Curcumin’s Blood Pressure-Supportive Properties

Originally published 4/11/2023; updated 1/24/2025

Article Summary

• Curcumin is known to enhance the availability of vascular nitric oxide and to help maintain normal blood pressure.*
• The poor absorption and bioavailability of curcumin hinder its beneficial effects in promoting cardiovascular health.*
• Because tetrahydrocurcumin is more bioactive than other curcumin supplements, it provides enhanced cardiovascular support.*
• Tesseract’s curcumin supplement utilizes tetrahydrocurcumin, and Tesseract’s proprietary nutrient delivery technology enhances its absorption to help achieve curcumin’s blood pressure-supportive properties.*

High blood pressure increases the risk of cardiovascular diseases and stroke, two of the leading causes of death in the United States.

Hypertension or high blood pressure is diagnosed when systolic blood pressure (SBP) is consistently ≥130 mmHg and/or diastolic blood pressure (DBP) is consistently ≥80 mmHg.

Curcumin, the main bioactive compound in turmeric, can exert beneficial effects on blood pressure.* The interaction of curcumin with multiple molecular targets has been extensively researched to understand its cardioprotective effects.* 

If you are considering a curcumin supplement to support your heart health and help maintain normal blood pressure, here are several research-backed answers to frequently asked questions:

How do curcumin’s blood pressure-supportive properties work?

Nitric oxide plays an active role in dilating blood vessels, which helps maintain healthy blood pressure. Curcumin supplementation has been found to enhance the availability of vascular nitric oxide.* The following studies highlight the role of curcumin in promoting heart health: 

• A clinical study of 39 healthy, middle-aged, older adults who were administered curcumin (2,000 mg/day) for 12 weeks demonstrated enhanced function of the endothelium — the thin membrane lining the inside of the heart and blood vessels.*¹
• A systematic review and meta-analysis of 11 studies involving 734 participants suggested that curcumin consumption helps maintain normal systolic blood pressure (SBP) when administered over long durations.*²

Do prescription medications influence curcumin’s blood pressure-supportive properties? 

Amlodipine is a widely used anti-hypertensive drug that blocks the movement of cellular calcium, which relaxes smooth muscles in the heart and blood vessels. As smooth muscles relax, it reduces the amount of pressure exerted by the heart to eject blood during the contraction of the heart’s ventricles. This pressure is recorded as systolic blood pressure. 

The results of an animal study evaluating the effect of the co-administration of curcumin with amlodipine suggest that hypertensive individuals taking amlodipine can also consume curcumin without inhibiting amlodipine’s blood-pressure-lowering effect and may derive additional benefit from taking curcumin.*³

What is the best way to incorporate curcumin into your diet? 

Nutrition and lifestyle are critical to maintaining healthy blood pressure and overall heart health. Turmeric has been traditionally incorporated into the diet as a spice or food additive, lending a distinctive yellow color and “curry” flavor to the food. However, curcumin exists in relatively small amounts for the standard use of turmeric for culinary purposes and it undergoes (in rapid succession) rapid absorption, rapid metabolism, and rapid elimination from the body, resulting in poor bioavailability. This is why eating turmeric in foods often does not result in achieving curcumin’s important health benefits.Studies show that various strategies used in formulating curcumin supplements can enhance curcumin’s absorption and bioavailability, making a curcumin supplement the best way to incorporate curcumin into the diet.⁴

What is the recommended use of curcumin for supporting heart health?

The Allowable Daily Intake Value of curcumin, as determined by the European Food Safety Authority, is up to 3 mg/kg of body weight daily (1 kg = 2.2 lbs).

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration categorizes turmeric as a ‘Generally Recognized as Safe’ (GRAS) food ingredient, with curcuminoids used as antioxidant and flavoring agents at maximum levels of <20 mg per serving in specific foods.

It is worth noting that there are no definitive statistics on effective amounts of curcumin or turmeric for helping to maintain normal blood pressure and supporting heart health.* However, clinical studies involving the daily administration of single doses of 500 mg to 12,000 mg of curcumin to healthy volunteers show excellent tolerance of curcumin in humans.⁵

How do I determine the right curcumin supplement to benefit my blood pressure? 

The efficacy of using a curcumin supplement for maintaining a healthy blood pressure level is determined by how well the curcumin is absorbed by the body.* The best curcumin supplement formulation not only enhances curcumin’s bioavailability, it also makes it more palatable and easily tolerated. 

Tesseract Medical Research’s TetraCumin® contains tetrahydrocurcumin, a highly bioactive derivative of curcumin. Because of its stable chemical structure and solubility in water, tetrahydrocurcumin exhibits superior potential to curcumin. Tetrahydrocurcumin’s chemical stability contributes to its enhanced bioavailability and absorption in the body, thereby boosting its efficacy.

Tesseract’s revolutionary CyLoc®-DexKey® nutrient delivery technology further enables targeted delivery of active ingredients while masking their unpalatable taste and smell to achieve unprecedented absorption. With TetraCumin®, you can obtain curcumin’s blood pressure-supportive properties for maintaining optimal heart health.*

References:

¹Santos-Parker JR, et al. Curcumin supplementation improves vascular endothelial function in healthy middle-aged and older adults by increasing nitric oxide bioavailability and reducing oxidative stress. Aging 2017; 9,1:187-208. doi:10.18632/aging.101149

²Hadi A, et al. The effect of curcumin/turmeric on blood pressure modulation: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Pharmacological Research 2019;150:104505. doi:10.1016/j.phrs.2019.104505

³Lee S, et al. Effect of co-administration of curcumin with amlodipine in hypertension. Nutrients 2021;13,8;2797.  doi:10.3390/nu13082797

⁴Stohs SJ, et al. Highly bioavailable forms of curcumin and promising avenues for curcumin-based research and application: A review. Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) 2020;25,6:1397. doi:10.3390/molecules25061397
⁵Lao CD, et al. Dose escalation of a curcuminoid formulation. BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine 2006;6:10.  doi:10.1186/1472-6882-6-10