Updated on April 7, 2023
Article Summary
- Although curcumin has been used medicinally for thousands of years, it is only relatively recently that the scientific community has begun to fully explore its promise.
- Research indicates that curcumin can effectively address a broad range of health conditions.
- Historically, low bioavailability has diminished the therapeutic potential of curcumin supplements, but new delivery systems allow patients to optimize efficacy.
Although curcumin has been used for medicinal purposes for more than four thousand years, it has only recently gained attention as a nutritional supplement. This polyphenol, which is the active component in the spice turmeric (Curcuma longa), stands out among supplements because of its versatility. Over the last few decades, researchers have conducted both laboratory and clinical studies indicating that curcumin can offer health benefits to a broad spectrum of health conditions because it can play so many different roles in the body. The benefits of curcumin stem primarily from its antioxidant activities, but it also has other beneficial properties that further expand its potential.*
Despite these promising findings, it is important to note that curcumin is not a miracle compound. Specifically, there are concerns about the compound’s bioavailability, which could limit its usefulness as a nutritional supplement. Therefore, when considering how curcumin might be integrated into a health and wellness strategy, it is important to understand both the limitations of curcumin and the innovative delivery systems that have been developed to overcome them.
Curcumin’s Beneficial Properties
Curcumin has long been a staple of traditional medicine. Although its historical uses vary somewhat between cultures, the health conditions that it has been used to address have certain things in common, and these similarities have directed scientists’ research on curcumin, and the subsequent studies have borne out the anecdotal evidence.
For instance, multiple comprehensive review studies highlight curcumin’s effectiveness, which can help explain why it has been used historically. For example, recent studies suggest that curcumin plays a modulatory role in the activation of key components of the immune system—including T cells, B cells, macrophages, neutrophils, natural killer cells, dendritic cells, and a wide range of cytokines—which suggests that it can beneficially modulate immune function.*
The effects of curcumin on immune health are also facilitated by its role as an antioxidant. This can help explain the traditional use of curcumin for various common health conditions.
Thousands of years of anecdotal evidence suggests that patients can benefit from supplementation, and the latest clinical research indicates the same. For instance, in a 2016 systematic review and meta-analysis published in the Journal of Medicinal Food, researchers combined the data from eight randomized controlled trials—which together included more than 800 patients—to analyze the efficacy of curcumin for benefiting joint health. Based on the statistical significance of the results, the authors reported that taking a curcumin supplement of 1,000 mg daily is likely to have observable beneficial results. Although they also expressed concerns about the methodologies and the sample sizes of the studies they reviewed, the early evidence supports the efficacy of curcumin for supporting joint health.*
Curcumin as a Therapeutic Option for Neurological Conditions
In addition to offering benefits for joint health, recent research also suggests that curcumin may support neurological health. Studies show that the compound can provide nutritional support for various neurological conditions. Although the mechanisms through which curcumin provides these benefits are not entirely clear, research suggests its effects stem from its ability to support the body’s inflammatory response.
One piece of evidence for this hypothesis comes from a 2015 study, in which a group of researchers from Punjab University in India explored how the active properties of curcumin might provide nutritional support benefits for individuals with autism. In this study, the researchers gave their rat models of autism either 50, 100, or 200 mg/kg of curcumin per day. Then, the rats were tested for behavioral paradigms of the disorder, including social problems, locomotor issues, spatial learning deficits, and repetitive behaviors. On the behavioral tests, the researchers noted statistically significant improvements, and their subsequent biochemical tests revealed a decline in the activity of metalloproteinases and their associated impacts on the inflammatory response.*
Another study examining the potential of curcumin for providing nutritional support for neurological disorders was published in the journal Metabolic Brain Disease in 2017. In this study, the researchers gave a rat model of Parkinson’s disease 200 mg/kg of curcumin and examined the effects using a combination of electrophysiological and behavioral experiments. The data indicated that supplementation could benefit motor impairments, so it may be beneficial in providing nutritional support for Parkinson’s patients.*
In both of these studies, researchers expressed hope about the future of curcumin as an effective supplement in providing benefits for neurological disorders.* Although it will be necessary to verify these animal studies with more comprehensive clinical studies in the future, they strongly suggest curcumin’s beneficial effects on brain health.*
Recognizing the Limitations of Curcumin Supplements: The Question of Bioavailability
Because the majority of the research on curcumin’s health benefits has been conducted in the lab and clinical trials have remained small, there are still questions about whether or not the studies in cells and animals will be able to translate to human patients. This is particularly true because curcumin has an unusually low level of bioavailability—that is, when taken directly as an oral supplement, only a limited amount of the compound can be absorbed by the body. Although this has been one of the major barriers to the use of curcumin as a nutritional supplement, scientists have found ways to overcome this limitation.
To address the problem of bioavailability, researchers have developed innovative delivery systems that can increase the absorption rate of curcumin, ensuring that a person’s cells will be exposed to the same levels as the cells and the animals in the lab. Therefore in contrast to the mixed results of earlier studies, future research is more likely to reveal real-world benefits of curcumin. Thanks to these new delivery systems, practitioners and their patients now have the opportunity to explore how curcumin’s traditional benefits have truly been enhanced by the latest technology.
The power of Tesseract supplements lies in the proprietary science of proven nutrients and unrivaled smart delivery, making them the most effective for supporting musculoskeletal health and immune health.*
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