Can spices improve your health?

ZOE Science & Nutrition

What Is a Spice?

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When i think of spices versus herbs, i really do think of the root, the bark, the bud, the seed. And then when you start talking about the leaves, i think more of herbs, either fresh or dried. The difference between them and other sort of plant foods that we eat on a regular basis are really that they're often quite concentrated. Traditionally, have been used to enhance the flavour of food, and, of course, in some ancient medical systems, also to enhance the health properties of food.

Kanchan Koya grew up in a house filled with wonderful fragrances from the spices simmering on her grandmother’s stove. In India, it was a common belief that spices were more than just pleasant tastes. Ancient wisdom said they had medicinal properties, and it was common for household medicine cabinets to store dried spices, not pills.

Kanchan grew up to become a molecular biologist, studying in the US at Harvard Medical School. When her lab began to investigate turmeric’s healing properties, the ancient wisdom from her childhood met the scientific inquiry of her adult life - beginning a lifelong obsession with the health benefits of spice.

In today’s episode, Kanchan and regular guest Tim Spector help us understand whether there is any scientific evidence to support the health benefits of spices, the easiest way to add spice to our diet, and which ones to choose.

Kanchan Koya is the founder of SpiceSpiceBaby and The Radical Vitality Podcast with a Ph.D. in Biomedicine from Harvard University and training from the Institute of Integrative Nutrition.
Tim Spector is a co-founder at ZOE and one of the top 100 most cited scientists in the world.

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