Why curcumin is the next big superfood?
Hardcore science meets herbal medicine
Coach Alwyn Cosgrove has been telling me this for years. Dr. Jonny Bowden lists it as one of the healthiest foods on earth. And it has been an essential part of Asian medicine for centuries.
Last but not least, science has also recognized what many already suspected: Turmeric, or more specifically one of the curcuminiods it contains called curcumin, is the next big superfood.
But curcumin has a small problem: bioavailability.
So there's something that might be able to help you lose fat, prevent catabolism, cope better with pesticides in food and live longer, but it's not well absorbed by the body.
Make no mistake, there is a way around this. Let's first look at the latest research on curcumin and then solve the problem of bioavailability.
622 New studies and counting
The number of studies looking at curcumin is increasing year on year and there is no end in sight. I believe that curcumin is slowly entering the mainstream (at least it should).
Similar to forskolin, curcumin has effects on a variety of biochemical processes in the human body, but as you will see, it does even more. A study published in 2010 in the scientific journal Current Drug Targets (1) identifies the following properties of curcumin:
- Anti-cancer effects
- Antiviral effects
- Anti-arthritis effects
- Antioxidant effects
- Anti-inflammatory effects
Unfortunately, there is not much clinical research focusing on the effects of curcumin as a supplement. And the clinical studies that have been conducted have generally involved people who were ill (cancer, inflammatory bowel disease, etc.)
It is difficult to draw conclusions from these studies for healthy people. Regardless, curcumin has been shown to have benefits in the treatment of osteoarthritis (2), ulcerative colitis (3) and potentially even Alzheimer's disease (4).
Let's take a look at at least a few of the 622 recent curcumin studies and see what's new.
Curcumin...
Promotes fat loss
Curcumin can increase fat loss through a number of mechanisms. It can inhibit the enzyme called fatty acid synthase, which is responsible for the synthesis of body fat, and also increase beta-oxidation (10-11). Another study has shown that curcumin can reduce fatty acid levels by inhibiting the production of mRNA of key enzymes involved in the storage of fatty acids (12).
Prevents cellular damage caused by pesticides in the diet
With the rising popularity of organic foods, scientists are focusing more on the pesticides and their effects that are used in non-organic foods.
Scientists have found that curcumin reduces oxidative stress in white blood cells caused by pesticides (9). So if you can't always eat organic food, you should at least take your curcumin.
Controls cortisol levels and prevents muscle loss during a calorie-restricted diet
Chinese scientists have found that supplementing pigs with curcumin reduced the stress response during transportation.
Although I'm not usually a fan of citing studies conducted in pigs, similar stress-reducing responses were also observed in rats, suggesting that this effect is real and occurs in different species (6). And couldn't we all benefit from a little less cortisol?
Curcumin could also play a role in preventing muscle wasting. The details of this would require a separate article and I'll just say here that curcumin could be an effective addition to your supplement program when it comes to preventing muscle loss during extreme dieting periods.
Improves the function of blood vessels
Thai scientists induced diabetes in rats by sending them to Burger King every day for a month to eat ciniminis (okay, okay, they did this chemically).
After the now diabetic rats were given curcumin, the scientists observed an improvement in diabetes-induced blood vessel dysfunction. The rats also showed reduced levels of free radicals in their blood vessels, particularly superoxide anions - a compound that deactivates nitric oxide (5).
Improves digestive tract health and reduces inflammation
Due to its ability to inhibit the COX-2 enzyme, curcumin has anti-inflammatory effects. However, unlike drugs, curcumin does not irritate the digestive tract or cause nasty side effects such as heart attacks or strokes.
Curcumin could protect your gut. German scientists have found that curcumin administered to mice reduced inflammation around the gut and strengthened the gut wall, preventing bacteria from passing through the gut wall (7).
Fights resistant cancer cells
Cancer cells often become resistant to chemotherapy. This poses a problem in the chemotherapy treatment of pancreatic cancer. However, scientists from New Zealand have found that curcumin was able to reverse resistance to several chemotherapy drugs in pancreatic cancer cells (8). Dear cancer, f**k you!
How to increase the bioavailability of curcumin
As mentioned above, a potential problem with curcumin is its poor bioavailability. It is simply not well absorbed by the body. However, there are a few things that have been shown to help increase bioavailability.
Certain methods, such as nanoparticulation, are effective but not particularly practical (I don't know about you, but I haven't found the "nanoparticulate" switch on my food processor yet).
However, there are two more practical things you can do:
1. use a curcumin supplement that contains piperine.
Piperine is an alkaloid found in black pepper that can increase curcumin absorption by 2000% in humans (13).
2. take your curcumin with olive oil
Taking curcumin with olive oil significantly increases curcumin blood levels (4).
Summary
I've only scratched the surface in this article, but it's safe to say that curcumin should play a role in your supplement arsenal. Keep an eye out as new studies and new clinical trial results are being published all the time!
References
- Zhou H, Beevers CS, Huang S. The Targets of Curcumin. Curr Drug Targets 2010.
- Belcaro G, Cesarone MR, Dugall M, et al. Product-evaluation registry of Meriva, a curcumin-phosphatidylcholine complex, for the complementary management of osteoarthritis. Panminerva Medica 2010;52:55-62.
- Hanai H, Iida T, Takeuchi K, et al. Curcumin Maintenance Therapy for Ulcerative Colitis: Randomized, Multicenter, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trial. Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology 2006;4:1502-1506.
- Baum L, Lam CWK, Cheung S, et al. Six-month randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind, pilot clinical trial of curcumin in patients with Alzheimer disease. Journal of clinical psychopharmacology 2008;28:110-113.
- Rungseesantivanon S, Thenchaisri N, Ruangvejvorachai P, Patumraj S. Curcumin supplementation could improve diabetes-induced endothelial dysfunction associated with decreased vascular superoxide production and PKC inhibition. BMC Complement Altern Med 2010;10:57.
- Wei S, Xu H, Xia D, Zhao R. Curcumin attenuates the effects of transport stress on serum cortisol concentration, hippocampal NO production, and BDNF expression in the pig. Domestic animal endocrinology 2010;39:231-239.
- Bereswill S, Muoz M, Fischer A, et al. Anti-inflammatory effects of resveratrol, curcumin and simvastatin in acute small intestinal inflammation. PloS one 2010;5:e15099-e15099.
- Li Y, Revalde JL, Reid G, Paxton JW. Modulatory effects of curcumin on multi-drug resistance-associated protein 5 in pancreatic cancer cells. Cancer Chemother Pharmacol 2010.
- Ahmed T, Pathak R, Mustafa M, et al. Ameliorating effect of N-acetylcysteine and curcumin on pesticide-induced oxidative DNA damage in human peripheral blood mononuclear cells. Environ Monit Assess 2010.
- Jang E-M, Choi M-S, Jung U, et al. Beneficial effects of curcumin on hyperlipidemia and insulin resistance in high-fat-fed hamsters. Metabolism, clinical and experimental 2008;57:1576-1583.
- Smith S. The animal fatty acid synthase: one gene, one polypeptide, seven enzymes. The FASEB Journal 1994;8:1248-1259.
- Ejaz A, Wu D, Kwan P, Meydani M. Curcumin Inhibits Adipogenesis in 3T3-L1 Adipocytes and Angiogenesis and Obesity in C57/BL Mice. The Journal of Nutrition 2009;139:919-925.
- Shoba G, Joy D, Joseph T, Majeed M, Rajendran R, Srinivas PS. Influence of piperine on the pharmacokinetics of curcumin in animals and human volunteers. Planta medica 1998;64:353-356.
By Mike Roussell, PhD | 12/31/10