Updated 3/27/2025
Article Summary:
- Curcumin interacts with various molecular targets in the body, such as NF-κB, which indicates its role in supporting musculoskeletal and joint health.*
- The efficacy of curcumin supplements depends on the bioavailability and absorption of the active ingredients.
- Tetrahydrocurcumin—a bioactive metabolite of curcumin—is more bioavailable, which makes Tesseract’s joint supplement formulation easily absorbable in the body.
Curcumin is a naturally occurring compound derived from the turmeric plant. Curcumin has a wide range of beneficial pharmacological and physiological activities.* The health-promoting potential of curcumin has been extensively researched to determine how it promotes a healthy immune response and a healthy gastrointestinal environment, as well as supporting cardiovascular health, optimal lipid profiles, and musculoskeletal system.*
Currently, curcumin is widely used as in ingredient in joint support supplements. It is important to understand how joint support supplements work to ensure you choose the right supplement formulation.
How Does Curcumin Support Joint Jealth?
The following table highlights how curcumin’s natural properties support joint health.
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Curcumin’s Effect on Joint Health |
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How Much Curcumin Should I Take to Maintain Optimal Joint Health?
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The Allowable Daily Intake (ADI) value of curcumin is 0-3 mg/kg per body weight. |
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In clinical trials studying the impact of curcumin on joint health, adult participants received between 100-400 mg/day. It should be noted that there is no standard suggested daily use of curcumin for supporting joint health.
Are Curcumin Supplements Effective for Joint Health?
The efficacy of a curcumin supplement for joint health depends on the bioavailability of the active ingredient and how well the body absorbs it. Although curcumin holds immense beneficial potential, its clinical application is hampered by its naturally low solubility, which can lead to poor absorption and rapid metabolism, followed by rapid clearance from the body, resulting in its poor bioavailability to the plasma and tissues.
Several strategies are used to enhance curcumin’s bioavailability in nutritional supplement formulations, including:
- Using optimal bioavailable forms of curcumin, such as Tetrahydrocurcumin
- Combining curcumin with piperine, a bioactive compound derived from black pepper
- Mixing turmeric powder and turmeric essential oil
- Developing curcumin nanoformulations
A clinical trial studying the effect of curcumin supplementation on post-exercise muscle soreness demonstrated beneficial changes in inflammatory cytokine profiles—the signaling proteins that help regulate the body’s inflammatory response.*2 This suggests that supplementation with a more bioavailable form of curcumin translates to faster recovery from, and enhanced functional capacity during, exercise sessions.*
Are there side effects of curcumin supplements?
Although several clinical studies have established curcumin’s efficacy and safety, ingesting higher amounts of curcumin can be associated with certain adverse health effects. In dose escalation studies evaluating the safety of ingesting high amounts of curcumin (500-12,000 mg daily), some volunteers experienced diarrhea, nausea, headache, rash, and yellow stool.3 To avoid these potential adverse effects, individuals should consult with their healthcare practitioner to determine the appropriate amount of daily curcumin intake for their needs.
How Do I Select the Right Curcumin Supplement for Joint Health?
When it comes to selecting the right curcumin supplement for joint health, there are two key factors for consideration.
- Palatability: First generation curcumin supplements faced challenges with user compliance due to the inability to mask curcumin’s unpleasant taste.
- Efficacy: Curcumin’s naturally poor absorption and bioavailability required users to take a significant amount of a curcumin supplement to experience its health-promoting benefits.
Tesseract Medical Research has developed TetraCumin® — a proprietary joint supplement formulation that contains tetrahydrocurcumin for supporting musculoskeletal and joint health.* Tetrahydrocurcumin, a primary metabolite of curcumin, displays similar health-promoting activities to those of curcumin but is more stable.* The increased stability of tetrahydrocurcumin makes it more bioavailable in tissue and plasma and significantly more effective than curcumin. Thus, tetrahydrocurcumin avoids the pitfalls of the older manufacturing processes of curcumin supplements.
Tesseract’s TetraCumin has overcome curcumin’s bioavailability challenges with our revolutionary CyLoc® – DexKey® nutrient delivery system, which significantly enhances the bioavailability of tetrahydrocurcumin, ensuring its timely absorption at the targeted point in the intestinal tract.
Tesseract’s CyLoc® technology encases each tetrahydrocurcumin molecule to maintain its integrity and mask the unpalatable taste and smell. The DexKey® technology accompanying each CyLoc® molecule ensures targeted delivery of the molecules at the desired release point within the intestinal tract. The result is the optimal absorption and effectiveness of each tetrahydrocurcumin molecule, making them a bioavailable reality.
The power of Tesseract supplements lies in enhancing palatability, maximizing solubility, absorption and bioavailability, and micro-dosing a single or multiple nutrients in a single, highly effective capsule. Shop products on our website and learn more about how they support musculoskeletal health.*
References:
1Zhou H, et al. The targets of curcumin. Current Drug Targets vol. 12,3 (2011):332-347. doi:10.2174/138945011794815356
2McFarlin BK, et al. Reduced inflammatory and muscle damage biomarkers following oral supplementation with bioavailable curcumin. BBA Clinical vol. 5 72-8. 18 Feb. 2016, doi:10.1016/j.bbacli.2016.02.003
3Lao CD, et al. Dose escalation of a curcuminoid formulation. BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine vol. 6 10. 17 Mar. 2006, doi:10.1186/1472-6882-6-10
