Turmeric is an ancient spice and a traditional remedy, known world over for thousands of years. It's health benefits have been described in the traditional Indian ayurvedic and chinese medicine largely because of its proven efficacy in treating conditions with inflammation. These ancient civilizations have vast experience with many different herbal remedies and food preparations and they selected "turmeric" as a food additive and a major tool for medicinal use based on efficacy. Since 1900 BC numerous therapeutic activities have been assigned to turmeric for a wide variety of diseases and conditions, including those of the skin, pulmonary, and gastro-intestinal systems, aches, pains, wounds and disorders. Marco polo, writing about his travels in china, described turmeric in the 13th century: The high degree of reverence for turmeric is established by the fact that it is used in many cultures, each having its own name for the spice: chinese wong geung fun, yü chiu. Finnish keltajuuri french curcuma saffron des indes german gelbwurz, kurkuma italian curcuma tumeric indian haldee japanese ukon circumin russian zholty imbir. Curcumin is the principle constituent of turmeric (almost 80-85 %).