Botany
Dilaw is a leafy plant, 1 to 1.5 m tall, with 5 to 6 leaves. Rhizomes are bright yellow inside, thick and cylindric. Leaf blade is green, oblong, 30 to 45 cm long and 10 to 15 cm wide. Petiole is as long as the blade. Peduncle 15 cm or more in length, borne within the tuft of leaves. Spikes are 10 to 20 cm in length and about 5 m in diameter. Floral bracts are pale green, ovate, 3 to 4 cm long, the comabracts tinged with pink. Flowers are pale yellow, as long as the bracts. Fruits are capsules.

Distribution
Widely distributed in the Philippines in and about towns, sometimes in open waste places and sometimes planted.

Part utilized
· Rhizome, leaves.
· Collect the whole year round.
· Rinse, removes roots, section into pieces, steam and sun-dry.

Constituents
- Volatile oil, 3-5% - tumerol (alcohol), d-alpha phellandrene, carvone, camphor, curcumone; fat, 3%; starch, 30%; resin; curcumin (pigment).
- Yields three curcuminoids - curcumin (diferuloylmethane, the primary constituent, responsible for the vibrant yellow color), demothoxycurcumin and bisdemethoxycurcumin - plus volatile oils (tumerone, atiantone and zingiberone), sugars, proteins, and resins.
- Yellow orange color comes from yellow pigment in the rhizomes called curcumin.
- A good source of phosphorus and iron; but hardly a fair source of calcium.

Properties
Pungent and bitter tasting, warming, carminative.
Improves Ch'i circulation.
Believed to have antioxidant, antiinflammatory, cholesterol-lowering, and anticarcinogenic activity.
Antiinflammatory activity has been compared to topical hydrocortisone.
Antiseptic, anti -contusion, antibacterial, antifungal.
Aromatic, stimulant, tonic, cordial, emmenagogue and astringent.
Rhizomes are used medicinally, as powder, paste, ointment, oil, lotion, inhalant, and confection.

Uses
Culinary
• Condiment, ingredient of curry powder, and coloring for food.
• In dried or powdered form, used like ginger.
• Rhizomes commonly sold in Manila markets. dried
• In Java, flour is made from the plant is the same way as cassava and arrowroot, used for all kinds of dainties.
Folkloric
· Decoction of rhizome, as tea, used for fevers, dysentery, abdominal pain, flatulence, abdominal spasm, arthritis.
· In the Philippines, rhizomes with coconut oil used as stomachic and vulnerary.
· Internally, juice of fresh rhizome used as anthelmintic.
· Used for menstrual irregularities, contusions and associated painful swelling.
· Antiseptic for wounds: Crush rhizome and apply to wounds.
· Externally, rhizomes are applied to insect bites, ringworm, bleeding.
· Dosage: Decoction of 2 to 6 gms dried material.
· In India, used as antiseptic for cuts. Used for leprosy, liver problems, swelling, insect bites, wounds, whooping cough, pimples. Sweetened milk boiled with tumeric is popular as a remedy for colds and cough. Juice of fresh rhizome used externally on wounds, bruises and leech-bites.
· Tumeric paste mixed with a little lime and saltpeter is applied hot to sprains and bruises.
· For smallpox and chicken pox, coating of tumeric powder or thin paste applied externally to facilitate scabbing.
· Paste made from flowers used for ringworm and other parasitic skin infections.
· Decoction of tumeric used for purulent conjunctivitis.
· Ointment used in neuralgia and rheumatism.
· In Ayurveda, use as stomach and liver tonic and blood purifier.
· Malays use it as carminative and for dispelling flatulence.
· For flatulence in children, used with garlic or onions.
· Used as carminative and antispasmodic, and in diarrhea and dysentery.
Others
• Dye: Tumeric is one of the best known of material dyes, used for dyeing silk, wool and cotton. Rhizomes used for dyeing mats in the Philippines.
• Cosmetic: In Sudan, rhizome used as cosmetic.
New Age
- Improves Qi (chi) circulation. Chi is the basis of traditional Eastern medicine. In chinese parlance, chi means 'spirit.' In new-age speak, good health is synonymous with free-flowing energy through meridian pathways. A blocked Qi flow is associated with disease or ill-health.
- Approved by German health authorities for the treatment of dyspeptic complaints.
Recent uses and preparation
Ointment: Wash the unpeeled ginger. Chop the rhizomes to fill half a glass of water. Sauté with one glass of coconut oil on low heat for five minutes. Place in a clean bottle and label.
Antiseptic for wounds: Extract juice of the fresh rhizome and apply directly on the wound or swelling.
Gas pain in adults: Decoction from thumb-sized rhizome in a glass of water reduced to half.

