Sayer Ji – Did you know that a single culinary serving of spices in the form of curry can dilate your arteries, preventing the cardiovascular harms associated with eating common foods?

While spices are thought of mainly as culinary agents for the aesthetic enhancement of the flavor of food, they are also powerful medicinal agents, and in certain respects may actually mitigate the harms of things we like to eat that may not be as good for us as their pleasurable tastes and textures would have us believe.

A recent study published in Nutrition Journal, titled “A single consumption of curry improved postprandial endothelial function in healthy male subjects: a randomized, controlled crossover trial“, brought home exactly this point. Moreover, it reveals that certain culinary formulas, sometimes handed down through countless generations, may have indispensable value for our health. Interestingly, we find this concept echoed in the word recipe itself, whose first recorded use in mid 16th-century French literally means “medical prescription.”  Continue reading →