• skillissuer
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    27
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    edit-2
    26 days ago

    A spice used in Indian cuisine. It’s intensely yellow due to curcumin, a compound that has miraculous property of causing false positives in about any cell assay (ie it seems like it does something, but really it decomposes/is fluorescent/damages cell wall/clumps up/pulls metal ions where they shouldn’t be/forms hydrogen peroxide where it shouldn’t be, all of which can look like some kind of activity when looking at cells, but it is not so)

    Also it’s completely insoluble in water and shredded by liver in minutes, so it’s physically impossible for it to be active in vivo (can’t do shit if it’s not there). It’s great for churning out bad science tho

    It is used in ayurveda, and some proponents of ayurveda want to prove that it cures literally everything, and its behaviour in cell assays makes it seem so at least as long as you don’t look too closely

    • skillissuer
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      10
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      26 days ago

      I’d say it’s worse than placebo, because it’s known by now that nothing of that shit has any chance to work yet there are still clinical trials with it. This takes away resources from things that have a better shot at working which imo makes it pretty unethical

    • Swedneck
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      26 days ago

      calling it a spice feels generous, it’s yellow food colouring powder.

      sure technically it affects flavour but so does eating out of a different bowl…

      • Magnetar@feddit.de
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        25 days ago

        I once severely misjudged the amount needed I’m some rice I made. I can assure you, it does have flavour.

        • Swedneck
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          25 days ago

          i mean you said it yourself, you need to use waaaaay more to taste anything.

          in the quantities normally used it’s just yellow powder.

      • Match!!@pawb.social
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        25 days ago

        Turmeric root has some decent flavor, but the dried spice is pretty bland beyond its smell. Same with ginger or galangal.