Studies
• Biologic Activities: An overview of the biologic activities lists in vitro anti-parasitic, anti-spasmodic, anti-inflammatory and gastrointestinal effects; also, inhibition of carcinogenesis and cancer growth. In vivo, studies show anti-parasitic, anti-inflammatory potency of curcumin and extracts in animal models.
• Anticancer: (1) Curcumin Suppresses Metastasis in a Human Breast Cancer Xenograft Model: The dietary administration to mice of curcumin and curcumin plus Taxol significantly decreased the incidence of breast cancer metastasis to the lung. The results indicate that curcumin has a potential for breast cancer therapy. (2) Study on the anticancer activity of the rhizomes of tumeric in invitro tissue culture and in vivo in mice showed cytotoxicity to lymphocytes and Dalton's lymphoma cells. The active constituent was found to be "curcumin." Results showed the tumeric extract and curcumin reduced the development of animal tumors.
• Hepatoprotective: The study suggests the ethanolic extract of C. longa has potent hepatoprotective effect against paracetamol-induced liver damage in rats and validates its use as a hepatoprotectant agent.
• Antifungal: The study on the ethanolic extracts of Curcuma longa and Alpinia galanga exhibited excellent phytotoxic activity against Lemna minor and good antifungal activities against Trichophyton longifusus.
• Antibacterial: Study showed the essential oil fraction from tumeric possesses significant antibacterial activity against pathogenic Staph aureus bacteria and suggests a potential for use of the essential oil as antiseptic in prevention and treatment of bacterial infections.
• Hypoglycemic / Hypolipidemic / Antioxidant: Study of Curcuma longa and Abroma augusta found them to be efficient antioxidants and showed significant reduction in glood glucose. Study showed the combination of herbal extracts showed better efficacy compared to individual plant extracts.
• Antioxidant: In study investigating the mechanism of free radical-induced tissue damage in inflammatory disease that involved pathogenic processes similar to periodontal disease, Curcuma longa was studied for antioxidation activity. Results showed CL to be effective protection from free radical-induced tissue damage.
• Tobacco Chewer and Chronic Smoker De-Addiction : Study showed the control arm to continue the same addiction dependency while the 63.6% of the study arm patients completely gave up smoking or tobacco chewing. 14.3% decreased smoking to <10 cigarettes per day and 10.6% of tobacco chewers decreased from 10 to < 2 times per day. The difference is statistically significant.
• Curcumin / Anti-Inflammatory: Curcumin, a highly pleiotropic molecule, acts on many targets involved with inflammation. It modulates the inflammatory response by down-regulating the activity of COX-2, lipoxygenase, and iNOS enzymes; inhibits the production of inflammatory cytokines tumor necrosis factor-alpha, interleukins 1,2,6,8 and 12, and down-regulates mitogen-activated and Janus kinases.
• Tumeric Oil / Safety Study in Healthy Human Volunteers (2003): Study in human volunteers showed no clinical, hematological, renal or hepato-toxicity at 1 and 3 months. Tumeric extract and tumeric oil have shown chemoprotective effect against chemically-induced malignancies in experimental animals. It's potential for reversing oral submucous fibrosis, a precancerous condition for oral cancer, a Phase II trial was recommended.
• Analgesic / Non-Antipyretic: Study of rhizome extracts showed analgesic but no antipyretic effect.

Caution
• Anticoagulation Concerns: Ginger may decrease thromboxane production and cause prolong bleeding time and platelet inhibition. Therefore, should be used with caution by patients receiving anticoagulant therapy.

Availability
Wild-crafted.
Essential oils and capsules from the cybermarket.