Phytochemicaland pharmacological properties of Curcuma longa Linn

Abstract

Turmeric is the rhizomatous, herbaceous, perineal plant having many traditional and medicinal uses. Traditionally turmeric was used for spices in food and traditional system of medicine as like Ayurvedic system of medicine, Siddha system of medicine, Unani system of medicine, Chinese System of medicine for the purpose of anti-microbial, antiseptic, anti-oxidant and in mild digestive problems.Turmeric consists wide variety of phytochemicals such as Demethoxycurcumin (DMC), Bis-Demethoxycurcumin (BDMC), Zingiberene, cumarin, cumarinol, turmerin, turmerone, turmironol, and other many components. Among them DMC & BDMC are responsible for yellow colour of turmeric. For the medicinal use, extraction is done by steam distillation, soxhlation, ultrasonic assisted extraction, enzymatic extraction, microwave assisted extraction. Thus, extracted components are separated and purified and use according to their pharmacological activities like anti-septic, anti-oxidant, anti-microbial, antifungal, anti-inflammatory, anti-mutagenic and anti-carcinogenic etc.