It has creeping tuberous rhizomes that are
harvested for food. It is distributed throughout
tropical and subtropical regions of the world,
such as Asia, Africa and the Americas. The
rhizomes are harvested and processed before
they are ground to yield the yellow powder
known as turmeric. The yellow colored
compound of turmeric was isolated in 1842 and
was named curcumin. There are several
curcuminoids that have slightly different
chemical structures. The curcuminoids are
phenols and hence are strong antioxidants.
However, turmeric and curcuminoids are nontoxic.