To add to your experience, i have managed to treat several severe tooth/gum abscesses with fresh sliced tumeric root steeped for 4-12 weeks in brazilian sugarcane rum (51 pinga). It kills the pain almost instantly and after a few days of use, the infection disappears. I now swish it in my mouth once a month or so as a preventative measure.
It's important to note that there are more than 10 varieties of tumeric, and have markedly different morphologies.
Also: growing conditions or perhaps some other factor affects the depth of the yellow color of a crop, as well as smell, which seem to be indicators of potency.
Lately, particularly since the recent judicial decision in India regarding the intellectual property rights of tumeric which denied a patent to a western company, I've seen general attitudes toward 'curcumin' in western academia revert their opinion about it's potential.
i dont expect any study that isolates the curcumin molecule (which ks widely known to be non-bioavailable on its own) to be very effective.
furthermore (conspriacy theory warning) considering the lack of scruples of the bio-based businesses (med agri gen chem), i wouldn't be surprised to see medically inert or even toxic varieties of 'unprofitable' and/or 'competitor' plants to flood the market in places where tumeric isn't grown amongst traditional small farmers. just a thought, and fits the monsanto narrative in the us and india.
I'm from Arkansas. While I was growing up my fad was a pilot full time and my mom managed restaurant staff. My dad also got into wildlife management and was able to double his income by organizing a hunting club on some fallow land we had inherited from his grandmother.
About 10 years agoo they got into small-scale organiv ranching as well. There's a steep learning curve, and you have to work every day, but they are enjoying it because a) exercise is good for you and b) they work 3-4 hours per fay c) outside in a beautiful pasture lined by many square miles of swampland and hardwood forest.
I grew up catching frogs, climbing trees, and swimming in mudholes with no adult supervision. Today I have a five year old son and live in a global megacity. It's sooo hellishly restrictive for a child to grow up in an urban environment. He suffers not only emotionally,but developmentally as well. He asks us regularly to move to a place with more nature.
Read Last Child in the Woods. It's a good start for helping re-examine modern lifestyles.