What is Curcumin?

Curcumin is a bright yellow compound which is produced by the rhizome structure (roots) of the Curcuma Longa species, better known as Turmeric. (Reference) While Turmeric is the whole root, Curcumin is one of the many compounds that make up Turmeric. This group of compounds are known as ‘Curcuminoids’ in which Curcumin has shown the biggest interest due to its many potential health benefits. (Reference)
Turmeric powder often only contains 2-5% of Curcumin (Reference) which is far too little to have a therapeutic effect which is why companies extract Curcumin from Turmeric rhizome to create a refined and potent product of 95+% Curcumin.

Low Bioavailability of Curcumin and What to do About it

The health benefits of Curcumin greatly depend on how much you are able to absorb into your body. Eating the spice Turmeric will not provide enough Curcumin to make a difference due to its low concentration. Taking refined Curcumin as a food supplement may be the only and best option to achieve a therapeutic dosage. However, this also comes with issues.

Curcumin is inherently bad absorbed by the gut into the bloodstream. To allow the refined Curcumin to reach its destination within the body, its bioavailability needs to be addressed. (Reference)

One way to increase the bioavailability of your Curcumin supplement is to ingest it with some healthy fatty acids. Curcumin binds to the fats which encapsulates the molecule allowing it safe passage through the tough gut environment. (Reference)

Another interesting and extremely powerful boost to bioavailability is the addition of Piperine (Black Pepper Extract). Adding just a little bit of Piperine to the Curcumin has shown to increase bioavailability by 2000%! (Reference) This greatly increase the effectiveness of the product and ensures that your body is able to absorb and utilize the compound.

Benefits to Curcumin

Turmeric and its more refined Curcumin has been used for thousands of years as a medicinal plant in the far-east. It has shown to possess strong antioxidative and anti-inflammatory effects and has been used to treat bacterial infections and digestive issues. (Reference)

Here is a list of benefits to Curcumin.

• Joint Pain: Curcumin is a strong anti-inflammatory agent that may work to reduce issues with joint pain such as osteoarthritis (Reference)(Reference)(Reference)
• Obesity: Curcumin has shown to affect inflammation in genetic pathways associated with obesity which may help regulate body fat. (Reference)(Reference)(Reference)
• Heart disease: Curcumin reduces triglycerides and bad LDL cholesterol in your bloodstream which reduces your risk of coronary heart diseases (Reference)
• Diabetes: Curcumin may improve your body’s ability to metabolize sugars which increases insulin sensitivity which in turn reduces the effects of diabetes. (Reference)(Reference)(Reference)
• Liver: In laboratory testing, Curcumin was shown to protect the subject from liver damage by removing harmful oxidative stress.(Reference)
• Cancer: Curcumin has shown great interest in cancer treatments with many ongoing clinical trials and companies trying to synthesize Curcumin and produce medicines with it. Research show that Curcumin can counteract cancer-inducing effects (anti oxidative effect) as well as promote the process in which cancer cells destroy themselves, known as apoptosis. (Reference)
• Antifungal: Curcumin is used as an anti-fungal agent by Turmeric rhizome to protect itself. Therefore it is not surprising that Curcumin is also a strong anti-fungal compound which disrupts fungal cell membranes in humans. (Reference)(Reference)(Reference)
• Antibacterial: The same goes for Curcumins anti-bacterial effect. Curcumin reduces the ability of bacteria to grow effectively hampering the development of many disease-causing bacteria. (Reference)(Reference)(Reference)

Is it Safe to Take Curcumin?

Curcumin is an ancient compound and therefore plenty of studies have been conducted on the safety of the chemical. In some studies, subjects have consumed up towards 8 grams each day without experiencing any adverse effects. (Reference) (Reference) Considering the typical supplemental dose is between 0,5 and 1 gram it should be very safe to consume. Some people will experience some nausea or stomach discomfort, but this should pass with time.

Summary

Curcumin is an ancient compound that has recently found much interest in the general public as a food supplement due to its many health benefits. Recently, the scientific and medical world has also had great interest in the compound due to its potential as a future medicine.

As a food supplement, it is crucial to select a product that addresses the issue with bioavailability. Products containing Piperine (Black Pepper Extract) can increase the bioavailability of Curcumin by 2000% making this the preferred choice.

Curcumin is a strong anti-oxidative, anti-inflammatory agent and has a plethora of potential health benefits across heart health, joint, memory and cognition as well as potential within cancer treatment.

Curcumin is considered very safe even in extremely high doses of 8g/day.

Our own (Source of Nature® Curcumin) is produced with the highest quality, certified organic Curcumin sourced directly from first-party producers in India and formulated with Piperine (Black Pepper Extract) for added bioavailability so you can get the most value out of your product.

Check it out below.

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