The medicines hiding in your spice rack with Kanchan Koya & Dr. Sarah Berry

In today’s episode we’re uncovering the medicines hiding in your kitchen. 

Molecular biologist Kanchan Koya joins Jonathan and Sarah to explore the incredible health benefits of spices. From controlling blood sugar to soothing a sore throat, we’ll discover what the latest research says about household favorites including ginger, cinnamon and cloves. 

Kanchan Koya is a food scientist, founder of the spice-centric food blog Chief Spice Mama and author of the cookbook ‘100 Recipes with Healing Spices for Your Family Table’. She will show us how to get the most out of spices, with simple cooking tips and delicious recipes. 

Want to make Kanchan’s show stopper spice dish? Find the recipe here.

Follow Kanchan on Instagram.

If you want to uncover the right foods for your body, head to zoe.com/podcast, and get 10% off your membership.

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Timecodes:

00:00Introduction

01:26Quickfire questions

03:08What are spices?

03:43Polyphenols in spices

07:25Spices and your health

11:01Cinnamon and blood sugar control

14:49Anti-inflammatory benefits of spices

21:08A practical guide to using spices

31:40Reviving old spices

33:11The wonders of ginger: from morning sickness to gut health

35:56Spiced cooking tips

37:41Breakfast ideas: add spices to start your day

39:44Simple spicy snacks

42:05Dinner delights: spicing up main meals

44:11Spices for kids

46:24Spiced drinks: from chai to golden milk

48:24The ultimate spice dish

Studies related to today’s episode:

• Safety and efficacy of curcumin versus diclofenac in knee osteoarthritis: a randomized open-label parallel-arm study published in Trials
• Analgesic effect of the aqueous and ethanolic extracts of clove, published in Avicenna Journal of Phytomedicine
• Effect of cinnamon spice on continuously monitored glycemic response in adults with prediabetes published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
• Star anise (Illicium verum): Chemical compounds, antiviral properties, and clinical relevance published in Phytotherapy Research
• Ginger-Mechanism of action in chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting, published by Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition

Is there a nutrition topic you’d like us to explore? Email us at podcast@joinzoe.com, and we’ll do our best to cover it.

Episode transcripts are available here.