Updated on Monday, April 20, 2009, 00:00 IST

Washington, April 20: Michigan scientists have unravelled the mystery behind the much hyped healing power of the main ingredient in turmeric, a spice revered in India as ‘holy powder.’

Turmeric has been used for centuries in folk medicine to treat wounds, infections, and other health problems.

While many scientists have conducted research on its main ingredient—curcumin—no details had been revealed as to how it functions in the body, until now.

In the new study, Ayyalusamy Ramamoorthy and colleagues, used a high-tech instrument termed solid-state NMR spectroscopy and discovered that molecules of curcumin act like a biochemical disciplinarian.

The molecules insert themselves into cell membranes and make the membranes more stable and orderly.

This increases cells'' resistance to infection by disease-causing microbes.

The study appears in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, a weekly publication.

ANI