that is astonishing.

Given that curcumin is about two percent of turmeric by weight we can work out how much turmeric to use to get that same result. The answer is 28 g -- a full ounce.

This is a lot of turmeric. And remember we're talking about taking 500 mg every day.

Obviously the best way to get this is to concentrate the curcumin in turmeric and take it in a supplement that includes a cluster of other beneficial natural compounds that will support what curcumin does.

There are various potencies of curcumin available from medical laboratories, and you should be content with only the best, which is 95 percent. Go out on the Internet and look for supplements that have turmeric with a full potency curcumin component. If you need a place to begin looking, you are welcome to start at my own web site which has a lot of helpful information and addresses this question of how much turmeric to use.